The Rebel's Return (Red River) Page 3

  Sabrina nodded rapidly, smoothing the now bent corner. “You’re right. I’m not holding out for him or anything.”

  Her heart squeezed for her best friend. Sabrina hadn’t had the easiest life, and Natalia knew she’d had a crush on her older brother for years. “We need to forget about these guys. Both of them. Aiden and Dominic.”

  “You’re right. I’m inviting myself to the bachelorette party,” Sabrina said.

  “Excellent. It’s not going to be anything special, anyway. She’s having it at the Roadhouse, and then she’s going to trash it up in the city after.”

  Sabrina giggled.

  “I plan on coming up with an excuse and leaving after the Roadhouse.”

  “Perfect. I’ll meet you there.”

  “Great. She won’t even notice us. I’ll make an appearance, and that’ll be fine. I’m not spending any longer with her and her friends. Her backhanded jabs at me are getting worse and worse.”

  “You’re a freaking saint,” Sabrina said. “If she were my cousin, I’d have told her off years ago.”

  “She’s my father’s sister’s daughter. I can’t. I’m fine. It’ll be a distraction.”

  “It seems like emotional suicide: Francesca’s wedding, Aiden, not having a love life…” Her voice trailed off, and the sympathy that was oozing from her best friend was sincere but not what she needed right now.

  “I’ll be relieved when it’s all over,” she said, hoping to God she was right and that she could take all this on.

  “I know, babe. I know you’re tough as nails. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

  She drank the now cold latte, and a revelation hit her. “Sab, why am I trying to get through other people’s major life events all the time? Why am I not the one in the life events? I keep standing around waiting for things to happen to me. Omigod,” she said, raising her head and clutching her friend’s forearms. “I’m like Kate Winslet in The Holiday. I’m not being the leading lady of my own life.”

  Sabrina sat up straighter and gave her a triumphant smile. “There you go. That’s it. You gotta get it back, sweetheart.”

  She nodded her head with determination. “I’m going to start jogging. Tomorrow.”

  Sabrina’s smile dipped slightly. No doubt her friend was remembering her past attempts—and failures. For some reason she’d never been able to jog. She didn’t have the endurance, which was infuriating. She had no follow-through. She felt like she was in shape. She walked half an hour to work and back every day. Why was jogging so much harder for her? “This time I’m going to do it. I’m going to see if I still have that Couch to 5K app on my phone, and I’m going to set a deadline.”

  “Isn’t the deadline on the app?”

  She picked up her phone and opened the app, confirming the timing. She nodded. “Yes. Perfect. Seven weeks.”

  “And by then, Aiden will be long gone and your normal and newly improved life will start.”

  “I’ve already forgotten about him,” she said with a wave of her hand.

  Sabrina turned to the window. “I’m going to keep my eye out for him. Maybe he’s not as hot as you think he is. Maybe it was just rage and bitterness, and it blurred your eyesight. As your loyal BFF, I will inform you if the hotness factor is accurate.”

  “Oh God,” she whispered, catching sight of the object of their conversation crossing the street.

  Sabrina leaned forward. “What?”

  “He’s crossing the road!”

  “Don’t look!” Sabrina said. “I’ll look for you… Omigod,” Sabrina groaned, clutching the side of the table.

  She stared at her friend, not daring to look in the direction of the window. “What?”

  “Your original assessment may have been correct. I’ll know more if he approaches. But, dear God, those jeans. You didn’t tell me he walked like that. And that, um, oh yes, stubble. The chin. The dimple. It’s still there. Dear God, he’s coming this way. Wait—tell me, what did he drive into town? Motorcycle or car?”

  “Harley,” she whispered.

  Sabrina picked up the glossy, postcard-sized mailer and fanned herself. “We are toast.”

  Take a deep breath. You’re not eighteen anymore. “I think we’re reverting to the maturity level of the last time he was in town. We need to be the calm, cool, collected businesswomen that we are. I run a bakery. You are the best realtor in town. We are having a business meeting. We are not in high school anymore,” she said, cringing at the screechy sound of her voice. She snatched her friend’s makeshift fan and put it back in the pile. “Let’s get back to work. Your new mailers are great—let’s focus on that.”

