Chapter Three
CURTAIN.
Mia set her laptop on the coffee table and grinned. The stupid, irritating, bane-of-her-existence script was finally done. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was a hell of a lot closer than it had been yesterday. The kids could start memorizing the updated lines, and she could stop tinkering with it.
Only six more days to performance, with most of the festival in between. Piece of cake, right?
She hit print and got up off the couch. She still had time for a quick run before rehearsal.
Maybe she could figure out what she was going to do about this stupid crush on Chase that apparently hadn’t gone away in the intervening decade.
Rescuing him had been an impulse move brought on by one too many margaritas, and asking him to dance had been even more impulsive.
As soon as he’d pulled her into his arms, she’d known she’d made a huge tactical error.
Because it had felt so good, so right, being pressed up against him, his heartbeat under her palm, his fingers splayed across the small of her back, the slow beat of a country ballad wrapping around them.
She’d almost convinced herself she was over him. He’d probably turned into a Hollywood douchecanoe, and that was all there was to it.
But he was still the same Chase. Charming but quiet. How had she forgotten what an introvert he was? Sure, put him on stage and he was a force to be reckoned with, full of passion and drive. Even offstage, she’d seen him turn on that energy. But that was as much a performance for Chase as doing a soliloquy under the spotlight would be.
Having a one-on-one conversation with him had always been like a little gift.
The combination of pressing up against that gorgeous body and talking with the real Chase? Dangerous.
Still, she’d been disappointed when he walked away after only one dance. So were her friends, who were bummed he hadn’t joined them. Well, at least until they realized that meant they could grill Mia to their hearts’ content.
Mia tied her shoes and headed out the front door. It was nice that Chase was in town for a few days. It was nice they appeared to be on friendly footing. It was not nice that she was still crushing on the guy.
But he’d leave again, and she’d go back to her comfortable life, and everything would be just the way it should be.
She sighed, wishing that sounded a little more perfect than it did.
*
He had to get out of the damn house.
His mom meant well, but the hovering was going to drive him insane.
“Gonna go for a walk,” he called, knowing she was far enough away from that part of the house he could escape before she could intercept. He grabbed his keys and cell phone and headed out the back door. The scent of peonies rose up, filling the heated air.
He walked down the back lane to the edge of the grove of trees rising up where the river meandered through the landscape. It would be cooler down by the water.
Changing course, he followed an informal foot path, the brush knocked down by generations of Sapphire Falls kids, including himself back when life was easier. A rough and tumble rush down to hunt frogs and skip stones. A game of hide and seek in the trees. Staying out until the sun started setting and a chorus of moms called them all in to supper.
And when he was older, a stroll by the banks with a cute girl in cutoffs and a skimpy tank. Sneaking some Booze out of his mom’s secret stash for a make-out session with his date under the canopy of leaves.
Back then, it had seemed like the trees and river stretched for miles. It was smaller now.
Or maybe he’d outgrown it all.
A steady thump-thump of footfalls drew him out of his thoughts, and he looked up in time to see a woman in spandex shorts and a sports bra jog through the trees just ahead of him.
His eyebrows rose. He’d been gone from Sapphire Falls for a while, but even so, that seemed like a risqué outfit to be wearing in public.
Even if it was a perfectly gorgeous look on a perfectly gorgeous woman.
She had smooth, tan skin—he could tell, there was a lot of it visible—and her dark brown hair was pulled up in a high ponytail that swung in rhythm to her cadence. She had a terry armband on her left arm, and the wires of a pair of earbuds disappeared into it.
God, how stupid.
She glanced up, and his heart almost stopped. What the hell was Mia thinking?
Without thinking about it, he strode forward and grabbed her arm.
She shrieked and pulled away, wheeling around to smack him in the shoulder with her other hand. Then she stepped back, clearly winding up to kick him in the shins—or worse.
“Hey, hey!” He held his hands up to show he was harmless. “Sorry about that. Don’t kill me.”
“What the hell, Chase?” She tugged the earbuds out and glared at him. “You scared me to death!”
“Good.” He glared right back. “Somebody should scare some sense into you. What are you doing?”
Mia’s brows slammed together. “Jogging. You may have heard of it.”
He shook his head. God, he’d love to shake her. “By yourself, wearing earbuds? Why not just wear a T-shirt with big letters announcing ‘please attack me’?”
Mia rolled her eyes. “Yeah, like that’s going to happen in Sapphire Falls. You’ve been living in the big city too long, buddy.”
“Just trying to be helpful.” He turned to go. He was clearly not fit for human interaction today. “I’ll see you later.”
Behind him, he could hear her huff out a breath. “Chase, wait. Hang on, okay?”
He kept walking.
A thud, and then a muffled curse, stopped him in his tracks. Turning, he saw Mia sprawled in the dirt next to one of the big trees that dotted the landscape.
“What the hell happened?” He hurried over to her side and leaned down to help her up.
“I tripped on a tree root,” she said, her teeth clenched.
He helped her up and looked her over carefully, maybe lingering a little too much on certain aspects of her anatomy, but he was a guy, after all. She looked a little scratched up, but nothing serious.
Until she tried to put some weight on her right foot.
“Dios mío! Mi pinche tobillo!” Mia grabbed on to his arm even tighter. Gingerly, she put her foot down again. “Oh, no.”
“Twist your ankle?” He knelt down, making sure she could balance with a hand on his shoulder, and ran his fingers over her foot and lower leg. Sure enough, it was starting to swell. “Better get you to the doctor.”
“Are you kidding me?” She swore again under her breath. “I don’t have time to go to the doctor. Rehearsal is in half an hour.”
“Well, you can’t go running around the theater with your ankle swelling up like that. Better cancel.” He stood, staying close enough for her to continue to lean on him.
