Instead, I force myself back.
"The inn is two blocks east." My voice is raw, wrecked. "I'll watch until you're inside."
Hurt flashes across her face. Then it hardens into determination.
"This isn't over, Max."
She walks away without looking back.
And I stand there in the cold, watching her go, knowing she's right.
CHAPTER FOUR
CLAIRE
Three days.
Three days of Max avoiding me like I carry the plague.
I see him everywhere in this tiny town. At Maggie's Diner, where he grabs coffee to go and pretends not to notice me sitting in the corner booth. On Main Street, where he crosses to the other side when he sees me coming. At Hilda's General Store, where he turned around and walked out the moment I stepped inside.
It would be insulting if it weren't so obvious.
He's not avoiding me because he doesn't want me around. He's avoiding me because he does.
I saw it in his eyes that night after dinner. The hunger he tried so hard to hide. The way his whole body went rigid when I stepped close, like he was fighting a war against himself.
I know that war. I've been fighting it too.
Because the man who walked me through the dark streets of Grizzly Ridge is nothing like the Uncle Max of my childhood memories. This Max is intense and brooding and sodevastatingly attractive that I can barely think straight when he's near.
Which is a problem.
A big problem.
I came here looking for safety. For answers. For the steady presence that held my hand through the worst moment of my life.
I didn't come here to fall for my dead father's best friend.
But apparently, my heart didn't get that memo.
"You're thinking too loud."
Sarah slides into the booth across from me, two cups of coffee in her hands. She's become my unofficial guide to Grizzly Ridge over the past few days, showing up at the inn every morning to drag me somewhere new.
"I'm not thinking," I lie. "I'm brooding. There's a difference."
"Brooding is Max's territory." She pushes a cup toward me. "You're too sunny for brooding."
"Maybe I'm trying something new."
She laughs and takes a sip of her coffee. "Let me guess. A certain green eyed blacksmith is the source of all this attempted brooding?"
"Is it that obvious?"
"Honey, the whole town is taking bets on when you two will finally crack." She grins at my horrified expression. "Small town. No secrets. Remember?"
I groan and drop my head into my hands. "This is a disaster."
