by Molly McLain
Rosemary’s gaze darted to the man’s head before she fully took in his face and sure enough, there was the cap Angel had gone so gaga over. A red cap. With a big white N embroidered on it. Nebraska? Not likely. She was a heck of a long way from home, after all.
She cleared her throat and forced her eyes downward, refusing to let her momentary trip down memory lane get the best of her. Only, something about the man’s face looked familiar. Something about the way his full lips pressed together hit a buried nerve. Something about the tick she could see in his strong jaw, despite his five o’clock shadow…
Something about those penetrating, denim blue eyes.
Oh, my God. No. It can’t be.
“Rosemary?” Kyle stepped forward and placed a gentle, questioning hand on her arm, but it was too late. The cup in her hands hit the floor, shattering into pieces.
Just like her heart had nearly a decade ago.
When she’d loved the man standing across the room so much she’d left him.
***
Fate fucking sucked.
So did Will. And Ryan’s mother, too, for that matter, because if it hadn’t been for her “do the right thing” speech before he’d left River Bend, he would’ve never ended up here today. Staring at her in some mega-movie star’s home…with a half dozen pairs of eyes watching their long-awaited reunion.
“Let me get that cleaned up,” the blonde woman said, rushing to Rosie’s feet, while the actor helped her step away from the broken coffee mug. “Angel, why don’t you take Rosemary to the family room? I’ll be right there.”
“Pretty sure we’re not who she needs to talk to right now, Mom.” The girl in the wheelchair looked from Ryan to Rosemary, her keen gaze the sharpest of all.
He probably should have interjected. Said something to lighten the situation, but he had to know—would Rose acknowledge him on her own or not?
With a shaky hand, she brushed her long, dark hair—still as beautiful and sexy as ever—over her shoulder. “No, no, Angel. I’m fine. Too much caffeine today, that’s all.”
Hmm. Definitely not the direction he hoped she’d go.
“You’ve still got the touch, I see,” Will muttered, and Cory and Jason tried to stifle simultaneous laughs in response.
The color that stained Rosie’s cheeks said they failed and something defensive stirred in Ryan’s gut.
“Long time, no see, Rosie,” he said without thinking. To make matters worse, his voice sounded soft. Almost…reassuring. To the woman who had single-handedly turned his life upside down. What the hell was wrong with him?
“You two know each other?” Kyle frowned. “I didn’t think you guys were local.”
“We’re not,” Will spoke up. “We’re just in town helping Vaughn.”
Kyle nodded, but for the longest second of Ryan’s life, Rosie kept her gaze locked firmly on the girl.
“Maybe I do need a minute,” she finally said, giving him a timid, sidelong glance. “With Ryan. Alone.”
Thank God for that.
“As I suspected,” the girl said, whirling her chair around. “Follow me to the family room, please.”
But Rosie didn’t budge. Instead, she clasped her bottom lip between her teeth, the furrow in her brow deepening like the Grand Canyon. Because she wasn’t sure she really wanted to face him after all this time…or because she wasn’t sure he’d follow?
That he could help with. “After you,” he said gently, stepping forward with similar ease. To his relief, Rosie’s shoulders dropped a few millimeters. And she actually looked up at him.
Good Lord, she’d only gotten prettier over the years. And those deep, passionate brown eyes…
They still sent chills—the good kind—down his spine quicker than anything had in a long time.
Chapter Three
“Tell me this isn’t really happening. That I’m dreaming or something. Fell on the ice and knocked myself out.”
Dramatic as always. Ryan smiled from the doorway, watching Rosie march promptly to the roaring fireplace in the elaborate family room and wrap her arms around herself. “Sorry, princess. Didn’t see a single speck of ice on my way in.”
She spun toward him, her glossy locks whipping around her still-blushing face. “Don’t call me that. Please.”
Crap. “Sorry. Second nature.”
“It’s been too long for that, Ryan. My God. What are you even doing here?” The creamy, porcelain skin on her brow pinched together in confusion.
