Chapter Three
Ryan arrived at Off-the-Grid, bleary-eyed and buzzing with restless energy. The temperature this morning barely topped fifty degrees, but he didn’t care. He needed some quality time on the rock face before work to clear his head. He went into the closet for his Patagonia jacket and hat. No gloves. He needed full contact with the rock to climb.
Back outside, he hiked down the path through the woods, letting the exercise get his blood pumping. Fifteen minutes later, his favorite climbing spot came into view. Last night’s motorcycle encounter with Emma had left him off balance. She’d been drunk, but what was his excuse? He shook his head as he gripped the base of the rock and hauled himself upward.
He didn’t have one. Never should have happened.
He’d wanted to kiss her.Reallywanted to kiss her. Would have kissed her if the damn helmets hadn’t gotten in the way. And now he had to figure out how to stop thinking about her in those jeans, wearing his helmet, on his bike…looking so goddamn sexy and windswept by the light of the moon. Because just thinking about it was turning him inside out.
The truth was, he’d been feeling unsettled for the last six months or so, almost since he’d returned to Haven. He’d picked up a few women right after he got back in town, but not in months now. And now, every time he closed his eyes, he thought of Emma.
He pulled himself up on top of the rock and sat, looking out over the forest. Around him, the trees buzzed with activity. Birds sang. Squirrels leaped from branch to branch. Ryan felt like the King of the Jungle up here. He’d missed this during his years on the road, missed having a place where he belonged. A part of him had always envied Derek for knowing what he wanted out of life. Ryan had felt more adrift than ever after his friend enlisted. But he had Off-the-Grid now, and no way was he going to fuck this up. Finally, he climbed down and hiked back to the office, ready to tackle the day ahead. He went in through the back door.
“There’s someone here to see you,” Ethan called from the reception area.
Ryan glanced at the clock. It was just past ten, and already his stomach was grumbling for lunch. Clearly he’d gotten up too early this morning. Or gone to bed too late last night. Or a combination of both. “A vendor?” he asked. He wasn’t expecting anyone today other than…hell, Emma was scheduled to come talk about spring landscaping in an hour.
But Ethan was shaking his head. “Don’t think so. Looks like a teenager to me, but he asked for you specifically.”
“Might be looking for a rock climbing lesson.”
“Could be. I’m heading out on the zip-line course with a group. Be back in a couple of hours.” Ethan headed for the door.
Ryan walked through the reception area and out the front door to find a kid standing there, hands wedged in his pockets, shoulders hunched, watching Ethan lead the group of tourists down to the zip-line course. Late teens maybe. Asian. He glanced at Ryan, then his eyes darted back to the zip-line group. They’d never met, and yet something about him was oddly familiar.
“I’m Ryan Blake. Can I help you?”
The kid looked at him again. He swallowed hard. “My name’s Trent. Trent Lamar.”
Trent.Ryan felt like he’d been slammed backward. It couldn’t possibly be. After all these years…
Trent shoved his hands farther into his pockets. “I, um, I think I might be your brother.”
Ryan hadn’t known his baby brother’s last name after the adoption, butshit. He didn’t know who Trent’s father was—or his own for that matter—but he knew his brother had Asian heritage. “Nah, man. I’m sure of it.”
“Really?” Trent eyed him warily.
“Yeah.” Ryan pulled him in and clapped him on the back. Then they stood there, staring at each other. Ryan found himself uncharacteristically at a complete loss for words. Trent.Hell.“I can’t believe it. How did you find me?” Because he’d spent years, half a lifetime, searching for the half brother he hadn’t seen since Trent was an infant.
“My parents told me your name.” Trent looked away.
Yeah, Trent’s adoptive parents had been total assholes, to Ryan anyway. They’d labeled him a bad influence and cut him out of his brother’s life after the adoption went through. “Let’s go inside where we can talk.” Ryan led the way to his office and closed the door behind them.
Trent sat in the big chair in the corner, fidgeting with his hands in his lap. “I tried to look you up online a few times, but I never found anything. Then, a few months ago, I saw an article about this place. It had your name and your picture, and when I saw it was in Haven, I knew it had to be you.”
“I looked for you, too. I never stopped,” Ryan said as emotion welled up, squeezing his chest. He’d moved around for the last ten years looking for his brother. Trent was the only living blood relative he had, and it had been like a knife slowly twisting in his gut knowing his brother was out there somewhere. “So where’d you grow up?”
“Outside St. Louis,” Trent said.
His brother had grown up halfway across the country. Ryan still couldn’t quite believe Trent was sitting there. He looked like a pretty okay kid, baggy jeans and overstyled hair like Ryan had noticed on a lot of the local teens. Trent’s hands were soft, like he spent more time in front of an Xbox than out roaming the woods as Ryan had done at his age. Still…“So your parents—they’re okay? You’re happy?”
Trent shrugged awkwardly. Yeah, typical teenager. “They’re all right, I guess.”
“But you had a good childhood?” Because Ryan had always wondered, hoping that Trent had grown up in a stable, happy home. Their mom had OD’ed when Trent was just a baby, sparing him most of the chaos that had surrounded her. As a healthy infant, he’d been adopted quickly. Ryan, eleven when their mother died, had remained in the foster care system until he aged out at eighteen.
“Yeah,” Trent said. “It was good.”
“I’m glad. So you’re what…eighteen now? Are you in college?”