She smelled really, really good.
Where the hell had that come from? She was injured, for God’s sake. He shouldn’t be sniffing her ponytail, trying to figure out if that was shampoo or just her natural scent.
“I can’t cancel,” she was saying when he tuned back in. “The kids are on their way. Plus, the performance is in six days. We can’t afford to miss even one rehearsal.” She put her foot down gingerly, wincing with the slight pressure.
“Bullshit.”
She stared at him, outrage on her face.
“You need to get this checked out before you make it worse.”
“But the kids—”
“Go to the doctor’s. Get it checked out and splinted or wrapped or whatever needs to be done. Then let someone know that rehearsal is—” He held up a hand as she started to protest, “—postponed. They’ll understand.”
“Maybe.” She looked around. “We’d better get going.”
“I can…” Chase started, but she ignored him and started walking. So he stood back and waited.
It didn’t take long.
“Ow. Ow ow ow ow.” Mia hopped on her good foot and then tried to put the other one down again. “Ow!”
“You know what the definition of insanity is?” Chase leaned against a tree trunk, arms crossed, and watched her.
She looked up at him, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. “What?”
“Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”
“Asshole.” She kept her injured foot off the ground, standing on one leg like a flamingo.
A sexy, slightly angry flamingo.
“Sorry.” He pushed away from the tree and walked over to her, trying his damnedest not to laugh. He had a feeling she’d appreciate that even less than his commentary at this point. “Here, let me help out.”
“How?” She looked at him, suspicion brimming in her eyes.
“Like this.” Bending down slightly, he slipped one arm under her knees and the other around her waist, lifting her until she was cradled against his chest.
He’d meant it as a purely platonic move. She was injured. He would carry her back to civilization. The heroic leading man.
Except she was warm and soft in his arms, and smelled so good. Suddenly, he was acutely aware she was wearing not much more than a sports bra and teeny-tiny shorts.
This could get awkward. Or really, really good.
He should have known better after last night.
Or maybe the memory of last night had nudged him to find an excuse to hold her again.
An armful of warm, sweet, sexy woman? Please and thank you and may I have some more, sir?
With great effort, he banished the lyrics from Oliver! out of his head.
“What are you doing? Put me down!” She wiggled a little, trying to get free.
He tilted his head down and looked her in the eye. “If you really want me to put you down, I will. I’d just like to remind you that your ankle is twisted and possibly sprained, the ground is not even close to flat, and the closest pavement is a good five-minute walk from here.”
“I can make it.” She glared at him.
“Okay.” He set her down gently and stepped back.
She started hobbling, cursing under her breath in both English and Spanish. With every step, she put less and less weight on her injured foot. Finally, she huffed and turned to glare at him.
He had been keeping pace with her, a few steps behind in case she stumbled again. He stopped and raised one eyebrow at her.
“Okay, fine.” She waved him over, her other hand on her hip. “Can I use you as a crutch?”
“Baby, you can use me however you want.” Whoops. That had sort of slipped out unexpectedly.
Luckily, Mia just laughed. “Always the smooth talker.” She hopped over a step or two. “Here, give me your arm.”
He crooked his elbow and helped her thread her arm through his, taking as much of her weight on him as she would allow. Together, they hobbled along the riverbank, moving slowly.
Once they reached the edge of town, he looked down at her again. Her face was drawn and pale, her mouth pinched from the pain. “Okay, that’s it. This isn’t helping. You’re going to be in even worse shape if you don’t let me carry you the rest of the way.”
To his surprise, she heaved a sigh and slowly nodded. She must have been in worse pain than he thought. He helped her grab on to his shoulders and then lifted her into his arms. She sighed again and melted into his embrace, making him wish they were in this position under different circumstances. Ones that were ninety percent less injury-related and a hundred and seventeen percent more likely to involve a bed.
“Want to wait at Dottie’s Diner while I get my car?”
“Why do you need your car? Dr. Ames’s office is right down the block.” Mia pointed.
No more driving to York for an office visit? That was convenient. He set off at a faster pace, following Mia's directions as they navigated the side street.
“Ms. Gonzales! What happened?”
Mia turned her head, and Chase turned with her so she could face the person speaking. The girl was on the opposite side of the street, staring at the woman in his arms. Then she looked up at his face, and her jaw dropped.
“Oh. My. God.”
“Get me inside. Quick,” Mia whispered, so he fumbled for the door handle. But they were too late.
The girl ran across the street, her blonde curls bouncing. She didn’t even bother to look both ways first, but luckily this was Sapphire Falls. Traffic wasn’t much of an issue. “You’re Chase Hamilton.”
Damn. Too late to hide. “Yep,” he drawled.
“I twisted my ankle on my run this morning,” Mia said. “Chase is just helping me get to the doctor’s.”
The girl didn’t take her gaze off him, nodding distractedly.
Chase had a feeling Mia could have told her a velociraptor attacked her under the Ferris wheel and she would have gotten the same response.
“Could you get the door for us, please?” he finally asked, growing uncomfortable under her obvious hero worship.
Ironic. He’d left Hollywood because he couldn’t get anyone to look at him, and now that someone was, he wanted to go back to that anonymity.
Couldn’t win for losing.
“Oh. Oh. Sure. Sorry.” The teenager whirled around, darted for the door, and pulled it wide for the two of them to go through. “So, uh, you guys were jogging together?”
“No, we just—you know what? Never mind,” Mia said with a sigh. “Thanks for getting the door, Emme.”
And then Chase slowly, politely closed the door in the girl’s face.
“What are you—”
“Mia.” He set her in a chair. “You need to focus on your injury, not your students.”
“At least for now.”
“That’s all I’m suggesting. Now, just sit there. I’ll let the nurse know you’re here.”