Learning to Breathe Again (4 page)

“
Ahh, I was just going to go
to a hotel.”

“
That would be okay, if the
hotel in town wasn’t closed right now for remodeling. And Waketon
only has the one decent hotel.”

“
Well, shit,” Bayleigh
muttered, closing her eyes. “What the hell am I supposed to
do?”

“
Stay with Jack. His place
is big enough,” Jason suggested.

“
I can’t do
that!”

“
Sure you can. He’s a former
Army officer, injured in the line of duty and everything. He’s also
one of my best friends. Hell, he and Nicole treat each other like
siblings, so he’s like family. On top of all that, he got Nicole to
give me a second chance, so I owe him my life.”

“
Well, he hasn’t offered
yet. Why can’t I stay at your place?”

“
Because we had a busted
water pipe the other day, which is why we took a long weekend. The
contractors are supposed to be fixing it while we’re gone. And
trust me, he’ll offer to let you stay with him. Plus he has a hot
tub. You can relax and let it work its magic on your leg. It’ll
help relieve the muscle soreness.”

“
Jason, don’t you dare make
him offer…”

“
I won’t have to. Trust me,
Bayleigh.”

“
Fine. He wanted to speak to
you anyway. But I’m warning you, Jason. Don’t you dare tell him to
let me stay with him! He may be your best friend, but he is still a
stranger to me!”

“
Great. And
Bayleigh…”

“
Yes, Jason?”

“
I’m sorry we weren’t home
but we’ll see you on Monday. I’m glad you came back, sis.” Those
words alone told her in an instant she had made the right decision
to come to Texas.

“
Thanks, Jason.” She
swallowed past the sudden lump in her throat. “Let me get Jack for
you.” Covering the phone with her hand, she called out to Jack and
waited for him to walk back into the room.

“
Where’s the bathroom?” she
asked as she handed the phone over and pushed herself up off the
sofa.

“
Down the hall, first door
on the right,” he told her, the phone already up to his ear. “Do
you need help walking down the hall?”

“
I’m good,” she waved him
off and headed down the hall. She needed to come up with a good
excuse as to why she couldn’t stay with him, and fast!

Jack took the phone, keeping his eye on the
hallway. By standing there, he’d be able to see the door for the
bathroom open when she left it to return to his office. If he was
going to talk about Bayleigh to her brother, he sure as hell wasn’t
going to get caught doing it.

“
So, how’s the trip
going?”

“
Just great,” Jason
admitted. “So my sister showed up.”

“
What’s her story?” Jack
lowered his voice a notch.

“
What do you
mean?”

“
Well, I’ve never met your
sister before, but something doesn’t quite look right. She damn
near fainted on me when I asked her what was wrong with her leg and
she tried to put her full weight on it. A strong wind would blow
her over,” Jack glanced down the hallway, lowering his voice. “And
she’s skittish.”

“
Skittish? What the hell do
you mean by skittish?”

“
Just that. Like a newborn
colt. She was ready to either bolt, or scratch my eyes out the
second she knew I was behind her.” Jack’s eyes narrowed as he
thought back to the scene in the outer office. “I don’t know what
it is, Jason. She said she’s been traveling for at least thirty-six
hours, but by the dark circles under her eyes, I’d say she’s gone
more than that without any decent sleep. My gut is screaming at me
that there’s more than just a lack of sleep,” Jack scrubbed a hand
over his own face. “Any ideas why my gut is telling me
that?”

Jason hesitated. “She never told me the
details, but something happened last summer. I saw an article
online about her being stalked. She wouldn’t talk to me about it at
the time, and then everything happened with Nicole and her
accident. Bayleigh said she was fine and that idiot boyfriend of
hers said she was fine.”

“
She has a boyfriend who let
her travel that distance, in her condition?”

“
I think they broke up last
fall. Again. Maybe this time it was for good. I try to stay out of
her love life as much as possible.”

“
Did you break it to her
that she can’t stay at your place and the hotel is closed right
now?”

“
I did.”

“
You okay with her staying
with me out at my place?”

“
You know I trust you, man,
and believe me, she takes the term ‘stubborn’ to a whole new
level,” Jason sighed. “Look, please, just keep your eye on her for
me. If she needs anything, get her up to the hospital and have one
of my partners look at her for me. Tell them I’ll square it with
them on Monday.”

“
Will do. I’ll let you know
if she decides against staying with me. Otherwise, we’ll be leaving
here and heading to the ranch in a few minutes." He disconnected
the call and shoved the phone in his pocket and moved over to his
desk to turn off his computer monitor.

Stupid piece of junk. I should just throw
the damn thing against the wall. I can afford a new one.

His glance went back to the doorway and he
wondered what was taking Bayleigh so long. There had been a spark
of awareness in his body when he'd touched her. He wasn’t one for
all that touchy-feely crap, at least he hadn’t been in over ten
years. Not since the last woman who he’d allowed into his heart had
pulled it still beating from his chest and stomped on it.

