Page 22 of Playing With Temptation

She remembered.

There was a time in all our teenage delusions we’d talked about what we were going to do after we graduated. Marriage. Kids. A nice house.

We never got that far.

She ended us.

Then she ended the friendship we’d managed to spare. A friendship that I’d clung to, thinking it was a sign that neither one of us could give up the other. That we were still destined to be together.

I didn’t know what to say about Colson or if there was anything to say. Rainy was right, I’d given my son the name we’d talked about naming our son.

It was fucked up. I knew it then, when I vetoed all the names Shay had picked and made her a deal—she could name the second, but my boy’s name was going to be Colson. Shay never asked why I was so hung up on the name.

Shay didn’t ask about much of anything, and back then that was part of her appeal. She didn’t want a deep, abiding relationship. Then she got pregnant. And after we were married, she was happy to keep our relationship as it was—surface with no questions and constant jealous fits about Rainy. It was actually surprising Shay never put two and two together when she had a knack for pulling Rainy into most fights.

“What brought you home?” I asked, needing a change of topic.

“Oh, um, it’s a long story,” she muttered.

That was another kick in the gut. There was a time when there was no such thing as a long-story brush-off. Once upon a time, I’d been Rainy Cross's go-to.

“How about I buy you a drink⁠—”

“No,” she quickly denied. “I mean, no thank you. Sophie invited me out. It’d be a little rude if I didn’t go over and spend some time with her.”

“I think you get I know Valentine and Sophie. What you don’t know is I’m good friends with both of them. Valentine works SWAT out of my station. Trust me, neither will mind if I buy you a drink, so we can properly catch up.”

“Jase—”

“Rainy,” I interrupted her. “Let me buy you a drink.”

“Jase—”

“Rae, I haven’t seen you for fifteen fucking years. Don’t you think⁠—”

“Okay.”

She couldn’t have made her reluctance any clearer, but it was the way her voice wobbled with fear I didn’t understand.

Rainy knew damn good and well I was no threat to her. She had no reason to be afraid of me, unless something had happened that made her wary of all men.

That thought made me murderous.

And more determined to learn why she’d returned home.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Honest to God, I must’ve lost my mind.

That was the only excuse I could come up with as to why my rear end was parked in a chair at a table waiting for Jase to bring our drinks over.

Then we were going to catch up.

Catch. Up.

How does one catch up with the only man they ever loved?

What exactly does small talk look like with a man you know biblically?