Page 33 of Barron's Second Chance
But so what? Gorgeous men constantly surrounded her. Her ex, Joshua, repeatedly made the top hottest men alive lists worldwide. She posed and draped her body across many fine male models over the years.
But had any of them made her stomach clench like this on sight?
"How are you?" His gaze never left her face.
"Fine." She folded her arms and met his stare head-on, unflinching. Light blue eyes meeting hazel. A sizzle of energy pulsed through the air despite the uncomfortable atmosphere.
What she really wanted to do was tell him to get the fuck out and stop approaching her to chat. But she could still hear the dull buzz of chatter outside and knew that a few girls still lingered about the hallway. Now was not the time.
"How did the talk go?"
She puffed her breath out in annoyance.Small talk? Really?
"It was good. I'm sure Bailey will fill you in."
"She missed you."
"Well, I missed her, too. It wasn't my choice to have her cut from my life,” she gritted out, bristling at his words.
Barron held his hands up. "I know, Eden. I didn't mean anything by it."
"Then what did you mean?"
He turned to look behind him, checking to make sure that none of the girls were loitering too close. He took a step further into the room, stopping when she retreated a step.
"I just meant that she still idolizes you. She was so excited to see you again, and I'm sure she'll bug me a mile a minute in the car chatting about you," he joked.
A soft smile touched her lips at his words. She was still rather fond of Bailey herself.
"Not that I would mind. I love hearing about you."
Just as quickly, the smile fell off her face and was replaced with a scowl.
Barron sighed at her reaction, seemingly dejected. "Look, I won't take up much more of your time. I just wanted to apologize for the barbeque -"
"You already did that. I got the text," she firmly told him.
He rubbed at his neck. "Uh yeah. Wasn't sure if you got it."
"Did you expect a reply?" She arched her brow.
She saw him take a deep breath. "No. No, I didn't."
She turned and grabbed her phone and keys. "If that's all, I need to put away the chairs and lock up."
There was a pregnant pause, and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
"Just one more thing."
Her body stiffened at how close his voice was. She turned to find him standing only a few feet away from her. She would back up, but she was already up against the desk.
"Fucking things up with you was the single most regrettable thing I have ever done in my life." He stopped and set purposeful eyes on her.
"Still," he emphasized.
"To this day, I still think about what happened between us and how much of an idiot I was." He looked down and shook his head.
Her heart was at her throat, thrumming loudly and quickly.
