AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He leans around me to grab a paper towel and wipes his hands, but his eyes rake down over my body. I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want Quentin. Just one look from him and my entire body snaps to attention—years of separation and dozens of nights of heartbreak don’t seem to matter when he looks at me like that.
“Do you ever still think about it? That summer?” he asks.
“Sometimes.” I shrug, trying to be noncommittal.
His hands slide onto the counter on either side of me, and he leans down. I close my eyes because I can’t look at him. I’m trying to think unsexy things. Find my spine and remember all the reasons I hate him. But right now, I’m just glad he didn’t go home with her. Happy he had dessert with me. That he’s smiling at me. Thinking about me.
“And is it still my voice you hear talking you through it?”
“Yes.” The word’s out before I can stop it.
Shit. Fuck. Damn.
“I mean… it was back then. Not now.” I clear my throat and try to stand a little taller, the heat burning its way up my cheeks and down my neck until I can even see the flush spreading over my chest.
“Definitely not now.” I can hear the amusement in his voice, and when I look up, his eyes are burning with the kind of intensity I haven’t seen in someone in years. The kind that’s going to take me under. I have to regain control here, or this is going to spiral out.
“We should talk about what other things we can work on with the list. What else you might be able to do this week. Try to set you up on a different date.”
His eyes search mine for a moment, but he doesn’t say anything.
“The list is important,” I reiterate.
“I like your list, Madness.” Hearing him call me the nickname he used to that summer does something for me that it shouldn’t. “I’ll jump through all the hoops you want me to.” He closes the distance between us, so close his lips are at my ear, and his body ghosts over mine. “But you should know I have ulterior motives. There’s only one thing I want.”
“I want A.J.” It comes out high-pitched and shaky. It’s the biggest lie I’ve ever told in my life, and he knows it judging by the self-assured smile that follows.
“Yeah, you thought you wanted Xander too, and we both know how that turned out.”
14
Quentin
“All right.”Madison busts through my front door like a hurricane, her arms full of bags from various stores, a camera bag and her purse slung over her shoulder as she makes her way to the dining room table. “We’ve got a lot to get through today. Lots of candid photos to take, and I already ran around this morning picking a bunch of stuff up to help us set the scene.”
“Good morning to you too.”
“It’s almost afternoon.”
“Good afternoon then?” I blink as she unloads the bags onto the table.
“Did you pick out some outfits like I told you to? I imagine it’s going to take a few hours. We can get lunch delivered if youhaven’t eaten.”
“Have you eaten?”
“At five when I got up. Not since. Plenty of caffeine though.”
“I can tell.”
She whips around to look at me then, giving me a warning look. Apparently, she’s not to be crossed today. Noted.
“Let me see what you picked out.”
“Let’s order some food first?” I phrase it as a question rather than a statement because I feel like I might get stabbed if I try to tell her what to do right now, but it’s very obvious the woman needs something more than the liter of coffee she’s probably had today. She tilts her head back and forth considering it.
“I should have just eaten something on the way over. It was stupid.”
“I haven’t eaten either, so it’s not a problem. I’m hungry. Do you know what you want?”
