Broken Trails, Bk 1

Each trip to the hospital, she’d worried that she wouldn’t live.

At one point, she’d stopped wishing and hoping the world would bring Nate back into her life. Why would she want him to see her as she was? Broken, frail, hanging on to life with an IV tube and a throw-up bucket?

Thankfully, Nate didn’t look at her as he walked toward Stefanie’s room. Emma blinked the longing away. The memories. Neither of them needed to complicate things and both of them needed the situation to work out.

Nate pushed open a white painted door, revealing a rustic style room with artful touches in the lace doily draped over the lamp and the blue ribbon woven between the curtain loops. A handmade quilt in browns, blues, and greens adorned the full-sized bed with its hewn log posts and simple headboard.

Emma stepped further into the space, intertwining her fingers over the strap of her bag as she took in the simple elegance of the room. A thick cream rug spanned the length of the bed, allowing only peeks of the hard-mahogany flooring around the edges. “It’s gorgeous.” She glanced at Nate, embarrassed by her awe but unable to hold it in.

Only a few inches separated her shoulder from his chest. She peeked at him from under her eyelashes and hoped she smelled half as good as he did with the scent of pine and linseed oil mixing with a masculine scent of aftershave.

“Do you want to eat breakfast with us? I understand, if you’ve already eaten.” His breath was a gust of minty freshness.

“Yes, please.” She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. Would she ever stop being nervous around him? Not even a bad nervous, more like an excitement intertwined with anticipation that made her pulse quicken.

His voice lowered and he stared at her. “Okay, well, I’ll see you down there in a few minutes. The bathroom, if you need it, is across the hall.” He held her gaze for a moment longer and then walked out the door.

And took her breath with him.