Page 3 of Back To Our Beginning

Still, he wasn’t the teenager who’d left me with a gaping hole in my heart. Even though I’d agreed he needed to leave.

But what in the ever-loving hell gave him the right to ignore me like this? I deserved better!

“Maddie, let’s just go sit down. You don’t have to deal with this tonight,” Fallon pleaded.

“Go sit down with Michael. I’ll be there in just a minute.”

I swallowed hard, straightened my shoulders, and forced my feet forward toward the pool area. Each step felt like I was walking through drying cement.

I stopped at their table and tilted my head, looking Beau in the eye. For just a moment I thought I saw shock, guilt, maybe even regret, flash in his eyes, but it was then covered with a mask of fake cheerfulness.

“Doesn’t an old friend deserve a hug?” I asked.

His phony smile got bigger. Don’t ask me how I knew it was phony, but I did, and I wanted to shrivel up and die, but there wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to do any such thing.

“Maddie,” he murmured, his voice like rough gravel.

I waited.

He stepped toward me and pushed his hands under my stiff arms, wrapping his bulging muscles around my waist. My eyes closed. It was as if every moment of my time with Beau came rushing back, and I circled my arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

Then I caught his scent—clean, crisp, with a hint of leather and something unmistakably Beau. A shockwave sizzled down my spine, hot and electric, leaving my knees weak.

I went stiff again, but this time it was for a different reason.

This wasn’t a ‘Beau’ hug.

This was something else entirely.

Beau released me so fast, I thought I was going to fall. This time when I looked into his eyes, they were hot, penetrating, and slightly confused. But mostly hot.

I was sure mine were needy, and didn’t that just suck donkey balls?

“You’ve changed.” His voice was still low.

I only nodded. What could I say to such a stupid comment? After all, it had been fifteen years.

“You don’t have anything to say?” he asked.

I shrugged. “What else is there? I got my hug. Now I’ll go back and join my friends for dinner.”

“Why don’t you have dinner with Kai and me?” He motioned to his twin, who was watching the two of us with avid interest.

“No, I can’t. I don’t leave my friends hanging.”

A direct hit. Beau winced, and I smiled sweetly.

“Maybe we can set up some other time to meet. How does that sound?”

I shrugged. “Sure.” I turned to Kai and held out my hand. “It’s nice to see you again. Say hello to Marlowe for me,” I added, referring to his fiancée.

He looked between Beau and me, then shook my hand. Nope, not even a twinge of electricity. But I’d been pretty sure there wouldn’t be. Still, it was always good to make sure. I turned back to Beau. “I’ll see you around.”

“Wait a minute. I need your number.”

“Fallon and Michael are waiting to order. I’ve got to go.”

He frowned down at me. It was a look I’d never seen before. He looked hard and commanding.