Tracy Madison - From Good Guy To Groom

She ignored the luck comment and the query about her sleep, but answered his other question. “A little fatigued, but that’s normal. Nothing to worry about, Ryan.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Thankfully, he stood then, so she could breathe again. “Come on, up and at ’em. Let’s take that walk. I promise you’ll feel better for it, and besides, there’s something I want to show you. Something I think, hope, you’ll appreciate.”

When asked like that, how could she say no? And, yeah, he’d raised her curiosity. “You never learned how to take no for an answer, did you, Mr. Bradshaw? But okay, you win.”

“I typically do,” he said in a good-old-boy sort of way.

He held out his hand to help her up, but she stood on her own. As she always had, as she always would. The muscles in her leg complained viciously, which she ignored. She could handle a walk, and in the long run she’d probably be better off for it. If nothing else, the exercise would tire her even more, making it easier to take that nap later she so yearned for.

“You can quit looking at me as if I’m about to keel over,” she said, holding her chin high. “I’m fine, as I said. And I’ve agreed to your walk, so let’s get started before my aunt shows.”

“Oh, I’m not looking at you as if you’re about to keel over,” he said, gesturing toward the driveway. “I’m also not looking at the dark circles beneath your eyes, or how your entire body just trembled as you stood. I’ve noticed those, yes, but what I’m looking at...what I’m seeing right now is fire. In your hair. In your eyes. In your demeanor. And, now, in your cheeks.”

“Better be careful then.” She followed his purposefully slow and even pace down the driveway, and tried not to be annoyed by her appreciation of his awareness and her discomposure by the very same. “Fire tends to burn. Wouldn’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Is that a warning?”

“No, not really. Let’s call it an observation.” Glancing over her shoulder, she grinned to lighten her words. “Fire is hot. Hot things burn. Burns cause pain. Therefore, one would be intelligent to remain cautious around fire.”

“Fair enough.”

They continued their easy stride, not talking at all, as they left Ryan’s property and took a right from his driveway. Since he did not live in a neighborhood, there wasn’t a sidewalk, so they hugged the street near the curb. After a few minutes had passed, Andi was forced to admit that the calm, rhythmic movement seemed to be doing her some good. The throbbing in her leg decreased, the tension in her shoulders eased and a good deal of the smog in her brain cleared.

Damn him for being right, anyway.

She felt so much better than she had just a few minutes ago, but she kept that thought to herself. What was it about this guy that got to her so keenly? How was he able to look at her and see so much truth so freaking easily? Others couldn’t. She’d made sure of that.

This man could, though. He’d proved that several times already.

Suddenly, Ryan came to a stop and pointed toward a narrow path that jutted into the woods on that side of the road. “What I want to show you is in there. The path is a little rocky, but I think you can manage it just fine, as it’s a fairly straight shot. Feel up to it?”

No. “Of course I do. Lead on.”

“Actually, I want you to go first. That way I can catch you if you trip or lose your balance. And don’t take that the wrong way, Miss Independent. I brought you here. It’s my job to ascertain your safety, that’s all this is.”

Shrugging, she stepped onto the path, using her cane for balance, and said, “Why would I think anything else? You’ll have to guide me, though, since I have no idea where we’re headed.”

“Nah. We’re not going that far in, and you’ll know when to stop.”

With those words, she trudged forward, her entire focus on not falling or losing her balance, because the idea of Ryan’s arms closing in around her was a little too appealing. Oh, hell, who did she think she was fooling? A lot too appealing.

“Keep going, we’re almost there,” Ryan said from behind her, his voice encouraging. Confident. “You’re doing great and, once there—if we have a few extra minutes—we can sit and relax a bit before heading back.”

Good. While the pain had receded to a much more manageable level, her muscles were shaky, still too weak for her comfort—from the workout earlier, the walk now and a definite lack of healing, restorative sleep.

Maybe it was time to consider the sleeping pills her doctor had prescribed months ago...the same ones she’d refused to take thus far. That was partially due to a groundless fear that they’d keep her locked in one of her nightmares, unable to rouse herself, and partially due to old-fashioned stubbornness. Pills might supply a temporary solution, but they weren’t the answer. They wouldn’t fix anything over the long term.

Lost in thought as she was, and not paying nearly enough attention to the path, her shoe hit a rock and she came close to losing her footing. Before she did, before so much as a speck of panic set in, a pair of strong and able arms pulled her backward into an equally strong and able hold. For a few brief—too brief?—seconds, Andi’s body was pressed firmly against Ryan’s, and in that minuscule period, she did not feel discomfort or uneasy.

Rather, a sense of utmost safety existed...which made sense, but something else lurked there, too. Recognition? Maybe. As strange as that possibility was, maybe that.

“You’re fine,” Ryan whispered into her ear, his tenor reassuring and his breath warm against her skin. Both of which elicited a series of tingles that began at her neck and wove their way down all the way to her freaking ankles. Crazy, to feel that way. Absurd, too. “I got you, Andi. I’m not about to let you fall, darlin’. Not today, anyway.”

“Thank you,” she said. “And you’re right. I am fine. You can let me go now.”

He did, without delay. “We’re almost there,” he said, once he seemed certain of her ability to stand on her own. “See that bend in the path up ahead? Our destination is just beyond.”

“Then let’s get to it,” she said, more under her breath than not. Damn it. The phantom pressure of his arms remained, as did the sensation of their bodies plastered against one another. “Unless we hurry, I’ll pretty much have to turn around as soon as we get there, anyway. My aunt is likely to worry if I’m not waiting outside your place when she arrives.”

“Of course. That isn’t a problem.” The tone of his voice told her, without doubt, that she’d made him smile. Why? How? Jeez, what could she possibly have said or done to amuse him enough to bring forth a smile? “If I know you at all,” he continued, sounding annoyingly confident, “you’ll appreciate what you’re about to see. And whether you like the idea or not, I’m beginning to know who you are.”

“Lies,” she said, going for light and easy. “All lies.”

They started the trek around the bend, but she kept her mouth shut against the remaining slew of rebuttals bopping to and fro in her brain. She was not his darling, that was number one. In fact, she wasn’t anyone’s darling. Number two? Ryan only knew what she’d let him see, which hadn’t been a hell of a lot. Because no matter what he thought and despite that way of his, he could not read her mind. He did not know her. And...and...she probably wouldn’t have tripped, even without his help.

Probably, she’d have caught herself in time. She did not need Ryan Bradshaw, or anyone for that matter, swooping in and lifting her backward in his arms as if she were a bird with a wounded wing. She was not. Oh, and why—