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Only to drop my phone as soon as I saw his name.
“Motherfuck,” I whisper-shouted and bent to pick up the damn thing. Turning it over, I saw the screen was cracked, and I cursed myself for not putting on a case to protect it. Since I had a ring on the back of it, I didn’t drop my phone often, but I’d gotten clumsy lately.
Sighing, I dusted off the dirt on the cracked screen only to slice my thumb open on a sliver I hadn’t realized was sticking up. “For fuck’s sake,” I muttered, sucking my injured thumb into my mouth as I walked toward my car.
Opening the back door, I tossed my bag inside along with the busted phone and slammed the door. Getting behind the wheel, I punched the start button and reversed in a hurry. I’d seen the shop the day before on my way to my morning classes with that stupid “Now Hiring” sign.
Only a few minutes later, I pulled up in front of the shop and turned off the car. Angrily, I got out and slammed the door again, but it did nothing to alleviate my anger.
As I walked in, I heard a robotic voice announcing the front door was open.
“Just a sec.”
I stopped in my tracks when I heard his voice, a shiver going through me and making my traitorous body respond instantly. It only pissed me off more. Nope. Not going there. Ever again.
I didn’t know why Lyric Thornton was in Creswell Springs, but he had to go. Now.
Too impatient to wait on him to come out from doing whatever, I marched toward the sound of his voice, telling myself if he was with a girl like the last time I saw him, I was going to commit murder right there in that nice, clean shop.
“Mila.”
My name sounded reverent, and I turned to find him standing in a doorway to what looked like an office. His hypnotic eyes swirled with a mixture of browns, but I refused to look at them close enough to determine what shades they currently were.
Hearing his voice had caused my body to respond, but seeing him in the flesh, standing only feet away, made my heart skip a beat. Part of me had hoped Aunt Raven got the name wrong, while another part that I refused to analyze hoped he was there for me. Which was moronic. I was nothing to him. Less than nothing. All I’d been was a night of fun, and he’d forgotten about me the next morning.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Just hush for a minute, okay?” He stepped forward, grabbed me by the hips so quickly I didn’t have time to react, and jerked me against him. As he lowered his head, his breath caressed over my lips. “Fuck, I need this.”
My mouth was open, ready to verbally tear him apart and tell him to let me go. He took advantage and devoured my lips, thrusting his tongue inside hungrily, as if he were dying for my taste.
I slapped at his chest, struggling against him…for only a moment. And then his taste hit my tongue, and I was kissing him back, clinging to him instead of trying to push him away.
When he finally lifted his head, we were both gasping for air, and my mouth felt raw and swollen. Sucking in deep breaths, he pressed his forehead to mine. “Missed you so damn much, my Mila.”
“Missed…me?” My brain started working again, and I shoved at his shoulders. “You missed me?”
Surprised, he frowned down at me. “Why are you mad at me?”
“Because!” I exploded and mentally groaned at how childish that answer sounded. Shit, my brain was not my friend lately, and I really needed the fog to clear so I could at least sound like an adult for a few minutes. “I haven’t seen you in months, and then you show up here out of the blue, kiss the breath out of me, and tell me you miss me? What kind of bullshit is that, Lyric?”
“It’s not bullshit. I tried to get to you as soon as I could, but I had to work out my contract with Branch. If I’d known I was going to meet you that night, I never would have signed the damn thing, and I could have been here the next day.” He took a step forward, his hands reaching for me, but I stepped back, knowing if he touched me, I’d melt for him all over again. P
ain flashed over his face, filling his eyes with a hazel kind of brown this time. “Mila, I swear to you, I’ve spent the entire summer figuring out how to get here as fast as I could.”
“Why?” I yelled the question. “Why would you even want to? We were a single-night-only thing, so why would you want to follow me to some small town in Northern California?”
“Don’t say shit like that.” His jaw clenched, and he reached for me again.
I backed up until I felt the wall behind me and then moved to the side. Hearing him mutter a curse, I kept going until I was standing in the middle of the front of the shop before finally turning to face him again. “You can’t be here,” I announced. “I don’t understand why you’re here, but you have to go.”
“Why do people keep saying that to me today?” he demanded. Frustrated, he scrubbed his hands over his stubbled jaw. “Mila, I’m not going anywhere. Not unless you’re going with me. And as pissed as you seem to be at me right now, I doubt that is likely to happen anytime soon. So, get used to me being here, baby. Because I came here for you, and I’m not leaving without you.”
My heart started to melt at his declaration, but I quickly squashed the feeling by reminding myself all over again of the last time I’d seen him. In New York City. With the blonde half in his lap. Telling her how much he’d missed her.
“Fine,” I snapped, pushing down the pain of that memory. “It’s your funeral. By the way, my dad is at his most dangerous when he’s talking calmly. He likes to give you a false sense of peace before he slits your throat.”
With that, I turned and headed for the door, but two steps were all it took before a wave of dizziness hit me and I was reaching out for something to hold on to. Which was nothing at all. Crying out in panic, I started to fall.
