She straightened her spine. “Hi, Jace.”
Good. That was good. Cool, calm and kind of collected.
That damn grin of his widened, looking too damn sexy. “Hey, Tink.” His gravelly tone as he used the nickname he’d given her when they were kids slipped under her skin, heating her limbs. “Wasn’t sure if you were gonna say hello, so thought I’d come over here.”
“Oh, I didn’t see you.”
Lie. Big, fat lie. And the look on his face told her he knew it. Shit. When would she learn not to lie to this man? He saw right through her like a human lie detector.
He tilted his head toward his table. “Come have a coffee with me and Kay.”
“No.” Dammit. Too fast. She’d said that too freaking fast. “I have somewhere to be.”
Another lie. They were just rolling off her tongue now. Unless you called deep cleaning her apartment “somewhere to be.”
“Come on,” he urged. “Your best friend comes back to town after over fifteen years away. Surely I’m worth breaking some plans?”
Ex-best friend. Something he conveniently left out.
“Besides”—his grin widened—“I’ve been trying to catch up with you since I got back, but so far haven’t had any luck. It almost feels like you’re avoiding me.”
Avoiding her devastatingly gorgeous ex-best friend, whom she’d spent most of her life pining over? No. Why would she do that? Because he could break her heart? Rip it right out of her chest and leave her hollow?
“You know how crazy that sounds, right?” she started, forcing her voice to come across relaxed, when relaxed was the last thing she felt. “What woman in her right mind would avoid the great Jace Walker?”
“I can only think of one.”
Exactly.
Her phone vibrated, and she looked down to see it was one of those dating apps she’d signed up for. Damn waste of time they were. The guys were more disappointing than unsalted pretzels.
“Boyfriend?”
Her gaze shifted back up at Jace’s question. “No.”
“Caramel latte’s ready, Elle.”
Thank the heavens above. She turned to take the cup. “Thank you.” She sucked in a quick breath before looking back at Jace, and yes, he was just as annoyingly gorgeous as a second earlier. Although now, he was lifting a brow at her, humor in his gaze.
She frowned. “What?”
“A caramel latte? Really? We used to make fun of the caramel latte kids in high school.”
“High school was a long time ago.”
“Doesn’t feel that way. In fact, I think you’re lucky I’m home, so I can steer you back on track.”
She rolled her eyes as she moved toward the door. “The only track I need steering toward is the one away from you.” Shit, had those words really left her mouth?
“See, nowthat’sthe Elle I remember. Not afraid to hurt my fragile ego.”
She scoffed and turned back toward him. “Fragile? Jace, Tori Pilone once called you a walking penis, and you thanked her.”
He lifted a shoulder. “It was the first compliment I’d gotten that day.”
Jesus Christ.“You’re something else.”
“Something charming? Something handsome? Wait, I know, something ridiculously cute with blue eyes you could fall into.”
