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Four
     
    A hotel bathroom was a pretty lousy place to run away to and
hide. But in a panic, Riley’s choices were limited. So here she sat, on the
edge of the bathtub, with her forearms balanced on her thighs, wringing her
hands between her knees.
    Freaking. The. Hell. Out.
    She’d always considered herself a somewhat detached person.
At the end of her first year in middle school, her parents had divorced. That
entire summer she hadn’t shed one single tear, even as her mother fell to
pieces around her and her baby sister. It wasn’t as if she could afford the
luxury of falling apart. As the oldest child, it was her job to be the strong
one and hold together what little was left of her dwindling family.
    Those tedious school years rolled on by in what she wished she
could call the blink of an eye. She studied hard, despite being distracted by a
few boyfriends and more than one shitty breakup along the way. She quickly
learned to take each failed relationship in stride, due to the fact that her
mother had taught her early on how easily men came and went. She and her
sister, Char, had had more than one “uncle” while they were in high school, and
they’d had even more during their college years, so it was a lesson she
couldn’t readily forget. Seeing her mom lose herself to any man who would give
her a sliver more than the time of day, only to end up dying sick and alone,
well, that had hardened Riley. She swore she wouldn’t end up like her mother.
She’d never give her soul to a man just to watch him walk away when the going
got tough. No way in hell.
    She learned pretty damn fast to trust herself, and only
herself. She wouldn’t give her heart away to some random guy who excelled at
pouring on misguided charm or to someone who thought he was God’s gift to women
because he could flash a perfect, toothy smile. She loaned her body out on
occasion, yes, but never her heart. That was hers. Her strength, her resolve.
And she’d lived that way for years. Until she met the one man her heart, soul
and resolve couldn’t seem to resist.
    Until she met…
    A soft knock at the door had her pulse quickening. She stood
as the doorknob turned without her saying “Come in.” She clutched the hotel
bathrobe tighter and ran a quick hand under her eyes and down her cheeks.
    Garrett had put his pants back on, but his chest and neck
still looked flushed as he stepped inside the tiny room and closed the door
behind him. He shoved his hands in the back pockets of his pants and cocked his
head to study her. She hugged herself harder and met his stare.
    “You’re not okay.”
    She shook her head and clenched her jaw. She wasn’t about to
lose it now.
    He took a single step closer and she stiffened.
    “Jesus, Riley, don’t close me out,” he said and pulled his
hands from his pockets to grip her upper arms.
    “It wasn’t supposed to be like that,” she whispered.
    “Like what?”
    She spun out of his hold and faced the mirror. “You told me
it’d be fun. Hot.”
    “It wasn’t?”
    She couldn’t answer that. Because it was. But at the same
time it was so much more.
    She turned the faucet on to run cool and rested her head on her
forearm as she held her wrists under the spray. Garrett met her silence with a
weary sigh.
    “We talked about this. You told me he was the one you
wanted. The one you wanted to be with us.”
    Yes, she had. In his arms, out on the dance floor. “I know.”
    “But?”
    She slapped the faucet to shut it off and grabbed a towel.
The sterile cotton scratched as she dried her hands and she rubbed even harder,
almost craving the irritation.
    “Riley, damn it. Just talk to me.”
    She tossed the towel in the sink a little too roughly and
plopped down on the closed toilet lid. Garrett didn’t hesitate to squat in
front of her. The compassionate yet questioning look in his eyes made her
insides spin like an out-of-control top.
    “I made a promise to you, five years ago. To love and to
cherish,”