Because that’s what Trey Holt was for me, an earthquake, a hurricane, a volcano spitting lava, the perfect storm I’d never been able to survive. I had sunken into him before like a fragile wooden raft in the middle of a choppy sea, and he’d shattered me into a million splinters and left me drifting…
“Harper?”
I thought I’d turned the page. But four years after hearing him speak for the last time, I’d only needed one word to recognize his voice again. That’s how deep a mark he left on me.
I turned, heart pounding in my chest, unsure how to keep my balance as I looked up and saw his beautiful eyes staring at me.
“It’s you! I wasn’t sure, but…my God, it’s you!”
I struggled to convince myself he was really there in front of me after all that time.
He stepped back to observe me from top to bottom, and he must have liked what he saw, because he smiled until I could see wrinkles in the corner of his eyes. Then he bent down and surprised me with a hug.
“I’m happy to see you, Pumpkin.”
I felt a tingle in my belly when I heard that pet name from my childhood. I was such a dummy that I closed my eyes when I smelled his scent, so unlike anyone else’s.
I took a step back when he let me go.
“Hey, Trey,” I said, my mouth dry.
He smiled. I wished I could do the same. I hated him for breaking my heart and sending my self-esteem whirling down the drain. I hated him. And at that moment I had to remind myself how bad he’d hurt me to escape the spiderweb of his mischievous, insolent smile, in which I was momentarily trapped like an insect.
He looked down, and his expression changed. When he glanced back up, his expression was graver as he tucked his hands into the back pockets of his jeans.
“Harper, I’m sorry about Sophia’s passing, and I feel bad that I couldn’t attend the funeral. When Hoyt gave me the news, I was outside the country, and there was no way to get back in time.”
Despite myself, I grinned scornfully. “Don’t worry, I didn’t even notice your absence. Besides, it was an intimate affair, family only.”
My cheeks burned as I replied. I’m not like that, curt, impertinent. But with him…with him, a very unpleasant side of me emerged.
I tried to feign indifference. Anxious lines appeared in Trey’s forehead. He’d always had a gift for pretending to be the good guy.
“Yeah, of course, the family.” The air around us turned dense, and I started to feel claustrophobic. After a pause, he added, “But the Westons are like my family, too, and I’d have liked to accompany you in that difficult moment.”
I exhaled. Seeing him had reopened a wound. What he’d done in the past had marked me and my future, and there he was acting all innocent, and it didn’t work.
“I’m sure Hoyt and Hayley would have appreciated your support.”
He scrutinized me and licked his lips. “Them… Yeah, right.”
His eyes were just as I remembered them: seductive, brownish-green, with thick, black lashes and dark brows. His jaw was square. His lips were attractive, the lower one fleshier than the top one. His hair was longer than the last time I’d seen him. That made him look more mature.
He was still the most handsome man I’d ever met.
He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled, as if pushing sorrow from his mind, and gestured toward me.
“You look amazing! You’ve grown… God, how long has it been since we’ve seen each other?”
Not long enough.
“Four years. I was eighteen then. I’d just gotten into college, and you were heading off to the United States.”
“You’re beautiful. You… You’ve let your hair grow out. It suits you.”
“Thanks. You haven’t changed a bit.”
He smiled timidly as he examined my face. “Tell me, then, do you usually come here, or did I happen to get lucky?”
