Oregon Outback (26 page)

At that moment, Lucas no longer feared loving Avery, or telling her of his love. He’d willingly let go of everything he’d held dear up to the moment he met Avery, for a chance to love her for the rest of his life.

I’m coming, Avery!

Avery feared he would enter the wilderness area, but instead it appeared he headed for a remote campsite. That brought only a measure of relief. Was he meeting someone?

When she’d moved from the city to the quiet seclusion of central Oregon, she never dreamed she’d face the biggest challenges of her life. Lucas’s extreme sports were one thing, but now she’d been abducted, and all because she’d been at the wrong place at the wrong time. But being with Lucas, learning to do things she’d never think of, had doused most of her fear of risk—and
that
was the key to breaking free.

Clenching her teeth, Avery waited for her chance. She prayed she’d recognize it when it came and would know what to do. Somewhere behind her, she heard more quads and leaned around the man to glance behind him. He shoved her forward, but in that instant, she’d spotted a group of riders on four-wheelers. Were they following? Was it Lucas?

Whoever was behind them made her abductor nervous because he steered straight up a steep dune. Avery braced herself, hoping he wouldn’t soar over the crest.

They topped the dune. The other side was steep and the man traversed it straight down.

Then … she knew what to do. She only had one shot at this—and it was a risk.

She drew in several breaths like she was preparing to dive underwater, then yanked the handlebars to the right. The man cursed and fought to correct his course. But it was too late. All she’d needed was a slight angle.

The quad tipped and Avery jumped. Her abductor wasn’t fast enough, and rolled under the ATV. Avery didn’t wait to see if he would recover. Going back for the key wasn’t an option, with him lying so close to the quad. She stepped into the compressed sand of the four-wheeler’s tracks and ran up the dune.

A glance back told her he was stirring, his gun halfway down the dune on the sand. Avery pushed over the top, legs burning, and down the other side, hoping to see the group of riders that had followed.

They were nowhere in sight, though she heard the rumble of vehicles nearby.

“Help, someone help!” she called and continued to run, but the sand slowed her pace, and burned her energy away.

Breathless, she leaned on her thighs. Would he come back for her? Or let her go?

She heard the whir of a quad. Glancing behind, Avery spotted it crest the dune she’d just come from.
He’s coming after me …

She ran, willing her legs to carry her through the sand.

But it was no use. The revving whirr of the ATV overwhelmed her. He planned to run her down.

Avery turned to face him. She had no intentions of going down alone. She’d take him with her.

Suddenly, a four-wheeler soared high over the dune to her right, heading straight for her.

Lucas?
Her heart thrummed. “Lucas! He has a gun.” She knew he couldn’t hear her.

On the four-wheeler, her abductor bore down on her, too focused on Avery to see Lucas.

Lucas jerked his quad, slamming against the other vehicle. He threw his body into the man, shoving them both off the vehicles. Avery screamed and dodged. Soon enough, the quads slowed in the sand.

Lucas and the abductor wrestled, but the man had gotten the better of Lucas, straddling him and throwing punches in Lucas’s face. Avery spotted his gun, lying on the ground. The guy couldn’t hold on to it. She ran to the gun and picked it up, but she didn’t know how to use it. Pointing it could endanger Lucas as well.

Avery rushed over and slammed the weapon into the man’s temple. He fell off Lucas, unconscious. Or… “Is he dead?” she asked.

Lucas sat up and wiped at his bloodied face. He reached over and felt the man’s neck. “No. You didn’t kill him.”

“Oh Lucas. How did you find me?”

He climbed to his feet and took the gun from her. “Let me hold on to this in case he comes to.”

Avery melted into his embrace, and he kissed the top of her head. “Hold on, I’m calling Jonas. He’s with the FBI, and this could be the fugitive they’re after.”

She waited while Lucas told Jonas about her abductor, and gave him the coordinates of their location.

Then he cupped one palm against her cheek. Concern, fear, along with other emotions sprang from his dark blue gaze. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know what he was planning.” Avery explained how she’d tugged the handlebars and flipped the quad on a steep dune and escaped.

Lucas grinned, rubbing his thumb against her cheek.

Their uncertain relationship suddenly didn’t matter. All she wanted was to bask in his attention, enjoy the fact that she had survived.

L
ucas continued to cup her sweet face, unwilling to release her. “As soon as help arrives, I’ll get you home. But right now, we need to wait. Jonas was already on his way before I found you, so he should be here soon.”

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw you. You came just in time, but how did you find me?” Her eyes bright, he could tell adrenaline held her up, but it wouldn’t last. She would fade fast and hard.

She’d called him an adrenaline junkie. Looking at her, he knew now that he’d give up his addiction for her. “With all the activity in the dunes this time of year, it wasn’t easy, but that quad is heavy and has nineteen-inch tires, so the tracks were deep and wide. I followed a few false trails before I found you.”

