Free At Any Cost by Mandy Baxter

questions or grill her about her past. One of the reasons Livy kept herself from forming any relationships was because people were naturally curious and the more time she spent with someone, the more they wanted to know about her. Where had she lived before she moved to McCall? What had she done for work? Did she go to college? What about her parents? Where did they live? Did she have any brothers or sisters? Livy hated to lie and so rather than make up stories about a life she hadn’t lived, she opted to simply refrain from making friends. Sure it was lonely. But lonely was better than dead.
    â€œMost people ski on their days off.” Nick put his lips to the bottle of iced tea and took a long pull. Livy tried not to be jealous of an inanimate object, but she suddenly found herself wishing she’d been born a bottle of Lipton. His mouth looked absolutely delicious. “Since you ski at work, I doubt you’re anxious to spend your free time here.”
    Truth be told, there wasn’t much else that Livy did. She felt relatively safe here. There was only one road in or out and the slope of Brundage Mountain gave her the perfect vantage point to keep an eye on the parking lot. Not that she expected a horde of loud, growling motorcycles to climb the steep, winding mountain road in the dead of winter, but she’d take a false sense of security over the crippling fear any day of the week.
    â€œI come up on my days off sometimes,” she said. “The kids I teach are always beginners. They never graduate from Easy Street. Sometimes I like to take the big girl runs, you know?”
    Nick smiled. The expression was as blinding and brilliant as the sun. Did he employ his charm often, she wondered? Did he realize how much it made her want to lean in closer? Maybe close enough to touch. He smelled like winter: clean and crisp. Livy snapped back in her chair as she realized she’d unintentionally angled her body toward his. It had been so long since she’d gone on a date, let alone kissed a guy. She was starved for the contact. The reminder of her isolated existence opened up a giant hole in her chest. She had Joel to thank for that feeling and she hated him for it.
    â€œHey. Everything okay?”
    Livy brought her gaze up to find Nick studying her. His expression was full of concern and she wondered what she’d let slip as she lost herself to her own stupid thoughts. “Oh, sorry. Did I zone out? I um, was thinking about Simon. I forgot to put food in his bowl before I left for work this morning.”
    Nick gave her a dubious look but he didn’t call her bullshit. A gorgeous, easygoing guy who didn’t pry. Too good to be true. The thought sent a shiver of warning through her. She needed to remain mindful of that very thing. When something was too good to be true, it usually was. Despite the fact that Nick made her feel safe, Livy needed to stay on guard.
    Lonely was better than dead.
    * * *
    Livy obviously had a lot of practice at deflecting. She gave noncommittal answers, was careful to keep the topics of conversation light, steering it where she wanted it to go. More than once during their lunch, Nick had watched as her concentration flagged and her mind wandered. The sadness that came over her features was enough to steal his breath.
    She hadn’t been thinking about her cat. Her overly cautious and distracted behavior was just another telltale sign that he was on the money. Livy Gallagher was Kari Hanson. He might not have the solid evidence to prove it but he trusted his gut. It didn’t answer the one burning question, though: Why did Joel really want her and why had she gone into hiding?
    She pulled the knit beanie from her head and smoothed a hand self-consciously over her hair. Her braids had kept it neat and Nick wondered what the golden strands would look like if she ever let them hang loose about her shoulders. Her cheeks were flushed from the cold; even her lips