  Sabrina nodded and sat up straighter. “Right. Exactly.” She leaned forward. “What do we do if he walks in here?”

  She let out a frustrated breath. “He won’t. I was so rude to him there’s no way he’d even attempt coming in here.”

  Sabrina’s eyes widened to frightening proportions. “He’s opening the door.”

  She closed her eyes and prayed that when she looked down at herself she’d be wearing something other than the italians do it better T-shirt that Sabrina had given her for Christmas along with a pair of leggings that certainly weren’t hiding the cannoli she’d been stress eating this month. Cannoli. Those had been Aiden’s favorite. Being the beautiful bastard that he was, he’d been able to scarf them down by the dozen and never put on a pound.

  “Quick, pick up your flyer and pretend we’re reading it,” she whispered as the bells on top of the door jingled. She held the glossy mailer with her friend’s cute smiling face too close to her eyes, so much that she was sure she was appearing cross-eyed. She knew Sabrina was doing the same. It was the clearest of snubs, and so juvenile. Yet the approaching, steady footsteps told her that the snubbed could not care less.

  “Sorry, sir, we’re closed,” she called out while Sabrina gasped theatrically. She didn’t lower the mailer, but the shadow that crossed it, combined with the hum that started through her body, told her that Aiden was now standing in front of their table.

  “Sir? Really?”

  She stood, “Just trying to offer polite customer service to all our patrons regardless of previous behavior. Also, you’re interrupting an important business meeting.”

  She ignored Sabrina’s choking.

  He had the audacity to flash them both a smile that made her pulse race faster than any bad jogging attempt ever had.

  He turned to her. “Hi, Sabrina. How are you?”

  Sabrina sat up a little straighter and tossed her hair over her shoulder. God bless her friend for attempting to look normal. “Fine. Totally fine. Nice to see you again.”

  “You, too.”

  Aiden looked back at her, amused by the two of them no doubt.

  She stood and marched past him to the door, tugging on her shirt, wishing it was longer, or wishing that she wasn’t wearing leggings, or that she had stuck with the jogging thing. Well, whatever, it didn’t matter, because he didn’t matter. She stood next to the door, holding the lock at the top. “You can go ahead and leave. I’ll be sure to lock up behind you.”

  He gave her an adorable half smile that caused his dimple to appear, which then resulted in her palms sweating. She really needed to start scoping out available men in Red River. There had to be other people that could evoke this kind of unwanted bodily reaction in her. It couldn’t just be Aiden who could do this to her. “Somehow I find it hard to imagine you two having a business meeting.”

  Well, at least his smugness managed to dampen her reaction. She raised her eyebrows and refused to look anywhere other than the small crease in his forehead. “Oh really? Why?”

  He propped his shoulder against the wall and crossed his arms across his chest, settling in with the confidence of a lion. “Well, first of all, neither of you were even speaking. I have never seen the two of you go longer than five seconds in the same room without talking.”

  Sabrina laughed, clearly falling for Aiden’s charmin
g smile and teasing. She glared over her shoulder at her friend. Sabrina gave her a loyal nod and lifted up the mailer.

  “That’s patronizing. We’re completely different from the girls we were.”

  “Neither of you have changed a bit, and that’s a compliment.”

  “Thanks,” Sabrina said, looking all flushed.

  Natalia rolled her eyes. “Why are you here?”

  “I came for cannoli.”

  She pursed her lips. So he came here for food. How about an apology for breaking her freaking heart? For betrayal? “Nope. Sorry. None left.”

  His gaze darted past hers to the counter, no doubt zeroing in on the cannoli displayed on a silver stand under the lights. “I see at least a dozen right there.”

  She crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes on him as his gaze dipped to her breasts.

  He tilted his chin, smirk in place. “So what do Italians do better, Nat?”

