Legacy (28 page)

What little morning cloud cover the day offered had now burned away, and Wes crossed the marker for Mile 10. But all he could think about were Michael’s words. He hadn’t remembered them before today, but they were all too true.

Sometimes Corinne didn’t let herself be happy. Sometimes Wes didn’t either. Wouldn’t it be easier if they just showed each other the way?

When he reached Mile 12, his agony gave way to a heady sense of euphoria. He hoped it was the salt and electrolytes and not heat stroke messing with his head, but he didn’t let himself question it. He had about ten minutes left until he reached the finish, and if he was getting a second wind, he’d ride it into the ground.

Ten minutes later, Wes heard Corinne call his name as he approached the finish. He was sprinting, which may not have been a good idea, but nothing else mattered but getting to her. He crossed the treaded finish line sensors—his finishing time 5:10:45—and someone congratulated him and draped a medal over his head. Then a foil blanket landed around his shoulders.

And then a tiny figure collided with his, her arms circling around his ribs, and the sound of his name filling his ears.

“Wes. Thank God you’re okay!” she panted, squeezing him, her cheek pressed against his chest. “Some of the runners have collapsed from the heat. You are okay, aren’t you?”

She tipped her chin up, and Wes saw the fear that rimmed her eyes. He squeezed back.

“Never better,” he said, smiling. It wasn’t entirely true. His body felt butchered, bled dry. “But I need to walk or I’ll lock up. And I need some calories.”

Corinne untangled herself from him and took his hand, suddenly in charge.

“C’mon. There’s bagels and bananas and drinks over here.” She pulled him in the right direction and loaded him down with sustenance. Corinne cracked open one of the water bottles for him, and after he’d drained half of it, she peeled off a piece of bagel and pressed it to his lips.

“Eat,” she said, never taking her eyes off him. Wes opened his mouth and obeyed, stunned silent. Corinne tore off another piece and fed it to him, frowning up at him with a kind of rapt concentration. A feeling that he’d known just once soaked through his belly, up his spine, into his chest.

The last time he’d felt it, he’d just watched her square off with his asshole father, defending Wes against the man’s insults. And here was the same amazement, the same surprised sense of awe, of relief.

With the simple gesture of filling his mouth, Corinne threatened to buckle his knees. It was the sexiest fucking thing. She was taking care of
him
. When was the last time someone had done that? The way she did now? With such single-minded focus?

Never.

He felt a little ridiculous at this realization and how, with the third bite she offered him, chills spilled down his neck. Wes shut his eyes and swallowed it passed the growing lump in his throat.

What the hell is wrong with me? I’m not a little boy.

But this feeling? His love (and was this Corinne loving him back?) made him feel just as vulnerable as any helpless child.

He reached for her hips and pulled her against him, unable to keep still and just feel. If she couldn’t love him back, how would he recover?

“Please come home with me,” she whispered then, turning his heart over in his chest.

Chapter 33

A
s clearly as she could tell, Wes was starving.

After she’d plied him with two bagels, one banana, a bottle of water and a bottle of Gatorade, they’d watched Chad finish his race and collapse in Heather’s arms, both looking wildly happy and a little insane. It hadn’t taken long for them to agree that Corinne would drive Wes back in his truck while Chad rode with Heather.

The foursome stopped at Satterfield’s for burgers, sitting on the balcony on the second floor overlooking the lake. Wes watched jet skiers on the water, and Corinne watched him. He’d agreed to come home with her, but did that mean he’d be home to stay? She couldn’t wait until they were alone to find out.

He and Chad had changed out of their tri-suits at the park, and now he wore the red and white race t-shirt, a clean pair of shorts, and his finisher’s medal. It made her smile. That and the salt crystals along his hairline and down his neck were the only evidence of what he’d put himself through that morning.

And, of course, his frightening appetite.

Wes had ordered two burgers, a plate of fries, and a lemonade, and he moaned his pleasure at every bite. This, naturally, made Corinne smile, too. Watching the race had been more nerve-wracking than she’d expected, especially when triathletes started being packed up in ambulances because of heat exhaustion.

Knowing Wes meant that she had no doubt that he would run himself into the ground before he’d give up on anything, and this had scared the hell out of her as the day wore on, fearing that he’d collapse on the road with heat stroke. But he looked okay now, plowing through his second burger, muttering about how good it was.

He looked up with a mouthful and caught her staring. Corinne watched his cheeks color at her smile, and he reached under the table to find her hand and squeeze it. It felt so good just to be with him. He couldn’t imagine how much she’d missed him.

