West of Forever (Heartstone Ranch #1)(70)

I melt.

Damn, he’s so freaking irresistible when he does that. With flushed cheeks and a fire in my belly, I head inside. I grab the snacks to make the rest of the three-hour drive back to Infinity Ridge. Chocolate, soda, water, chips, and a protein bar because there should at least be a semi-healthy option.

Tristan is still pumping gas, and an overwhelming desire to kiss him hits me. I rush toward him, and he has just enough time to turn and catch me as I jump into his arms. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him deeply. He turns me, pushing my back against the cool truck door, and kisses me a little deeper.

He pulls back much too soon for me—but then, considering we’re at a gas station, I don’t know what I was hoping for—and grins.

“What was that for?”

I boop his nose. “For being you. For this weekend.”

Tristan lets out a low chuckle and puts me back down. “If that’s the appreciation I get, I’m going to have to manufacture a sale every week.”

“I’m happy to inspire your business goals.”

He slaps my ass playfully. “Get in the truck and don’t eat my candy.”

“I make no promises,” I say and then climb in.

When I get in, I rifle through the bag, looking for my candy bar, and just as I lean to yell out the window, my heart stops.

Every nerve in my body tenses as I sink to the floorboard to avoid being seen.

Although I think she did see me.

There, exiting the gas station store, is my mother’s best friend, Mrs. Canta.

She’s known me my entire life. She is the biggest freaking busybody this town has ever known, and I swear she just saw me.

Oh my God. She had to have seen me.

She had to, and I’m going to be so screwed.

There’s no way she’s not going to tell my mother and every other person in Infinity Ridge.

This is…a fucking nightmare.

What feels like two hours later, Tristan opens his door, looks down at me on the floor of the truck, and scrunches his brows. “What are you doing?”

“Drive. Now. Leave. Right now. Tristan, go,” I say, the panic clear in each word.

He looks around to see what has me nearing a full-fledged panic attack, and then it clicks.

He puts the truck in drive, pulls his baseball hat on, and heads onto the road.

After a few seconds, he glances down. “Come on up.”

With shaking hands, I manage to climb back into my seat. “She saw me,” I nearly cry.

“You don’t know that. She didn’t even look at me, and if she saw you or thought she did, she would’ve come over.”

“Tristan, that woman knows me. She saw me. I looked right at her,” I say, my hands covering my face. “This is it. It’s all over for us.”

“Relax, Lark. I’m sure it’s fine.”

“Fine?” I shriek. “Fine? Are you insane? Nothing is fine about this! I’m going to be filleted by my father and brothers!”

“For what? Going to get gas?”

I stare at him, blinking slowly and trying to come up with words that won’t invoke a massive fight.

“You idiot! I ran and kissed you!”

“She wasn’t outside, was she?”

Again, the stupidity that men possess. “There are these magical things lining the entirety of the store called windows, Tristan!”

“And let me remind you again, she might not have seen anything. Relax, Lark. It’ll be fine. No one saw us. No one is going to say anything. She’s old, and if she did happen to look out the window, I’m sure she thought her mind was playing tricks on her. Why would you be anywhere in this area, let alone with me?”

Yes, why would I? Which is the exact question that Mrs. Canta is going to ask, and my mother is going to then kill me, because I don’t know that I’ll be able to lie right to her face.

This is a disaster.

A complete and total nuclear meltdown.

Tristan sighs, removing his hat and tossing it back. “Can you hand me the Kit Kat?”

My jaw drops. “How can you think about food?”

He glances over. “Because I’m hungry.”

“You’re not worried about us being caught?”

His fingers slide through his thick hair. “Nope. We weren’t caught. You’re freaking out for nothing. It’s not a big deal.”

“Easy for you to say when you’re not the one who is going to have to deal with my family!”

“You’re not, either, because no one saw us.”

“You don’t get it. If she saw us, and if she tells my mother, there will be no going back. My family will kill me. Maybe not literally, but I’ll be shunned. They’ll never forgive me. They’ll never understand, and…this is…”

Tristan reaches over, taking my hand. “A moot point, Lark. Just relax, and we’ll deal with it if it comes to that, okay?”

Deal with it how? He and I are never going to be together. What’s he going to do? Deny us being together? Well, if someone saw us, a lot of good that’ll do. I’ll be on my own dealing with it.

I look out the window, feeling the pain of a hundred possibilities slice through me. I could walk away now, leave him behind and never see him again. That might be the best idea, but the one that will hurt the most. I refuse to do it. Not yet. Not after what we’ve shared.