The Rebel's Return (Red River) by Victoria James Page B

back counter. Load them in my SUV and drive them over to the academy.”
    He was smiling like an idiot, because she was smiling. That must have been why he had a delayed reaction to what she was suggesting. The image of her bubble-gum pink Volkswagen popped into his head. “I, uh, I can take my dad’s car.”
    She was shaking her head, ponytail flopping. “No, it’ll have to be mine. Branding. Company image, etc. Also, I don’t trust them in the back of a car. I have the back of the SUV divided properly to fit deliveries. I’ll leave the keys on the counter, as well. Thanks, Aiden.”
    God, he was actually going to drive that thing. For her. “Thank you. I know you don’t owe me anything, but I appreciate it. I’m not the same guy anymore, Nat.”
    She sighed. “Some things never change. People don’t change, that’s what I figured out. They don’t change, and it’s a waste of my time trying to make them change. I only end up getting hurt in the process.”
    She stared into his eyes and guilt swam through him, but he didn’t look away. “Maybe some people can’t change. Maybe some people are capable of change for the right person,” he said, resisting the urge to pull her to him, to whisper the truth. To make her realize she didn’t need to change him anymore, it wasn’t her burden, he’d already changed for her.
    “That sounds like wishful thinking. Naive thinking. I’m not that girl anymore. Excuse me, I gotta go.”
    He didn’t move. “I don’t want us to be like this. I’m here for a few more weeks.”
    “Great. I think it’s nice that you’re here to support your father. You’ve been gone for years. We didn’t part on the best of terms, if you recall.” She sighed. “What is it you expect of me? Aiden McCann is back in town, let’s roll out the red carpet. Seriously? You being here for eight weeks in no way impacts my life.”
    Ouch. “What if I stayed longer?”
    “Then that would be nice for your father.”
    “For you. What if I stayed for you? What if I told you I’d be willing to leave it all behind me? I’d give it all up in a second if it meant you’d give me a second chance.”
    She didn’t say anything for a long moment, the rain touching and bouncing off her pink baseball cap. And then her eyes welled, and she rolled her eyes. “Why are you even saying this?”
    “Because I never got over you. No woman I’ve ever met has come close to being anything like you, Nat.”
    She winced. “You mean gullible and naive and stupid?”
    That’s what she thought of herself? That was on him, because of what he’d done. He took a step closer to her. “I mean, sweet, idealistic, smart. I mean, beautiful, caring, compassionate. Hot.”
    Her mouth parted slightly, and he fought the urge to tip up her baseball cap and kiss her.
    “Don’t lie to me,” she whispered, her voice sounding as though she were being tortured, as though it had just happened yesterday. He got that. Sometimes it felt like that for him, too.
    “I’m not lying.”
    “Then why did you cheat on me in the first place?” She held up her hand before he could speak. “You know what? I don’t want to know the answer to that. It was so long ago. I was over you. You can’t come back here and suddenly claim you’d be willing to give everything up for me. It doesn’t work that way. I realized after you left that we were children. Eighteen and twenty-two. What did either of us know about love or relationships? All those plans we had were silly and stupid, and we never would have worked.” The tears streaming down her face made it very clear that she didn’t believe what she was saying.
    “We would have worked if I didn’t screw it up. Everything I felt for you was real. Everything we were together was real and so damn good that I regret not being the man you needed back then.” He wanted so badly to tell her the rest, to tell her the real reason he left, and the truth about what she believed about him.
    She