“It sounded an awful lot like you were about to call this woman something other than her name. If you disrespect her one more time, your car will be the least of your worries.”
I looked on, slack jawed. Tugging at the front of my shirt because it was suddenly really hot in here.
Who was this guy?
And what was this feeling in my chest and...lower? There had been guys who were worth noting, but they all ended up disappointing me in the end.
This feeling? This instant attraction? This was new.
For the first time, I felt like I was ready to skip to the good part in the book. That I’d give anything for those powerful hands to be all over me. Lifting me up. Clutching my body to his body. Hands splayed all over me. Spreading my thighs. Doing things that I’d shied away from, hell, ran away from full speed because I didn’t want my first time to be with someone clumsy.
I wanted it to mean something.
And something told me that if he was the guy, it would change me forever.
Snap out of it, Lay! He’s just a Good Samaritan. And so out of your league.
It was harder than it should have been, and it had nothing to do with the accident, but I tried to focus on the task at hand. I needed to get my information. 911 wasn’t necessary, but I needed to call my insurance. Get Steve’s information, which I wouldn’t have felt comfortable or safe doing if I didn’t have someone there to make sure he didn’t go postal.
The blond guy let Steve go and I tried to not smile as I watched the blustering man scramble back over to his car. I had a feeling that Steve would have all the information I’d need, without needing to be asked twice.
My mystery savior leaned down, level with my window. Without even thinking, I unlocked my door. My action surprised him too, but he didn’t reach for the door handle. He did something even worse—he flashed me a smile that made my heart melt into a sticky puddle in my chest.
“I’m Corbin,” he said, after studying my face like I was the devastatingly gorgeous one. “It’s gonna be okay.”
MEGAN WAS ALREADY BUZZED and that was a good thing. If she was stone cold sober, no amount of acting ability or alcohol chugging would be able to wipe the OMFG look from my face. Instead, she just chalked my reaction up to the fact that we were so close to the stage that we’d be able to feel About Us’ sweat. And from the screeches of delight that erupted around us, I wasn’t the only one that was ready for the band to take the stage.
“I’m so, so, so glad we did this, Leila!” Megan wrapped her arm around my neck and pulled me in close. “We needed a girl’s night. You know what we don’t need? Men.”
Ain’t that the truth, I thought, balling my hands into fists at my side. Trying to keep it together because I’d gone from drama with my husband to inadvertently attending my ex boyfriend’s concert. S
mack dab in the front row, to boot. Slammed with the past, images, feelings, and memories pulsing through me like the bass that made my whole body vibrate.
Like it had that day.
The day we met.
I gave my head a shake and pretended I wasn’t rattled down to my very core.
Corbin freaking Wolfe.
Here.
Just behind the stage.
Finally making his dreams come true...with a song that he wrote for me.
It would have been sweet, heartwarming even—if he didn’t sing it to me two weeks before he walked out on us.
The lights dimmed and the crowd went wild. My eyes dropped to my hand. To my wedding ring. Even in the dark, it glowed. Slicing into the thing in my chest that was racing with excitement. Was it wrong that I was holding my breath? Drifting in the past, where everything was simpler and I wasn’t Leila Whitmore? When I was just...me?
I knew the answer to that question, knew that the dark and scary place I was in with Jacob was making me nostalgic. I just wanted to be some girl in the crowd, lost in the music.
Liar.
You just want to see him.
The one who got away.