  She leaned forward. “Lots of things. Things you’ll never know about.”

  He pushed off the wall and leaned in close. She would have backed up, but she didn’t want to look as though he was phasing her. Of course, he totally was. Because now, she caught the clean, crisp smell of him. She saw the lighter blue flecks in his eyes. She could feel the heat emanating off his tall, hard body. “Well, maybe one day I can find out.”

  Her heart thumped in a painfully slow rhythm, and she tried not to respond to the look in his eyes, or the huskiness in his voice. She needed to get him out of here. She cleared her throat and looked up at him. “I don’t think so.”

  He flicked his chin in the direction of the counter. “Ah. Well, in that case, why don’t you sell me a dozen cannoli?”

  “Nope. Store’s closed. It goes against store policy.”

  “But you run the store.”

  She didn’t appreciate the patronizing tone, nor did she like the way he spoke really slowly. “Exactly. It goes against my policy.”

  He ran his hand over his jaw and she could have sworn she heard some kind of grumbling. “What policy is that?”

  “Cheaters. I don’t sell cannoli to adulterers.”

  His jaw started ticking, and she was somewhat satisfied. He looked away for a minute and clenched his jaw tightly. She took that moment when he wasn’t looking to admire—well, not admire, more observe—how well he’d aged. All that lanky muscle had filled out, leaving him looking hard and formidable. Except for his mouth. That was still pure sweetness. His disgruntled expression only seemed to enhance the badass aura that he still pulled off so well, even years later. He shoved a hand into the front pocket of his jeans. Jeans, she sadly realized, were still his trademark. She was pleased to see that his jaw hadn’t relaxed yet. Not pleased to see the attractive stubble, or the hard, chiseled line of said jaw, but it was nice to know she was making him angry.

  God, she was an idiot.

  He sighed roughly. “That was a long time ago.”

  She shrugged. “There are certain things a girl doesn’t forget.”

  The dimple went into hiding, replaced by incessant jaw ticking. “So you’re never going to forgive me for something that happened a helluva long time ago? We’ve both moved on. We were practically kids, Nat.”

  That was the pathetic, tragic part of all of it. She had tried to move on. And had only wound up with another guy cheating on her. She had been publicly humiliated twice. The first time, with Aiden, her heart had been completely broken. The second time, with Franco, it had been her pride more than anything, because she hadn’t really loved him, and he’d cheated on her with her own cousin.

  “Why does it look like smoke is about to come out of your ears?”

  She touched her hand to her chest, trying to look shocked and cool and collected, nothing like the person he was describing. “Smoke? No, no, you’ve mistaken my expression. It was disgust. For the entire male gender for being unable to remain faithful or have any sense of decency.”

  His brows snapped together, and he scowled. Looks like she had successfully pissed him off.

  “Who hurt you?”

  Her mouth dropped open, and her heart squeezed so tightly in her chest that she couldn’t breathe. She thought he was mad at what she’d said. Instead he was standing there looking all hot and tough and angry…because someone had hurt her. Oh, the confusion of it all. She wanted to hate him, so much, but then he did stuff like this. Or like come back to Red River to care for the father he had a horrible relationship with. Why couldn’t he just be one hundred percent jerk? Fifty percent jerk was way harder to ignore. She turned her head from his intense blue gaze and caught Sabrina staring at them like she was watching a movie, while holding her latte in one hand and taking a bite out of a cannolo from the other. She quickly looked down.

  She tilted up her chin and dodged his question. “You.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck and winced. “Besides me.”

  She had no intention of telling him about her second great judgment screw up. “No one you know or need to know.”

  “What did he do to you?” His voice was soft, thick with concern…and laced with anger.

  She crossed her arms and refused to get caught up in his charming display of protectiveness. “Nothing. Don’t worry about me, I can take care of myself.”

  He gave a short nod. “I know you can, Nat.” This time his voice was gruff and sent a thrilling shiver down her spine, like it always used to. “You always have been one of the smartest people I know.”