I love you
, she wanted to tell him.
And I’m so sorry I hurt you.

“If I never see this lake again, that’ll be alright with me,” Chad grumbled, eyeing the water with disgust. “I think I got kicked about 12 times. Once in the nads.”

Chad seemed to shudder at the memory.

“You’ll be back next year,” Wes teased, narrowing his eyes. “Just wait. We both will.”

Corinne swallowed a groan. Then she would be here, too.

If
Wes wanted her in his life.

And she had enjoyed herself. Watching him had been thrilling—when she wasn’t terrified. Corinne reminded herself that she had already accepted the way of the world. There were no guarantees that her heart wouldn’t be broken again. There were no guarantees that a terrible accident wouldn’t take someone else she loved. But loving Wes—and how could she not?—was worth the risk.

“You slowing down?” he asked her, breaking into her heavy thoughts and pointing to her half-eaten burger.

Corinne nodded.

“Yeah, you want it?”

Wes shook his head.

“Nah, but get a box. Maybe later,” he said, giving her a boyish smile.

Corinne laughed, the sensation a lightness bubbling up from her chest. Wes was so good at making her laugh. She hadn’t really let herself enjoy it before.

Now she wanted to enjoy everything.

“C’mon, C. Let’s get out of here,” Wes said, after their server had brought over a to-go box and the check. His tone was light, but Corinne saw a hint of tension around his eyes.

Was he dreading their drive back to Lafayette? An hour and a half together in his truck? Corinne certainly wasn’t dreading it, but a ripple of nerves coursed through her anyway.

Would he hear what she had to say? Would it make any difference? Did he really still have feelings for her, as Heather believed?

Corinne hoped, fiercely, that he did, but she had been the one to kiss
him
on the race route, not the other way around.

Both Chad and Wes got up slowly from the table, gritting their teeth and hissing as they started to walk again.

“Dude,” Chad groaned, hobbling slowly. “No one would look at us right now and think ‘those guys are athletes.’”

Corinne and Heather laughed, and Wes smirked.

“Just wait until we have to go down those stairs,” he muttered. “Going down is a hell of a lot harder than climbing up.”

Their descent on the stairs would have been almost funny if it hadn’t looked so painful. Both men took them sideways, gripping the banister and swearing under their breath.

“Just leave me here, Heather,” Chad whimpered halfway down. “Save yourself.”

Heather threw her head back, laughing, but she draped Chad’s free arm around her neck and helped him down.

“Need a hand,” Corinne asked, offering her right to Wes. Without a word, he gripped it with surprising force, the strain of each step vibrating through his body.

“Thank Christ,” Wes grunted when they finally reached the bottom. He handed Corinne the keys to his truck and limped around to the passenger side. “Case, either stop at the club and do the cold plunge or take an Epsom salt bath when you get home.”

“Fuck the cold plunge,” Chad called, as Heather opened her car door for him, and Chad wailed pitifully as he sunk down into the passenger seat.

“Epsom salts!” Wes called back, and Corinne heard him stifle a groan as he climbed up into the cab. He flopped against the seatback, eyes closed, and wiped away the sheen of sweat that had misted his face on the short journey from their table to his truck.

“You okay?” Corinne asked after climbing in next to him and starting the engine.

Wes opened his eyes and found hers. His already tanned skin had bronzed even darker after six hours in the sun. He was impossibly beautiful, but he looked exhausted.

He gave Corinne a tired smile.

“It could be worse,” he teased.

Corinne had prepared in her mind everything she wanted to tell him, but as she looked at the man across from her, the man who had saved her, the man she loved, all she wanted to do was take care of him.

“Why don’t you try to take a nap?” she offered, reaching over and brushing his damp hair away from his forehead.

Something softened around Wes’s eyes, and he grabbed her hand and pressed it to his lips.

“Maybe that’s a good idea,” he said, watching her carefully. “If it’s okay with you.”

Corinne nodded, but she hedged her bets.

“As long as you don’t bolt as soon as we get to the house,” she said.

Still holding her hand, Wes lowered the back of his seat, intertwined his fingers with hers, and rested their joined hands across his stomach.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

The muscles in Corinne’s abdomen danced, and she pulled onto the highway one-handed.

Wes still slept as Corinne merged onto I-49 in Opelousas. They would be home in half an hour. And they didn’t need to hurry. She didn’t need to hurry. Because Wes wouldn’t take off as soon as they got there.

