Page 3 of The Corner of Heartbreak and Forever
“Overwho?” Brindle demanded as she traipsed through the grass beside Grace.
Grace ignored her question, unwilling to reveal her decade-old secret.
“Then what’s the problem?” Sable snapped, also ignoring Brindle’s question. She grabbed Grace’s arm, stopping her in her tracks.
Unlike Grace, Sable had no qualms about one-night stands or taking what she wanted from a man.Anyman, it seemed to Grace, as long as he struck her fancy for the moment. Even though Sable hid nothing when it came to her sexuality, she and Grace had a deep bond, and she was the only one of Grace’s five sisters Grace had ever trusted with her sexual secrets. Sableknewhow hard it had been for her to break up with Reed all those years ago. Grace’s heart slammed against her chest as they stared each other down. She’d thought she was over Reed Cross. Shewasover him. She’d put him out of her mind.Mostly.
Sure, it was Reed’s face she conjured up on lonely nights, and it was his lopsided grin and easy laugh she recalled to pull her through the toughest of productions. But that washersecret, not one she’d shared with Sable.
She should have stuck to weekend visits home, as she had for the past several years. Weekend visits were safe.Fast.Brindle never would have dragged her out if she’d be facing a long drive home in twenty-four hours. She couldn’t stay for three weeks, especially now that she knew Reed was back in town. Tomorrow she’d tell Amber she couldn’t teach the class after all, and she’d drive back to the city, where there was no chance of running into Reed Cross.
Brindle threw her arms up toward the sky. “Will someonepleasetell me what the problem is? Why are you storming off? And why are you mad at Sable? It wasmewho wanted to come out and see Trace tonight. Not her! I thought it would be fun, like old times. We’d laugh and joke and talk about how sexy he was.”
“Grace.” Sable’s tone softened, her eyes imploring her for forgiveness Grace couldn’t give.
“There’s no problem, Brin,” Grace managed, holding Sable’s gaze. “I just…”I’m confused and angry by my body’s stupid reaction to a man I don’t need in my life.“I’m just exhausted.” As unreasonable as it was, since she’d caused their breakup, she still felt the sting of his betrayal after they’d broken up, when he’d left his beloved family—andher—behind.
Chapter Two
THE MORNING SUN beat down on Reed Cross’s back as he climbed the porch steps of the Montgomerys’ old Victorian home and began removing the ceiling, trying to ignore the memories that assaulted him every time he stepped foot on the property. He used to leave orchids on this very porch every month for Grace, his first love. It was bittersweet, coming back to Oak Falls and taking over renovation projects for his uncle Roy, who had suffered a heart attack and needed help completing the jobs to which he’d already committed. He’d been back for four months, and still he felt Grace’s presence everywhere, just like he had after they’d broken up all those years ago.
Pushing thoughts of the past aside seemed a constant battle, and once again he tried to do just that and focus on the job at hand. He’d already removed a good bit of the decking to check out the joists and get a handle on the extent of the damage and was knee-deep in debris when he heard the sliding doors open. He wiped his brow, expecting to see Cade or Marilynn, the owners of the house. His eyes caught on a pair of gorgeous long legs and traveled north, over silky pajamas skimming a scorching-hot curvaceous figure. His gaze slowed at full breasts peeking out from beneath tumbles of thick dark hair, awakening every nerve in his body. Nerves that had been unexcitable for months.
The woman cleared her throat, startling him from his reverie, and his gaze darted up to her face. His heart nearly stopped at the familiar mossy-green eyes staring back at him. His body turned cold with shock, and just as quickly his teeth ground together as his mind spiraled back to their senior year in high school, when Grace Montgomery had beenhis. Memories of sneaking out after dark, sharing secrets, holding hands, and loving each other fiercely rushed forth—followed by the hurt of her choosing New York over him.
His eyes narrowed despite the unexpected arousal simmering beneath his skin.
“Grace…” Even after a decade her name tasted sinfully good rolling off his tongue.
Her hand slid from the doorknob, hanging limply by her side. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came. A long moment later, “Reed,” slipped from her lips like the secret he’d once been.
His gut clenched with longing. He couldn’t help but study her—and that angered him as much as it eased the worries about his ability tofeelthat had plagued him for years. He hadn’t been all in with a woman since Grace, and he’d begun to think he’d exaggerated what he’d felt when they were together. But there was no misreading the heat thrumming through him. She looked incredible, and confused, and as her hand settled on her hip—the hand he remembered all too well digging into his back when they’d made love all those years ago—he realized she also looked angry. Definitelyangry.
But still incredible.
In the space of a breath he was fighting the urge to figure out how to spend time with her and recapture the fire between them despite everything she’d put him through.
“Are you done gawking?” she snapped.
“I…Sorry. You caught me off guard. I was expecting to see your parents.” He held her gaze, forcing a smile even though he suddenly felt stuck somewhere between a teenager caught peering through a window, a jealous ex-boyfriend, and a lust-filled man.
She folded her arms over her chest, forcing a barrier between them, and smirked.
Ouch—
At least he hoped it was a smirk rather than a scowl. After the clues he’d missed with his ex-girlfriend, Alina, who had been sleeping with his nowex-business partner, he no longer trusted his instincts where women were concerned. And when it came to Grace Montgomery, he’d never been able to think past the emotions she stirred within him and the future he’d hoped they’d have. She was the tsunami that had obliterated everything else in his world, and as he struggled to find his voice, he fought the urge to tangle his hands in her thick, lustrous hair and remind her of what she’d walked away from.
“I hope you don’t look at my mother like that,” she snapped.
“What? No. C’mon, Grace.” In her eyes he was probably a quintessential jerk, checking her out without any thought to their past. In reality, he’d been taken just as off guard by his leering as she was. “I don’t usually—”
“Don’t usually let your eyes wander?” She scoffed. “Right.”
“Believe it or not, yes,” he said angrily. “Who do you think I’ve become? I didn’t expect you to walk out here at all, much less wearing nearly nothing and…” He tried to figure out what to say next, what tofeel…
“Why are you here, Reed?”
He didn’t need this. Not when he had just begun rebuilding his life. After being screwed over by Alina, he’d vowed to stay away from anything that made his head spin, and Gracedefinitelymade his head spin.
