The Hero's Redemption

She released the emergency brake and shifted into Reverse, turning her head to look over her shoulder. In that instant, a dark shape loomed outside the passenger window. Erin screamed as someone tried to open the door and then fell backward when it proved to be locked.

Operating on instinct, she pressed the gas pedal and the SUV leaped back. Feet pounded outside. Before she could move forward, Cole had run around the Jeep and appeared at her door.

“Stop!”

Shaken and furious, she stepped on the gas. He hung on to the door, so she couldn’t slam it closed, and ran beside her. She’d gone twenty feet, almost to the street, before she braked.

“What are you doing?” she yelled. “I could’ve knocked you down and run over you!”

“Let me go with you.” The roof light illuminated his face, set in implacable lines.

Feeling the tremor in her hands, she clung to the steering wheel. “You can’t come.”

“Why?”

“Because you can’t, that’s all.”

“Then you’re not going.” Voice grim, he reached in front of her and managed to shift into Park.

If her hands hadn’t been shaking, she would’ve shifted right back. “This is none of your business.”

“Erin, whatever you’re doing is hurting you. I don’t like seeing you the next day so exhausted that you look like you have two shiners.”

The walking dead.

What if she were to take him, just this once? Drive around. Bore him to death.

But then what was the point of going at all? And if she didn’t bore him… No.

“If you get out of the way, I’ll back up and park. I’ll stay home, just to make you happy.”

“Leave it here. Or let me park it.”

The need to vent some of her anguish had swelled inside her for days, as if she were a bottle and the cork had to be popped. Feeling a sudden, hot rush of temper shocked her.

“It’s my car, my driveway.” Hating the venom she was spouting, she couldn’t stop herself. “You work for me. That’s all. So back off!”

His expression altered, as it always did when something threatened his pride. For a second, Erin thought he’d nod in that stiff way of his and walk away. She could drive off, and he’d never say another word about it.

But…for him, coming out here and trying to prevent her from leaving was extraordinary. Interfering, making demands on her, had to be way outside his comfort zone.

To her astonishment, he stayed where he was. Defying his pride, he hadn’t backed down.

“Fine.” She climbed out, stumbling when her feet touched the pavement. She felt weirdly awkward, her hands and feet not quite under her control.

Without a word, he took her place and moved the Cherokee back to its spot in front of the garage, this time with the nose pointing out rather than in.

I could have made a smoother getaway if I’d parked like that yesterday.

Only she hadn’t parked it, had she? Despite her simmering annoyance with Cole, she’d let him drive whenever they needed something at the hardware store or lumberyard.

By the time she plodded the short distance, he was out of the car waiting for her, her purse in his hands. The keys weren’t in sight. Had he pocketed them? she wondered resentfully.

He handed over the purse when she reached him. “For what it’s worth, I’m keeping the keys until morning.”

“I have an extra set,” she mumbled.

“I figured.”

Neither had taken a step.

“You going to let me in the house?” Cole said after a minute.

“Why should I?” Except it suddenly occurred to her that he’d have to unlock the front door. She’d had a hidden key until he started to tear apart the porch, when she’d taken it inside and stuck it in a drawer, to be forgotten. Smart.

“Because I want to talk to you.”

How a man could sound utterly expressionless and yet relentless at the same time was a mystery, but he managed.

“Fine,” she snapped again.

He followed her to the front door, where she pointedly stood aside. When he didn’t make a move, she said, “You have my keys.”

He let them in. She dropped her purse on a side table and led the way to the kitchen. She wouldn’t be going back to sleep after this, so she might as well have a cup of coffee. Or three or four. Why not?