“What?” I ask.
“My uncle actually owns this bar.”
I smile. “So you just come in here and hit on the bartenders and tell them that you’ll make sure they don’t get in trouble when they play hooky?”
“No.”
“No?”
“Fine, my uncle doesn’t own this bar. Everything I just said was a lie, but I really think you should come with me. You look very sad, and you are far too beautiful and smart of a woman to spend her days sad.”
He holds out his hand again.
I stare at it. This is trouble. I shouldn’t do this. I need the money. I shouldn’t take a risk like this.
But I take his hand anyway.
The electricity that pours into me when I do is beyond anything I’ve ever felt before.
He grins. I grin.
“See, you’re happier already,” he says.
“So where are you taking me?” I ask.
He pulls me to him into his arms. I love being in his arms.
“Does it matter?”
“No.”
My heart speeds up again as he holds me in his arms. I haven’t felt this alive in years. It’s like he flipped a switch inside me.
“What are you doing to me?”
He tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. “I’m falling in love with you and giving you the happily ever after you deserve.”
I raise an eyebrow. “You can’t fall in love with me. You don’t even know me.”
“I don’t. But I have good instincts and I know that you are beautiful, smart, and fierce. I know that you are running from something and I want to be the man that saves you from that if you’ll let me.”
I bite my lip. Heath can’t be real. A man like this doesn’t exist. I shouldn’t let someone else into my fucked up life, but I can’t resist his grin.
“I’ll let you fall in love with me,” I say because I’m pretty sure I’m already falling for him.
* * *
He fell in love with me just like he promised. And I fell in love with him. Call it lust. Call it insta-love. Call it my obsession. A distraction. Whatever others might see when they look at us doesn’t matter. Because right now, it’s real. Real love. We may not have been together long. But it doesn’t change how I feel about him.
I’ll give my life to save Heath because he helped me escape a lifetime of running scared. He let me find happiness again if only for a few days. He showed me I could love again. I’ll do anything to save him.
The door is open, and the stairs leading up to the plane are down. I quickly climb up, not thinking about anything but making sure that Heath is okay.
And then I see Heath. He’s sitting calmly in the second seat on the plane. I run over to him and throw my arms around his neck. He embraces me just as passionately, like we haven’t seen each other in years instead of only minutes.
I pull away enough to check him over. He doesn’t look hurt, not a visible scratch on him, and he isn’t tied up.
“Get out of here, Heath,” I say, trying to get him to get up.