Feeling like a used piñata, Lily limped toward the lodge’s front doors. The ride back from the climbing area at Rattlesnake had been long enough for her injuries to take hold and her muscles to stiffen up. Josh rushed to open the lobby door for her. It seemed he’d finally stopped treating her like a common criminal.
“Cheers,” she said.
She slipped inside and peered out the triangular wall of windows. Ethan was playing with Molly out on the front grass while he spoke with the local sheriff’s office on the phone. He’d made the initial call right after they’d left Rattlesnake, but it seemed the authorities had more questions.
She wondered how long it would take them to get out there. Would the sage green truck still be around? Or would the poachers have figured out a fix for their tires in the meantime?
All she wanted to do was flop into bed and order delivery from Peggy’s Pub. However, she figured she should wait for Ethan, just in case the sheriff’s office had more questions for her too.
She hobbled over to the comfy seating around the fireplace. While there was no fire, it was still impressive, with stonework that traveled up to the peaked roof.
A man in a rumpled suit occupied one of the chairs. His leg jiggled as he glanced up from his phone to scan the lobby. The anxiety oozing off him did nothing to help calm her nerves, so she sank onto the couch, as far away from him as she could get.
Josh sat next to her, casually throwing an arm across the back of the cushion behind her head. “So, that was a close one today. I’m glad you’re all right.”
“Yeah. Me too.” Closing her eyes, she let her head fall back as she melted into the soft cushions.
“You should probably stick to activities on the ground for the rest of your trip,” he suggested. “Perhaps leisurely strolls?”
Something caressed her cheek. Her eyes flew open, and she automatically flinched away. Josh’s hand remained frozen between them.
He looked a little shy before dropping it. “You’ve got a nasty scrape there. Are you sure you’re okay?”
She shifted slightly, aware of how close they were on the couch—it was a pretty big couch, after all. “A little rattled, but that seems par for the course lately. It’s not the first bit of bad luck I’ve had on this trip.”
“No good trip is without its hiccups. They always make the best travel stories.” He crossed his legs, looking far more comfortable than she felt.
“Travel stories?” she snorted. “More like the makings of an action movie. A maniac nearly ran us off the road. Men with guns chased us through the woods. We almost drowned in a rafting accident, and then there was today. To say that I’ll have a good story to tell is an understatement. Hollywood should be banging down my door.”
“That is some bad luck. I mean really bad.”
The man in the chair began tapping his foot on the floor. She tried to tune it out, but then he typed something on his phone with the clicking noise turned on. Each letter pushed her a little closer to the edge.
Josh shifted on the couch to face her. “Look, I know you’ve promised to go on this road trip as a favor to Ethan, but if you keep this up, it could put you off traveling forever. Maybe it’s time you quit this recipe for disaster and end things on a high note.”
Lily rolled her neck, feeling another kink say hello. “I have to admit, that idea sounds tempting after today.”
The lobby door swooshed open, and Ethan walked in with Molly in his arms. When his eyes fell on Lily and Josh cozied up on the couch, he jerked a little, face hardening.
She felt the urge to make an excuse to push Josh away, but why should she? Ethan had made it clear he didn’t care for her like that. And she didn’t care either. Nope. However, she couldn’t ignore the creeping sense of guilt that said “liar.”
When he approached, she sat forward so Josh’s arm wasn’t around her. “What did the police say?”
Ethan ruffled his hair. “They’re going to check it out. They have my number, so they’ll let me know what happens.”
The man in the rumpled suit suddenly jumped to his feet. “Summers!”
Ethan drew back in surprise before he shook the man’s hand and half hugged him, creating a Molly sandwich. “What are you doing here?” Without waiting for an answer, he turned to Lily. “This is Skylar.”
She struggled to her feet and shook his hand. Of course, Ethan would “forget” to introduce Josh. But just as she opened her mouth to do it, Skylar interrupted.
“Nice to meet you. I’m sorry. I don’t have a lot of time.” He turned back to Ethan. “We need to talk.”
Ethan’s expression fell, and he was suddenly all business. “Of course.”
Lily watched the two men walk out of earshot. Was Skylar there about the Phantom case? And what had him so on edge?
“You know,” Josh began, suddenly standing right next to her. “It could be a sign.”
“What? Skylar showing up?” she asked.
“No. I mean all these bad things happening to you on your holiday. It might be the universe trying to tell you something.”
Yeah, something like they’d really pissed off two potential poachers. And Skylar’s ominous “we need to talk” couldn’t mean anything good. Maybe the universe really was trying to tell her something. She hoped it wasn’t “go back home!”
She narrowed her eyes and focused on Skylar’s mouth, wishing she had a hidden lip-reading talent.
But Josh didn’t seem to notice her distraction. “You have to admit it’s quite the happy coincidence that we met up along the road …”
Not really, she thought. They’d both come to America to be tourists, and Ethan was giving her the tourist’s treatment—well, if you were a tourist with a death wish.
“You and I are heading the same way,” he continued. “The universe could be telling you to—I don’t know—switch travel buddies?”
