Page 44 of Finding Hope

I’m nailing this being a grown-up thing.

I won’t be going home with Brad tonight, and I won’t be going to 188 to find someone else. But maybe I’ll take a selfie and send it to the girls. They’ll tell me I’m pretty.

Finishing in the bathroom, I reapply my cherry red lipstick and check my dress isn’t tucked into my underwear – God forbid I repeat thatseventh-grade fiasco. Opening the heavy bathroom door, I mentally prepare myself to go back to my date.

“Hey, Bambie.”

Spinning on my feet and almost tripping in the process, I press a hand to my chest and stumble at the sight ofhimsurging forward. “Jesus!”

“Shit.” Snagging my elbow in his broad hand, Jack steadies me on my feet. “I’m sorry, Britt. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Heart hammering in my chest, I study the mountain man from toes to hair. He looks bigger than I remember, his charcoal Henley stretched across a broad chest. His eyes are clear, as opposed to the glassy look he wore at the club, and his general demeanor just seems better.

Healthier.

He’s actually smiling, so there’s that.

“Are you okay? I’m sorry.”

I nod, though my hand remains on my erratically beating chest. “I’m okay.” Clearing my throat, I brush away the fizzles and fireworks his smile conjures. “Wow. I think you just stole a decade of my life.”

And now a lone dimple flashes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I saw you walk through the restaurant,” he shrugs, “I wanted to say hey.”

Releasing my elbow, I take a step back. Abigstep. Maybe two of them. “You wanted to say hey?”

“Yeah.” He takes in my outfit from top to bottom. “I, ah…” He scratches hair that’s grown longer since I last saw him. “I didn’t even recognize you at first.” He smiles shyly. “You look different.”

“Different?”

His eyes flare with guilt. “You look great! I didn’t mean to imply… different isn’t a bad thing. I just… different.”

Charmed by this wildly different,shierman, I smile. “Okay.”

“Um, I’m here with my family. We’re having a bit of a celebration. My sister recognized you, so I hauled ass to come say hey.”

I nod slowly and repeat, “Okay… Well, hey.”

“I also wanted to say sorry, for, you know, what happened.”

I take a third step back and turn to leave. I donotneed to rehash that humiliating experience. “It’s cool. It’s in the past.” I wave him off. “It’s fine.”

Grabbing my elbow, he sends electricity zinging through my veins the way I wish Brad’s touch would. I doubt Jack has any special powers. We just have this‘dangerous’past, this experience, that has my blood running faster.

That’s all this is.

Huffing out a breath, his hand squeezes tighter. He’s careful not to hurt me. He doesn’t squeeze painfully. Just commandingly.

“Just wait a sec, okay? I want to say I’m sorry.” Releasing me, he steps back. “What I did to you, Britt… what I did to alotof people,” he sighs, “my behavior was inexcusable. I really want you to hear me and believe me when I say I’m sorry.”

He’s sorry. He really, really is. “It’s okay. We’re cool… I promise.”

“We’re cool?” His lips twitch playfully, but he doesn’t let me in on the joke. “We’recool…I don’t think we are, but an apology is all I have to offer you right now. I’ll understand if you don’t believe me, but I wanted to say it, anyway.”

“Did you fix your car?” I grit my teeth when his eyes flash with remembrance. “Since we’re being all apologetic and shit, you should know I’ve been to confession a dozen times over what I did to your Mustang. It keeps me up late at night.”

A playful grin stretches across his face. “You went to confession because you keyed my car?”

I keyed his car!I can’t believe I did that.“Well, no, I haven’t actually been to a real-life church or told a real-life priest what I did. But I told my friends, and I told them I was sorry, so…”

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