“Good.” Aaron still wasn’t touching her, but he stood so close she could see the gold flecks in his brown eyes and the dot of shaving cream just beneath his left sideburn. Her gaze shifted to his mouth, and her own lips parted. Then their eyes met and she felt pulled to him.
He stepped back, and turned away. “Are you all right now?” he asked.
Would she ever be all right again? She felt wrung-out. Drained. “I’m fine,” she said, and forced herself to move past him, toward the door.
She didn’t remember walking out the door or to her car. She didn’t even remember driving home, though she was soon there,parking behind Gary’s truck. The conscious part of her was still back there with Aaron. Waiting for his kiss. Wanting it as much as her next breath.
Chapter Eight
Tuesday was Aaron’s father’s birthday, and nothing short of a genuine emergency could excuse Aaron and his siblings from their presence at the family table. “Everyone is pulling extra shifts right now, trying to find this missing girl,” Aaron said when his mom called to remind him he was expected for the birthday celebration. When they weren’t actively scrutinizing the countryside for any sign of the missing girl, they were combing through evidence for any clue as to her whereabouts.
“You still have to eat,” his mother said. “If you can’t join us, I’ll bring a plate to you at the sheriff’s department.”
Aaron could only imagine the ribbing he would endure if his mother showed up with dinner for him. Though some of it would probably be jealousy—Diane Ames was a good cook. “I can stop by for a little while,” he said. “But I have to eat and run.”
Thus, he found himself in his usual seat at the family table, across from Bethany and her fiancé, Ian. Aaron hadn’t been so sure about the professional mountain climber—and reputed billionaire—when they had first met. He had been afraid the guy would end up hurting Bethany, who had a tender heart and a history of poor judgment when it came to men. But he had been happy to admit he was wrong. Ian had proved to be a stand-up guy and he truly seemed to care about Bethany.
Twins Carter and Dalton sat on either side of Aaron—two years younger than him and showing no sign of settling down. They worked as drivers, tour guides and general handymen for the family business, Peak Jeep Tours and Rentals. Their parents—married thirty years and still doing everything together—were at either end of the table, which was loaded down with lasagna and a huge salad, a basket of bread sticks and a lemon birthday cake for dessert.
“A group of us are getting together to search those gullies and caves on the back side of Mount Wilson tomorrow afternoon,” Carter said as he doused his salad in dressing.
“I’ll help,” Ian said. An internationally known climber, Ian Seabrook had settled in Eagle Mountain to open a via ferrata, a public climbing route.
“We should ask Willa to come with us,” Bethany said. “I know she wants to help, and I’d like to get to know her better.”
“Yeah, I want to meet her,” Carter said. “Every search and rescue call she’s been on, I haven’t had a chance to speak to her. I hear she’s really good-looking.”
“I noticed her watching you, Aaron,” Bethany said. “She was really checking you out.”
Aaron forced himself not to react. “When was that?”
“When we responded to the call about the guy who drove off Dixon Pass. And again at the youth camp, that first day we searched for Olivia. Willa couldn’t take her eyes off you. You should definitely ask her out.”
He shook his head. “That’s not going to happen.”
“Why not?” his mother asked.
He debated lying but the truth was going to come out. “Do you remember the woman I was seeing in Vermont?” he asked. “Kat Delaney?”
“I remember her,” Carter said. “The two of you broke up after her brother was arrested for the murder of that little girl at the summer camp.”
“What murder?” Bethany asked. “And the woman you were dating was named Kat?”
“Short for Katherine,” Carter said. “And this little girl at a summer camp in Waterbury was murdered.”
“You had already moved away when all that was going on,” Dalton said.
“What about her?” Carter asked. He stabbed at his salad. “You can’t ask Willa out because Kat broke your heart?”
“I can’t ask Willa out because sheisKat.” He shoveled a forkful of lasagna into his mouth and chewed, though he might as well have been eating packing peanuts.
“What?” Carter paused, fork halfway to his lips. “Willa and Kat are the same person?”
Aaron nodded and swallowed. “I guess she and her brother were harassed so much they moved and changed their names. They had no idea I was living here.”
“If Willa is Kat, why didn’t I recognize her?” Carter asked.
“She was out of context,” Dalton said. “We didn’t expect to run into Aaron’s ex here. Plus, the name change threw us. And we never got that close to her.”
