Page 16 of Their Stormy Reunion

I waited for a response. I thought he might have just stopped the text chain.

Michael: Maddie mentioned you to me. I looked you up. I watched your career take off.

Fallon: Why would you check up on me? That doesn’t any make sense.

Michael: One day I’ll tell you. In the meantime, I’m serious about helping. From what I saw you have too much going on. Are you still working?

Fallon: Yeah, I have a big client that my team and I are working with, I have to go out of town to meet with their board of directors next week.

Michael: How can I help?

Fallon: Why would you want to?

Michael: I like your parents, but more importantly, I want to help you. Will you let me?

Fallon: I need to think about it.

Michael: Look, I need to go. I need to catch some sleep. But get back to me, okay?

I ran my finger down my phone cradled in my hand.

Fallon: I will. Good night.

Michael: Good night, Sunshine.

Agh!

Fallon: Don’t call me Sunshine!

I waited for long minutes. Of course, there was no reply.

I tossed my cell onto my bed and watched it bounce. Michael needed to quit calling me Sunshine. A guy I dated called me that one time; he was lucky he didn’t get throat-punched.

I looked at my laptop and nothing on the screen made sense.

Dammit!

It was now eleven-thirty. I normally worked til one or two in the morning. I needed to test what the team had developed in the last two days. I knew my quality control people were top notch, but this was my brainchild, and nobody knew it better. Still, if my brain wasn’t working, it would be useless for me to go through the code.

“Fuck me,” I mumbled. It was just another black mark in Michael’s ever-increasing tally. At least it was a mark in the con column, because lately there had been too many in the pro column.

“He’s a cheat. That should trump all the pros!” I hissed to myself.

I went to my suitcase. I found my bottle of Angel’s Envy. It wasn’t their small size, either. I looked over at my old high school desk that I’d been working on, where my tall water glass sat. Why hadn’t I packed a whiskey glass? I damn well should have. I’d packed good bourbon, I should have packed one of my engraved crystal highball glasses, I swear my drink always tasted better when I sipped it from one of those.

I took my unopened bottle over to the desk, downed the water that was left in my glass, then opened the bourbon and poured in a hefty shot or three. After the first long, fiery gulp I could feel the world coming back into focus, and what a lovely focus it was. I glanced at my laptop and shut it down. There was no point trying to work tonight.

This time I took a small, savoring sip and smiled as I set down the water glass.

“Much better,” I murmured.

I picked up my phone and read over the text string. Yep, he was the same good guy I’d loved all those years ago, only hotter. What in the hell had gone wrong? I needed to go to bed and get a good night’s sleep.

He cupped my jaw, and I arched into the touch, wanting more. I hadn’t seen Michael for two months, and just the feel of his hand on my cheek was overwhelming.

“I’ve missed you, Sunshine.”

I loved it when he called me that. My hands dug into his waist, twisting his T-shirt.