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“But the thing is... they thought it was me.” Sawyer scuffed a hand over his jaw. “Don’t you get it, Maddie?”
She shook her head. No, she didn’t. Why had the love of her life left her on her wedding day because of some stupid accusation? Why had he practically vanished? What had he been doing all these years? She shouldn’t ask. She didn’t even want to know. Sawyer Steele wasn’t part of her life and he would be gone again before long, doing whatever former bad boys did. She tilted her head as she viewed him. Whatdidhe do? She had no idea and nor did anyone else.
Before she did something silly like let her chin wobble, she snatched up the books and turned her attention back to the author names on the spines.
Abernathy.
Great. Now she’d have to stand on the stool and pray she didn’t fall off and make a fool of herself. She had been known to lose her balance once or twice... Still, it was better than Sawyer seeing her upset.
“Maddie, I’m trying to explain—”
Ignoring him, she stepped up and reached for the top shelf to slide Ms Abernathy’s steamy historical novel into place. The next one was an E and as she skimmed down the selection she realised she could spend quite some time on this stool. Hopefully he might give up and go away if she ignored him for long enough.
“Maddie,” he tried.
“Ava Eversley,To Tempt a Royal Rebel,” she murmured to herself. “You belong here...” She slipped the book in with the otherEauthors. She glanced at the next cover and groaned inwardly. She wasn’t going to say that aloud. A.L. Chastity. That was a penname if ever she saw one.The Billionaire’s Buxom Bride. Oh boy. She couldn’t see the residents of Ballicliff Bay snapping that one up but maybe a tourist might want it for some hot holiday reading.
“Maddie,” he tried again.
This time she could tell he was gritting his teeth. She began humming to herself. Damn the man for coming in and messing up her pretty nice life.
“Maddie,” he snapped and a hand tapped her hip.
She wobbled and several paperbacks fell from her hand. She wobbled again as she tried to regain her balance but the stupid stool had uneven legs and it set itself on a wobbling frenzy—one she wouldn’t recover from. The books fell from her grip and flew to the right as she went the other way. Pages fluttered about in slow motion and for the briefest, abstract moment, she regretted the damage she’d done to the poor pages.
The floor didn’t rush up to meet her. She didn’t land on the hard, worn carpet. Instead, a set of firm arms wrapped about her and caught her. Her breasts crushed into his face and one foot remained half-lodged on the stool at an awkward angle. Sawyer drew her away from the stool and slid her down.
Allthe way down his body.
Every nerve-ending in her body sparked. She was tempted to pat her hair and see if it was all sticking up from static electricity. Maddie attempted to draw in a breath but only managed to make some weird gargling sound.
“Maddie,” he said softly.
Damn him.
Sawyer kept hold of her arms. His touch imprinted on her body, in her mind. It had always been like that when they were kids, but she had later put that down to hormones. She wasn’t sure hormones could be to blame here.
She felt herself softening to him. He’d always managed to do that to her. He’d do something reckless and stupid but he’d give her this puppy-dog look and say her name and she’d forgive him in no time.
“What, Sawyer?” she said, resigned.
“I’m trying to apologise.”
Maddie drew away from him and wrapped her arms about her waist. She probably looked defensive but she didn’t much care. “Fine, great. Apology accepted.”
A brow rose. It said,I don’t believe you. He’d be right. She’d tried not to nurture the hurt from him abandoning her. She’d attempted to move on but it a tiny splinter of hurt remained lodged in her chest. In spite of herself, she’d always wanted to know why.
“Look, I don’t really understand why you did what you did, but whatever. Can we just forget about it? I’m sure you didn’t come here with the intention of having to apologise to me. You’ve got bigger things to deal with, like...”
She didn’t want to say, “Like the fact your dad is dead,” so she let it trail off.
“Actually coming to apologise was my main reason for returning.”
“Oh.”
“There’s one more thing...”
The way his gaze connected with hers made her feel like she had shrunk. She was suddenly a tiny, helpless female and in front of her was this shining example of testosterone at work. She gulped and tried to ignore how she kind of liked feeling all feminine and vulnerable.