Lily’s head snapped toward him. “You mean me and you travel together?”
He leaned away, looking a bit gutted. “All right. You don’t need to act so shocked. Would that be the worst thing in the world?”
“No.” She cringed at her awkwardness. “That’s not what I meant. Sorry.”
He shrugged it off. “It sounds to me like this guy is going to get you killed. I just want to make sure you get home.”
She grimaced as his words rubbed salt into something raw inside of her. Of course, she wanted to get home safely, to return to her family. If anything happened to her, it would devastate them. She couldn’t put them through that. But she also didn’t go on holiday to play it safe. She’d lived, breathed, and ate “safe” for twenty-six years. It was time for a change.
When she didn’t answer, Josh shrugged and stared at his feet. “It was only an idea. After everything that’s happened, I thought you’d fancy a new adventure. I guess I read that wrong.”
Don’t say no to a new adventure. That was the rule that had sent her down this path with Ethan. And she thought about following it again now. But step twenty-three in the self-help book also told her to listen to her gut, and her gut was telling her to be with Ethan.
“That’s sweet of you to be worried about me. It’s just …”
She glanced across the lobby. Ethan’s back was rigid as he massaged his temples. Whatever news his friend had for him couldn’t be good.
She wanted to go over to him, to be there for him. She knew part of that was her impulse to help people, but as she continued to watch them, she knew it was more than that. Her urge didn’t feel like some compulsion or even a desire to do something nice for a friend. She had feelings for Ethan.
Sure, he’d pushed her away more than once, but her attraction to him wasn’t only based on lust. It was about the way he made her feel when she was with him. He challenged her in ways she’d never been challenged, expected things from her that she didn’t even know she was capable of. And despite all their obstacles, she still believed he could help her as much as she wanted to help him.
“I’m sorry,” she finally said to Josh. “I had a lot of fun today. You know, despite the whole almost dying thing. It was lovely catching up with you, but I’m going to stay with Ethan.”
“What? Seriously?” Josh sneered. “I’m not sure there’s enough room in his car for you and his massive ego. The entire day was one giant competition with him.”
The fact that someone else noticed Ethan’s jealousy was actually satisfying. It wasn’t just in her head. “You’re no different. You were right there competing beside him. At least he’s able to admit it.”
He made some throaty sound but didn’t argue. He wasn’t exactly leaving, though, and she wasn’t sure how to continue the conversation from there. It had turned ugly very quickly.
She fidgeted and eyed Ethan again. As though he sensed her watching him, his gaze found hers from across the room, like he needed her. No, “needed” was the wrong word. He’d never needed her like her mother needed her to handwash all her socks or her friend Chloe needed her to pick up the tab for the tenth time in a row. He didn’t use her that way. He wanted her.
Glad to have an excuse to ditch Josh, she took a step back. “Well, it was nice to see you, but I have to go. Have fun on the rest of your trip.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “All right. Maybe I’ll see you back in England.”
Now that would be an unhappy coincidence, she thought before marching across the room.
Skylar stopped talking as she approached, pressing his lips together. He was clearly still on edge. Ethan, however, seemed to relax at her nearness.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“Not really,” Ethan said. “It appears as though the Phantom might have gotten wind of what I’m up to.”
She drew back. Her gaze darted between the two men as though that must be a joke. Their stoic expressions told her it wasn’t and also that they had much better poker faces than she did.
“But I thought you’ve tried to go public before. What’s so different now?”
“I think it proves the evidence Ethan has is legit,” Skylar cut in. “Unfortunately, it also puts a giant target on his back. That could explain why you’ve had so many recent incidents.”
She wrapped her arms around herself. “You mean we might have a crime boss trying to kill us?”
Ethan shot a look at Skylar before focusing on her. “There’s no way to know for sure. We really need to sit down and talk about the case.”
She took a deep breath through her nose. “Okay, but can we do it at the pub? I think I need some food to help me process all this. Plus, I would feel a little safer being in public.”
Skylar shook his head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come.”
“Lily,” Ethan began. “This could be very dangerous. The less you know, the better.”
Normally, she would have said “okay” and scurried off to her room. It was something Old Lily would have done. Then she recalled Step Nine: Stand Up for Yourself. And when an argument automatically formed on her tongue, she realized there was an old Lily. Which meant there was a new Lily emerging.
She held up a hand. “I’m sorry. There’s potentially a crime boss on our tail, and you’re patting me on my head and sending me back to my room? I have had just about enough of people controlling my life. The very fact that this is dangerous means I should be informed. This affects me too.” She locked eyes with Ethan, daring him to refuse her.
The corners of his mouth twitched into a grin. “You’re absolutely right. You deserve to know everything. I’m sorry. I forgot how tough you are.”
She raised her chin like she was tougher than any crime boss. “I’ll forgive you this time, but don’t forget it again. I’ll go drop off Molly in my room, change, and meet you guys at the pub.”
She took the dachshund from him and began backing away, but since she was on a roll with this standing up for herself thing, she thought of one more demand that just couldn’t wait.
“Oh, and order me a cherry cheesecake to start.”
She was going to like New Lily.