Page 67 of A First Sight

My body jerked, and I rubbed against slick skin, harder and faster, until the pressure building inside me was nearly unbearable. Then, with a jolt that shot through me, I came. The world narrowed to that singular sensation of white-hot ecstasy, and I clung to that for as long as possible before I dropped into the welcome peace of sleep.

FORTY-NINE

DRAKE

Uncle Ben loved me,but I was driving him crazy. Since I saw Maggie two days ago, I’d been grumpy, short with Mel and everyone else who crossed my path.

Simply put, I’d been an ass.

Uncle Ben hadn’t said it when he came into my office ten minutes ago to ask me to pick up lunch for the two of us. But I knew that was why he was sending me out of the office.

I needed to stop making everyone as miserable as I was.

As I left my car at the meter in front of the restaurant, I promised myself I would get my shit together. After learning about Judith’s conversation with Maggie’s sister the other night, I knew I had to give Maggie the time and space I’d promised her, and let the choice be hers.

I would, however, stop taking my foul mood out on others.

As I approached the entrance to the restaurant, I almost didn’t recognize the man who shoved open the double doors.

His eyes met mine, and I saw recognition flare at the same time his features clicked into place.

Dale Leighton.

Fucking bastard.

Anger rose in me with a frightening intensity. My hands were in fists I didn’t remember making. I expected him to come at me or say something to provoke me, but he kept walking as if he didn’t know who I was. Perhaps he hadn’t recognized me, after all.

I took a slow breath, let it out, and reached for the door. As much as I wanted to go after Dale and exact revenge for every single second of pain he’d caused Maggie, I couldn’t. Going after him now would only suggest I could have attacked him that day unprovoked. That would bring Maggie’s credibility into question.

Fucking Dale.

I entered the restaurant and went to the pickup counter. The place was packed, and fifteen minutes passed before I finally received my food and headed outside.

I’d only walked a few steps when I saw a crowd surrounding my car.

What the heck?

“Excuse me,” I said as I reached the back of the group. When a dark-haired woman looked over her shoulder at me, I added, “That’s my car.”

“Shit, I’m sorry.” She stepped aside to let me through, and that was when I realized she wasn’t apologizing for being in my way.

Both windows on the driver’s side of the car were shattered, and the rear window was badly cracked. The windshield had a fist-sized hole, with the glass spider webbed out from it. The hood was dented and scratched, with a piece of concrete still sitting in a dent. Three long scratches on the driver’s side ran from one end of the car to the other, evenly spaced enough that it made me think someone had put three keys between their fingers and dragged them all at once. And both tires on that side were flat.

A walk around my car revealed the damage was confined to the passenger side.

“What’s going on here?”

I looked up to find a police officer coming down the sidewalk. Well, at least that saved me a phone call.

“Good afternoon, officer,” I said as I put my phone back in my pocket. “Someone vandalized my car.”

He let out a whistle as he took in what’d been done. “Ex-girlfriend?”

“No,” I said immediately. I knew exactly who it was. “Rather an ex-boyfriend.”

The cop raised an eyebrow.

I scanned the crowd. I didn’t expect to see Dale hanging around. He might’ve wanted to see my reaction, but he wasn’t foolish.

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