41. Chapter Forty-One
ANNA
Summer had finally come to Pine Ridge, and it was every bit as beautiful as Anna had imagined it would be. The mountain laurel and honeysuckle were blooming, adding a heady perfume to the air, especially at night. The trees were in full bloom. Anna didn’t think she’d ever seen so many shades of green—from the deep dark green of the pines to the blue-green of the spruce and the silvery-green of the maples.
She’d taken to sitting out on the patio each evening, the pots filled to bursting with colorful blooms, to watch the lightning bugs. Her favorite time was after twilight and before night fell completely. By mid-June, there were so many of them dancing around that they looked like a blinking, shimmering, shifting blanket hovering just above the ground.
Mrs. Campbell was thriving. The physical therapy program had done wonders for her balance issues. She still used her wheelchair occasionally, but more often than not, she was zipping around with a custom walker Nicki Callaghan—who owned a garage with her husband in town—had built for her. It had blue racing stripes.
Anna had met Nicki at the barbecue, and … wow. Talk about a gorgeous, badass female.
Anna had met all the Callaghan wives, in fact. They’d come with their husbands and kids to Mrs. Campbell’s party. Rather than being a neighborhood affair, this one was just for the Callaghans and their families. And, boy, there were a lot of them. The brothers were tall and broad and shared dark hair and blue eyes. Their wives were more varied, both in physical appearance and in personality. The kids, a mix of both.
The one thing every couple had in common? They were perfectly matched. Two halves of a whole.
She supposed that was the croie thing Matt had been talking about. She hadn’t understood it then, but she did now.
She couldn’t help but wonder what Matt’s perfect match would be like, then realized whoever she was, Anna would hate her.
They hadn’t spoken much since that night at the hospital. She’d seen him around, usually from afar. Coming or going. The one time they had been in the same place at the same time—Mrs. Campbell’s barbecue—he’d sat off to the side, staring at her, sometimes glaring, but otherwise keeping his distance.
It confused her. She was certain she’d felt something between them. A kind of connection that went far deeper than simple neighborly concern.
But maybe that was just her, confusing her hero worship with something more. And he was a hero in her eyes. If he hadn’t arrived at Manny’s when he did, who knew what her fate would’ve been? Lord knew, she hadn’t been able to save herself. Cool logic and a will to survive hadn’t been enough.
Then again, Matt had been in the service for the past ten years. He’d probably saved lots of people over that time. What was one more to him?
She tried to convince herself it was for the best. The immediate threats—Eddie and Manny—had been dealt with, but she hadn’t changed. She remained a ghost reincarnated as someone else. If she got close to someone or stayed too long, she’d be endangering them as well.
Through the open patio doors, Anna heard the chime of the front doorbell. She looked over at Mrs. Campbell, who was looking intently at her tablet.
“Are you expecting anyone?” Anna asked, rising.
“Oh, yes. That must be Faith. She suggested a game night with her and the children. I must have forgotten to mention it. Get the door, please, would you, dear?”
“You didn’t mention anything about a game night.”
“Didn’t I? It must have slipped my mind,” she said absently. “What’s a five-letter word for a subatomic particle?”
“Quark,” Anna answered as she went to the door.
“Ah, yes. Excellent.”
It was Faith at the door, along with Kassidy and the triplets. Kassidy looked like her father, with her jet-black hair and bright blue eyes. The triplets were a mix of both Faith and Kieran, a combination of copper hair, black hair, gray eyes, and blue. The Callaghans sure made some beautiful kids.
“Come on in. Where’s Finn tonight?”
“He and Kieran are having a father-son bonding night,” Faith said with a grin.
Anna didn’t ask about Matt. She escorted them out to the patio, where Mrs. Campbell was waiting with twinkling eyes. She adored Faith’s kids.
“I think we’ll play out here tonight,” Elsa said. “That way, the kids can take a dip in the pool if they get bored. Anna, would you be a dear and get the pool toys from the shed?”
“Of course.”
Anna stepped into the kitchen and grabbed the key, then proceeded to the shed in the back. It was darker back there, away from the patio lights and the glow from the pool, with only a small carriage-style lamp above the doors of the shed. She paused along the way to scoop a lightning bug into her hand. She let it tickle her palm for a moment, then it crawled to her finger and flew away.
A familiar sensation ghosted over her skin, sending tingles of awareness through her. Like the charge in the air right before a thunderstorm. Someone was there, skulking in the shadows.
She wasn’t afraid. She knew exactly who it was.
“I know you’re there,” she said quietly.
His low, soft chuckle preceded him into the weak spill of light from the patio. “You are good.”
Anna ignored the urge to go to him. To wrap her arms around him and ask him where he’d been. Why he’d been avoiding her.
She stuck her key in the lock and turned the handle. “What are you doing out here? Game night is on the patio.”
Anna opened the door and stepped inside.
“I’m not here for game night.”
“What are you here for then?”
Before she could flip the switch to turn the overhead bulb on, the door closed behind her, surrounding them in darkness.
“This.”
As if he could see perfectly, Matt stepped up close, so close that she could feel his heat radiating along the entire length of her body. His hands came up and tenderly cupped either side of her face. Then, his lips were on hers.
His kiss was tentative at first, as if giving her a chance to stop him. To say no. No way she was going to do that. She’d been imagining this for too long.
Anna went up onto her toes and wrapped her hands around his neck. He growled softly, pulling her closer to him. He was aroused. His hard length pressed against her stomach, and she felt a rush of feminine satisfaction. She hadn’t imagined it. She wasn’t the only one who felt this insane attraction, even if it was only physical on his side.
He deepened the kiss, tilting her head to get the perfect angle. God, he was a fantastic kisser.
When he finally broke away, he was breathing as hard as she was. “Come with me?” he asked in a husky whisper.
“Where?”
“Does it matter?”
She didn’t even need to think about it. “No.”
She felt him smile. He wrapped his big hand and gently tugged her out of the shed.
“Wait, what about?—”
“They’ll figure it out,” he said.