Page 10 of Billionaire Unforgettable: Tanner

“I wasn’t exactly thinking rationally at the time,” he confessed in a graveled voice.

I shook my head as I took the credit card he offered me for the donuts. “It’s over, Tanner. It was over a long time ago.Sometimes priorities change. People change. We were young when we got together. I was barely twenty, and you hadn’t been out of college for long. Maybe I just wasn’t what you needed anymore.”

God, it was still hard to say those words, but it was probably the truth.

“That’s not true,” Tanner said irritably.

I held up a hand. “This happened a long time ago. We’re different people now. It doesn’t matter. I think we’ve both moved on.”

“Is that really how you feel?” he questioned.

“Yes,” I lied. “We don’t mean anything to each other anymore, but I’m glad you know now that I wasn’t fleeing with another guy.”

At that point, I’d do or say almost anything not to have to talk about our old life anymore.

Leaving Tanner had been the hardest thing I’d ever done, and as much as I wanted to deny it, talking about that time in my life did still hurt.

He picked up the boxes looking like he had more to say, but another customer walked through the door before he could say another word.

“Have a good day, Tanner,” I said, just like I’d say to any other customer.

He ran a hand through his wavy brown hair, his gorgeous blue eyes swirling with some kind of emotion I couldn’t completely decipher.

“You, too, Hannah,” he finally said politely. “It was good to see you again.”

Without another word, he turned and left.

I let out a sigh of relief, and it took me a moment to pull myself together enough to greet the next customer.

Well, at least we’d broken the ice between the two of us.

We probably wouldn’t have to go out of our way to avoid each other anymore.

Maybe I should be happy about that, but seeing Tanner again, hearing his voice, and talking to him had shaken me up more than I’d thought it would.

Tanner

“Ican’t believe you just set me up like that,” I grumbled to my mother as I sat her damn apple fritters on her kitchen counter.

Her eyes widened as she answered, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She knew exactly what I was talking about, and her innocent expression wasn’t fooling me. “You sent me to Sweet Mornings knowing full well that Hannah was helping her mom out today.”

I loved and respected my mother, but this stunt was way out of line.

“Oh, Hannah was there?” she asked, trying to keep up her pretense.

I turned to face her, but she wouldn’t quite look me in the eyes.

I glared at her. “You knew she was there. Cut the innocent act, Mother. You and Joy planned this. You wanted the two of us to meet face-to-face. The question is…why? What was the point?”

I was still mulling over Hannah’s statements, and I wasn’t sure what to think.

I’d spent the last seven years assuming she’d taken off with another man.

It was the only explanation I could think of for her quickly leaving town like that without a word.

Fuck!Had I really been ignorant about her motivations all those years ago?

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