“I could ask you the same.” He took a slow step forward, rounding a massive chair, with his hands tucked in his pockets. His standard-attire work boots thudded softly against the hardwood floor.
“I work for Kyle. And last I heard, you worked for Josh Hudson in River Bend. Unless something’s changed…” Her perfect teeth sank into the plump pillow of her lower lip again and she batted her eyelashes almost imperceptibly. Not a conscious action—just something she used to do when she was nervous.
Well, she should be nervous, damn it. Just like he should be pissed off.
Only he wasn’t. In fact, he wasn’t even a little upset right now. Which surprised him, because every time he’d contemplated what it would feel like to see her again, he’d nearly stroked out from the barrage of mixed emotions, including anger, about how she could have left him the way she had.
“You’ve kept tabs on me?” He took another step closer. Carefully, of course, because there was no way he’d give her an excuse to run away from him again.
She laughed softly. Maybe defensively. “More like my Aunt Nancy won’t leave well enough alone. She always finds a way to slip something about you into the conversation.”
Note to self: Send Nancy Hudson flowers ASAP.
“But that’s besides the point. Why are you here?” she asked again.
“Vaughn Roberts is Will’s uncle. He’s had some health problems and Will offered to help him out with this project, given your boss’s high profile.”
She cocked her head to the side, giving him a glimpse of her long, sleek neck. He’d kissed that skin before. Given his first hickey there, too, God only knew how many moons ago. “Okay, but how do you come into play?”
“Believe it or not, I’m on vacation.”
“Ah.” She nodded, one thin, dark eyebrow lifted. “Well, that makes perfect sense.”
A low laugh rumbled in his chest. “Right? Leave it to Will to rope me into these things.”
A frown weighed down her mouth again and he remembered—she had no idea who Will was or how far he and Ryan went back. She’d skipped out on him before that time in his life.
“We went to college together,” he began to explain, then thought better of it. This woman had left him. The likelihood of her giving a shit was probably pretty slim. “Look, it’s complicated, okay? A lot of this is complicated, actually.”
“You can say that again.” She paced over to the big window again, the snowcapped mountains apparently more exciting than him. “You must have a million questions.”
Give or take a few, yeah. “I don’t expect answers, Rosie. Hell, I don’t even expect you to continue this conversation with me.” His hand found the back of the leather sofa, his fingers digging in deep. “Maybe we should just chalk this up to an unexpected surprise and leave it at that. No questions asked.”
She didn’t respond. Just continued to look away, unmoving.
Well, then. He nodded to no one but himself, the finality of this too-short visit not sitting as well as he’d tried to imply. “It was good to see you again, Rose. You’re as breathtaking as ever and, from the looks of it, you’re doing pretty well for yourself, too. I’m…happy for you.”
With that, he turned on his heel and walked out. He didn’t want to, but he had to before he said something they’d both regret.
Something that sounded an awful lot like I never stopped loving you.
***
“You never told me you grew up in River Bend.” Janine, Kyle’s assistant, waggled a
taunting finger at Rosemary from across the kitchen island in the condo they’d moved into a few weeks earlier. The accommodations were only temporary, until Rosemary could find a place of her own, which, thus far, hadn’t gone as well as she’d hoped. Hope Falls wasn’t L.A., unfortunately. “More to point, you never told me that you lost your virginity to my cousin Ryan.”
Rosemary broke off a chunk of her blueberry scone and popped it in her mouth. She wasn’t even hungry—thank you, Ryan Croft!—but she’d be miserable come 2 a.m. if she skipped out on dinner entirely. “I can’t believe you two are related. I mean, what are the chances?”
“About a million to one. Roughly the same as him showing up at Kyle’s today.” Janine smiled. “He texted me, by the way. I might’ve forgot to mention that earlier.”
“Ugh.” She shoved the scone away and reached for her water instead. “I’m still not sure what he’s even doing here. Is he going to keep working with Vaughn on the renovations, or was he just offering ideas?”
“Don’t know. We’re supposed to grab a cup of coffee in a bit. I figured I’d get the scoop from him then.”