Lucas relished the feel of her smooth skin against his palm, the softness against his thumb. He didn’t ever want to let her go. She could have been killed today at the hands of her abductor or when the quad had rolled over.

An unfamiliar sensation burned the back of his eyes. Tears? Still holding the weapon and alert to any movement from Avery’s kidnapper, Lucas rubbed his upper arm over his face, wiping away the emotions. His friends had thought him fearless, and until today, his only fear had been falling in love and the resulting commitment as though it was something to dread. He’d been an idiot.

Now …
now,
he knew a different, more fierce, and terrible kind of fear. The fear of losing the woman he loved, losing her so that he could never get her back. Losing her so that he wouldn’t have the chance to prove his love. An ache knifed his chest. But she wasn’t his to get back. He hadn’t told her how he felt, and even if he did, he had no assurance that she would return his love.

“Oh, I have something for you.” He dug in his pocket, pulling out her butterfly earring.

Her eyes glistened. “You found it.”

“It went a long way in helping me know you were in trouble. Smart girl.”

She lifted and dangled it. Then she removed the other from her earlobe. “I don’t want to wear these anymore. They’re a reminder of what happened.”

Avery stumbled back. Lucas caught her elbow. “You should sit down.” He hoped she’d let him make her something to eat, let him spend time with her and make sure she was okay.

The deep rumble of a helicopter filled his ears, and soon, it swooped over them. He hoped it wouldn’t land in the sand.

After Jonas arrived along with his FBI entourage, Avery had told him what happened, and thankfully he’d dismissed her and Lucas. Lucas insisted on driving Avery home.

He walked her to the door, hating the drained look of her skin and her sagging expression. The adrenaline rush of an extreme situation had finally crashed.

Avery unlocked her door. “Thanks again, Lucas. You were there for me today.” Her voice trembled.

Hearing the shattered sound of it tore at his insides. “After I shower, I’m coming back to cook dinner for you.”

She frowned. “That’s not necessary. Besides, all I want is a hot bath and a nap.”

He didn’t want to leave her alone. She needed to be with someone.

Lucas sighed. “Look, I know you’re tired. Take your bath and your nap. Let me do this for you, please …”

When she looked at him, he pleaded with his gaze. Was he being selfish? “Please, let me do this for you.”

“Okay, Lucas,” she said, too tired to argue, he knew. She dropped the keys to her house in his hand. “Let yourself in.”

An hour later, Lucas had showered and dressed in his Sunday best, which amounted to jeans and a button-down collared shirt, and stood in Avery’s kitchen, cooking spaghetti with meat sauce, the only decent meal he could make. Store-bought french garlic bread warmed in the oven—she didn’t have any of her fresh-baked bread lying around—and he chopped tomatoes for a salad.

He assumed Avery had taken her bath and was napping. He wouldn’t disturb her, but hoped the good smells would wake her. She needed some sustenance. Anyone who enjoyed baking bread like she did would stir at the aroma. The table was set and included a bouquet of fresh flowers he’d purchased as well.

He wasn’t any good at this romance thing—his track record attested to that—but Jonas had given him a few tips earlier in the afternoon, before either of them knew the danger she was in.

In his head, he rehearsed the words he would say when the right moment came.

I love you. I was too scared to admit I loved you before. But I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you
.

What if the right moment never came?

Funny that life turned things around on a person. His fear of loving, of commitment, had been turned upside down, and now he was afraid of not being loved in return. Avery could reject him.

Especially if he didn’t manage to say things right. That was another thing he knew about women, the right word said in the wrong way could be a deal-breaker.

“Lucas?” The familiar sweet voice sent his heart tumbling.

Moisture slid over his palms as he glanced up from tossing the salad.

Avery leaned against a chair at the dining table, her gaze flitting over his handiwork. Her cheeks had a good color now, and her eyes were definitely brighter than when he’d left her. She’d cleaned up, too, and wore white shorts and a pale shirt. When she looked at him in the kitchen, the soft lavender polo shirt she wore accented her big blues.

Beautiful …

“Lucas,” she said. “You did all this for me?”

He took a glass of iced tea with a wedge of lemon over to her. “Who else?”

Her bright smile shined through his dark places, and she took the glass from him. “I’m impressed.”

“I’m sorry about today.” Idiot. He was hoping to make her forget.

She watched him over the rim of the glass as she drank. When she finished, Lucas took the glass from her and set it on the table.

He lifted his hand but dropped it. For some reason, he thought if he touched her she would break. A rock lodged in his throat. He ran his hand down her arm until he reached her hand and squeezed it.

Today wasn’t a good day to lay everything on the line. Deep in his marrow he knew that waiting any longer wasn’t an option. He was terrified.

Avery slid her hands around Lucas’s waist and held on. She rested her head against his chest, the sturdy thump of his heart all the security she needed.