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Kane grabbed my hand and spun me right back around, fury blazing in his eyes. “Did I do things during our relationship that I regret and wish to God every day I could take back? The answer is yes. But tell me one time when I ever gave a damn about your weight.”
I had never seen him this angry. I stood speechless, blinking and blinking, wondering what regrets he had and trying to think of a time when he had made my weight an issue. He never had. It was always me. But the fact remained that he’d left. Not only left me, but cut me out of his life completely, except for holiday dinners, which were awkward messes. What else was I supposed to think? “Please let me go.”
He dropped my hand with a heavy exhale. “Scarlett, I didn’t come out here to upset you. I want to talk to you. Explain why I left.”
“You had eight years to explain yourself.”
“You think I don’t know that?” he whispered.
“Why now? It doesn’t even matter anymore,” I lied.
He wasn’t buying it for a second. “If that were true, you wouldn’t keep trying to run away from me.” He smirked, daring me to contradict him.
My mouth fell open, but not a word came out. I hated that he still knew me so well. Fine. I would show him. I stood tall and folded my arms across my bare midriff. “Go ahead. Let’s hear it.”
He chuckled. “I really have missed you.”
“I wish you wouldn’t say that,” I said, half-exasperated.
That wiped the smile off his face. “I’m not trying to hurt you. I only want you to know the truth. Can I take you to breakfast?”
As much as I wanted to know the reason why he’d left, my heart couldn’t afford being in his presence. As hard as I’d tried not to, I still loved him. He was the first man to ever see me, and he introduced me to myself. It was the best gift I had ever been given. Because of that, he and I would always be connected. But while the connection did exist, it didn’t mean I needed to torture myself by deepening it.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea. Maybe you could send me an email.”
He stepped closer, smiling. “I really think this should be an in-person conversation, darlin’.”
Oh, no, no, no. He was not darlin’-in’ me with his sexy southern accent. I stepped back. “You could text,” I suggested. It’s not like I had changed my number. And if he didn’t still have it, he could get it from his BFF Auggie.
“What are you afraid of?”
Definitely him. “I’m not,” I stuttered. “I’m busy. Very busy.”
He reached out and played with a strand of my curly hair.
My eyes came face-to-face with his taut, smooth chest and his nipples. That stupid YouTube video I’d watched years ago about how to kiss like a goddess popped into my head, and I started to giggle like an idiot. Never did find out if he liked to have his nipples kissed. And it would definitely remain a mystery.
Kane tilted his head. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. I need to go.”
“I really wish you wouldn’t.” His sexy undertones and body had me spellbound.
My head and heart were at war about whether we should stay or go. The spell was broken when Auggie appeared almost out of nowhere.
He was already dressed for the day in his suit and tie. He looked between Kane and me, and long gone was the disdain from eight years ago whenever he saw us together. In fact, if I wasn’t mistaken, his lips twitched like he might smile. Was I in the Twilight Zone?
“Good, you’re both together. I want to talk to you.”
I stepped away from Kane, and this time he didn’t close the distance. Thank goodness; I needed to breathe.
We gave Auggie our attention.
“I would like both of you to meet me in my office today at ten. I have an important matter of business to discuss with you. Carry on.” He didn’t even wait for a response before he turned and walked back toward the house.
I watched my father go, feeling more and more like I had entered the Twilight Zone; or maybe the mix-up in the space-time continuum that had long ago thrown Kane and me together was beginning to right itself, or perhaps malfunction again. There was no way to be sure. NASA really needed to investigate this house. Weird happenings were afoot.
“Do you know what that was all about?” I asked Kane.
“No clue. But,”—he flashed me a heart-stopping grin—“he did say to carry on. Would you like to continue in the pool or head to breakfast?”
I was almost taken in by his charm. Almost. But I wasn’t that naive anymore. And he’d made his choice eight years ago. “I think I’ll let you carry on by yourself. You’re good at that.”
