AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Anne,” I whispered her name, my entire body reacting to the sight of her. Her long gold hair was mussed from being stuck under the dilapidated porch and had a few leaves sticking out of it, but her eyes were wide and blue and as beautiful as ever.
“Jim?” she asked, tilting her head like she didn’t quite recognize me.
I guess I looked a bit different since high school—I had a full beard that I kept neat along my jaw, and had traded our school uniforms for my police one.
My brain caught up with my body, and I cleared my throat. “How much have you had to drink tonight?”
She gaped up at me, blinking a few times like she was in shock. “I haven’t had a single drop.”
I arched a brow at her, and she glanced down at her clothes, which were visibly wet.
“I promise,” she said, shifting the sleeping cat in her arms. “I know it looks bad, but I swear I haven’t had anything to drink.”
“We got calls about an erratic driver—”
“Well, that’s his fault,” she cut me off, jarring the limp cat in her arms. “He ran out in front of me, and then I saw his head was stuck and I couldn’t leave him like that.”
I studied her for a few seconds. She definitely didn’t appear inebriated. Her eyes were clear and her movements were controlled.
“Jim,” she said, sighing. “Please. I can’t…If my father gets wind of this, I’ll be in so much trouble. I’m already in enough as it is.”
I tilted my head, wondering what she meant by that but it wasn’t exactly my place to ask now was it? It didn’t stop incessant urge to help her with whatever trouble she was in. Didn’t stop the flicker of anger at the mention of her father, either. That prick was the reason why Anne and I hadn’t built a life together, one filled with passion and laughter and fights and making up and all the things we once lived for.
Fuck me. It’d beenyears…how could I still think that way?
I leaned down so our faces were only inches apart. It’d been a decade since I’d last seen her and she still felt just as tiny compared to my six-foot-four frame.
Her eyes flared at my sudden nearness, and I couldn’t stop the heat streaking through my veins as they fluttered from my eyes to my lips and back again. Damn, did she think I was about to kiss her like no time had passed between us at all?
Shit, I wasn’t exactly against the idea.
“Breathe for me,” I finally said, remembering why the hell I was here in the first place. Two minutes with her and I was reduced to the need that had always been so intense between us.
“What?” she asked.
“Breathe on me,” I said, eyebrows raised while I waited.
“No,” she said, covering her mouth with her free hand. “What if I have bad breath? I haven’t had a sip of water since I got off work—”
“You won’t have bad breath,” I said, barely biting back a laugh. “It’s this or I have to run a full citation, including a breathalyzer.”
“Oh,” she said, dropping her hand. She rolled her eyes, then blew onto my face.
There wasn’t a hint of alcohol on her breath. Good for her, she wasn’t lying. Not that she’d ever been much of a liar. She always liked to speak the truth, even if it was hurtful. It was one of the things that made me fall for her years ago.
“Happy? That felt ridiculous.” The cat in her arms shifted, and she shook her head.
“Yeah,” I said. “You’re free to go.”
“Thank you so very much, Officer Harlowe,” she said, drawing out my title with a little attitude that sent me straight back to high school where I lived to rile her up.
Instinctively, I stepped toward her, plucking a leaf from her hair. She tipped her chin, holding my gaze, not once backing away from the closeness between us.
Were those chills sweeping across the bare skin of her neck?
Fire blazed beneath my skin like an electric charge, and it was strong enough that I took a giant step back.
“Small world,” she said. “Running into you like this.”
