The waiting room had been packed with her family and friends, and no one noticed him standing in the doorway. After so much time away he'd felt awkward and misplaced, an outsider. Not wanting to turn Kaia's accident into a stage for his return, he'd slipped quietly away without speaking to the family.
But later he texted Archer to meet him in the parking lot to get an update on Kaia's condition. Archer gave him the rundown, including the fact Kaia had such a high medical deductible he didn't know how she was ever going to afford to finish her degree.
Once Ridge knew she was stable and going to pull through, he went to the business office, anonymously paid the fifteen-thousand-dollar deductible toward her medical bills, and swore Archer to secrecy.
Later, when she was out of the coma, he sent flowers and a card and he'd gotten back a kind thank-you note, and their correspondence had ended there. Archer kept his word and Kaia never knew Ridge had come to see her or that he was the one who paid her deductible.
Ridge slipped off his sunglasses for a clearer look at the provocative woman. From the back seat of the Tundra, she extracted an oversized present wrapped in gold foil. The package was so big and the backseat so small. How she'd managed to cram it in?
She tossed her head, a triumphant smile on her face, and turned in his direction. Their gazes met across an empty desert.
For a split second, his heart stopped.
Her obsidian eyes arrested him, a mysterious color that suggested hot summer nights and low, deep-throated whispers. Ripples of recognition jolted his nervous system, both shocking and exhilarating. He knew her.
Kaia Alzate.
Freakadilly circus, he'd been lusting after little Kaia Alzate. Hot for the girl he'd once dubbed the Braterminator.
Ridge coolly slipped his sunglasses back down over his eyes. She'd pestered the hell out of him and Archer when they were kids. Tagging along everywhere they went, tattling if they stepped out of line, and generally being a run-of-the-mill pain-in-the-ass.
He might have hidden his eyes from her, but he couldn't hide the goose bumps spreading over his skin, pushing an insistent heat into his bloodstream as he watched her from behind the safety of the polarized lenses of his aviator Ray-Bans.
Her snapping black eyes sparkled with glee, as an enthusiastic grin split her mouth wide. She had recognized him too, and she looked more than happy to see him.
His gut dove the way it did whenever he'd practiced a stall in pilot training, spinning, whirling, and hurtling headlong toward the earth.
Thank God her hands were full because he had the distinct impression that if she'd been empty-handed, she would have come flying across the tarmac to hug the stuffing out of him.
He didn't mean to do it, told himself he wasn't going to do it, but damn if he couldn't help sliding his gaze over her body. After all, she had no idea what his eyes were doing behind the sunglasses.
Thank you, Ray-Bans.
She moved toward him, arms strapped around the oversized present. Stopped. Cast a glance over her shoulder at the main house. Swung her gaze back to him. She wanted to come over, but didn't seem to know what to do with the package.
He kept his face unreadable, but gave her a respectful nod. I see you, but no need to rush or gush or make a fuss.
Deliberately, he turned away, telling himself it was to chalk the plane's tires, and it had nothing to do with the fact his chest was tight and his head fuzzy. And a smile he could not stop was pushing across his face.
He was happy to see her too. So happy it freaked him out.
Once the chalks were in place, and he reined in his galloping pulse, Ridge raised his head, ready to dish up a slick greeting.
But she was gone.
Yay. Great. Perfect. He'd avoided her exuberant hug. Good work.
Why then, did he feel so bummed?
Holy tidal wave!
It was Ridge Lockhart, and he was more devastatingly gorgeous than ever.
Of course, Kaia had known he was coming home for Archer's wedding. She expected to see him. Thought she was braced for it.
Fat chance!
What she hadn't expected was that he'd be so damned sexy.
Her initial impulse had been to run to him and fling herself into his arms and tell him how thrilled she was that he'd come home. But she wasn't eight years old anymore, and he was no longer that lanky boy who'd yanked her braids and called her irritating names.
Her heart jackhammered, and she clutched the oversized wedding present tighter and hurried up the stone walkway to the mansion where the wedding party was assembling before the rehearsal. Instead of the traditional rehearsal dinner, Casey Hollis, the bride-to-be, had decided on a rehearsal brunch. As soon as everyone arrived, they would all head out to the cowboy chapel to rehearse.