A pang of something twitched in Rosemary’s belly. Cautiously, she met her friend’s gaze. “You’re meeting him? Tonight?”
“Yep. You want to come?”
As if! “Nice try, but I’m pretty sure I’m the last person he wants to see.”
“That’s not exactly a no.”
“It’s definitely a no.”
“But it’s not No, I don’t want to see him again, is it?”
Ugh. Of course, it wasn’t. Seeing Ryan again was all she’d been able to think about since he’d left Kyle’s. If she hadn’t been so worried about saving face, she would have gone after him. Explained all the things she’d wanted to explain for years, even if he didn’t want to hear them.
“Go. Take my place tonight.”
Her head snapped up, shaking from side to side before she even met Janine’s eyes. “No way.” Seeing disappointment on his face when she walked in would be a hundred times worse than hearing the door close behind him earlier. Worse than knowing that how she’d felt in that moment was nothing compared to how he must’ve felt, finding out she’d left River Bend all those years ago without any intention of coming back.
“I’ve known you for years, Rose, and I’ve never seen you this out of it over a guy before. You need to go, you know?”
“And what would I say? Hey, it’s me again. I couldn’t leave well enough alone. I’m here to twist the knife a little deeper.” She slid off the stool and tossed her scone into the trash. “I think the best thing I can do is lay low. The only big thing Kyle’s got going on right now are the details for The Angel Alliance. I can work on that from here, no problem. Just in case Ryan shows up again.”
“How old are you?” Janine narrowed her eyes.
“What does that matter?”
“It matters because I’m pretty sure you’re too darn old to be acting like a scared teenager.”
“Oh, please. I am totally not acting like that.” Totally? Crap.
Janine grinned. “Are so and, frankly, it’s annoying. It’s not even you, for Pete’s sake.”
When Ryan Croft was involved, feeling like a total schmuck was very much her. At least for the last nine years anyway.
“Give it one more shot. At the very least, see if you can figure out how long he’s going to be here, so if tonight does go completely south, you know how long you have to hide out. Not that I’m condoning that kind of childish behavior…”
“You could ask him just as easily as I could.”
“I could, yes. But I won’t, because it doesn’t matter to me one lick. Therefore I’m no longer interested in asking.” Her roommate inspected her nails with put-on interest.
“I hate you.”
“Hate to break it to you, but you’re not capable of that emotion. Ryan isn’t either, so I think you should go tonight. Put on a pretty dress and do up your hair. Pretend we’re back in L.A. Heck, think of it as a business meeting if that’s what it takes.”
Janine was wrong. Rose could hate, and if she didn’t take this opportunity to apologize to Ryan properly, she would hate herself more than she already did.
“I’ll go,” she sighed. “I don’t want to, but it’s the right thing to do.”
Janine gave an approving shriek and jumped up from her seat. “Well, what are you waiting for, girl? We’ve gotta get you ready!”
Chapter Four
Sue Ann’s was unusually quiet for a Thursday night and, for that, Rosemary was grateful. The fewer people to witness her out with Ryan, the fewer people to speculate. She’d only been living full-time in Hope Falls for a few weeks, since Kyle had made the adorable little town his primary home. Making a good impression still lingered close to the top of her priorities.
“Dining alone tonight?” Sue Ann asked with a warm smile as she set a menu and a glass of water in front of Rosemary.
“No, I’m meeting someone.” She smiled politely. “Though, I think we’re just having coffee, if that’s okay.” Of course, her traitorous stomach had to go and choose that very moment to decide it wanted something more. Typical.
“Sure thing, pretty lady. I’ll be right back.” The older woman sashayed away as the front door of the restaurant opened and the chimes announced a new arrival. A new arrival who was dressed in a dark hoodie and a Huskers ball cap, to be exact.
“Hey,” Ryan said, strolling over curiously with his hands tucked in the front pockets of his jeans. Beneath the table, she wound her own hands together to keep them from shaking. “Two times in one day. Imagine that.”
