And why she’d been dumped aside like garbage.
“Do you like them?”he asked.
“I love them.”
“Are they like you?”
“Not really.”
“Good—because that would have been too much to believe.”
He grinned, and she had to smile.It wasn’t a dig.Neither of them was in a mood to fight.It was just such a strange, sensual bubble they were in here atop the building, with a blue tint and quiet all around.
Her gaze ate him up.
He was older now.They’d been teenagers when they’d found one another.He’d been sexy to her then, but he was a man now.He’d filled out enough that he matched his height, and the gangliness was gone.His knuckles were scarred, and his green eyes had seen too much.
But that face.
She wove her fingers together to stop the ache she felt to touch him again.
“How are you, Billy?”
“I’m good.”
Somehow the words fell a bit flat, but she understood.The world had been turning her way recently, but she just felt good, too.She might be on top of the building, but she wasn’t on top of the world.
“I hear you have a big-time job now,” she ventured.
“Have you been asking questions about me?”
She shrugged.“Charlie and Skeeter talk.”
And she listened—especially when she heard his name.She’d been happy when she’d heard he was working on the NASCAR circuit.
He looked out over the water, and the chilly breeze ruffled his hair.He looked pensive.“I’m on Justin Corelli’s crew now.He’s been moving up in the standings.”
“Charlie’s proud of you.”
“Yeah?Well, it’s a long way from Ruckus dishwasher.”
“We’ve both come a long way from where we started,” she agreed.
They looked at each other then and, in the moonlight, his green eyes looked black.So deep, dark, and unending.The air began that pulsing thing it liked to do whenever they got near.It was thrumming inside her.
Goading her and tempting her.
Her toes curled inside her boots.
She should have taken them off hours ago, but the pain in the arches of her feet reminded her that things between them didn’t always end well.
Even if they felt oh-so-good in the midst of the storm.
And she could feel the electricity of one brewing…
Sitting up, she swung her legs over the side of her chair.That insidious breeze slipped inside her blanket, and she shivered.Okay, that wasn’t just nippy, it was raw.“It’s late.We both need to sleep it off.”
When she pushed herself to her feet, he was suddenly there to help her.His hand cupped her elbow, and his big body blocked most of the wind.Even in her four-inch heels, he ranged over her.
