See Megan Run (9 page)

"What else?" She stretched her legs and Aiden
reminded himself to keep his eyes on the road.

"The next big thing, sadly, since not much
happens here, was Shep and Nicole’s engagement."

"He’s the oldest bachelor around, besides the
Baker boys. Makes sense it would hit the gossip mill like a back
draft."

"True. I think some women are hoping Shep
will change his mind. Little do they know he’s had his eye on your
mother for years."

"Really?"

"I saw that one coming six years ago. He’d go
over and fix whatever was broken, pull her over just for a chat.
Around year three your mother said yes to dating him."

"I just don’t see it." Megan crossed her
arms.

Aiden’s hands tightened on the wheel. "What?
That your mother would see anything in Shep?"

"No." Disbelief radiated in her voice. "What
is so alluring about Nicole?"

Aiden couldn’t answer that one, if Megan
refused to see it for herself. She’d be surprised at how similar
she was to her mother. But the resemblance in their appearance was
the last comparison he’d make.

"Twelve years, and that’s it?"

He wanted to say, 
You and I were the
biggest scandal
. Instead he parked the car. This time she
didn’t wait for him to open the door. "You’re leaving something
out."

Aiden ignored the implied question. "When was
the last time you saw Tessa?"

Megan sighed. "The last time we tried to
sneak beer from the draft."

"I forgot about that one." Aiden found
himself smiling. Not good. She was supposed to be uptight, and
controlling, and reminding him why it was a good thing she left
him. Except it felt the same being with her. His body no longer
carried the tension of his day. Their feet had found the same easy
rhythm and they made it to the door simultaneously. This time he
sighed.

She held the door for him and stopped. He
bumped into her, and tried not to dwell on how perfect her curves
fit next to him. "My God, doesn’t anything ever change here?"
Wonder filled her voice.

"Let’s sit in the back booth."

"Trying to hide? I’m not that butt ugly." She
turned to him, a smile on her face. It faded, then she moved
forward, taking her warmth with her. He made eye contact with Tessa
and held up two fingers. She nodded, but her eyebrows rose in
question.

He slid into the booth across from Megan. He
wanted the intense silence to eat up the comfortable atmosphere
they’d created. Of course she never knew how to leave well enough
alone. "You never answered my question."

"You’ve asked three since I’ve parked."

The subtle barb rolled off her. Megan’s smile
widened when Tessa approached the table. Tessa slid one across to
him without the beer sloshing out of the cup. She placed the other
one in front of Megan.

"Long time no see."

"You’re not going to ask for my ID, are you?"
Megan asked.

"The dress says it all."

Megan’s cheeks reddened. "I don’t get out
much."

"Not a bad choice..." Tessa motioned to him.
"For

someone who is rusty."

Megan tilted her head, eyes alight with
humor. "That’s still up for debate."

Tessa laughed. "Sounds like old times."

"I was kind of hoping for the leather
jacket."

Aiden took a long drag from his glass before
he spoke. "I sold it along with my bike."

"Oh." The playful light left Megan’s eyes,
and that wasn’t what he wanted. It had been when he first thought
to take her out. He’d wanted her to be the heartbreaking siren he’d
created in his head.

"Nice seeing you," Tessa said. At least she
was smart enough to know when to make herself scarce.

Megan placed her hands under her chin. "My
leaving was the biggest scandal, wasn’t it?"

Aiden crossed his arms. Someone at some point
had to be the one to throw the crap at the fan. Unfortunately,
today, it had to be him. "Why’d you leave?"

*****

Megan lost her nerve at his question. She’d
been prepared to play it cool, to see what he wanted from her. The
"let’s be
compadres
" attitude had been too abrupt. He wanted
something. No other explanation fit with him wanting to go out on a
date with her. How he felt about her was obvious. She felt it
coming off him in waves. He wanted her to go back to the world
she’d left him for, and maybe this was his last try to get her to
leave. It was crazy to think he wanted her to lose the one thing
she loved the most, but Megan couldn’t quell the feeling he wanted
her gone, and right now. "Taylor made a play for me. My mother
didn’t believe me, and I left."