But the emotions stirring in his chest, just
from catching Bayleigh when she almost fainted, had him wanting
more. He wanted to fight her demons, to hold her in the night, and
catch her every time she stumbled and fell. There was a look in her
eyes he wanted to erase and replace. He’d never felt this kind of
pull towards another woman. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t
spooked by it.

Maybe it was the look of innocence or the
steel under the fatigue he’d seen peeking through when he thought
she was going to attack him in the outer office. But something in
her called to him. The question was, could he or would he bother to
answer it?

He smiled at her as she stepped back into the
room. For now, he could at least help erase some of the exhaustion
from her eyes.

"So..." He picked up his keys and grabbed his
Stetson off the hook on the wall. "Jason said he’d told you the bad
news about the hotel and his place. I have a couple of extra rooms.
You are more than welcome to stay with me until they get back on
Monday.”

“
Did he put you up to
offering?”

“
No. He and I both know that
Nicole will skin me alive if I don’t offer you a place to stay.
Southern hospitality and all that,” he told her with a wink. “I
know I’m a stranger and all, but in all honesty, the closest decent
hotel is at least an hour away.”

“
An hour?”

“
At least. And I am not
going to believe you if you try to tell me you can make it that
far.”

Bayleigh took a deep breath
and tilted her head back to stare up at the ceiling.
Why me?
“Fine. I’m not
left with much choice, am I?” she lowered her head and met his
amused gaze.

“
You always have a choice.
This is just your best option right now.” Jack intoned with a grin
in her direction. “Let’s go, then.” He indicated for her to
following him out to the main room. While he made sure all of the
lights were out and doors were locked, she waited by the
door.

Leading the way outside, he set the alarm and
locked the door. He turned to where she was leaning against the
wall, the dark circles under her eyes seeming even darker in the
fading sun.

"Why don't you leave your car here tonight?
It's at least twenty minutes out to my place, and with it starting
to get dark, I don't want you getting lost again. I promise I'll
bring you back out in the morning to get your car." He reached
towards her to take her arm. It didn’t escape his notice her sudden
tension as his hand came up.

"I’m not going to hurt you, Bayleigh.” He
whispered, lowering his hand back to his side without even touching
her. He looked down at her hands, clenched into fists at her sides,
and then his gaze traveled back up, taking in her heaving chest, as
if she’d just finished a five-mile run, to her face. Her very pale,
deer-caught-in-the-head-lights-looking face.

He kept his eyes locked on her face as he
took two steps back. “Better?” He asked her, making sure he didn’t
make any sudden moves towards her, or try to touch her again. He’d
seen that look on a couple of clients before. Domestic abuse cases.
He hoped to God that wasn’t the case here.

“
I promise you’re safe with
me. The door to your bedroom has a lock. I’ll even give you a
weapon if that’s what you need.”

She swallowed hard at that,
and breaking eye contact, she looked over at her car.
Jason said I could trust him. I have to trust
someone.
“Do I need a weapon?”

“
Not against me. You have
all the power you need, just by saying the word ‘no’. Got
it?”

“
I…” She moved a few steps
away from him, cleared her throat and brought her eyes back to his.
“I’ll get my bags out of my car. I would appreciate the ride. I
guess I’m more tired than I thought.”

“
Bayleigh, tell me which
bags you need and get in my truck. I’ll get the bags.” He stepped
in front of her, keeping enough distance between them to try to
avoid freaking her out, but needing to stop her.

“
Again, the whole Southern
hospitality, Nicole will kill me thing. Okay?” He teased when she
hesitated. Holding his hand out for the keys, she stared at him for
at least another ten seconds before dropping her keys into his
hand.

“
The two suitcases, the
canvas carry-on and the backpack, which doubles as my purse. And
the guitar,” she told him.

“
Here. You can start it, if
you want, get the heater going,” he handed his own keys to her and
started towards her car. After grabbing the bags she’d indicated,
he locked her car and carried everything over to his truck. After
getting her bags situated in the cab of the truck, he slid behind
the wheel of his pickup, setting her keys on the seat between
them.

“
Do you need me to stop
anywhere before I head out to my ranch?” He offered, as he put the
truck in gear and started to pull out of the parking
lot.

“
No, I’ve got everything I
need.”

“
Well, try to relax, then.
It’ll take me about twenty minutes or so to get out to my place.”
Jack’s eyes raked over her from head to toe. With the way she was
holding herself so still and tight right now, he was surprised her
bones weren’t breaking under the pressure.

He was going to find out
what the hell had happened to this chick to put that distrust in
her. And while he was at it, he’d work on figuring out why it was
so important to him to erase that look in her eyes. She was Jason’s
sister, for Christ’s sake. His
much
younger
sister. What the hell was he
thinking?

NOT ONE WORD WAS SPOKEN
between them the entire ride out to the ranch. What kinds of
questions were now floating through Jack’s mind? She could think up
a dozen in no time
she’d
be asking if their situations were
reversed.