Cam found himself mulling the increasing problem of how he’d ever live without her. He knew if he let her go without a fight, he would regret it for the rest of his life.
His viable ideas were few. One was to go on the run with her on Earth. That meant never again spending a peaceful moment. The Royal Magistrate Guard Special Elite Trackers were relentless. They’d search for Cam and Ria until they were caught, tried for their crime on Alpha-Prime and sent to live out their days on a gulag.
He put that idea out of his mind and focused on today’s destination—the special property a few miles out of town he’d promised to show Ria. It was the very butt crack of dawn, and he was weary after a restless and mostly sleepless night on the futon in his spare bedroom.
When he’d first explained the sleeping arrangements, Ria had looked forlorn at the idea of sleeping alone in his bedroom each and every night. She didn’t say a word in disagreement, but he didn’t think her silence on the matter would last. Or maybe he just hoped it wouldn’t.
He’d half expected her to put her foot down last night and demand they sleep in the same bed, but she seemed to be making an effort to follow his stupid no-sleeping-together rule.
Two more days together would be both an eternity and a mere snap of his fingers.
“So, where are we going?” Ria asked, her sleepy tone completely adorable.
“It’s a piece of property owned by a good friend of mine.”Hopefully it will be mine one day very soon. He turned off the main road and onto the access road leading to the property. “We’re almost there. Up here at the gate is the property line. But I have the combination to the gate lock to get in.”
“And thisfriendof yours won’t mind if we go there today and look around?” Her mood seemed hopeful, like she actually wanted to see his future land.
“Nope. It’s a piece of property I’m thinking about buying. And maybe I’ll put a house on it someday.”Actually, I’m halfway to ownership and maybe I’ll fix up the existing cabin, too.
“Really?” She seemed awestruck at the idea of owning property and putting a home on it. Perhaps hopeful was a better word.
A warm feeling rose in his chest, one he batted down immediately. He should keep his guard up. Shelly hadn’t been difficult at first, either. She had looked on with interest when he opened the gate to usher them in. It was after that when things went downhill.
Cam looked out at the land on the way to the property he loved as the warm feeling filled his chest once more. He loved this place. He couldn’t wait until the property was all his.
“I come out here a lot to dream and scheme,” he said offhandedly. He put the SUV into park, unbuckled his seat belt and opened the door before looking in her direction.
“Dreaming and scheming sounds like lots of fun.” She turned toward him with such a look of longing it was all he could do to keep from pulling her close and kissing her the way he wanted to. He was used to firming his resolve where Ria was concerned. He had to do it pretty much every time he looked at her since they’d met.
“Itisfun,” he managed to say. “At leastIthink it is.” He wanted her to be interested, but was unsure if she was serious or humoring him.
“I’d love to own a piece of land and live on it, especially if it looked like this. It is beautiful here.” Her wistful tone sounded sincere.
Cam cleared his throat. “But you probably live in a palace. I can’t imagine you’d like living a hard-scrabble life on a piece of property without all the luxuries either of our worlds has to offer.”
“There’s where you’re wrong.” She stared across the serene landscape. “I’d do almost anything to get out of the life I’m about to be forced into on Alpha-Prime.”
Out of habit, he said, “Anything?” in a super suggestive tone. It was a joke he and his brothers perpetuated. One would say he’d do anything to get out of a certain punishment, for example, such as work an extra shift. Invariably, another brother would say, “Anything?” in the weighted tone and the first brother would yell, “The extra shift! The extra shift!”
Ria’s expression filled with a level of anguish he wished he wasn’t impacted by. “Almost anything,” she said again. She focused her attention out the windshield at the land he loved.
He got out of the SUV and went to the gate, fumbling with the lock.
The two-year-old memory of when he’d almost ruined his life slipped into the forefront of his head before he could stop it. He should remember it well. He should keep it close to his heart as a cautionary tale.
Worse, he couldn’t shake the feeling that if he asked Ria to marry him today, right now—as he almost had asked Shelly on this same piece of property—that she would react the same way his old girlfriend had, with utter and complete disdain.
Did he have the courage to face another contemptuous rejection?
The ugly memory of his halted proposal tortured him as he unlocked the gate to the land he adored, wishing he wasn’t the only one who wanted to live out here. He pushed the barrier wide, and hoped this wasn’t another colossal mistake.
The day he’d brought Shelly to see his land had been much like this one. The sun rose fast in the clear-blue morning sky, birds sang and a slight breeze made the intense humidity manageable. He’d cleaned out the ground-floor master bedroom of the ramshackle cabin to share with her the beauty of waking up to the stupendous view.
He wanted Shelly to love each of the twenty acres of his pride and joy, even though loving and marrying an earthling meant he could never live here as he’d once dreamed. So instead, he spent his money on the expensive engagement ring he knew Shelly would expect.
The ring burned a hole in his pocket both on the way to his land and even worse on the trip back to town, his question unasked. At least he’d gotten some of his money back from the jeweler.
Shelly had slowly and carefully exited his vehicle, looked around at what he considered beauty personified with a frown.
