Page 60 of A Cowboy's Claim

The roads in Heart Falls were a wash of puddles and mud. It took less than five minutes to get to the clinic, but she’d beat him there. The lights were on, shining through the glass windows of the reception area. Rivulets of water ran down in shimmering streaks.

He pushed through the unlocked door carefully. “Syd?”

“Nearly ready. Come and grab this bag.” She lifted those amazing silvery grey eyes to meet his. Concern was written on her face and dark shadows lingered. “Are you okay driving?”

“Sure.” He picked up the oversized duffel bag she’d indicated and eased it over his shoulder. “Got everything you need?”

She lifted a bag of her own then gestured toward the door. “This is it. Let’s go. I’ll give you directions once we hit the highway. We head south to start.”

The storm was no longer kidding around. In the thirty seconds it took to get from the front door of the clinic into his truck, both of them were drenched.

Declan grabbed a towel from the back seat where he’d put them earlier and handed it over. “Dry off.”

“You don’t want me to get your seats wet,” she teased.

“It’s wet enough outside. We don’t need it raining in here,” he agreed.

He clicked the seat warmers on, making sure hers was set to high, then focused on reaching the highway safely.

The wipers flipped back and forth at such a rapid pace it brought back the memory of the metronome Aiden had broken when he was a kid. Thethump, thump, thumpsounded so quickly it damn near made Declan’s heart race in an attempt to keep time.

“Thanks for coming with me,” Sydney said quietly, gaze fixed firmly on the highway ahead of them.

“Of course.”

“Sorry to pull you away from the bachelor party.”

He snorted. “I left a while ago.”

“Well, shit. I interrupted your relaxing evening?”

“Hardly.” He hadn’t intended to tell her this quickly, but it seemed the appropriate time. “I left the party to go and do something important.”

She didn’t say anything, but her gaze lingered on his face.

“I was at your place,” he confessed.

Sydney snickered. “Well, there’s me messing up what should’ve been a lovely booty call.”

“Wasn’t a booty call.” Declan cleared his throat. “I wanted to see you after being gone all week. Not for sex, but to talk. To spend time together.”

He waited for her to shoot the idea down, but she didn’t.

Risking a quick glance to the side, he discovered Sydney was still staring at him, but this time her expression was more like a child looking longingly at a toy in the window.

Something they really wanted but knew they couldn’t have.

Driving in dangerous conditions was absolutely not what he wanted to be doing while having an important conversation. He forced his gaze back to the road. “Syd? Where are we going?”

“Township Road for the turn is coming up,” she warned. “The first five km are straightforward then we follow a forestry service road for a bit.”

Okay. He really needed to focus on the road, but this was not the end of the conversation.

Time to give her a break, though, and stick to something simpler. “How was the bridal shower?”

Sydney eased back in the passenger seat, extending her legs as she let out an enormous sigh. “The party part was good.”

“Implying some other part was bad?”