Project Runaway Bride(51)

For long, drawn-out moments, there was nothing but tense silence between them. She didn’t hear crickets, but there were a few birds in the trees whose chirping she could make out clear as a bell.

And then Reid exhaled, the sound drowning out the birds as he lowered his head and drove his fingers through his short, dark hair. After a minute, he lifted his gaze to hers. “You know, I promised your sister I wouldn’t hurt you,” he said carefully. “Looks like I broke that vow right off the bat.”

Juliet’s heart gave a little lurch, but he didn’t give her time to respond.

“I feel awkward having this conversation in front of your ex’s house,” he began, scowling slightly and then shifting from one foot to the other. “Is there someplace else we could go where we’d have a bit more privacy?”

There weren’t a whole lot of options, given that they were both a state away from their respective homes.

“We could go back to my parents’ house,” she told him.

He curled his lip and wrinkled his nose at her suggestion, as though he’d caught a whiff of something that smelled unpleasant.

“Yeah, but your sister is there,” he reminded her, letting her know exactly what he found so distasteful about her suggested location. Well aware of Zoe’s temper and what she could be like when she got a pebble in her shoe, Juliet almost chuckled.

“We can enter through the back and go straight up to my rooms. No one even needs to know we’re there.”

He didn’t look completely convinced, but finally gave an unenthusiastic nod. Leaning around her, he opened her car door and held on to the frame as she slid in behind the steering wheel.

“I’ll follow you back,” he said while she fastened her seat belt and pressed the ignition button that started the engine with a purr.

“Drive carefully. And no taking any wrong turns—you know I’ll just track you down again,” he added before closing the door and crossing the street to the driver’s side of his Mercedes.





Thirteen



His care and concern surprised her after the way he’d first approached her. But if there was anything she knew for certain about Reid, it was that he hid his true solicitous nature beneath a hard, surly shell.

With Reid sticking close to her rear bumper, she led them out of Paul’s neighborhood and back to the even more upscale area that housed a number of multimillion-dollar estates, her family’s being one of them. She drove up the long, curved drive but bypassed the house entirely, coming to a stop on the far side of the extended garage where her father kept his prized 1967 Corvette coupe and 1962 Shelby Cobra under lock and key. There was no chance of anyone discovering her or Reid’s car parked in the rear.

Cutting the engine and stepping out of the BMW, she waited for Reid to do the same. As he approached, she turned and walked up the short path that led to the back of the house. They entered and climbed a set of rear stairs to the long, empty hallway that led to the suite of rooms that had been hers all while she was growing up.

Through the first doorway was a sitting room that at one time had been decorated in bright pinks and purples, with posters of her favorite heartthrobs on the walls. It still amused her that her parents had been all right with their three daughters doing pretty much whatever they liked with their rooms, as long as the rest of the house remained Better Homes and Gardens picture-perfect. And that included Zoe’s less-than-charming décor from her goth and emo phases.

Lily’s and Juliet’s teen preoccupations had thankfully been a bit more mainstream and less difficult to cover over later with fresh paint and wallpaper. The room they were in now was painted a lovely, much more mature peach with elements of cream. The sitting area also contained a love seat that faced a television and entertainment center, and an armchair surrounded by bookshelves.

Through the second, inside door was her bedroom, which still contained a canopy bed and a walk-in closet that held clothing choices that ranged from her preteens to some of last year’s best Zaccaro designs. She just hadn’t gotten the chance to go through and weed things out for donation yet. And frankly, there were some items that held childhood memories she wasn’t ready to dispose of at all.

But Reid didn’t need to see that portion of the suite in order to say whatever it was he felt still needed to be said between them. Setting her handbag on the seat of the armchair, she turned back to face him just as he closed the door behind them with a click.

“Is this private enough?” she asked.

He took a minute to look around before his gaze returned to focus on her.

“This will do,” he remarked. “It’s a nice room. And you’re pretty good at sneaking in without anyone noticing. Did you used to slip out a lot when you were a kid?”