  Always the charmer. Like he actually thought that bit of flattery would have her serving up cannoli. Not going to work. “Which is why I can’t sell you any cannoli.”

  “What?’

  She nodded. “That’s right. I can’t sell you any cannoli because that wouldn’t be smart.”

  He was frowning again.

  She grabbed his wrist and tried to pull him out the door but he didn’t move. He didn’t even sway. “If you’ll kindly leave my store, you’re interrupting a business meeting.”

  The only thing that moved was the corner of his mouth, making a dimple appear as he looked between her and Sabrina.

  She narrowed her eyes on him. “We do business. Important business. Sabrina is the top real estate agent in town.”

  She sucked in a breath as Sabrina smiled wanly, a latte moustache obvious from across the room, along with icing sugar dusted across her black shift dress. Aiden turned back to her and smirked. “Well, I don’t want to interrupt such a high-powered meeting of the minds.”

  She let out a disgusted noise. “You have no idea, buddy, none. Besides, I’m getting ready to deliver an order to your friend’s wife’s successful floral shop. They are a power couple.”

  He didn’t blink. “Jake Manning? Part of a power couple. I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that.”

  She tapped her foot. “It’s pretty arrogant of you to come back in here and act like you know everything about everyone. I think it’s amazing how your once screwed-up friend managed to turn his life around. But, then again, he actually stuck around instead of running away from his problems.”

  His jaw was ticking like clockwork as he listened to her. “She clearly gave him a second chance. And for the record, I’ve been in touch with Jake.”

  Interesting. “Claire clearly thought he was worthy of one.”

  “Everyone is worthy.”

  “But not everything is forgivable. Cheating is unforgivable in my book.”

  Something flashed across his blue eyes, anger maybe. For a second it seemed like something more. But what? And really, why did it matter to her? Aiden was part of her past. He would be here for a few weeks, and then he’d leave again. He swung open the door and walked out, looking as though nothing bothered him.

  Aiden McCann had been bad news from day one. She had never heeded the warnings about him ten years ago, and he’d destroyed her. She wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice.

  Chapter Three

  Six thirty in the morning. That was
what she called dedication. This was what really disciplined people did. Runners did this. In the rain, snow, sleet, they ran. Morning or at night, they ran, fearlessly. She needed to be a runner.

  The sun wasn’t even all the way up yet, and here she was, true to her word, ready to start her jogging program. She was going to do this. It would help her with stress relief, too. She could think about Aiden. She could think about her cousin, and burn off all that negative energy.

  She inserted an earbud in her right ear only, thinking it was safer if she could hear outside noise, as well. She opened up her app and selected Day One, Week One and took a deep breath. Her playlist queued up, and the narrator, in a super cheerful voice, told her to start walking for her warm-up. Great. She could do that.

  She started walking at an easy pace along the riverside trail. This was her favorite trail in Red River. Right now, it was practically deserted, a few figures walked in the distance. The sun was on the verge of rising, and the air had a slight chill in it, holding on to the summer air while giving way to a bit of autumn’s chill. She kept walking, ignoring the slight panic she felt when she glanced at her iPhone screen and saw she’d be jogging momentarily. Sure enough, the chipper voice filled her ear, and she had to start the dreadful jog.

  She paced herself, telling herself she could totally do this. See? Easy. Her new running shoes were comfy and padded and felt light as her feet pounded the pavement. Her light jacket kept her warm, and before she knew it, the jogging interval was over, and she was able to resume walking. Funny, in life she had always been able to start jogging, but she never ever made it to a full-on half-hour jog. She was going to do it.

  When the half hour was up, she took a deep breath and did some light stretching, feeling incredibly free, incredibly optimistic. It was a miracle, really, because having Aiden back in town, coupled with the upcoming nuptials of her cousin and ex-boyfriend drawing near, was enough to make her not feel optimistic about anything. Flashing lights in the distance caused her to pause, and she walked toward the parked police cruiser. She already knew who it was. Sure enough, her brother was leaning against the hood of the car, two coffees in a cardboard tray sitting on top.