Page 38 of Perfectly Matched: Harbor Falls Romance Collection

Katie Long’s fingers trembled even though she had a death-grip on the steering wheel. White knuckles popped through the flush of her skin. Her heart was about to beat out of her chest and an icky, nauseous feeling was creeping into her stomach. Dammit. She felt flushed and clammy all at the same time, heat shooting from her cheeks all the way down to the tips of her fingers and toes. Cold chills simultaneously rippled across her back. She was madder than hell.

Get it under control, Katie!

Her sight blurred and she shook her head to clear the glaze from her eyes. Not happening. With a quick gasp, she gunned the engine of her Mustang GT and whipped to a pull-off on the side of the road, gravel arcing behind her as she narrowly avoided a culvert.

“Damn backcountry mountain road,”

she sputtered.

She pressed the brake—much too hard, her body jolted forward with the rapid stopping of the vehicle—simultaneously avoiding bumping into the rock wall of the overlook. Letting out a ragged sob, she whacked her forehead on the steering wheel. She was tempted to bang her stupid brain against it.

Repeatedly.

Just in case repentance did come with beating one’s head up against something hard, she gave her forehead a good hit at the thing.

“Ow. Dammit.”

She leaned in and rested her forehead against the cool steering wheel and for a moment, just breathed. In. Out. In. Out. The even breathing seemed to settle her stomach a little. Good. Last thing she wanted to do right now was puke.

At least she’d gotten out of Harbor Falls before she totally lost it. Wouldn’t do to have anyone see her cry. To have him see her cry.

The sonofabitch.

Then the tears rolled. Her hands shook, her heart jumped out of her chest, and her brain spun. My God, was she experiencing a slow, tortuous unraveling? Then what the hell, she let loose with a steady stream of sobs. Tears spilled. So unlike her.

She was Katie Long!

She didn’t cry.

She was tough.

Wild.

Crazy.

Left the boys and made them cry.

Lifting her head, she leaned back against the headrest and at last switched off the engine. Her gaze drifted over the lazy, hazy backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains spanning the horizon before her. Dusk was in the process of settling in the mountains with sunset happening behind her. A purplish glow of light and shadows danced in the hollows and valleys of the landscape before her.

No doubt the mountains were beautiful any time of day, and right now was no exception, but she could barely see the beauty beyond the fear in her heart that was slowly coloring everything off-hue.

She swallowed, exhaled, and tried hard to let the scenery capture her. After a few moments, her breathing slowed again, and her chest stopped hurting so much. She gulped back a couple of errant sobs and swiped at her runny nose. Then closing her gritty eyes in an attempt to slow the circling images and thoughts running through her head, she tried to concentrate, to think through what had just happened.

Chris had turned the tables on her, that’s what had happened.

She’d thought they were out for a night of dirty movies, monkey sex, and pizza. Instead, Chris had gone and done something stupid.

Why did he have to ruin a perfectly good Saturday night? Dirty movies and sex had been their ritual for months. Their relationship had been fun, erotic, and flirty—and sometimes a little risky and kinky—but they both loved every minute of it.

Katie was thrilled with the no-talk-of-permanency agreement and attitude of the younger-than-her police officer who enjoyed pleasing her sexually, in all the right ways and hitting every one of her buttons.

Why the shit had he gone all goody-two-shoes on her?

So unexpected.

Letting go of another long breath, she blinked and stared again over the dim horizon. What was she going to do now?

God, she must look a mess. She grasped the rearview mirror and angled it toward her, catching a ray of leftover sunlight.

“Oh, good Lord in Heaven.”

Her face was splotched, shiny, and smudged in all the wrong places. Was that snot stringing back toward her ear? Gross.

“Damn you, Chris Marks,”

she whispered while rummaging for a napkin or a used tissue or something in the glove box to wipe the mucous out of her hair.

“This is entirely your fault. We could be experiencing orgasmic pleasure at this very moment and you had to go and ruin it all.”

She found a tissue and dabbed at her eyes.

“That’ll teach you to ask me to marry you.”

