Dead Running (13 page)

“Cassie, Cassie!” Damon’s voice echoed around the edges of conscious thought. He scooped me off the ground and cradled me in his arms. This man was not only fine but tough. I was not a lightweight.

“Cassie.”

I opened my eyes and stared into perfection. “I made the gate,” I said.

A short bark escaped his lips. “Yes, you made the gate.”

I leaned into his sinewy shoulder. “My prayers have been answered. Bury me here, please.”

He laughed again. “You okay?”

“Sure. Never been better.” I’d made it to the gate. My breathing was almost back to normal. My prayer had been partially answeredI made it to the top of the hill, I didn’t throw up, but I had passed out. Maybe I would just have to increase my Bible reading but not surpass Prevention.

Then it registered: I was in the midst of a full-body hug from Damon. Okay, okay. I’d read my Bible more.

After a few delicious seconds, I dredged up some pride. “You’d better set me down. I know I’m not light.”

“You’re fine,” he said, but he set me on my feet. Luckily for me, he kept one arm around my waist.

“Ready to run back home?” I asked, forcing a bright smile. Now that full consciousness had returned, my throbbing legs reminded me of the abuse they’d endured.

Damon looked at me like I was insane.

“Where are the guys?” I looked around at the path we’d taken through the trees and a wider road winding down the canyon, noticing for the first time that we were alone.

“The ‘guys’ are sprinting back down the road to get the truck and rush you to the hospital. None of us have cell phones on or there would be an ambulance on its way.”

“Oh, no,” I groaned. “I’m fine. How embarrassing is this?”

Damon lifted a stray hair and tucked it behind my ear. “It’s not embarrassing at all.”
           
“For you.” I harrumphed and spun away from him. My legs crumpled and I made friends with the dirt road. Damon lifted me up and into his side again. I brushed at the brown clinging to my hands and legs.

“I bet you can’t wait to take me to dinner tonight,” I mumbled. “Or rather carry me to dinner.”

“If you aren’t in the hospital, I’ll be thrilled to carry you to dinner tonight.”
           
“Ha-ha. Please stop making me laugh. I am
not
going to the hospital. If there’s a road why did we run up that uneven trail?”

Damon chuckled. “The trail is more interesting.”

I rolled my eyes and determinedly put one foot in front of the other. Damon kept one arm securely around my waist, supporting more of my weight than I was. We walked at a decent pace, but it still took us an hour to cross a few miles. When I saw Joe’s truck barreling up the pot-holed road I almost collapsed with relief. He and Trevor must’ve sprinted down that road. I can’t imagine anyone running seven miles and then driving back over them that quickly.

I barely managed to convince them not to take me to the hospital. They were all humiliatingly nice about the incident. Trevor kept telling me how tough I was.

Suffering a load of embarrassment was worth it though. Damon drove me home, Trevor followed in my car. Nana was out shopping, so Damon was able to “assist” me all the way up to my bedroom. The hug he gave me when he said goodbye made me think tonight was going to be a lot of fun.

“So this boy almost killed you and now you’re letting him take you to dinner.” Nana knitted, her needles automatically counting out the pattern without any conscious thought. Years of practice.

I looked at my most recent afghan, pewter blue and off-white. Where would I put this one? She’d been making me afghans since the day I graduated high school and she deemed I was ready to, “marry and start my own household.” To date I had twelve afghans but no house to put them in and no desire to explain to Nana that I didn’t really enjoy afghans, they didn’t keep me warm and they were kind of ugly.
           
I leaned back from peering through the curtained side light next to the front door. Still no sign of Damon. He’d said seven. It was now six-fifty-nine and forty-three seconds. Yes, I counted the seconds. I planned on getting a kiss tonight.

“It’s not like that, Nana,” I said.

“Oh, and what is it like?” Nana sat in the padded rocker placed strategically in the front room to view any guests who came to the door and all the traffic on our not-so-busy street.

“I tried to kill myself,” I muttered, “in front of his friends mind you, and he’s still willing to take me to dinner. Maybe I
should
worry about him.”

“Speak up, girl, I hate it when you mumble.”

I glared at my grandmother. “You be nice to him. He’s a really great guy.”

Nana grumbled something incoherent and pulled the yarn tight. “I’ll decide if he’s a great guy or not.”

Ignoring her, I sniffed my elbow. Was my perfume too strong? Too floral? Maybe I should wash it off and restart. Straightening my flowing skirt, I hoped my stomach looked flat in this fitted shirt. I bit at my lip then cursed myself. Had I just taken off my meticulously applied lipstick?

A knock on the door surprised me. I spun around. Damon peeked through the sidelight and waved. How had he gotten to the door undetected? I’d only turned my back for a moment. Had he seen me sniffing myself?

I ripped open the front door and started to hyperventilate. I’d never seen him in anything but workout clothes.

He wore jeans and a button-down shirt. His hair looked darker with a bit of gel in it. His blue eyes twinkled at me. His perfect mouth split in a smile. What on earth was this man doing on my doorstep? I grinned, mentally patting myself on the back.
I must’ve done a lot of things right in heaven.

“Cassie,” he said, covering my hand with his. “You look amazing.”

“I, uh,” I sputtered,
was thinking the same thing about you
. “I know it,” I managed.

His grin widened. “Are you ready to go?”

