I stepped to my vehicle and grabbed a few more plants, vowing to not look in his direction again.
Why had I brought so many damn plants?
When I spun around to head back to the porch, Nash was just a few yards away in his golf cart. My pulse hammered in my ears as I tried not to look at him again. I kept tabs on him from the corner of my eye instead.
Please keep going. Don’t stop. And for the love of God, don’t talk to me.
I held my breath while I walked at a pace I hoped looked normal to the steps. My bear nipped at me for refusing to look at him again. She wanted me to not only look at him but to say something, to acknowledge his presence so he’d do the same to us. I couldn’t, though.
So, I didn’t.
Instead, I kept my head down and deposited my plants next to the others where they would get sun. Nash passed by without so much as a hello. His eyes were on me, I could feel them, but I didn’t glance his way and return his stare.
I was proud of myself. My bear, not so much. She was ticked.
I exhaled the breath I’d been holding and felt my body buzz with fading adrenaline. My first encounter with Nash had been a success. Maybe not to my bear or Gran, but it had been to me. I hadn’t cried or screamed at him like I’d thought I might. Instead, I hadn’t even spoken to him or acknowledged him.
I’d handled the situation well, I thought.
The sound of Nash’s golf cart backing up had my stomach dipping.
I glanced in his direction, wondering what he was doing. He pulled up beside my vehicle and stared at me, his jaw hard set.
“I was going to keep moving and act like I didn’t see you,” he said, his rough voice causing me to feel a million things all at once.
How long had it been since I’d heard his voice?
I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed the sound of it until now. My knees grew weak, and I hated my body for its reaction, but it was my bear’s response to him that nearly did me in.
She was beyond ecstatic that he’d stopped. Her heart skipped a beat, but for an entirely different reason than my own—her’s skipped because she’d never stopped loving him.
Had I? The question came at me from out of left field.
“Why didn’t you?” I asked, my tone harsh, guarded, and cold. Nash flinched, and satisfaction slithered through me because now he knew that I wasn’t the girl he knew anymore.
I’d changed.
The old me would have never asked something like that, and she would never have used such a harsh tone.
“Because,” Nash said as though it were answer enough.
It was, but it wasn’t.
Silence built between us. It was thick and heavy. I didn’t know what to say, and apparently neither did he.
“Can I help?” He asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
I had no idea what he was talking about. “With what?”
He nodded to the remaining plants in my trunk. “Those.”
Nash had always been a man of few words. It was something I used to love about him. Now, all it did was irritate me. I hated the way he hardly ever said a full sentence.
“I’ve got it,” I said, hoping he’d take a hint.
He didn’t, but I knew he wouldn’t. Nash never listened to me when it came to things like that.
Instead, he stepped to my vehicle and grabbed the remaining plants. A leaf snapped off one of them when he grabbed its pot with his large hands, and he froze.
“Shit,” he mumbled as an expression of pure horror twisted across his face.
I laughed. I hadn’t wanted to. I’d wanted to remain cold and standoffish while in his presence, but the expression on his face was one of comedic gold.
Nash glanced at me, flashing me a sexy lopsided grin that did things to me I wished it didn’t.
“What are you laughing at?” He asked in that deep, gruff voice of his. The corner of his lips lifted higher, and the tension in his body seemed to melt away.
“You,” I said, shaking my head and chuckling. “You should’ve seen your face when that leaf snapped off.”
“Well, maybe it’s because I feel like I’m walking on eggshells with you,” he said without a trace of anger or resentment in his tone. Somehow, he managed to weave amusement in instead.
No. No. No. Don’t let him in again. You’ve built up walls and turned your heart black because of this man. Don’t give him the power to hurt you all over again.
My bear snapped at me, disagreeing with my thoughts wholeheartedly. I ignored her and moved to slam the trunk of my SUV closed.
“Shouldn’t you be?” I whispered as I walked past him, up the stairs of the porch, and to the front door. My words would hurt, they’d sting, but I didn’t care. I hoped they did both. “You can leave those with the others,” I said before opening the door and disappearing inside. Thank goodness Gran hadn’t locked me out.
I leaned against the doorframe, struggling to catch my breath and calm my racing heart. Memories of another time the term walking on eggshells had been mentioned between us flooded my mind. The emotions attached to it squeezed my lungs tight, making it harder for me to breathe. My bear paced. She didn’t want to go down that rabbit hole, but it was unavoidable. Fat tears fell from my eyes as I remembered how Nash used to be my everything—until he wasn’t.
Chapter Four
A phone ringing jolted us both awake. We scrambled to find it and silence the harsh sound disrupting the peace of our spot. It was pitch black out. Whoever was