"That simple?"

Megan hesitated. "Yes."

The muscles in his jaw tightened, making him
look hard. It would be heartless of her to say
we weren’t a big
deal
, and it would be a lie. For teenagers, they had been a big
deal. It was expected of them to have gotten married after
graduation. No one would have told them to slow their road, to see
what else life had to offer. They were Wesley and Buttercup,
Elizabeth and Darcy, destined to be together. That life, that
expectation, scared her shitless. How do you begin to explain that
type of fear? The kind that paralyzes you and leaves you feeling
shackled every time you think about it…

"How’s the clothing business?"

His question threw her. "Uh, good." He didn’t
want to rehash over the past any more than she did. Her grip
loosened on the cup.

"I wish I could be there to oversee
everything, but that’s the control freak in me. I do call my
manager every day. She gives me crap for it, but I can’t change who
I am." She watched him drain his glass. "I see you followed Shep’s
footsteps."

"After Dad died, it seemed like the right
thing to do. I love it. Kind of makes up for doing what was
expected of me."

Was that a dig at her? Or was guilt rearing
its ugly head again? "Aiden, I’m sorry about the way I left."

If his intent was to make her feel like a
heel, it worked. He stood up and walked away from her without
saying "apology accepted." She stared down at the murky liquid in
her cup. Poison or beer? She couldn’t be sure. Megan downed it
anyway. A moment later Aiden stood at her side again.

"Come on." He offered his hand.

Megan took it but hesitated when she heard
the song playing on the jukebox. This was going to be the closest
to "apology accepted" she’d get. She almost snatched her hand back
from him. A trip down memory lane hadn’t been what she’d come for.
And then Sarah Rose was singing, "Before you leave, love me once
more," and Megan knew this was her last chance to turn around.

Aiden pulled her onto the minuscule wooden
dance floor. Her body curved into his. It was still scary as hell
for Aiden to hold her. The feeling of it being so right, like her
world balanced on its axis and stopped, made her palms sweaty.

It had to be this damn sad song. She closed
her eyes and his smell filled her. He even smelled the same. How
was that possible?

"No one’s going to put a ruler between
us."

"Oh." Megan felt her face flush when she
noticed she had stepped back considerably. She met him halfway.
She’d expected his chest to feel harder than this against her own,
so she’d at least be able to tell herself how unattractive and
harsh he felt against her.

His arms enveloped her, and it wasn’t much of
a stretch to imagine a smooth chest, hard and tight under her
hands. That smell, his scent, filled her again with the next
breath, making her chest ache. Rose continued to sing in the
background, and she tried to not let it affect her. Megan wasn’t
the type to use the word
meld
, but it fit, they fit, no
matter how many years had passed. This felt right.

She waited for the fear to bubble up in her
throat. It would help her step back, if not literally then
figuratively. She felt like an exposed wire ready for the right
spark to set her off. Aiden’s lips grazed her forehead. She sighed,
trying to let go and at the same time trying to fight the emotion,
not fear, bubbling up inside her.

Deep down she knew they were tempting fate by
standing here so close together, better than old times, because now
she knew what she’d lose by giving in to the wild abandon he
triggered in her. Why couldn’t she enjoy this without complicating
it?

"Relax," Aiden murmured.

Megan felt the tightness in her shoulders
that he must have felt under his hands. The same hands gliding up
from her waist to her back. The same hands creating a pressure in
her stomach, her heart, her head. Common sense told her to break
the tension with a joke, but she might never have this moment
again. Megan closed her eyes, letting the melody of the song strum
through her.

*****

I’ve missed you, missed this
, Aiden
yearned to say, but that would be suicidal. What made him think he
could play this song and hold her like a friend, not a lover?
Common sense may never have been his strong suit, at least not with
Megan. He never felt completely in control around her. His body
reacted of its own accord, defying his mind, every time he got near
her. He pressed closer to her softness and let himself get lost. He
could dream, couldn’t he? He could hope and not have it become some
sort of insanity?

