Ricochet (Renegades #3)(64)
Author: Skye Jordan

Within three lines, her gaze blurred again.

She exhaled and slapped her pen on the desk. “Forget it. I need to wake up.”

She left the office and walked toward her room, her gaze searching for signs of Nathan—something she’d caught herself doing all day. But his truck was still gone from the lot, and Charlie had told her he’d gone to visit a friend in Santa Ynez.

The days were still long, and everyone else had drifted off the job, returning to their bunks after dinner or joining the pickup game of basketball on the makeshift court behind the stockyard.

In her room, she changed into running clothes and pulled her hair into a ponytail, looking forward to the release of all the stress that had built up since last night. She grabbed a bottle of water from the pack by her door and stepped out of the cabin, determined to return only after she was drenched in sweat and her mind was empty. She walked toward a path that wound through the mountains before returning to camp, but before she reached the trail, Nathan’s truck turned onto the property and up the main drive toward the lot and Rachel.

Her heart skipped. Her stomach squeezed. She swore under her breath and kept walking. His drove up next to her and slowed, leaning over and rolling down the window on the passenger’s door. “Hey. Going for a run?”

“Yes.”

They came to a crossroads where Rachel needed to turn left, but Nathan’s truck was in the way, and he slowed to a stop, blocking her path. She finally met his gaze, and just as she knew they would, those gray-green eyes pierced her chest and wound around her lungs.

“You read my mind.” He put the truck in park and shut down the engine. “I was just thinking a run would feel good.” He stood from the cab and rounded the bed. “Want company?”

“No, I want peace.”

She turned away and felt his hand on her back. Just a light touch. “Hey, come on.” His voice was overly congenial, surly trying to smooth the rough patch they’d had that morning. “I can be ready in three minutes.”

She gritted her teeth and turned back to him, doing her best to pretend he didn’t affect her. “Nathan, really. We don’t need to make this harder than—”

“Rachel.” He grinned, held his hands out. “It’s just a run.”

Okay, maybe she was holding on to something that he’d already let go of. Conflict always rolled off a guy’s back faster than a woman’s. She certainly didn’t want to make a problem where there wasn’t one. “Three minutes. Then I leave.”

He jogged to his cabin, and Rachel used his truck to stretch her calves and hamstrings, wishing she had the guts to be a bitch and just tell him no. Her life would be so much easier if she were.

Or if she weren’t so attracted to him.

Or if she hadn’t noticed a new lightness in his eyes. In his voice.

Or if he weren’t so damned adorable when he was trying to be…well, adorable.

When he returned, he stopped three feet away and rested an arm on the truck bed. “It’s a gorgeous night for a run on the beach.”

“No. Josh already completely messed up my schedule with that trip into town that took way longer than it should have. I’m behind on everything.” She started toward the trailhead.

Nathan fell into step beside her, then cut in front of her with a playful spark in his eyes. One she hadn’t seen since that first night together. “It’s going to be a beautiful sunset over the ocean. I won’t get many more chances to see those.”

She crossed her arms. “That is so cheap.”

He twisted his mouth, half smile, half smirk. “Cheap but true.”

There was something different about him. Something…looser. Easier. More open. And it only made her want to find out why.

“It’s only a fifteen-minute drive,” he said with the flash of his flirty smile—something else she hadn’t seen since the bar. And it still hit her chest dead center.

She exhaled heavily. “There, run, back. Period.”

“You got it.” He beamed, and Rachel’s stomach floated.

He started the drive quiet, tuning the radio to one of the only stations that came in, a contemporary country station, and relaxing into the soothing drive on the sparsely populated two-lane highway through the rolling green hills toward the ocean.

“What did you think of San Luis?” he asked, naming the town she’d visited with Josh. And if he knew she’d gone there, he knew who she’d gone with. Rachel’s stomach muscles tightened in preparation for an argument, and she second-guessed her decision to put herself in a situation where they could argue freely.

“It’s really cute,” she said. “Have you been there?”

“I stopped on my way back from Santa Ynez. There are a lot of nice towns along this part of the coast.”

When he didn’t bring up Josh, she relaxed into the seat, soaking in his smile, those warm green-gray eyes, the stubble on his chin. There was something about knowing he would be gone soon, knowing she wouldn’t see him again that made her want to memorize him. “It’s a beautiful area.”

“I can help you in the office when we get back. Get you caught up.”

She slanted a sidelong glance at him. “Who are you, and what did you do with the real Nathan?”

He smirked. “Fine, fine. I’ve never been all that great with paperwork anyway. Speaking of, thanks for getting that SOP and the action plan past Marx.”

“I didn’t do anything but type up what you already had. You did all the work.”

“‘You’re welcome’ works fine too,” he said.

A moment of silence stretched as they turned off the smaller road and onto the Pacific Coast Highway, then drove only a short distance to a strip of dirt leading to an open beachfront and parked.

“God,” she said, looking through the windshield at the smooth surf and the coral hues of the setting sun. “That’s crazy-beautiful.”

“Yeah.”

His soft response made her turn to glance at him, and she found him already looking directly at her. Heat rushed her face before she could even think to control it. She looked away and reached for the door handle. “It’s going to be a beautiful run. How did you find this?”

He got out and rounded the hood, and she walked ahead of him down the narrow footpath.

“Google maps.”

That sounded suspicious, but once her feet hit the sand, she didn’t care how he’d found this little slice of heaven. The air was cool, the beach empty, the sun heavy in the multicolored sky, the surf quiet. Rachel already felt her tension melting away.