“I’m sorry about what you just witnessed. He isn’t usually like that.”
Whatever Decker said in response, I couldn’t hear, and I didn’t care. It was hotter than hell, I was exhausted, an emotional wreck, and my sister was dead. Adler Livingston, for all I cared, could go fuck himself.
5
Decker
“Do you need to stop anywhere before we get on the road?” I asked once we were back in my truck and I’d started the engine.
“I don’t think so.”
“I should’ve asked when we were inside, but do you need to use the facilities?” I felt my cheeks flush, and she smiled.
“You just stood by my side while I identified my sister’s body, but asking if I need to use the restroom embarrasses you?”
I turned my head and looked out the window, feeling like a jackass. “Well, do you?”
“No.”
“You probably aren’t hungry.”
“I’m not, but if you are…”
“I’m not, either.”
I backed the truck out of the parking space and got on the road.
“It’ll take twenty or thirty minutes to get out there.”
“I remember where it is,” she said, resting her head against the seat.
“I’m gonna take the back way, if that’s okay.”
“You’re driving, Mr. Ashford. It’s up to you.”
God, she was adorable, not that now was the time for me to have thoughts like that. “Name’s Deck, Miss Knight.”
“And my name is Mila.”
I pulled out of the parking lot, and by the time we got out of town, her eyes had drifted closed.
Once I was certain Mila was asleep and wouldn’t catch me, I stole several glances at the woman sitting next to me. Given what she was dealing with, the last thing I should be thinking about was how beautiful she was, or how I wanted to pull her soft body against mine and give her comfort. I couldn’t help myself, though. She was breathtaking.
Her long blonde hair was pulled up in a ponytail. Not surprising in this heat. She wore a sleeveless blouse that tied at the waist and a skirt that brushed the top of her knees. Her legs were long and toned, like her arms, and the sandals she wore gave me a glimpse of her blue-painted toenails.
Her head fell forward, and I wished I had one of those neck pillows to give her so she’d be more comfortable. I didn’t have as much as a damn blanket in my truck that I could roll up.
She adjusted her body, turning so she was facing me, and it was like I was struck by a lightning bolt.
I’d never known her name, but the girl who had haunted me for most of my life was sitting beside me. I’d bet my life on it. There’d never been anyone I reacted to in the same way—before or since. It had never been her looks; it had always been her soul, what I saw when I peered into her eyes.
I doubted she remembered me; we were so young at the time. The connection I felt to her from the moment I looked into her eyes at the airport made so much more sense now. It wasn’t guilt over not being able to save her sister’s life. This was me getting hit directly in the heart by something I couldn’t explain and knowing, like I had for years, that I’d never get over it.
6
Mila
Twenty-five minutes after we left the county building, we pulled up to a gate and waited for it to open.