Then she looked back into the mirror again and shook her head in disbelief and confusion.

He had asked her to marry him.

Got down on one knee.

Even had a ring.

Goddamn him!

Had he forgotten that she didn’t want to settle down? That she didn’t want the picket fence and two-point-five kids and the dog and mini-van lifestyle? Hadn’t she made that quite clear? Didn’t he remember that she had plans for her life that may, or may not, include him?

No. He didn’t know about the plans because she’d never told him about her plans. Or her dreams and goals for the future.

Because those were her plans. Personal. And she didn’t want him to know.

She just wanted a monkey sex and dirty movies kind of relationship. She wasn’t the happily-ever-after type and that had been fine with him for months—but suddenly, obviously, he was the happily-ever-type? What the hell?

“Damn you, Chris,”

she sputtered again while dabbing at her face.

“for going above and beyond the call of duty and doing the right thing.”

She sniffed and stared at the reflection of her eyes.

“Thank you but no thank you.”

****

Chris Marks stood at the edge of his driveway and watched the taillights of Katie’s red Mustang fade out of sight. Shit. He’d screwed that up. What was he going to do now?

He knew she was having a hard time with things lately. Ever since they got the news—the shocking and scary news that neither of them wanted to talk about or face—she’d been skittish and standoffish. But he truly thought his solution to their problem was the best one for them both.

He’d expected her to take one look at him, breathe a sigh of relief, and melt into his arms. He wanted her to realize that all he wanted was to fix the problem and take care of her. To love her.

That’s all he really wanted for the rest of his life. To love her.

Somehow, he’d gone and screwed it all up. Dammit!

Dragging his gaze from the fading rear-end of her car he stared at the scene across the street. Suddenly he was gut-punched. A tall man with a cowboy hat carried a woman in a white wedding dress down the sidewalk of the church toward an idling pickup truck. They were kissing with each stride he took, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. Watching them, his heart pounded. The cowboy put his smiling bride into the passenger side of the truck. Chris watched her scoot to the middle and the cowboy got in beside her. The driver revved the engine and they were off. A piece of the bridal veil caught in the door fluttered as they drove by.

Should be me. Should be us. How was he going to fix this?

Turning, he headed back to his house, deep in thought. Mentally, he ticked off his options. He could give her space. He could text her. He could call. He could send roses. He could apologize.

Climbing the steps, he halted and suddenly his chest felt tight. Why the hell should he apologize? All he did was tell her he loved her and ask her to marry him. What was wrong with that? Why should he apologize?

No. Never apologizing for that. He loved her and wanted her. Forever. Not ever apologizing for wanting what he wanted.

His hand resting on his front doorknob, Chris paused.

Go after her.

He pondered that. He didn’t want to make things worse. He hoped they could work this out. It wasn’t like it was their first argument. They’d had a couple of zingers the past few months. But this?

Her reaction had not only stunned but also wounded him to his core. He had never expected she would say no.

Go after her.

But he knew her. She likely wouldn’t care much about him running after her and trying to talk sense into her. She would see that as condescending and patronizing. She’d probably be insulted. Yes, she had made it clear she didn’t want commitment and he’d been happy with sex and her company. Now things were different, given the circumstances.

Besides, he loved her.

He’d changed his tune.

She hadn’t.

Probably, she would get madder and run faster and longer if he followed her. Should he risk that? He might never get her back then but if he didn’t do something, would she think he had given up?

No. He would never give up.

But would she think that?

Go after her.

Dammit. Should he? His gut and his heart kept nagging—but his brain, his head, was getting in the way. Sensibly, he should give her space and let her cool off. Yet again, if he let her cool off too long, she’d start thinking and making other plans and before he would know it she’d find a solution herself and…

No. He had to go after her.

But where did she go? Home? The library? To one of her friends? Somewhere else?

Turning on his heel, he shoved a hand into his front jeans pocket and found his keys. Didn’t matter where, he would find her. Harbor Falls wasn’t that big and—

He stopped and settled his thoughts for a moment, staring at the church across the street. He would have that moment one day, carrying Katie Long out of the church with her kissing him all the way. Yes.

