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I closed my eyes before facing him and tried to get my bearings.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in Alaska?” My arms folded over my chest, and I spun around, blinking my eyes open to see the one and only man I’d ever fallen in love with.
Zack’s gaze connected with mine, and an impossible charge of longing drifted through me. “What aren’t you planning on telling me, Sadie?”
He stepped forward, put his coffee on the counter, and propped an elbow on the large piece of granite as he watched me. I felt the instant pull I always had from the moment his arms slid around me and he scooped me into him, carrying me to safety so many months ago.
This was the problem with Zack.
He could read my mind like nobody else.
The man knew when I was hurting.
Zack knew when I wanted to run.
When I was scared.
When I was having nightmares.
He knew me better than myself.
But every single time I looked at him, my mind flashed to the day he saved my life.
The day I thought was my last.
I bit my lip and pushed myself away from the counter, grabbing my empty mug as I walked to the coffee machine to pour a cup of coffee.
“Sadie, what’s going on?” The urgency in his voice was like a million little stabs to my heart. “What aren’t you telling me?”
I took a sip of the coffee, willing myself not to cry.
“It’s just that…” I took a deep breath and set my coffee down, but no words would come.
His eyes caught mine. “It’s just that…?” His voice softened, opening the door to my confession.
“I’m going back home.”
His entire body stiffened, and panic set in his gaze as he shook his head. “That’s not a good idea.”
I scowled and picked up my cup again.
I rarely liked being told what was and wasn’t a good idea. That was how I wound up in Washington in the first place. My family was ultimately against the idea. Well, most of my family. My sister fully supported me, and it seemed like a good idea at the time.
“It’s the best idea I’ve got, Zack. It’s unhealthy for me to wander around a small town like this with an ex I could bump into at any second.”
“I’m rarely here,” he argued.
“Duly noted,” I muttered under my breath.
“That’s not fair.” He shook his head, sliding his fingers through the dark strands.
It was always these little things he did that drove me insane for him. The way his dark, wavy hair curled around his fingers or the small dimple that would surface on his left cheek when he smirked, but not when he smiled. Or the intensity in his hazel eyes that turned me into a zombie as I watched the clarity behind his gaze grow.
“You know what I do for a living.” He shook his head.
I nodded, not wanting to start a fight over this. I wanted to leave on a good note, a happy note.
“I do, and I didn’t mean anything by it. We both know that being together isn’t good for either of us. My therapist told me that—”
