Esther wasn’t sure what he was saying no to, but it was a forceful, desperate sounding no. He seemed like the type of guy who didn’t talk much. He reminded her of her brother Greer, actually. Tough, loyal, and far too quiet. The only person who cajoled Greer into talking was his girlfriend Emery.
The guy put up both hands and pushed out a heavy breath. “Kari’s going to beat me.”
Esther laughed at that. Reed laughed with her, and this serious guy even smiled. No way was the angelic and verbose Kari going to beat her husband.
Some of the embarrassment of being caught kissing in front of this guy dissipated. Though the frustration of the unfulfilled kiss was strong, her head was clearing from the Reed-induced fog, a fog that was beautiful but made it hard to see clearly. She realized Kari’s husband had helped her dodge a bullet. “Gavin Strong?” she asked.
“Guilty.” He nodded. “Sorry. Thought the lights got left on.” He shook his head. “Stay … Please.”
“We’ve been here long enough,” Esther rushed out. “It’s such a beautiful facility and your wife is a doll. She’ll never hear from us that you came to … check on the lights.” Her neck heated up. She continued to take the focus away from him seeing them kissing. “As your legal counsel, if she does find out, I suggest you offer a plea bargain in exchange for kissing in the pools. She told us she loves that.”
“Thanks,” he grunted, clearly embarrassed at interrupting them, or maybe at her mentioning kissing in the pools.
Esther broke from Reed’s grasp, not looking at him. She hated that their time here was done and hated that they’d been interrupted, but it was for the best. It was wrong of her to kiss Reed when she knew their dating time was done. She didn’t want to take advantage of someone as incredible as Reed. It hurt to think of not being alone with him again. She’d loved every second of laughing, talking, and enjoying being with Reed, but she had to be unselfish and she had to get away. Now. Or she’d throw herself at him even with Gavin Strong watching on.
“I’ll go change. Thank you again.” She hurried toward the women’s locker room. As she pushed through the door, she glanced back.
Reed’s gaze was full of longing, and it made her heart give a weird hitch.
Esther Delta-Peterson. She didn’t think she could go there, but it hurt to think of never being joined to an amazing man like Reed.
She kept claiming she had her OCD under control and it didn’t control her life any longer, but ditching this amazing man rather than risk her OCD surfacing and messing her up again, and possibly hurting him, told her she couldn’t win. Either the OCD controlled her if she let herself be swept into Reed’s heart and arms and went insane, or the OCD controlled her because she missed out on any chance of being with Reed because of her fear. She hated either option and hated most of all that she’d been trained to be brave and protect herself physically, but she clearly didn’t know how to succeed emotionally.
ChapterNine
Reed thanked Gavin Strong again. The guy was clearly embarrassed that he’d interrupted their kiss, but he wasn’t to blame. Reed should’ve kissed Esther twenty times before he actually accomplished it tonight, but he’d wanted to take things slow and not push or scare her.
Reed rinsed off in a shower and quickly got dressed. He looked at his cell phone. Ten-twenty. Kari had said to stay as long as they wanted, but the booking was only from seven to nine. Reed was the one who should be embarrassed for overstaying their welcome and taking advantage of the Strongs’ generosity.
He wished their kiss hadn’t been interrupted, but the date had been incredible and he had high hopes he could not only re-initiate the kiss as he walked her to Thor’s door, but that she would agree to another date tomorrow night. He was going to push past her three-date barrier and work his way into boyfriend status with his dream woman. Soon.
He hurried out into the main area and checked his phone while he waited for Esther. He rarely went very long without checking it, though luckily his valley was fairly quiet and his deputies and staff competent.
Josh had left a message to call him. He didn’t see Gavin or Esther, so he pushed the call back. “Hey,” he greeted Josh. “Sorry it’s late.”
“No, I’m glad you called. I’m not sure where this is going to go, but my buddy Niles with Colorado Springs PD called me. He said something about the name Garret Thomson was bugging him. He had a friend with that name in high school who’d gone on to be a dentist, but he hadn’t heard from Garret in a while; not since the guy graduated dental school.”
Esther walked out of the locker room, her long hair wet and no makeup on but wearing her dress. She was so beautiful, but something in her blue eyes looked wary and not as warm as usual. It concerned him more than whatever story Josh had about another guy with Garret Thomson’s same name.
“Hey, Josh, Esther is here. Can I call you back about this?”
“She probably needs to hear this too.”
“Okay.” He had a feeling this was going to change the nature of the date. “Just a second while we get in the truck and I can put it through the Bluetooth.”
“Okay.” Josh sounded impatient, which wasn’t normal for him.
Reed smiled at Esther. “Josh has something to tell us about Garret.”
Her eyebrows rose. Her blue eyes seemed wary. She was probably as sick of Garret as he was. The guy was just a loser and didn’t seem to be any threat to the Delta secret. Reed wanted to put all his focus where it should be … on Esther.
Shifting the phone to his left hand, he escorted her to the door and opened it. “I’m not sure if we should turn off the lights and lock up,” he said.
Gavin walked out of an office to their right at that moment, as if he’d been waiting for them to leave. He lifted a hand.
“Thanks again,” Reed said.
“Yes, thank you so much. Dinner, the hydrotherapy, your darling wife, and everything was amazing,” Esther said.