No, he couldn’t, because no matter what he
told his mother, told himself, in blinding moments like this he had
to acknowledge he’d never gotten over Megan. She was as much a part
of him as his skin color. He let his fingers caress the hairs at
the nape of her neck. She shivered at his touch. He pressed his
lips against her brow. Aiden held her closer, letting his lips
settle against the corner of her mouth now. The moan escaping from
her lips was soft, breaking the last reserve he held. He buried
both hands in her hair. The strands parted beneath the assault of
his fingers, and he held on like the desperate man he was.

Megan opened her eyes. He saw she was just as
lost as he was from the intensity of the moment. When his lips
finally met hers again, her eyes stayed open long enough for him to
recognize the same inevitability that propelled his own actions.
When his lips met hers, chaste but unbidden, he let go of the
momentary regrets.

He didn’t rush their mouths coupling—this
might be the last time he’d be able to kiss her, really kiss her.
He accepted that and reveled in her taste. His feet stopped moving
to the tempo of the music and he let her feel every unspoken word,
every action, all he’d wanted to say and do since she left. The
moment his mouth devoured hers he made her feel it, until a sob
tore from her throat. Finally the words of the song penetrated his
brain. "Tomorrow isn’t promised, so love me once more."

She stepped back from him, a hand placed over
her stomach, her lips pink and swollen, and he said, still not able
to let her go, "Apology accepted."

*****

The next morning Megan flipped down the car
visor and straightened her bangs. The night before hadn’t been
easy. She tried not to think about what happened with Aiden.
Instead her thoughts went down a more morose road, and because of
it she found herself outside the local church. She flipped the
visor back up as her stomach threatened to rebel against the
breakfast she’d scarfed down more than an hour ago. She blew out a
breath and stepped out of her car, tennis shoes sinking into moist
grass. She closed the door and leaned against it for a moment. It
wasn’t the church that had her stomach in knots.

I hate cemeteries
. Twelve years to the
day had been her last visit to one. Right before she left town she
came here. God, how different it was this time. That day came back
to her like an old wound ripped open. Last time she’d been in
tears. Last time the anger had been like a rock in her chest. Now,
Megan pulled her sunglasses from her pocket and made her way to her
father’s grave, her heart just as heavy as the time before.

She passed headstones marked with fresh
flowers. She trudged on until she stopped at his grave. The black
marble gleamed in the summer light. No flowers adorned his grave.
The only words engraved on the headstone were his name, his date of
birth and the date of his death. She ran her finger across his
name, the stone cold against her finger. She pushed her glasses up
farther and then sat down.

She reached down to pull at the grass and
stopped. "Nicole is getting married. I’m not sure how you would
feel about that. She’s marrying your old fishing buddy, Shep. He
took care of me, so I’m sure he’ll take care of her just fine. I
know you are probably up in heaven, doing your angel thing, and
it’s not really a concern, but..."

She stopped and listened to the birds
chirping in the tree across from her. She tried again. "I have a
clothing store. It’s doing very good. I was young, so I’m not sure
if you saw my potential, but...I just wanted you to know the
college fund you saved up for me didn’t go to waste."

I miss you
. The words came to her
without a filter. She sank her teeth in her cheek and hissed from
the pain. She only wanted him to know...

"I’m sorry about the last time I came by."
She pursed her lips to keep them from trembling. "I don’t hate
you." She laughed softly. "I was just a little angry. Oh, just a
wee bit, but it’s fine now. I’m fine. I know I should have come to
visit more often, but..." Megan stopped, not able to speak any
more. She steepled her hands, trying not to look at the headstone.
If any strength had been in her knees she’d have run back to her
car. He couldn’t hear, here. Yes, his bo-… Megan shook her head,
cutting the thought. He wasn’t here to listen, anyway.

"He loved you," a voice said behind her.

Megan jumped and turned to see Jane. She held
up a bouquet of flowers as if to explain her presence. Megan
ignored the words. She just...couldn’t, right that moment. She
faced forward and wiped her eyes. "I thought you were going to be
at home."