—and he would go to the ends of the earth to find her and make it happen if he had to. He had to make this right. He had to convince Katie that getting married was not a bad thing, no matter the crazy idea she had in her head.

His gaze drifted to a woman across the road standing by a car. Suzie Hart? He didn’t know her well but saw her often at the bakery in the mornings. Seemed she was watching him.

Then she shouted.

“Go after her!”

Chris nodded, threw up a hand, and headed for his pickup truck.

****

Katie sat in the car overlooking the mountains until it was dark. She didn’t turn on her lights, just sat there in the chilly, February darkness and ruminated over the situation.

While she attempted to clear her head, the opposite was actually happening. Confusion spun inside her brain and her heart, only making her feel more conflicted and uneasy. Her thoughts jumped to Chris and how he must be feeling right now—which scared her more than anything did. Generally, she didn’t care about how the guys felt when she left them. The fact that she was concerned about him was one of her greatest sources of confusion—and just proved that she really did love him, although she’d known that for weeks now.

Still, she’d made it quite clear from the beginning of their relationship how things would go with them. She didn’t screw around when she was with a guy and they were in a couple relationship, but she had told him quite specifically that he was not to expect a commitment—like, a long-term commitment. In other words, marriage. She would not tie herself down with that kind of obligation. She was responsible only for herself.

They could be a couple. They could have never-ending sex and plenty of it but there would be no ring or marriage certificate. Ever.

He’d agreed. He was fine with it.

Now, he’d pulled a switch. The bastard.

Oh, she knew why, and it was commendable of him but—

Lights flashed behind her as a vehicle rounded a curve then slowed. It crawled to a near stop and paused, headlight beams bouncing into her rearview mirror. She locked the car doors and prayed whoever it was would move on. Sitting quietly, she watched in the mirror as the vehicle backed up a little and turned into the pull-off, lights arcing behind her and flashing briefly into the car before the vehicle pulled up beside her.

It was too dark to make out much about it, or who was inside.

She waited, holding her breath, fingers poised on her ignition keys, not wanting any trouble from anyone who might be out for trouble tonight. Then her breath whooshed from her lungs when the vehicle door swung open, the light in the truck cab flashed on, and she could see Chris sitting there looking at her. He got out—one long leg at a time—left the door open and leaned to look inside her passenger window. He knocked with a knuckle on the glass and jiggled her door handle.

Good Lord. He’d followed her.

“Katie? What are you doing up here? Let me in, honey. Let’s talk.”

His face was backlit by the light from the cab.

“No! Go away Chris. Not now.”

“Please? You don’t need to be sitting out here all alone.”

She laughed.

“That’s exactly what I need right now, Chris. I need to be alone with my thoughts. We can talk tomorrow.”

“And tomorrow you will put me off again.”

He was probably right.

“No, I won’t. Go away for now. Okay?”

“Let me just explain, darlin’.”

She didn’t respond. He could explain all he wanted but it wouldn’t make a difference. She had to work through this by herself. He was getting antsy on the other side of the door; however, she could tell. He rose, paced back and forth toward his truck, and lowered again to look into the window.

“C’mon, Katie. It’s chilly out here.”

“You can sit in your truck.”

“Helluva way to try to talk.”

“I told you I don’t want to talk.”

He paused for a moment and she waited through the silence.

“Then do you wanna fuck?”

he blurted out.

Katie stared ahead. Yes. Yes. That was exactly what she wanted. No thought. No confusion. Right here. Right now. Just down and dirty fucking her brains out. She lifted the handle latch, got out of the car and slammed the door, rounded the rear and faced him square on.

“Yes. That’s what I want. I want to fuck. Fuck me, Chris. Now.”

She lifted her skirt and leaned into the side of the car. The metal was cold, and her ass was bare, and it was dark as sin on the side of this mountain but to hell with it. She wanted what she wanted.

“Now, Chris,”

she repeated. “Now.”

He reached for his belt.