Chapter 35
Holden Forbes caught the small side glance from Clara.
She did that a lot. Little glances she thought he didn’t notice. Looks from beneath her lashes.
They’d been alone in the kitchen for about thirty seconds, and she hadn’t said a word, just put her head down as she made coffee.
He should be used to it. He’d been best friends with Jesse for close to eight years and had known Clara for seven of them. She’d been like this since the day they’d met…but only with him. Around everyone else, she was fun and fearless. A completely different person.
And yeah, he wasn’t stupid. He knew she had feelings for him. The idea of loving his best friend’s little sister shouldn’t scare him as much as it did. But he’d felt the weight of losing a loved one before, and he was definitely scared as hell to feel that again.
He cleared his throat. “How’ve you been, Clara?”
Her brows shot up. “Me? I’ve, um, been…yeah, I’ve been good. Busy stabbing people with my needles and making their lives better. I’ve been gardening a lot. Getting sunlight on my skin wherever possible. I started running—”
“Running?”
She frowned, looking him straight in the eye for the first time. “Yeah. Why do you say it like that?”
“How far do you run?”
“I don’t know. The streets around my house. Why?”
“You’re in remission from cancer and have chronic fatigue.”
Her back straightened, pink tinging her cheeks, but he was pretty sure this time it was anger. “I know that.”
“Are you allowed to run?”
She took a small step back. “Allowed?”
Shit. Get the proper fucking words out, Holden . “Has your doctor signed off on you running?”
By the narrowing of her eyes, it seemed he couldn’t say anything right. “Not that it’s any of your business, but it’s been over five years, and I’m still cancer-free. I can run if I want.”
Cancer…he’d just said it himself, but out of her mouth, it somehow felt heavier. He fucking hated cancer. He’d watched his mother suffer with it for years, until finally, she couldn’t fight anymore. It had taken over his entire life, and when she was finally gone, he’d had no one. No family. No friends to take him in. He’d just been bounced around foster homes for two years until he could finally enlist.
The military had been his salvation. Where he’d finally found his purpose and place in a new world after the old one had been ripped away from him.
He inched closer to her. “It is my business because I care about you.”
She was family. All of the Hayes’ were. His found family.
Her eyes widened slightly, her chest rising on an inhale. But before she could respond, he heard a door opening down the hall, then Becket and Sky walked into the kitchen.
Clara immediately moved back, and while Sky and Clara carried food to the table, Becket came to stand beside Holden. “Sorry about our run.”
“It’s fine. We can go anytime.” His gaze flicked back to Clara before returning to Becket. He lowered his voice. “Did you know your sister started running?”
Becket’s brows drew together. “Alone? She has chronic fatigue.”
Holden’s thought too.
“How are you and Sky doing after everything?” he asked, needing a change of subject.
Becket looked over at Sky. “She says she’s fine, but her breathing isn’t back to normal yet and she still has a cough.”
“But she’s getting better?”
“Slowly.”
“Good. And what about you?”
“Not as good, man.” The muscles in his arms bunched. “I can’t stop remembering her in that fire. Surrounded by those flames. It was a close call. Too close.”
“But you got her out.”
“Just.”
The way Becket looked at Sky made something tighten in Holden’s chest. A part of him wanted that. But another part, the part that had felt the loss of those he loved most and the devastation that followed, didn’t want to go anywhere near it.
He was about to turn to wash his hands when Clara lifted a mug of coffee…and swayed.
He lunged for her, catching her before she could hit the floor even as he took the coffee from her fingers. “Clara! Are you okay?”
She grabbed his biceps and blinked. “Yeah, I just…got a bit light-headed.”
“Fuck, Clara. Is this from your running?” Becket growled from beside him.
Hurt cut through her features, and she looked at Holden like he’d betrayed her. She pushed at his chest, but he didn’t release her right away. No way was he letting her fall.
“I did go for a run this morning,” she started. “And I am a bit tired, but I’m also fine.”
“If you’re passing out, you’re not fine,” Holden gently pressed.
Her beautiful indigo eyes beamed up at him. For a moment, there was something soft in them. Then she blinked and stepped back, and he forced his hands to drop.
“Thank you both for your concern,” she said, a new detachment to her voice. “But I’m okay.”
A tense silence passed before Sky cleared her throat. “Why don’t we all sit down for breakfast?”
Holden’s jaw clenched as he watched Clara retreat from him. There were moments when he wanted to get closer to the woman. When he craved to touch her. Have her.
It would be so easy to love and rely on Clara. Exactly why it was safer to keep his distance.
read book three, Holden and Clara’s story, UNTOUCHED , now!