Chapter Eleven
“You think it’s safe for us to be out like this?” Bailey whispered to Aaron, as they pulled the truck up to a restaurant at the edge of town.
He smiled at her, raising his eyebrows. “You have nothing to worry about,” he promised. “It’s just a little family-owned place. They don’t ask any questions, apart from what kind of wine you want with dinner.”
A smile spread over her face. “That sounds really good,” she agreed, biting her lip excitedly.
Bailey and Aaron had spent the better part of the day with Willis, talking over everything that had happened and figuring out what their next moves were going to be.
There was still a whole lot Willis needed to look into, and the best thing they could do for now was give him his space, and try to get some rest. Not that Bailey had been able to rest much, but he had convinced her to stop by this little Italian place on the edge of town before they headed home.
The food was good at the lodge, but sometimes it was nice to get out and go somewhere fresh, especially when that place made the best garlic bread in the state.
Was this a date? She certainly wasn’t trying to think of it like that.
It was just a couple of old friends hanging out together, taking a chance to catch a breath after everything that had been going on.
She might even consider him a friend again—or at least an ally.
Yes, their past was messy, but they were working toward the same goal here, and that had to count for something.
The restaurant was quiet when they walked in, and they were led to a red-and-white-checked table at the far side of the room, next to the window.
Trees swayed in the breeze beyond as the sun dipped behind the mountains.
A single candle flickered between them. If it wasn’t for the history between them, she would have said it was almost romantic.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Lawson and Xavier being former CIA?” she asked as soon as they sat. Now that they were out of the sheriff’s office and alone, she couldn’t stop herself from interrogating him. She’d never been a patient person.
He shrugged. “I don’t know much about it really. I do know that he and Lawson were in the military together,” he admitted.
“You don’t know much about it?” she replied, confused. “You’ve been living there for years now, right? It’s never come up?”
“I guess I’m a bit of an outsider at the sanctuary,” he explained. “I think it’s because I kept to myself so much when I first arrived. I hoped that if I didn’t ask people questions, they wouldn’t ask me questions I didn’t want to answer. I’m just the guy who fixes stuff, and I like it that way.”
Her eyebrows drew together. “That’s a shame,” she remarked. “You think you could ask them about it? See if there’s anything they’d be willing to do to help us?”
“Yeah, I think I could manage that,” he replied.
“I don’t know them super well, but they don’t like it when people are up to no good.
There was some stuff that happened not too long ago with a gang that the sheriff asked for their help with.
And if it’s something that could possibly pose a threat to Warrior Peak, they’d definitely want to help. ”
“Hope so,” she replied, as the waiter arrived with their menus.
She turned her attention to the food options, and her stomach grumbled.
She hadn’t eaten since breakfast, too caught up with how much she felt like she had to do.
She knew she needed to focus on taking care of herself, but at least Aaron was there to remind her to rest and eat.
“What’s good here?” she asked, and he grinned.
“The garlic bread is amazing,” he replied. “They make it fresh in-house. You have to try it.”
“That sounds really good,” she murmured, and her mouth started to water as some of the delicious savory scents came floating out of the kitchen.
She began to relax as she cast her gaze over the menu, deciding what she was going to have.
Her stomach had been in such knots when she’d first gotten here that she’d hardly been able to think about eating—now it was catching up with her.
They ordered a huge pile of food, until the table was practically quaking under the weight of it. She grabbed a slice of garlic bread first.
“Oh, my God, this garlic bread really is amazing,” she hummed, as she took a bite of the cheesy, crispy, garlicky deliciousness that had just arrived.
He grinned at her. “See? I told you.”
“I’ll never doubt your opinions on Italian food again,” she promised him. “You have my word.”
Maybe it was the food, maybe it was the peace of the restaurant, or maybe it was finally getting a start on her mission, but she was really starting to relax now.
They chatted about the sanctuary and about the small town they were in, Blue Ridge.
It reminded her a little of Kings Mountain, except without the stress that was now tied to that place for her.
She was amazed at how easily the conversation seemed to flow between them now that she was starting to let her guard down.
“You ever think about going back to being a cop?” she asked him with interest once they were waiting for their dessert.
He thought about the question for a moment, and then shrugged. “Sometimes,” he admitted. “There’s so much that’s happened, I’m not even sure where I would be able to start. And I’d have to explain why I just walked away from it all those years ago.”
“When people find out what kind of trouble you were in, they’ll understand,” she replied, catching herself off guard with how much she meant it. She’d had a hard time forgiving him for what had happened all those years ago, but knowing what she did now, she could better understand his reasoning.
“Plus, someone needs to bully the rookies until they harden up,” she joked.
He laughed. “Hey, now, I was never a bully,” he protested, shaking his head. “I just made sure they didn’t get soft once they’d graduated training.”
“Oh, yeah?” she fired back playfully. “And when you used to call them on the radio and send them to the middle of nowhere, that was part of hardening them up too, was it?”
