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That sentence was a record scratch in my brain. “What?”
“I—”
I held up my hand to stop her talking. “I heard what you said. I don’t need you to repeat it. What I need is for you to explain why the fuck, after fiveyears, you’ve shown up in my town. Is this some kind of joke?”
“It’s not a joke.” She moved in again, her expression almost pleading. “I’ve really missed you.” Her hands came up to rest on my chest, but I grabbed her by the wrists to stop her before she could make contact.
“You don’t get to touch me,” I said, my words dripping with warning that had eyes going wide.
“Why?” She actually had the nerve to look up at me like I’d wounded her. “Are—are you seeing someone?”
I opened my mouth to tell her it was none of her goddamn business when I heard Wynn’s voice, like a lifeline thrown just as I was starting to drown.
“Sorry I’m late. I set my alarm but forgot to turn the damn thing off silent.”
I released Vanessa’s wrists and jerked around, taking in all that was Wynn. My best friend, a firecracker of a woman.
The differences between her and the woman I’d turned my back on couldn’t have been more stark. Where Vanessa was polished and perfectly put together, Wynn looked like she’d just rolled out of bed and made a mad dash here, which, knowing her, was exactly what had happened. Years of training had left me no choice but to become a morning person.
Wynn, not so much. She’d bitch about the early hours and still drag her ass out of bed to meet up with me. But she wouldn’t take the time to do her hair and squeeze herself into painted-on jeans.
This morning, that waterfall of white blonde hair was pulled up into a pile on the top of her head more out of convenience than style. Her face was a blank canvas free of makeup, giving me a perfect view of the freckles dotted across the bridge of her nose. She was dressed in a simple pair of black leggings, an overly large, slouchy sweater that hung off one shoulder, and her running shoes she bought because she thought they were cute,notbecause she planned on ever running.
I preferred all of that, all that was my tiny dynamo, over the made up and fake that was Vanessa. Every day of the week.
“I blame you for being such a damn early bird. Are you—”
I blamed what happened next on that fight or flight instinct kicking in. It wasn’t like me to act impulsively, but Vanessa had thrown me off, her presence causing my world to spin right off its axis. That was the only logical reason I could come up with for what I did in that moment.
As soon as she was close enough, I looped my arm around her waist and yanked her into me, holding her in a way I never had before. Leaning in close enough that my lips brushed her ear, I whispered, “Just go with it.”
Then I slammed my lips down on hers.
* * *
Wynn
“Sorry I’m late,”I panted, out of breath from having to rush from my car where I parked a block and a half away. I was already running late, and by the time I made it to Hot Java, the popular coffee shop was already hopping, even early on a Saturday morning, so parking had been difficult. “I set the alarm on my phone but forgot to turn the damn thing off silent. I blame you for being such a damn early bird,” I teased as I closed in on him. Just as I got close, he whipped around, the look on his face pulling me up short. He looked... panicked, “Are you—”
He grabbed me by the waist and pulled me so close my feet barely touched the ground, the very tips of my tennis shoes scraping against the tile floor. A shiver shot up my spine as his lips grazed the shell of my ear. A gasp wrenched from my throat, the stubble on his jaw abrading the sensitive skin of my neck, as he whispered, “Just go with it.”
Before I had a chance to ask what he was talking about, he shocked the ever-loving hell out of me by crashing his mouth down on mine.
A surprised squeak worked its way past my lips, forcing them to part, and the moment they did, Gage dove in, kissing me like it was his sole purpose on this planet. I’d wrapped my arms around his neck on instinct when he’d grabbed me, holding myself upright. But with that first tantalizing swipe of his tongue, I gripped tighter for a whole new reason. My nails scratched across short hair at the back of his neck as I fell into the kiss, losing myself completely. Because,damn, was he good at this!
My brain short-circuited, everything else around us disappeared, and all I was capable of thinking wasmoreandwowandholy shit, I don’t ever want this to stop.
But it did. It had to. The need to breathe dictated that. And by the time he lifted his head from mine, breaking what had to have been the best kiss of my entire freaking life, we were both breathing like we spent the past twenty years smoking a pack and a half a day.
I blinked, trying to clear my hazy vision. I couldn’t recall ever being as affected by a kiss as I was just then. The man had kissed me stupid. Literally. And all I could do was gape up at him, part of me wondering what the hell happened while the other part tried desperately to figure out how to make it happen again.
I was still in a lust-drunk daze—brought on by my best friend, of all people—when he shifted me around like a ragdoll, tucking me against his side and throwing a heavy arm around my shoulders.
“Vanessa, this is my girl, Wynn.”
I blinked again, reality suddenly crashed into me like a bullet train. The coffee shop had gone deathly quiet in the middle of the mad morning rush, and I could feel everyone’s eyes on Gage and me, their gazes burrowing into my skin. But I only had enough capacity in my brain at that moment to focus on one thing.
Vanessa?