Of course, she wasn’t entirely sure what would happen. Only what she wanted to happen.

Corinne glanced over at him asleep next to her. He’d released her hand just a few minutes after dozing off, but she’d kept it tucked into the crook of his arm, her thumb running slowly over the terrain of muscle in his forearm.

She longed to touch every inch of him.

It was both strange and comforting now to think of him as Michael’s best friend. It was as though they had been reborn into the same tribe. Neither of them was the same person they’d been when they’d met each other two years before, yet somehow, the people they were now had been shaped for each other, by each other.

If he still wanted her, if he could forgive her...

Wes stirred then beside her and reached for the hand that rested on his arm.

“You doing okay?” he asked, his eyes opening just a peek.

“Yeah, I’m good,” she said, giving him a smile before putting her eyes back on the road. “And you? Are you feeling okay?”

Wes blew out a breath then and raised the back of his seat until he was sitting up next to her again.

“I’ll live,” he teased. Then he looked at her, and as Corinne’s eyes flicked back and forth from the road in front of her and Wes’s gaze, his smile tempered to something thoughtful.

“Thank you,” Wes said.

Corinne stared ahead, suddenly shy.

“For what?”

Wes didn’t hesitate.

“For driving. For coming out there and cheering me on. For all of those posters,” Wes said, his voice dropping. “No one’s ever done anything like that for me.”

Corinne felt his hand tighten around hers, communicating something that words could not. Something about fear and hope and promise.

Were they fearing and hoping and promising the same things?

Interstate 49 melted into Highway 90, and Corinne turned right onto Willow. They’d be home in mere minutes, so she held herself back from asking. She could wait before diving in.

Five minutes later, they pulled up at the house and heard Buck barking at them from the back yard where Corinne had left him that morning.

“Someone’s going to be glad to see you,” she said, hopping out of the truck as Wes edged himself out with a disturbing slowness, a grimace claiming his face.

“I just hope he doesn’t knock me down,” Wes gritted out through his teeth.

“I promise, I won’t let him,” Corinne vowed, reaching into the back seat for Wes’s gear bag before he could do it.

“Hey, I could have gotten that,” he said, hobbling behind her toward the front porch.

Corinne rolled her eyes at him.

“Sure you could, champ,” she teased.

Buck’s excited barks grew more demanding as she unlocked the door, so Corinne dropped the gear bag in the living room and sprinted to the back.

The black lab whined and scratched as she opened the screen door to her sunroom, and he would have torn past her if she hadn’t commanded him to sit. Buck obeyed, begrudgingly, his coat twitching over his back with a barely contained energy.

“Easy,” she soothed. “Heel.”

Together, they walked through the house to find Wes closing and locking the front door. As soon as Buck saw Wes, he broke away from Corinne, but he seemed to sense that he couldn’t be rough with his friend today. That didn’t stop the lab from whimpering, wagging fiercely, and licking Wes’s legs.

“Hey, boy,” Wes cooed, petting the dog’s gleaming coat. “I’m glad to see you, too.”

Corinne smiled at the pair. Wes staggered to his recliner and collapsed in it. Buck took the opportunity to perch his front paws on Wes’s thighs, eliciting a whimper, before the dog started licking his face.

“Ok, now you really need a bath,” Corinne said, laughing. “I’ve got some Epsom salts in the bathroom closet. How about I draw one for you?

Wes scrubbed Buck’s head affectionately, pulling the dog’s muzzle away from his face.

“In a minute. I need to drink about a gallon of water and use my foam roller first.”

“I’ll get them,” Corinne offered, only just stopping herself from telling him how good it was to have him in the house. She didn’t want to scare him away or make him think she had assumed he was back for good.

In his room she found the textured foam roller that looked like something out of Minecraft, and she went to the kitchen and filled a glass of ice water before bringing both to him. Wes eyed the roller with dread, but he accepted the glass gratefully.

“Thank you,” he whispered, looking up at her with heat in his brown eyes. He drained the glass in one long pull, and Corinne watched the muscles of his throat as he drank. Watching him made her feel a little drugged, slack-limbed and slow.

She took a deep breath to pull herself together.

“If you’re going to be a minute, I’ll go take a quick shower,” she said, already stepping away. “You’re not the only one who’s been outside all day.”

Wes smiled and eyed her appreciatively.

“Yeah, your cheeks and your nose are a little pink,” he said around his smile. “It’s a good look on you.”

Corinne felt her cheeks blush even more, and the muscles above her navel warmed.