I nodded dumbly. From behind us a voice screeched, “Cassidy Christensen, you are not leaving this house until I meet this young man of yours.”

Oh, Nana. How
could
I have forgotten my guardian?

Damon’s surprise only showed in his eyes. “You look so great, I didn’t even notice anyone else was here,” he murmured in my ear.

I giggled like a teenager. His spicy cologne made me feel faint. I better not pass out on him again.

With a gentle sweep of his hand, Damon simultaneously turned me to face my grandmother and made me tingle all over.

“This is my grandma,” I said.

Damon gave her his grin and strode forward. Nana dropped her needles and yarn into her lap, not seeming to notice that several stitches unraveled. She offered her hand with the grace of a queen.

Damon bent low over the calloused fingers. “I’m Damon Cartwright,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“You can call me, Nana,” she said, apparently awestruck by his gaze.

“Nana!” This degree of warmth had never happened on a first encounter. “You barely know him.”

“I like what I know,” she said.

Damon laughed. “Well, thank you, ma’am.”

“Now,” Nana withdrew her fingers and regained some sense of propriety. “Tell me where you’re taking my granddaughter.”

Damon glanced back at me with a wink. “Anywhere she wants.”

“Just because you’re handsomer than Rock Hudson doesn’t mean you can be cute with me, young man.”

I groaned. When would I ever convince Nana that not only was Rock Hudson dead, he swung from the other side and wouldn’t have looked at her if he were alive?

Nana pointed her knitting needle at Damon. “You must have some idea where I can start the search if she turns up missing again.”

“Again.” I blew out a long breath, my heart rate increasing. Maybe Nana and Jared didn’t need to go insane every time my cell phone died and they couldn’t reach me.

“Again?” Damon arched an eyebrow at me.

"Damon promised me dinner," I said to Nana.

"I was hoping she liked Mexican, maybe Café Sabor.”

I sighed, relieved he'd picked up on the hint that he didn't want to hear the stories.

Nana nodded her approval. “I think she’ll be more than happy with Café Sabor.” She offered her hand again. Damon gave it one more squeeze before sauntering to my side and holding the door open for me.

“Café Sabor is my favorite restaurant,” I informed him.

“Really? That’s why I like you so much.” Damon winked.

“One of the many reasons,” I reminded him.

“Make sure she actually eats,” Nana admonished us from behind. “She’s anorexic you know.”

My cheeks flushed. I was several dress sizes above anorexic, but try convincing Nana of that. “Thank you, Nana. Thank you very much.” I clutched Damon’s hand and hurried him out the front door before she could reveal anything else that would hurt my chances of getting a kiss tonight.

Damon settled me into the car and jumped into the driver’s seat. He didn't start the vehicle, but smiled gently at me. “Why do you live with your grandmother instead of your parents?”

“Nana and I kind of watch over each other,” I swallowed and looked away, “because my parents are dead.”

“I'm sorry,” he said.

I brushed that away with a wave of my hand.

“How are you feeling?”

I was so grateful he changed the subject that I grinned. “Wonderful.”

He wrapped his fingers around mine and squeezed. “Not sore from this morning?”

“This morning?” I was drawing a blank. All I could feel was the pressure of his hand on mine.

“We went on a run. You passed out.”

“Oh.” I exhaled slowly. “Thanks. I’d almost blocked the painful memory and here you are bringing it up again.”

Damon chuckled, rubbing his thumb along the back of my hand. “Sorry for your distress.”

“You’d better be, it was your fault.”

“Did you call your doctor like I told you to?”

I shifted uncomfortably on the leather seat.

“Seriously, Cassie.” He rolled his head to the side. “Why didn’t you call?”

“I’m fine.”

“I'm worried about you.” He squeezed my hand.
 
“You’re going to be on a lot of outside runs. What if you’d been out there by yourself and this had happened?”

I arched an eyebrow. “I’d stand back up and hobble home.”

Damon shook his head. “You are so competitive. You probably race through town like a maniac afraid another runner might catch you.”

I thought of Jesse chasing me through town and for some reason felt guilty for being with Damon. I thought of Muscle Man chasing me and for some reason felt mad that neither Jesse nor Damon could protect me from him. I winced and turned to stare out the front windshield. “Dinner sounds good now.”

“We’ll go when you promise me that you’ll call your doctor on Monday.”

Why did everybody think they had to tell me what to do? I exhaled slowly, pivoting in the soft leather seat and giving in. A fight on the first date wasn’t a great idea. “Okay, okay. First thing Monday morning old Doc Thurston gets a treat.”

Damon entwined our hands and brushed those perfect lips across my knuckles. “Doc Thurston is a lucky man,” he murmured.

I held in a sigh of pleasure, suddenly glad I’d backed down. “So are you.”

He chuckled. “So am I.”

We made it to the restaurant, through a dinner filled with interesting conversation and meaningful glances, and almost through the entire night without mishap. Damon paid the bill and we were standing to leave when it happened. Hot Redhead walked past our table. She paused in awestruck wonder as Damon rewarded her with an undeserved smile.

“Hello,” she whispered breathlessly. “I don’t know if you remember me. I met you at The Health Days Race. Elizabeth Randolph.”

Damon nodded. “Of course I remember you, Elizabeth. It’s nice to see you.”