Tawny immediately grabbed her in a hug and Rya felt like total pond scum for using her work as an excuse. “Oh, honey, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Giving her friend a quick squeeze she stood and grabbed her jacket and purse. “I’m going to head out, okay? I have a funeral to go to tomorrow.”
Tawny nodded and scanned the dance floor. “I’ll go find Marci and Jill. Take care of yourself and call me if you need me. You know I’m always up for cookie dough therapy.”
She kissed Tawny on the cheek and slipped her leather jacket on. “Thanks, sweetie.”
Hoping she could duck out without Gears noticing, she made it almost all the way to her Jeep Liberty before boots crunched in the snow behind her. “Wait up, babe. Don’t like you walking out on your own.”
Her breath frosted the air as she turned and gave Gears an irritated look. “I’m sure I’ll be fine walking myself out.”
He glanced down at her silver high heels and grinned. “Not in those shoes.”
Hitting the alarm for her Jeep, she opened the door then froze when Gears suddenly wrapped his arms around her. She pushed at him, her heart racing. “What the hell are you doing?”
In the odd lighting of the parking lot he studied her face. “When are you gonna give me a chance to take that sadness out of your eyes?”
She didn’t want to admit how nice it felt to be held by a man, even if it wasn’t the man that she wanted. “Gears, are you drunk?”
With a gentle touch he smoothed her hair back from her cheek. “You know I’ve had my eye on you for years, Rya.”
“I…Gears I don’t think of you like that.”
“I know.” He sighed and cupped her chin. “Just think about this.”
He leaned down and kissed her, a soft, surprisingly gentle kiss that felt good even if it didn’t make her blood burn. He coaxed her lips open and she found herself kissing him back, trying to feel something other than mild arousal. When Gears pulled away he surprised her again by placing a soft kiss on her forehead and stepping back.
“Just think about it, Rya.”
Unable to form a coherent sentence, she got in her SUV and drove home on auto-pilot, her mind spinning around Gears’ kiss. She missed dating, missed having someone to hold and be held by. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t see Gears as anything other than a friend. And if she did date him, it would not only feel like cheating on Dimitri, as stupid as that sounded considering she wasn’t even sure if she would ever see him again. It would also be unfair to Gears. He was a good guy who deserved a woman who thought the he was the shit.
As she pulled into the gravel driveway of her two-story farm house she’d inherited from her grandparents on her dad’s side, her mind and heart were heavy. Was this how the rest of her life was going to be? Alone and running from men who could give her what Dimitri couldn’t? She sighed heavily and opened her car door, sliding out and taking careful steps in her heels through the snow. Though she’d shoveled the walkway earlier, another inch or so had fallen while she was in the club.
The porch lights made the snow sparkle and as she took careful steps her wandering mind noticed that someone else had been walking through her front yard. Quickly looking up, she didn’t see anyone, but a feeling of unease went through her. She lived out in the sticks so it wasn’t like someone would have randomly come to her house. Maybe her step-dad had stopped by…although why would he walk around her house like these tracks did?
Digging out her phone from her purse, she quickly called her mom.
“Hey, baby, what’s up?” Her mom said after two rings.
“Hi Mom. Um, did Rock stop by my house or send one of the boys by?”
“No, why?”
“I’m sure it’s nothing, but there’s foot prints around my house. Big ones.”
Her mom bellowed for Rock and a second later he came on the phone. “What’s up baby girl?”
Moving quickly, she began to mince her way through the snow and back to her car. “I’m sure it’s nothing, but I think someone was at my house.”
His voice came out intense and deep as he said, “Get in your car and go, now.”
“Rock?”
In the background she could hear her mom yelling at a couple of the guys to get off their asses. “Just get in your car and come to the club house. Got me?”
“Okay. I…”
Someone grabbed her from behind and she screamed, her phone flying out of her hand as she was dragged into her house. Panic suffused her and she bit at the gloved hand clamped against her mouth, then cried out when she was thrown up against the wall of her foyer, the edge of her coat rack digging painfully into her shoulder. The light in her living room was on, giving her enough illumination to see the harsh features of an older man she didn’t recognize.