Long Road Home (The Barker Triplets 4)

Bobbi felt her gaze, even though she kept her eyes on the trees.

“I know,” she replied softly, a slight smile lifting her lips. The older woman had been incredibly sweet. She’d appeared at Bobbi’s door, insisted she come down and eat the plate of food she’d prepared from leftovers in the fridge, and then had fussed over her as if she were her own child. Funny how a first impression could be so wrong.

Coral Adalaide was nothing like the woman she’d first encountered. Bobbi now knew she put on airs to hide the fact she was lonely and hurt that her family seemed too busy for her. Which was sad, because she had a lot of love to give.

“Do you want me to tell him to stay away from you?” Coral sat straighter. “’Cause I have no problem doing that.” She shook her head. “I surely don’t. A man like him is used to getting what he wants, and you better take care that he isn’t fixing his sights on you. I know what I saw in those eyes when he looked at you.” She nodded. “Uh-huh, a lot of unfinished business. And he doesn’t strike me as the kind of man to let any kind of business go unresolved. He could have taken off and not come back here, but he did. Which means he came back for a reason. He’ll wear you down if you’re not careful.”

“Maybe I want him to wear me down.” The sound of her own voice startled Bobbi, and she glanced over to Coral, hoping the woman hadn’t heard. No such luck, judging from the look on her face. Bobbi hadn’t shared anything specific about her situation with Shane, other than to say they’d had a tumultuous past, been involved since their late teens, then married and were now separated.

Coral got to her feet. She moved closer to Bobbi and was silent for a few moments. When she spoke, her voice was gentle and kind, though firm it its delivery.

“Well, I guess you better figure out what it is exactly that you want. If it is your husband, figure out what got you to this point. What brought the two of you so low. Figure it out and find a way to most past it, because if you don’t, that ghost will come back to haunt you again and again. That’s just the way of life, you see. It’s not for the weak. It’s not for those who hide.”

She patted Bobbi on the shoulder. “You know where I am if you need me.” She moved past Bobbi and disappeared, swallowed up by twilight and shadow.

Bobbi sighed and watched fireflies dance along the edge of the property, there where the magnolia and wisteria grew. It was beautiful, yet she found no joy in it, and that made her sad. Her heart hurt, and that big lump took up residence in her throat again, one she worked hard to clear.

Was this to be her life from now on? Always nervous and on edge? Second-guessing past decisions? Pining for a past long gone and a future she could barely see?

She closed her eyes and concentrated, trying every trick she knew to control her breathing and emotions and all that nois

e in her head.

A minute passed, or maybe it was two, but she knew the moment Shane stepped into the backyard. Her eyes flew open, and though Bobbi couldn’t see Shane, she felt him as surely as if he was beside her. As if his hands were on her, his eyes looking into hers, his scent invading her cells, his heart beating with hers.

It had always been this way with them. So damn physical.

She kept the blanket pulled to under her chin, but sat a little straighter, ignoring the need to turn around and find him. She had to keep her cool. Bobbi needed to be in control.

“I wasn’t sure you’d come back,” she said slowly, breath catching when his boots scraped the wood planks on the gazebo floor.

“Not gonna lie. I hadn’t planned on it when I left this morning.”

She bit her lip at the sound of his voice, hating the instant prick of hot tears and that damn lump in her throat that wouldn’t go away. She waited a bit, and when she was sure she could form a sentence without sounding like a complete idiot, she spoke.

“What made you change your mind?”

“You did.” He moved closer, his answer simple and honest.

Bobbi turned slightly but kept her gaze lowered. She saw the scuffed toes of his thick leather boots and the frayed cuffs of his jeans—so familiar, those two things. So much Shane. She knew if she let her eyes wander, they’d see the long legs and wide shoulders, the strong jaw, the sensual lips, and the dark eyes feathered by lashes almost too long for a man. She knew every inch of his body as well as she knew her own, and the need to touch him was so strong, she fussed a bit, and repositioned herself in the chair.

This thing between them, the pull, as Shane always called it, was just as strong as before—maybe stronger—and it was that pull she needed to control. Bobbi needed to be smart about things, because she had more to worry about than just herself.

Shane slid into the chair across from her, and for that, she was grateful. She supposed he needed some distance as well. When she was ready, she lifted her head and met his dark gaze. Mouth dry, she licked her lips and slowly exhaled. The night shadows played havoc with her heart because they caressed his face in such a way, he looked like the devil, or an angel…or both.

How was it possible for a man to grow more attractive with each week, month, or year that passed?

“Eden did this,” she said, lowering her lashes, though she peered through them, greedy for the sight of him.

“I gave her proper shit. Told her she had no right to stick her nose into business that wasn’t hers.” Shane grimaced and sat back in his chair, running his hands over his unshaven jaw, all the while those dark eyes of his never leaving hers. “But she’s not wrong. I don’t like how things are between us, Bobbi, and I sure as hell don’t like being ignored.”

She glanced away, not yet strong enough to deal with him, and more than a little ashamed because he wasn’t wrong. She’d left and done her damnedest to keep him at arm’s length because she knew she wasn’t strong enough to resist him.

But it was cowardly—the easy way out.

“I’m sorry for that,” she said quietly. “At the time, I didn’t know of any other way to deal with things.”

“Running away is not dealing with things,” he said, voice sharp as he rested his elbows on the table. He folded his hands to make a steeple and gazed at her. “You shut me out. You wouldn’t let me explain. You just wrote me off. And I don’t know if I should hold on to this anger and resentment in me or let it go and try something else.”