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I drove through the gate of our house in Arden-Habersham. It was as beautiful as ever, though it still didn’t feel like coming home. I reminded myself it was temporary. I planned on spending the next few weeks hunting for a townhome or condo before I started my new job.
I parked in front of the four-car garage, and when I stepped out of my vehicle into the sweltering July early-evening heat, I swore my hair went, “Ooh, humidity,” and puffed out to twice its size. Marco, my hairstylist in Stanford, had assured me the humidity would be no match for the smoothing cream he’d recommended. He was a liar. I was going to miss the arid air of California.
I still had the garage code, so I punched it in and went back to my car while I waited for the door to go up, ready to get out of the sauna that was called Atlanta summer. To my surprise, the spot was already occupied by a red Porsche 911 Carrera. I swallowed hard. The test-drive with Kane popped into my head. My heart beat faster than the car could go. I had to take several breaths to calm down. Once I was breathing normally again, I began to wonder why Auggie would buy a Porsche, especially the same model and color He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named-or-Remembered said he would buy as soon as he reached C-level. Did he and Auggie buy matching Porsches? Was it a bonding moment for CEO and COO? Auggie did like fine cars, but he was more a Mercedes kind of guy. So weird. Maybe it was Auggie’s midlife crisis car, except one would think his last prepubescent wife should have taken care of that itch. But who knew when it came to Auggie?
I tried desperately not to think of the day Kane had taken me for a test-drive, during that fateful summer long ago when I had still believed in dreams. When I’d believed in Kane. I had never seen anyone happier than Kane was behind the wheel of his dream car, screaming down the highway. Except maybe when he was watching me drive. He’d almost walked away with that car, but he wanted to save it as a reward for when he’d reached his career goals. I still remembered like it was yesterday, our first kiss during that test-drive.
Stop thinking about him.
Wanting to be out of the heat, I grabbed my two suitcases and laptop case and headed into the house. I would figure out where to park the car later, after I showered and napped. After being in the car for four days, I felt disgusting. Auggie had offered to pay to ship my car, or even fly out and drive back with me. I’m not going to lie, that one freaked me out. Don’t get me wrong, part of me really wanted to say yes, but we had never spent that much time together and I wasn’t sure a road trip was the best place to start. Besides, I’d figured he would be on the phone the entire drive, so what would be the point? Plus, I needed time to decompress and delay the inevitable for as long as I could.
I walked into the mudroom and was hit with the scent of two of my favorite things: chocolate chip cookies and chicken with red wine cream sauce. Did Auggie have Miss Rae come over to make me a welcome home dinner? I would have never believed Auggie had it in him. It was the most thoughtful thing he had ever done for me. I dropped my bags and ran into the kitchen, ready to throw my arms around Miss Rae. I missed her so much. She’d retired after I went to medical school. I only saw her when I visited, which wasn’t often. Although we kept in touch by phone. But she had obviously been keeping secrets from me.
When I reached the kitchen, I skidded to a halt. There was no dear white-haired lady in the kitchen. Oh no, there was a gorgeous half-naked man pulling a sheet pan full of cookies out of the oven. It was like heaven and hell all wrapped up together.
“Kane,” I spluttered. “What . . . what are you doing here . . . in a towel?” Avert your eyes. Quit thinking about what it was like to rest your head on his beautiful, defined chest. Or how sexy he looks with his wet, slicked-back hair. For sure don’t focus on those water droplets taking their time dripping down his gorgeous body. Oh, what I would give to be a water droplet right now. Stop thinking like that!
Kane, with a smirk worthy of being smacked off his face, held out the pan. “Baking cookies. Chocolate chip with semisweet chocolate.” Why did he remember that was the way I liked them best?