She gave a small, uneasy smile. “I might’ve hijacked your coffee date with Janine. I hope you don’t mind.”
He eyed the single empty chair with a raised eyebrow. “Not at all, but I think we need another seat.”
“Actually, it’s just me. Janine’s at home painting her nails and chomping at the bit for me to get back, so she can bombard me with ten-thousand questions.”
His gentle, masculine laugh lightened the air around them and Rosemary blew out a breath of relief. At least he’s not running for the door.
“So you not only know Janine, but you live with her, too?” Pulling out the chair, he lowered his big body with a comfortable bounce. Was he really this relaxed or was he pretending as much as she was?
“It’s a temporarily arrangement.” She explained about her recent move to be closer to Kyle, who wasn’t her only PR client, but was definitely the one who used up the majority of her time. Not a big surprise, really, given his mega-celebrity status and a reputation that required constant upkeep.
“Unbelievable,” Ryan said when she was done, one corner of his mouth ticking up into a crooked grin. “My mother would have a field day with this.”
“Tell me about it. I’ve worked with Janine for years now and somehow the fact that I used to live in River Bend never came up. Then you show up in Hope Falls…” She broke off, shaking her head. “I’d say it was fate, but you don’t believe in that. Or least, you never used to.”
He held her gaze, his grin softening. “Still don’t.”
“Good to know.”
Sue Ann sauntered up to the table again, this time with two monstrous cups of coffee. “Figured anyone who drinks coffee at this time of the night must like to do it big.”
Ryan chuckled. “I like the way you think, ma’am.”
“Oh, stop. No ma’am-ing around here, if you hope to live long enough to come back. I’m just Sue Ann. Owner of this fine establishment.” She put the mugs down and offered Ryan her hand.
“Ryan Croft. The lucky guy who gets to enjoy this beautiful woman’s company tonight.”
Winding the fabric of her dress in her hands, Rosemary forced a sweet smile. Let the speculation begin.
“Ah, well, I suppose I should be happy to hear that. Though, if I’m honest, I had my hopes set on introducing her to my nephew.”
Oh, dear God. S
he’d heard about Sue Ann’s penchant for matchmaking.
Ryan chuckled. “Don’t let me hold you back. I mean, unless the guy is a sleaze ball, which I doubt is the case since he’s related to you.”
Sue Ann’s mouth twisted into a pleased smirk. “I like this one, Rosemary. You should keep him around.”
Shoot me. Shoot me now.
Ryan continued to grin, but as soon as Sue Ann moved out of earshot, he shook his head. “I like her, but then I don’t, you know?”
“What’s not the like? She’s wonderful.” Once you got past the meddling.
“I’m sure she is, but she’s also dead serious about you and her nephew.”
“Oh, hardly. But even if she were, what would it matter?”
“It would matter, because you’re my ex and I’m probably never going to jump up and down about the prospect of you with someone else, no matter how many years go by.”
Oh. That.
“Don’t look so surprised, Rosie. You were my first love. To say I’ll always be a little overprotective of you would be an understatement.”
Time to change the subject. As quickly as possible.
Reaching for the menu Sue Ann had left, Rosemary looked anywhere but at Ryan. “I know you planned on coffee with Janine, but I’m starving. Do you mind?”
“I skipped out on steaks on the grill to be here, so no, I don’t mind at all. I’d love to buy you dinner.”
“Ha!” A sudden burst of laughter sprang up from her chest. Not the nervous kind, but the genuine kind one had to slap a hand over their mouth to contain. “That’s not what I meant,” she explained. “I wasn’t fishing for a free meal. Honest.”
Ryan’s dark blue eyes lit up. A challenge, if she’d ever seen one. “What are you saying, Rosie? You turning me down?”
God, no. Face to face, she’d never been able to deny him. That’s why she’d had to put so much distance between them all those years ago.
“Not at all. I just don’t want to give you any reason to leave. Not yet, anyway.” She pressed her lips together and looked him straight in the eye. Baby steps with the honesty, she told herself. You owe him that much.
