Lone Star Reunion

Alex felt warm, strong fingers graze her shoulder and she turned to look up at Dan, who held out a bottle of water. She smiled her thanks, shifted up a bit, and when he sat down next to her, she noticed the bottle of beer in his hand. He’d changed into a pair of swimming shorts and wore a pale yellow T-shirt. She wore a sleeveless tank over her bikini and her hair was a tangled mass of still-damp curls.

“Thanks.”

Daniel’s bare shoulder nudged hers and Alex ignored the flash of desire that ricocheted down her spine. Taking a sip from the bottle he’d thoughtfully opened for her, she gestured to the sunset. “I wondered if you were watching the sunset.”

“It’s stunning,” Daniel murmured.

She hadn’t seen him since before lunch and she wondered what he’d been up to. “So, what have you been doing?”

Daniel took a moment to answer her. “Hanging out, chilling. Seeing if I could find signal for my phone.”

“Did you find one?”

“Nope.”

She also had no cell phone signal, and it was a problem. She needed to talk to Mike, ask him for some more time to think about his offer, to work out the logistics of moving to Houston. “I need to send my grandpa an irate email, telling him how much I resent his interference and machinations. He doesn’t carry a phone but he does read his emails.”

Daniel’s chest lifted as he pulled in some air. “You can.”

“I can what?” Alex asked, digging her toes into the sand.

“Send an email,” Daniel admitted. “I found a computer in Matt’s study. I should’ve realized that the guy, with all his business interests, would have to have some contact with the outside world. On further examination, there’s also a satellite phone for emergencies.”

Alex flew to her feet. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Why are we here? Why aren’t we at the airfield, waiting for a plane?”

She could go home, confront Gus, talk to her clients, Mike. She could put some distance between her and Daniel, start her life without him. At the thought, her heart stuttered, then stumbled. She had to; she had no choice. She and Daniel didn’t have a future, not as anything more than co-parents.

She wasn’t marrying him or moving in with him; both options were impossible.

Daniel pulled his legs up and rested his forearms on his knees as he squinted up at her. “You’re missing the sunset, Lex.”

“We can go home, Daniel! We need to go home.”

He gently took her wrist and pulled her back down so that she sat with her back to the sunset. The pink-and-yellow light danced across his face. Daniel’s thumb stroked the sensitive flesh on the inside of her wrist.

“Let’s not, Lex.”

“Let’s not what?”

“Go home,” Daniel said, and she sent him a shocked look. He’d been furious about leaving, about being manipulated into taking this time away and now he wanted to stay?

“I don’t understand,” Alex said, pulling her hand out of his grasp. She couldn’t talk to him and touch him—she wasn’t that strong.

“As loath as I am to give those two meddlers any credit, I think that they are right. We need to work some stuff out, and we can do it here,” Daniel suggested. “You’re exhausted. Organizing the auction was hard work, and I haven’t taken a break for nearly a year. We both can do with some downtime. And while we relax, maybe we can plot a way forward.”

“You and your plans, Daniel!” Alex muttered. “You can’t plan for every eventuality. Some things you have to allow to evolve, to work themselves out.”

“Work themselves out? God!” Daniel released a harsh laugh. “That’s such a stupid thing to say. Things very rarely work out, Alexis!”

Wow, that was quite the reaction to an innocent comment. Instead of jumping on him, Alex tipped her head to the side and waited for him to speak.

Daniel picked up a handful of sand, clenched his fist and allowed the particles to slide down the tunnel his hand created. She’d never seen such sad eyes, she decided. Sad and angry and distraught.

“Do you know what it’s like to live a life lurching from crisis to crisis? Do you know how unsettling it is not to know where you are going to be, what bed you’re going to be sleeping in? Whether your mother will be there when you wake up? It sucks, Alex!”