Crashing Into Love Read Online Free Page A

have known he was the only man for her if they’d stayed together after high school. Or when they ran into rough spots, would either of them have had second thoughts? The day her father came home and announced that he was leaving because her mother didn’t get him and he’d found someone who did had sparked a whole new set of worries. How many relationships actually lasted forever? Jake’s own father had left his mother for someone else. No matter how all consuming their love had felt, would it have been enough to stand the test of time? Her mother’s advice had come on the heels of her father’s leaving, making it seem even more sound.
    Strangely, she’d never worried Jake might cheat on her. He’d been as loyal as a person could be, and he’d never once questioned her fidelity to him. But once her mother began urging her not to tie herself down so young, she’d become scared. She trusted her mother’s judgment, and after her father left, her mother had shared stories of how much they’d loved each other when they were Fiona’s and Jake’s age. That had scared her even more. Could a person’s feelings change so much over the years that their values changed?
    Fiona had taken her mother’s advice and dated in college and she’d slept with a few guys, but her heart was so full of Jake that it was a futile effort. It had taken Fiona years to get up the courage to approach Jake again, but she didn’t care how long it had taken. Or that she’d spent years agonizing over her feelings for him. At least now she’d done it. It was a start, even if a rocky one. She was as sure of her love for Jake as she was that she’d needed that time after high school to figure it out.
    Some mistakes had to be made. Didn’t they?
    She heard the even cadence of his footfalls coming up the road, and it sent a storm of worry whipping through her. He’d barely been able to look at her last night. Maybe this was a bad idea. She looked at the hill on the other side of the road and the bank at the ridge behind her. Short of hurling herself down the side of the mountain, there was no escape. She had no choice but to go through with her plan and hope for the best.
    She took a few tentative steps toward the center of the road and drank him in. He was running in nothing but a pair of black running shorts, a sheen of sweat glistening off his insanely defined muscles. An armband was secured to his bulging biceps. A wire ran to a pair of earbuds. She’d thought he looked delicious last night in his low-slung jeans and tight T-shirt, but holy cow…Jake had always had an athletic build, but the man barreling up the hill was a bronze god. Pure, unadulterated power.
    He lifted his eyes and met hers.
    A very angry god .
    Crap .
    Jake’s brows knitted together. His hands fisted, and the muscles in his arms flexed as he sped up and ran right past her. Fiona was momentarily stunned. She shook it off and sprinted up the hill after him.
    “Hey.” He probably couldn’t even hear her with those damn earbuds in. She touched his elbow to get his attention. He stared straight ahead and kept up his pace as they rounded a bend at the top of the hill.
    Really? This is how you’re gonna play it?
    Fiona knew just how stubborn Jake could be, although she had never been the target of his efforts. Oh wait. Yes, she had. The mere fact that he’d avoided her for more than a decade proved that. Her stomach was tied in knots, but she wasn’t going to back down just because he was ignoring her. She sprinted ahead of him and turned around, running backward in front of him.
    Jake tore his earbuds from his ears. “What are you doing?”
    She noticed he had yet to say her name, and it annoyed her. “Running.” They’d trained this way in high school. Jake had taught her that she used different muscles running backward, and it helped her hone her other senses. As Jake picked up his pace and circled around her, those other senses kicked in to gear, telling her