Free Love Songs for the Road by Farrah Taylor Page A

her, but wanting to glean more wisdom from her.
    He realized, with a shock, that he actually wanted to be friends with Ryan. But was it possible for him, Marcus Troy, to just be friends with a woman? A woman as sexy and fun as Ryan? The idea seemed insane. But was it so crazy that it just might work?

Chapter Eight
    The Ferris Wheel
    It was six fifteen a.m. Ryan was out for a run in Portland, on a dirt path that was rocky and rambling, the crowns of twisted tree roots sticking up everywhere, so that she had to look down at her feet to avoid tripping. She ran by a beautiful, fast-flowing river she did not know the name of. A mountain range loomed in the distance; Ryan had no idea what it was called. After a lifetime in a small Montana town, she realized she liked not knowing the names of things, and the excitement of exploring what was, for her, uncharted territory.
    She was on her sixth mile, and feeling proud of herself, not just for the fact that it looked like she was going to put in a full ten before she had to pick up Charlotte and Miles, but because she’d been so disciplined in the last couple days, with both the kids and herself. Not that she’d been hard on them, but Ryan was a firm believer in the need for schedules and routines when working with children. And Charlotte and Miles were just like every other kid, every other human, she’d known: as much as they protested new rules, they secretly loved structure.
    She tried to imagine what brilliant kernels of wisdom her parents might offer her after she had foolishly run her mouth off with Marcus. Obviously, the rigors of a 24/7 nanny job had already begun to tire her out, because who in her right mind would have the gall to tell a huge rock star how to make his song better? It made her blush just to think of how nosy she’d been. But there was something about Marcus, some energy around him, that made her feel like anything was permissible. Was it her imagination, or had he actually been super-excited as she’d talked about that idiotic “glimmer of light?” And had she really noticed a relaxation in his shoulders, an overall calming of his mood, as they’d continued talking? Ryan wasn’t stupid; she wouldn’t go around spouting ideas about topics she knew nothing about unless the person she was talking to wanted to hear them. The question was why . Why did Marcus care about what she had to say? She was just the nanny, and yet he seemed genuinely interested in her. Yesterday, he’d leaned in, and she’d felt a shiver run through her entire body. Being that close to him, so close that she could smell the sweetness of his skin, did something to her, there was no use denying it.
    Ryan reached into her armband and checked the app on her phone. She had just over three miles to go, and didn’t need to report for duty with the kids until seven, more than an hour from now, which despite how early it was, felt like absolute luxury. She still had tons of energy, and told herself she was going to beat her previous time of eighty-three minutes for a ten-miler. She knew she could do it.
    Ryan put her phone back in her armband, then looked up for one last view of the sun glinting off the water before the path veered off the river and back into the Portland streets. But she never got a real look. She snagged her toe on a tree root, and her ankle twisted badly. Bracing her fall with her hands, she fell hard on her right elbow and hip. Stupidly thinking, I just fell , she lay in the dirt and bled from her elbow and knee.
    As she rose and dusted herself off, the rush of adrenaline tricked her into thinking she’d escaped any real injury. But when she moved toward an inlet in the river shore to wash herself off, pain shot through her foot and up her calf. Instantly, she knew her ankle was going to be a problem. It wasn’t broken, and it would probably be fine in a few days, but three miles lay between the river path where she was limping around and the hotel, where she was