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This walk down memory lane was taking the same left turn her day had, and, with a curse, Molly shrugged it off. Time to pull on her big girl pants and act like the adult she pretended to be. She reached up to untangle her hair from its loose knot and let it fall down her shoulders and back. She pulled some of it forward, hoping it would hide the sauce stain on her T-shirt, and though the baggy jeans and old Birkenstocks wouldn’t win any fashion awards, she couldn’t let that bother her. She squared her shoulders and marched down the path that led into Stu’s yard.
About twenty or so people were gathered under a large pergola furnished with generous seating. Strings of overhead lights cast a soft glow over big potted palms and hanging baskets overflowing with colorful flowers. An outdoor fireplace, extensive landscaping, and a large kidney-shaped pool made Stu’s yard one of the nicest Molly had seen, and she smiled when she caught sight of him next to Becky. With a wife and a baby, her pal was not only living the dream but adulting in a big way.
Stu glanced over just then and hopped to his feet. “Finally,” he said with a huge grin, causing everyone to look her way.
“Sorry I’m late.” She headed over to them. “Had an emergency come in.”
“I heard.” Zach gave her a hug and offered a cold beer. “Nagel’s dog ate the carpet again.”
“He did.” She took a long pull from the bottle, her gaze moving over the familiar faces, touching briefly on Jess and her four friends, all dressed head to toe in pink. Brad and Mike were there with their girlfriends, but…
“He should be back in a few minutes.” Zach clinked her beer with his glass. “Took a call and left.”
“Who, Nate?” she asked, as if he wasn’t the only person she was looking for.
“No, Sasquatch,” Zach replied dryly before turning to Jess, who was yanking on his arm for something.
No sooner had her brother turned when Jess’s eyes widened and Molly glanced over her shoulder. Her world narrowed into one small beam of light that shone down on Nate Jacobs as if he was an angel… or a god…or something equally ridiculous and out of reach. They were in the thick of summer, yet he wore black boots, faded jeans that fit him the way a pair of jeans should, and a plain white T-shirt. His hair was as thick and dark as she remembered, and his strong jaw was shadowed with day-old stubble. He looked as devastatingly handsome as ever.
And here she’d been hoping he’d put on a few pounds, or maybe lost some of his hair.
He caught sight of her, and his smile widened as he strode forward, eyes on Molly and no one else. Her heart sang at the sight of him, and her face broke wide open with happiness.
And then he was there. Inches from her. And so was that damn punch to the gut. The one that nearly knocked the wind out of her. Which was unfortunate, because in that moment, she knew she was in the kind of trouble she didn’t want. The kind of trouble she couldn’t win. It was a big, taller-than-Mount Everest kind of trouble.
“You’re one of my best pals, Moll. Anything between us would be weird.” He’d said that the last night in Vegas, before or after she’d drunkenly tried to kiss him. It was one of two things she remembered. The other she wasn’t going to think about right now.
“Molly.” His smile widened even more, and she knew he was genuinely happy to see her. “Man, I’ve missed you.” He studied her for a few seconds and then did something she would think about later when she was alone. He enveloped her in the kind of hug that haunted her dreams. The kind that let her know he still smelled good and that he was warm and masculine and one hundred percent responsible for the outbreak of butterflies in her stomach and the sick feeling that accompanied it.
When he let her go, she stepped back nervously, caught up in a moment she wished was only for the two of them. Then time did a funny thing. It sorta stopped and enhanced everything. The way she felt. The way he looked. How his eyes softened and then darkened. It wrapped itself around them as if there was nobody else there, and the air electrified. Her heart raced. Her skin heated. Her breath caught.
At least for Molly.
She didn’t have time to wonder if he felt the same way, because someone cleared their throat and Nate’s gaze left hers, effectively breaking the spell.
He stepped back to reveal a woman in a fire-engine-red dress that did nothing to hide voluptuous curves or the generous amounts of smooth tanned skin it clung to. Long blonde hair fell nearly to her waist, and it shone from the muted glow of lights behind them. As if that wasn’t enough, her mouth was plump and glossy, and her smoky, bedroom eyes issued the kind of invitation any man would take. The woman oozed sex and confidence and allure.
She was everything Molly was not, and she smiled in a slow, calculating way that immediately made the hair on the back of Molly’s neck stand on end. She’d seen that smile before and felt the poison that dripped from the ends of it.
Her heart tumbled again, and she gripped the beer bottle so tightly, her knuckles were white. This could not be happening.
Nate slipped his arms around the woman. “Hey, Molly, you remember Chess, don’t you?”
Molly’s gaze swung from Chess to Nate, and it took everything inside her not to punch him in the nose and break it a second time.
“Sure do,” she replied tightly.
“Wow. Bones Malone. It’s been what, ten years?” Chess paused, and Molly could almost taste the coming insult. “You haven’t changed a bit.”
Seventeen-year-old Molly would have died inside, though she’d have put on a brave front and acted li
ke the nickname wasn’t the insult it was. But she was done with that.
Molly looked her in the eyes and her words dripped acid. “Neither have you.” She glanced toward Nate and shook her head. “Nice company you’re keeping.”
He looked confused, which pissed her off more than she already was. She turned around and walked as slowly as she could back to the group, aware that every single one of them had heard the exchange. The boys, Zach, Stu, Brad, and Mike, shuffled their feet nervously because they knew how she felt about Chess.
Nathan knew as well. Or at least he used to.
