Free Below the Line by Candice Owen Page B

will be getting any information from me.” Nate got up and shook the hand the suit offered, practically running from his office. He knew what he would find when he got to Marissa's trailer, but he had to see it for himself.
     
    The door was wide open, the tape with her name on it gone. Everything that made the place personal to her had been stripped. Her scent lingered in the air but soon even that would be gone. Just like her.
     
    ***
     
    Marissa sat on the tiny balcony of her residential hotel room, the lights of Vancouver doing nothing to ease the ache in her chest. She had stupidly thought that getting away from L.A. would ease the hurt and help her forget. If anything, she felt worse.
     
    She had taken the easy way out. When the director and head of production had come to her Sunday to inform her that the movie was being tabled until Kate was out of rehab, Marissa had seen it as a blessing. She wouldn't have to face Nate and could be far away before he even knew that she was gone.
     
    Regret sat heavy in her gut. It had been wrong to run off like that. It was wrong because he had been right, about everything. She was scared. Irrationally so.
     
    Relationships are always a risk. They don't always last, even when both people want them to. But to never try? I thought that not trying would save me from heartache. So why do I hurt so much, now that I’m away from him?
     
    She liked to believe that she was strong; but, in reality, she was a coward. I use my career as a shield. Hiding from real life by playing the tough stunt chick. The loner that doesn't need anyone. What a joke.
     
    This job was a small one, and she would be done in five more days. If she was going to take a chance on Nate, she had to make up her mind soon because he wouldn’t wait for her forever.
     
    ***
     
    At first he tried to find her. It was nearly impossible to get information out of anyone in her group. They claimed that even they didn't know where she had run off to this time. It was like she had disappeared off the face of the earth.
     
    He had two choices, wait until production on the film began again or let her go and move on. Talking it out with his second-in-command hadn't helped. If anything, it had just pissed him off. He realized that it didn't seem very rational to wait around on a woman that he barely knew, but there was something about Marissa that made him different. She made him more than what he had been before her.
     
    Work was his only relief. He threw himself into the repairs on the club. The check he had gotten from the studio was more than enough to get several items checked off his list. What he couldn't afford to replace, he fixed as best as possible. It was a good start.
     
    He was working bar back, tired and frustrated because the beer order had once again not come on time. It wasn't that busy for a Saturday night, mainly because several of the regulars were out on a charity ride in Los Angeles. He decided to shake off early, go home for a swim, and maybe try to get some sleep.
     
    At first, he thought it was exhaustion. He didn't remember leaving the lights on in the pool, but it had happened before. Then, he saw movement, a flash of deep red. It was like he was walking through molasses. When he finally got the patio door open and stepped outside, she was climbing the steps.
     
    “Hi,” she said, her voice soft and hesitant. She didn't move any closer to him or step completely out of the pool. If he rejected her--
     
    “You came back.” Nate didn't move, still half afraid that if he did she would disappear.
     
    “I did.” He hadn't asked her to leave, and she took that as a good sign. “I left here like a coward. I'm sorry for that.”
     
    “You aren’t a coward, Marissa.” Nate put his hands in his pockets, unsure of what to do with them when all they wanted was to reach out and grab her to him and never let her go again.
     
    “Yes, I am.” She took a step, reaching the top of the stairs. “I