Page 17

Chapter 16

“I’m pretty sure anything would have been good at this point,” Mari said as she leaned back in the chair, “but this shrimp and grits was amazing.” Becky had brought them dinner straight to the cottage and told them to eat and rest. She was so glad they hadn’t had to socialize with the other guests at the B&B in the cafeteria.

“No kidding.” Colin yawned, even though it was only eight. He stood from the table and moved toward the window that faced the parking lot, pulled back the curtain.

He’d been doing that for the last hour, “just checking” he’d told her. He wanted to see if anyone new arrived and she figured it gave him something tangible to do.

The kitchen was small, just like the rest of the place. It was basically one big open room with the kitchen area flowing into the bedroom. There was also a closet and a bathroom, and yep, that was it.

The cottage was perfect for two people and she was trying not to obsess about the fact that there was one bed.

They were both adults so it was only a big deal if they made it one. And she refused to do that. At least they’d both showered and changed into their extra clothes. She’d left her dirty ones in the bathtub and was hoping the owners would let them wash their stuff tomorrow. She hadn’t called anyone yet because her phone had been completely dead. So had Colin’s.

“Someone’s driving up,” he murmured so she joined him at the window and pulled back the curtain just a bit to see too.

Using the landline, he’d called the local sheriff who’d promised to handle things with search and rescue. Eventually they’d have to do interviews, fill out paperwork, and she still needed to call Gary and let him know what was going on. She should have called him from the landline, but he must have heard by now what had happened. Once the rescue had started, since he was the owner of the plane, he’d have been contacted.

She knew Gary would be understanding. But she didn’t want to deal with talking to anyone—especially someone whose two-million-dollar plane had been sabotaged. She didn’t even want to think about how much it was going to cost to repair. He was going to have questions, and right now she didn’t have the mental strength to answer any of them. Hell, she didn’t even have answers other than someone planted an EMP.

Maybe it was selfish, but the guy was loaded. If he was really in a bind, he could rent a car or fly commercial.

“Nice Land Rover,” she murmured, eyeing the vehicle as it parked a couple spots down from the front of their cottage.

Thanks to all the lighting surrounding the cottages, they could see the occupants clearly. A woman got out of the driver’s seat and a man got out of the passenger. They were both wearing puffer vests, jeans and boots.

“He looks familiar,” Mari murmured more to herself than Colin.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

The guy with dark hair pulled out two dark brown, likely leather weekender bags from the back before he slung his arm around the woman and kissed the top of her head.

“Maybe.” Mari scrubbed her eyes and face and let the curtain fall back in place. “I’m so tired I don’t know anything at this point.”

“Becky said we could just leave our food outside the door.”

“They’re so nice,” she said around a yawn. “You think the sheriff will stop by tonight?”

“I hope not.” Colin picked up her now empty plate and stacked it on his. Then he set all their stuff on a tray outside the room and shut and locked the door.

She sighed in relief at the lock. “Do you have a preference for side of the bed?” she asked as she headed to the bathroom to brush her teeth. It gave her an excuse to avoid eye contact.

Because yeah, she was feeling weird after their kiss. Good weird. Weird weird. Maybe a little bad weird. Ugh, she didn’t know how she felt.

She knew she’d liked the damn kiss, and that just annoyed her. She didn’t do relationships, not really. She was so busy and loved her life the way it was. Loved flying. There were a couple guys she’d seen on and off over the years, but nothing had stuck. There was no permanence and she was okay with that. She refused to change her life to suit a man. Probably because she’d never met anyone who made her want more than some fun.

Until maybe…now she was thinking about more. More with Colin.

And yep, that annoyed her.

“Doesn’t matter to me.” He stepped into the bathroom with her and grabbed his own toothbrush. Now that he was cleaned up he smelled, well, as good as he had in the woods. What was that about? “Nice of her to provide all these toiletries.” He lifted up the packaged toothbrush Becky had left for him.

Mari smiled around her own toothbrush. “I guess some of us are just more prepared,” she said around a mouthful of toothpaste. She always packed a spare in her backpack. It was one of her true necessities.

He just snorted. “Says the woman who enjoyed sharing my tarp.”

She spit out the toothpaste. “Fair enough.” It was a little weird how not weird it was to be in the bathroom getting ready for bed with him.

And jeez, she needed to come up with a better word than weird.

Surreal, maybe? Because this was something couples did, something people in relationships did. And they weren’t…anything. Barely friends again. She found her gaze straying to his mouth as he finished brushing his teeth and spit out his toothpaste, and desperately wanted a replay of that kiss. But she didn’t want to stop.

“What are you thinking about?”

She blinked and realized he was watching her in the mirror with those soulful blue eyes. “About all the calls I need to make tomorrow,” she lied. Then she paused when she heard a bunch of pings coming from the other room, breaking into their quiet haven. “I think my phone is working again, so maybe I’ll have to make a few tonight.”

Because real life was checking back in. She was thankful for the distraction, and the excuse to take the focus off being alone with Colin. Because if she gave in to what she wanted, she’d regret it once they got back to their real lives. And then things would be off between them yet again.

Another set of pings went off and he shook his head. “Same.”

In the bedroom, she slid into the bed wearing her backup clothes because no way was she going to strip down and sleep in her underwear with him. So jeans and a T-shirt it was.

Colin eyed her as he slid into the other side of the bed. “Would it bother you if I took off my shirt? Seriously. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

She lifted a shoulder as she pulled up the slew of text messages. “Go for it.” Did she sound casual? She felt like she did, but she refused to look at him as he stripped his shirt off.

Okay, lies. She peeked out of the corner of her eye as he stripped and, of course, neatly folded it and set it with his now dry backpack.

Even his back was sexy and wasn’t that annoying.

She quickly looked back at her phone out of self-preservation as he slid into bed next to her with a sigh.

She had a bunch of texts, including one from Gary—his had been annoyed at first, then worried once he’d clearly found out what happened. She tried calling him, but it wouldn’t connect, and she was having a hell of a time focusing on anything besides Colin being half naked in the bed with her.

So she texted Gary, hoping it would go through. I think you heard about your plane, looks like sabotage, not sure what’s going on. Talking to the local police, trying to figure things out. The last part wasn’t technically true, but she would be talking to law enforcement soon enough.

He responded moments later. It’s fine, I’m just glad you’re okay. Let me know if you need anything. And don’t worry about the plane, I’ll get it all sorted. There’s a reason I’ve got insurance.

She smiled, relief immediately sliding through her. She hadn’t expected any different, but it was still nice that he cared.

Next she texted Berlin, who’d already texted her eight times. We’re okay, hunkering down at a B&B .

Finally! Omg, we’ve been so worried. I couldn’t even track your phone.

We’ve been in the middle of nowhere essentially. Service here sucks. But Colin talked to the sheriff so he knows we’re okay. There was more to it, but Berlin didn’t need all the little details.

I’m nearby with Chance and Bradford so let us know if you want us to pick you up. We rented a place and can head out tonight.

Mari paused, glanced over at Colin who’d shut his eyes after sending off a couple texts. He was breathing in and out in a steady rhythm. And fine, she loved the idea of curling up next to him. If they’d gone to that horse ranch, the obvious choice, then she might be worried that someone had tracked them down. But they’d gone way out of their way to come here instead and only the sheriff knew about their location. Still…maybe they should just head out tonight.

That might be a good idea. She quickly relayed what had happened with the drones, then waited for a response.

Only to realize that her message hadn’t gone through and now there was a big X over where her bars were. Sighing, she set her phone back on the nightstand and closed her eyes.

She was just going to rest for a few minutes, then she’d try reaching out to Berlin again.