Free The Last Bride (DiCarlo Brides #6) by Heather Tullis Page B

her back, pulling her near him. “Take a look.” He gestured behind her.
    She turned and faced the valley below. Evergreens speared through groves of aspens. Clouds dotted the horizon and she could see a bit of one of his ski lifts poking up through a clearing on the left. And down in the valley she thought she saw a shimmer of blue. She pointed at it, intensely aware that his hand had come to rest on her hip. “Is that a lake?”
    “Yeah. The waterfall where Jeremy took Delphi flows into the creek that feeds it. It’s not exactly accessible by car, but it’s a beautiful place. You should go sometime.”
    She turned to look over her shoulder at him and realized he was a lot closer than she had thought. Only inches behind her. Their eyes met and she felt the breath back up in her chest. “I bet it is.”
    “Maybe I could take you out on ATVs later this summer. When the snow is all melted and the ground dries up a bit more.” His gaze never left her face.
    When she was tempted to lean into him, she looked away, breaking the strange bubble that had surrounded them. “Yeah, we’ll have to see how that goes.”
    He lifted his hand from her hip, as if just realizing it was there, and moved away to sit on the grass a few feet back from the edge. A light breeze ruffled his hair. “Have you driven an ATV before?”
    “No. But I’ve been trying to get Delphi to give me lessons on her motorcycle.”
    He chuckled. “Good luck with that. She’s very possessive of her machine.”
    “So I’ve noticed.” Jonquil took a spot beside him on the rock, glad for a chance to cool down a little. The sun felt hotter with the rock reflecting it back at her.
    “An ATV is easier than a motorcycle any day. You’ll be fine. I get the feeling you’re a quick study.”
    Jonquil turned her face away so he wouldn’t be able to see the red burning on her cheeks as she thought of how untrue that was in many circumstances. “I hope so.” If he only knew. Did people say things like that all of the time, but she only noticed them more now because Angela was around?
    “You know, you’re not anything like I thought you would be.”
    “Glad to hear it. You’re not bad yourself when you’re being you.” She glanced back at him. “This is the real you, right? Not some fake, charming version of you that’s going to disappear the moment you take me back to my car?”
    “This is me.” He tipped his face back into the sun. “Sometimes I forget that I can be like this—just relaxed and living in the moment. Real life doesn’t allow much time to sit back and enjoy nature. At least it hasn’t lately.” His eyes were closed, a look of weariness on his face. She noticed that the furrows between his brows seemed deeper, there were dark smudges under his eyes and his face had looked a lot more pinched when they began than it did now.
    “What’s going on? You’re stressed about something.”
    “A lot of things.” He pulled his feet up in front of him and rested his elbow on his knees, creating a circle with is arms.
    “But one or two things in particular,” she insisted. “I know we don’t know each other well, but I’m a good listener.”
    “And we’re friends, right?” he asked.
    “Yeah. I think we are.” The question was whether that was a good thing, or if once established she would be stuck in the friend zone forever. Then she remembered the way he’d talked about them just being friends and decided it was inevitable. She’d have to take what she could get. And hope it was enough.
    Gage shrugged a little. “It’s been a stressful week. I found out I have to do some expensive repairs to the ski lifts before the summer is over. We figured out that issue after a little juggling, and then my sister came to me with a personal problem she wants me to solve for her. But I can’t. She doesn’t want to do what she needs to fix the problem herself, wanting a quick fix that doesn’t hurt her lifestyle.” His tone was light,