“Billie.”
His face split in a wide smile, and I saw that he was missing one of his front teeth. “Like Billy Joel?”
“You mean Billy Joelle? That’s my middle name.”
“No, I mean Billy Joel.My mom’s favorite singer was Billy Joel.”
“Oh, I’m named after my Grandpa Bill.”
He nodded. “See ya tomorrow, Billie Joel.”
I was in love from that moment on.
When he stopped about a foot in front of me, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. He was real. Adam Knight was really in front of me again after twenty years.
I forced my face into what I hoped was a casual, neighborly smile. I probably looked like I’d just suffered minor facial paralysis, but it was too late to fix it. The silence between us stretched. I thought I’d have to be the one to break it, but then he cleared his throat and said the most Adam thing possible: “Hi, I’m Adam, I’m your neighbor.”
Why?Why did he have to say the same thing he said to me all those years ago?Fuck, it was not going to be easy to stay mad at him.
8
ADAM
I’d beenaround the world and back, a cliché, but for me accurate. Military life parachuted you into new places with alarming frequency, so any affinity for consistency was a luxury I’d long ago learned to do without. But even as I tried to believe I was above such sentimental attachments, the minute Billie Bliss was in front of me, all those years of practiced emotional distance dissolved like the cheap sugar in mess hall coffee.
I completely forgot what it felt like just being near Billie. I’d met thousands of people, but there was no one like Billie Joelle Bliss. People always say that everyone is unique, and, of course, there was some truth to that, but there are people in this world whose presence is totally, completely enveloping, and she is one of them.
She had a captivating mix of total purpose and unconscious confidence that made you watch her even when you were determined not to. She didn’t merely light up rooms, she illuminated atmospheres. She changed the very molecules around her. It was impossible not to feel her. With Billie, it was physics. She changed the air pressure. She made you inhale a little deeper.
The symmetry of her features was mathematical, almost unfair, the sort of face that would have ended wars if it ever learned to weaponize itself. Her hair was the color of burnt caramel, the kind of brown that gets overlooked until sunlight strikes it, and then you realize there’s copper and pure gold in the strands. Her eyes were like two emeralds, deep and vibrant and capable of pulling you into their depths without hesitation. Her lips were a perfect shade of red, like ripe strawberries begging to be tasted.
I wanted to ask her everything. I wanted to rewind the universe and live the last two decades in her orbit, instead of scattered across continents and time zones, but instead, after introducing myself exactly the same way I had when I was six, I just stood there, a six-foot-four statue with no idea how to move forward. A little piece of me thought maybe she didn’t want to move forward, either.
“So how have you been?”
Billie wasn’t about to let me retreat into platitudes, though. Her eyes went hard, then glinted with something that felt like both challenge and anger as she cocked one eyebrow and fired back, “For the past twenty years?”
I dipped my head as a smile tugged at the corners of my lips. That was Billie, my Billie. She had a gift for being blunt. I should have known that she wasn’t going to let me slide, not even for a moment of polite small talk.
“Maybe we can start with today.” I looked up as I asked, “How have the last twenty-four hours been?”
Something flickered in her eyes. Fear. Upset. Something.
“Billie?” I questioned. Something was wrong. Very wrong. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She shook her head, and the windows to her soul shut. The blinds came down, and the walls came up. Just likethat, she put distance between us, I couldn’t read anything in her stare.
“Yes, there is.” I took a step towards her. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Before I could push her more, out of the corner of my eye, I saw an SUV approaching. After all the crews that Adam, Nick, and Maddox had hired left, the men all went home, and Maddox went to grab the twins. I was actually blown away by what money was able to accomplish and how quickly things could get done. The house wasn’t great, it still needed a lot of work, but Alex was right, it was habitable.
As grateful as I was for everything Maddox had done and him keeping the twins for me today, I would have loved to have five more minutes alone with Billie. But I guess that’s what I would have to get used to with being a parent.
Out of instinct, I snaked my arm around Billie’s waist and moved us out of the way as Maddox pulled up into the driveway. Feeling her again, touching her, even if it was only for a few seconds, sent signals to my body that awakened something inside of me. It was so familiar and yet so novel at the same time. The moment we were out of harm’s way, she moved away from me, but not before I felt a tremor rush through her. I wondered if she felt the same rush I had at our brief contact.
Maddox and Peyton both got out of the car, and I made introductions.
“Wait, do you own Bliss Bridal?” Peyton asked.
