Run To You by Rachel Gibson Page A

evening sun caught on the rim and in short strands of his blond hair. He was handsome, though. If a girl liked big guys with hard muscles and chiseled good looks. “I told you on the phone, I’m doing a favor for one of Blake’s buddies.” He took a drink, then set the glass next to his plate. “I’m just making sure Stella gets to her sister’s place in Texas.”
    That was news to Stella and she forgot all about picturing him with black fingernails. “You are?”
    “We’ll talk later,” he said, and dug into his dinner.
    She flipped her hair over one shoulder and returned his scowl. “I’m not taking the bus.”
    Naomi gasped. “Beau, you are not dumping this girl at the Greyhound station!”
    “You’re right, I’m not,” he said without taking his attention from Stella. “I think we covered that at the airport. You’re afraid to fly and hate the bus. Those two options are off the table.”
    Stella took a sip of wine and asked the million-dollar question. “What’s on the table?”
    “I’m working on it.” He took a big bite of salmon and washed it down with pinot. “What about your family?”
    “What about them?”
    “Any of them able to drive you to Texas?”
    “My mother can’t leave my grandmother.” She took a few bites of ceviche and swallowed. She hadn’t spoken to some of her uncles in about ten years. She didn’t see any reason to reconnect now. “There’s no other family.”
    He stared at her with cool gray eyes that knew better. “Friends?”
    She could probably shake loose a friend or two who might want to get out of town for a few. The Texas panhandle wasn’t exactly a vacation destination, but it wasn’t an armpit. Of course, she’d never been in the panhandle and couldn’t say for sure. “No.” She looked into her glass and swirled her wine. But she did know one thing for sure, she’d never said she wanted to go to Lovett, Texas. Never said she wanted a long-lost sister reunion.
    “Where in Texas are you planning to visit?” Naomi asked.
    It was a normal question. One that anyone would naturally ask. “My father’s cattle ranch just outside of Lovett.” She looked up and frowned at the man half covered in shadow and eating his salmon and ceviche like it was his favorite meal. As if he hadn’t just been complaining about it. “At least I assume that’s where Sadie is living in Texas.”
    He nodded his head as he ate but he didn’t look up.
    For the first eighteen years of her life, men had tried to control her, never really caring what she wanted or how she felt. “What if I say no?”
    He lifted his gaze, and his gray eyes locked with hers as he chewed. “Do you want to go back to your apartment?”
    That wasn’t an option and he knew it.
    “I’m sure Beau would never force you to go somewhere you didn’t want to go. Isn’t that right?”
    “Right,” he answered, but he didn’t bother to sound very convincing. He looked down at his plate and stabbed an avocado.
    Naomi raised a slim hand, and her fingers played with the collar of her yellow blouse. “I’ve never heard of Lovett.”
    “It’s a little town in the panhandle about fifty miles north of Amarillo.” Stella took a big bite of shrimp salad and washed it down with a bigger swallow of wine.
    “I was born and raised in a town no bigger than a speck on a map. Growing up, I hated it.” Naomi rose and returned with the bottle of wine. “Now looking back, some of my fondest memories are of Mama and Daddy dancing at the Grange and us kids packed up tight in the back of Daddy’s truck.” She poured out and added, “I love everything big cities have to offer, but small towns are a great place to grow up. Don’t you think?”
    Naomi assumed Stella had lived in Lovett. That was a normal assumption, she supposed. “I was born and raised in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I’ve never been near Lovett.” She picked up her glass. She’d eaten very little that day and could feel the beginning of a nice