“You were just as guilty of that as I was,” he reminded her, and she laughed as their order of homemade tiramisu arrived.
She could still remember the way they practically rolled around the car laughing together when they played these little pranks on the rookies in the department. They were probably a little mean, but when they were in it together, it didn’t feel that way.
“Yeah, and you were my superior,” she shot back. “So you’re the one who’d have to answer for it. You were supposed to set a good example.”
“I think I was setting a great example,” he argued playfully. “Showing you how to let loose and have some fun for a change.”
“For a change?” she protested, laughing. “You saying that I’m not fun?”
“I’m saying you were a rookie who took the work dead seriously,” he replied, digging his spoon into their dessert. “And maybe you could use a little loosening up from time to time.”
She stuck her tongue out at him, and he chuckled. She had always liked his laugh, how genuine it sounded, like he really meant it. There were so many guys who came across as so insincere—she had been on enough crappy first dates to confirm that theory—but he had never seemed that way to her.
It was starting to feel distinctly like old times, much to her surprise.
When she had imagined seeing him again, she had never thought they would be able to talk like this.
She had thought about chewing him out, giving him a piece of her mind, telling him off for what he had done to her, but never that they could sit around and laugh and talk about the past together, as though they were old friends.
As he looked at her, she felt the familiar flutter in her chest she had come to recognize when she was near him. And she knew that, no matter how much she might have wanted to tell herself otherwise, there was always something more than friendship between them.
“I guess we should be getting back to Warrior Peak,” he remarked, once the waiter had cleared away the delicious tiramisu they’d shared.
“I’m not sure I can even walk, I’m so full,” she groaned. “You’re going to have to roll me back to the truck.”
“Fine, as long as I’m driving,” he replied.
“I can drive us back,” she protested, but he held up the keys and raised his eyebrows at her.
“You’re going to have to fight me for them.”
He settled the bill, insisting on paying for it himself, and then they headed to her truck outside. She hadn’t actually expected him to make her fight for her keys, but when she went to take them out of his hands, he held them high up over his head.
“I told you, I’m not letting you drive,” he reminded her.
Her mouth fell open in surprise. “Aaron, it’s my truck!
” she protested, but she couldn’t help but giggle.
There was something about him when he was goofing around like this that just made her happy.
He was normally so serious, or he had been back when he’d been at the station, apart from pranking the rookies.
Knowing she got to see this side of him, this side he didn’t seem to let many other people see, sparked something inside of her.
She stood on her tiptoes to grab the keys, but he was so much taller than her he could easily hold them over her head. She swiped for them, but she couldn’t quite reach.
“You’re going to have to do better than that,” he teased her.
“Hey, no fair!” she argued, still giggling.
He was acting so ridiculous, it was hard not to.
And there was a spark in his eyes that reminded her of the old days—the days she had thought they had long since lost—but here he was, standing in front of her, looking at her like nothing at all had changed.
“I’m injured, this is practically bullying!” she continued, reaching up again.
He jingled the keys just out of her reach. “I’m sure you can handle it,” he replied. “Besides, you shouldn’t be driving on your injured leg, you know that.”
“I can manage it,” she told him, and he switched the keys from one hand to another, making it even harder for her. She hobbled around him, but it was too late. He was moving too quick for her, and it was clear from the look on his face that he was enjoying her struggle.
Or maybe just enjoying how close the two of them were to each other right now. Finally, he had lowered them just enough that with one more stretch she managed to lock her hands around the keys, and snatched them out of his grip.
“Got them!” she exclaimed, but as she lowered back down on to the balls of her feet, she was suddenly distinctly aware of how close the two of them were standing.
Practically nose to nose, his eyes pinned to hers, the smile on his face shifting to something else as he looked at her.
The warm light from the restaurant spilled out onto the sidewalk they stood on, the leaves blowing in the light breeze the only sound nearby.
She remembered, all at once, what he had said to her the other day, about how he had wanted her—and only her.
Her old feelings, the ones she had tried to push down all this time, were starting to rise up again.
She couldn’t deny them any longer. He could feel the shift, too; she could tell by the look on his face as he stepped even closer.
The chemistry was practically burning in the air between them, impossible to ignore.
He dropped his hand down to her face, and grazed his fingers along her chin, tilting her eyes up to meet his.
Her heart hammered inside her chest as she looked up at him.
How many times had she imagined exactly this?
How many times had she longed for him to look at her the way he looked at her now?
She couldn’t count. But it was real, it was happening.
His eyes softened as he gazed at her, like it was the first time he had ever seen her. “You look so beautiful right now,” he murmured.
Her breath hitched in her throat.
“I’m so sorry for everything, Bailey,” he told her. “I never thought I was going to see you again, but I… I never stopped thinking about you. Not once. And I’m so glad you found your way back to me.”
“Shut up,” she said, a smile turning up her lips. “And just kiss me already.”
And without any hesitation, he finally did.