It Was Always You by Alexa Rivers

Author:Alexa Rivers [Rivers, Alexa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Alexa Rivers

Gareth flopped to the ground and mopped the sweat off his brow. Snookie leaned over him, trying to lick his face, and he waved her away. His arms were leaden and his fingers cramped from gripping onto ledges. He didn’t think he’d be able to lift a coffee cup to his lips, let along hoist his backpack to carry it back to the car. His left knee throbbed and he’d probably be hobbling like a cripple for a week. Damn it, he shouldn’t have let his need to impress Avery drive him to follow her up the boulder. What if he couldn’t protect her now because he’d aggravated his old rugby injury?

Though the cop part of his brain was beating him up, the caveman part argued that every ache and sore muscle was worth it because Avery was lying next to him, her breathing even and steady while he puffed and tried desperately to catch his breath. She turned to him, an almost-smile lifting the corners of her mouth, her gray eyes flashing with humor. He could nearly pretend it was nine years earlier, if not for the laughter lines around her eyes and the cheekbones that were more prominent now, their youthful plumpness gone.

“You’ve lost your touch,” she teased, her breath tickling his cheek. “Dare I say you’ve gotten soft?”

“Have not,” he protested, still gasping for air. “You’ve just gotten fitter. Nothing to do with me at all.”

“Of course not. We all know you’re a perfect male specimen.”

He snorted at her sarcasm, even as he wished it were true. “Cheeky girl.”

“I think we’d better stop,” she told him. “I don’t want you keeling over on me while you’re on guard duty.”

His spine stiffened. “I’d never—”

“Relax, G,” she said, rising up on her elbow and patting his shoulder. “I didn’t mean anything by it.

Perhaps not, but her offhand comment was right on point. He shouldn’t be lounging about, laughing with her and reminiscing about their youth while she was in danger, no matter how unlikely it was that they’d been followed out here. He got to his feet and slung the bag over his shoulder, but pain spiked through his knee and it gave way. He teetered on the spot, and Avery grabbed him until he righted himself.

With a pointed look, she tugged the backpack from him and shouldered it. “Don’t be so macho that you do more harm than good,” she chided, starting along the track ahead of him.

He watched her retreating figure, and the dog trotting along at her heels. He’d expected to see pity in her expression, or perhaps contempt—after all, she’d proved today she was both smarter and fitter than him—but he saw nothing other than annoyance at his pig-headedness.

He smiled. God, he’d missed this woman.

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