“She’ll call you back,” his friend had said, rather smugly, a few days later over the phone. “I made sure.”
“How’d you manage that?”
“Told her you were loaded, of course. The girl works like crazy. Her coworkers say she doesn’t ever go out, always scrimping for money. Sounds like she could use a sugar daddy.”
Ethan had cringed. If she called, he’d always wonder if it was for the possibility of landing a rich boyfriend. If she didn’t… Maybe his friend’s insinuation had insulted her. If he’d been in her shoes, he would’ve been furious.
Either way, he was screwed.
To his mingled disappointment and relief, she hadn’t called.
If his old college buddy Frank hadn’t been such an idiot, would things have been different?
When he’d returned from his trip and tried to look her up, she’d disappeared. Graduated from college and left town—no forwarding address, no number, no email. And no one knew where she’d gone. What could’ve evolved into a relationship became just a one-night stand, and the sense of loss was surprisingly sharp. Ethan had hated the feeling of powerlessness, but he’d accepted it as a lost cause and never expected to see her again.
No, that wasn’t entirely true. He had accepted the situation partly because he was afraid of repeating the mistake he’d made with Lisa. That had cost him a great deal and brought an enormous amount of pain and trouble to his family. It would have been selfish of him to move heaven and earth to find a woman who could be another Lisa.
“Don’t get involved with anyone who seems even remotely broken. You can’t fix them, and they don’t want to be fixed,” his brother Gavin had said.
Ethan’s mouth twisted at the irony of having Jacq—Kerri—walk up to him at the airport after all this time.
Now she sported a chic black bob, and her gaze no longer held any shadows. Maybe the years had been good to her. Time healing all wounds and stuff.
Or maybe she’d just gotten better at hiding her pain.
He’d made a snap decision to not talk about the past. What had happened was over and done with. Nothing could change that, and there was no point in wondering about what-ifs.
What they had was the present, and Kerri was too dangerous for his equilibrium. Kerri with her soul-sucking eyes, sassy tone and a body that deserved to be admired and worshiped in every way. And there was the whole Natalie thing. He’d already messed up with Natalie once, in a fairly big way, and didn’t want to complicate things by going after her best friend. That should make Kerri off-limits.
His fingers drummed the steering wheel.
Should.
But he couldn’t ignore the undeniable fascination he felt. He hadn’t been able to forget her after all these years. The impact she had on him was just as powerful as it had been at their first meeting. His body still throbbed when she was near, and her feminine scent lingered in his mind.
He wanted to start over with Kerri, see how far their attraction would take them. And this time she wouldn’t be able to just walk away on a whim.
* * *