Chapter Sixty-Seven

Angel was glad Colton had asked Danielle to dance. It was clear the woman wanted more than friendship from him. She hadn’t outright glared, but Angel had felt her intense stares of ill-wish—one step below glaring on the list of responses to jealousy.

Unfortunately, Angel felt more than a bit jealous of the other woman, as well. Even when their dance had ended and Colton was now leading Angel to the dance floor with a big smile, she felt incredibly envious of what the other woman had.

Freedom. Peace. Choices.

A future.

Danielle could go wherever she wanted, do whatever she wanted, be herself. Something Angel had rarely been able to do. The other woman probably got up every morning after a restful sleep, secure in the knowledge she would survive the day.

And when Angel was gone, Danielle would have the possibility of a future with Colton.

“Did you fix things?” she asked.

He smiled and shook his head. “I tried. I apologized, but she wouldn’t give me anything to work with.”

Angel understood. “A girl has her pride.”

“So does a man,” he told her softly.

She knew he wasn’t talking about apologizing to Danielle. He had no issues saying he was wrong when it happened. It was one of the many things she loved about him.

She missed a step when the word flitted through her thoughts.

Love.

It was the very word she’d been hiding from. Frightening, dangerous…wonderful.

She thought she might love Colton, but she didn’t have any experience with the feeling to be sure.

At one time she’d thought she was in love with Lucas Stone, but that hadn’t been love at all. He had manipulated her into believing she was important to him. But it was never real.

This feeling she had with Colton felt real.

But was it truly love?

Should there have been some definitive way to know? A line she passed. One moment she didn’t, then something happened and she did? Or was it more subtle? Something she just noticed over time?

She’d always imagined she would know. If for no other reason than the terminology was falling in love. One certainly knew when they fell. It was a shocking, painful jolt. Nothing subtle about falling. You didn’t do it without noticing.

“I’m going to the restroom,” she managed to say when the song ended.

She needed a moment to collect her thoughts. She knew making sense of them was beyond her—collecting them was the best she could do.

He kissed her, and she fled the banquet room, being careful not to run. She was so sick of running from everything. She’d thought herself strong, brave, but that was just another lie.

She looked in the mirror at another farce. The person staring back at her was not real. She was a fake from her flowing hair to her brown eyes.

As she washed her hands, someone came into the restroom. She wasn’t surprised to see Danielle in the reflection.

“How do you like Oregon?” the woman asked, sounding polite.

“It’s very nice. But I’m not used to being in such a small town.” Angel was laying the path for her exit. Colton would be able to explain her absence as them not being able to work it out. Cassie could go back to Baltimore and city life.

Danielle stepped closer, her heavy perfume leading the way. “Duncan mentioned he likes living in a small town.”

“Yes. He does.”

Not true. He’d grown up in a small town in Illinois and moved to Philadelphia when he joined the DEA. He’d told her how much he liked the anonymity of living in a big city, and the way he could get food delivered at two a.m.

“I’ll still be here when you decide to leave,” Danielle said, her chin coming up, but her eyes were unsure.

It was good to see Colton had options here. He wouldn’t be alone if he didn’t want to be. Danielle had spunk. If his interest in Angel was any indication, Colton liked women with spunk.

Angel should have simply smiled and walked away, letting Danielle have the moment, and sending home the story that she loved the city life more than she loved “Duncan.”

But she couldn’t do it.

Instead, she tossed the paper towel in the trash and met the other woman’s eyes. “If I decide to leave, I might take him with me back to Baltimore.”

With a smug grin, she left to go back to the man she’d just claimed…but had no idea what to do with.