AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He then asked what the dog’s name was and she got herself under control enough while answering that query to look up at him. As soon as they locked eyes, she lost her train of thought completely.
At first, she assumed her reaction was based on the sheer magnitude of the man’s sex appeal. He was the most attractive man that she’d ever seen. Not only that, he had an air of maleness that was like catnip to her hormones. He had an aura that silently communicated he could handle anything from a flat tire to a break-in, with command and authority.
Of course, she was basing that solely on a feeling, but it was one she’d never had before or since that moment about a man.
It wasn’t until he spoke again, making a joke about the coyote thinking that the dog was breakfast, that she realized what the crux of her reaction truly was.
When he looked at her, it was like he saw her. All her life, Avery had done her best to be invisible. To blend in. To not stand out. But the second he looked at her, she felt seen. She felt exposed. She felt vulnerable. She felt like there was no place for her to hide from him.
It had been both exhilarating and terrifying.
Just remembering it now sent a shiver racing down her spine as she pushed off the wall and started to head to the safety and privacy of her office. She only made it halfway down the hall when she heard a familiar voice that caused goosebumps to rise on her arms.
“Avery?”
There was a tiny voice in her head screaming at her to keep walking and pretend she hadn’t heard him, walk straight to her car, get in, and go back to California. If she did that, there would be no harm, no foul. She would never know what he thought about her, or if he thought anything about her at all.
But something stopped her. The same something that had told her not to go through with the wedding. Reaching up, she wrapped her hand around her locket and said a silent prayer to God, to her Gammy, to the Universe, to anyone and everyone who might hear her, that she wouldn’t embarrass herself as she slowly turned.
When her eyes met his, the same feeling she’d had the first time she’d seen him washed over her. She felt a connection to him, that to this day, she’d never been able to put into words or even understand. She was so overwhelmed by it, she almost didn’t notice that all of the color had drained from his face. It was like he was seeing a ghost.
Between them, the air crackled with tension so thick she was practically choking on it as she lifted her hand up and said a meek, “Hi.”
Instead of replying, Keaton took two steps closer to her, his long legs eating up the space between them. He stopped about a foot away and whispered, “You’re real?”
She looked down at herself. “Last time I checked.”
“I thought…” Keaton shook his head. “I thought I was seeing things.”
Avery had played out this reunion a million times in her head. She’d dreamt about it. She’d fantasized about it. None of those times had Keaton thought she was a figment of his imagination. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Oh, um, Jovan, our head chef quit.”
His eyes dropped down to her hand, which she realized was still gripping her Gammy’s locket. She released it and lowered her arm back down to her side.
“Congratulations,” he gritted out, his voice gravelly and strained.
Keaton had a dry, sarcastic sense of humor, so she wasn’t sure if he was kidding or not.
“For my head chef quitting?” she asked.
“No.” He reached out and touched her hand, his thumb brushing over her ring.
She pulled her hand back as tingles rushed up her arm and down her body. His touch was just as, if not more, potent than she remembered. “Oh, I’m not.” Her head shook back and forth as she took her ring off. She couldn’t believe she was still wearing it. She’d been engaged so long; she’d sort of forgotten its significance. “I’m not engaged,” she explained as she shoved the ring in her pocket. “Anymore. I mean, I was but then I didn’t…we didn’t…I didn’t go through with it.”
“But you’re still wearing the ring?”
“It was um, sort of recent.”
“How recent?”
“Um…” She licked her lips nervously. “Just a few days. I was supposed to get married Sunday.”
His eyes widened. “Sunday, as in four days ago Sunday?”
“Yep.”
