“Rue,” his gruff voice said against the back of my neck.
He inhaled, breathing in the scent of my hair as he used to do.
“Cleo,” I sighed.
I couldn’t help it. I knew it was going to happen.
That’s why I’d chosen to retreat.
I had no defenses when it came to this man.
“How have you been?” He rumbled.
How did I answer that?
I’ve been great. Not. You ruined my life, and I’ve spent a year trying to fix the unfixable.
“Yo, Cleo! You ready to fly?” The pilot’s voice yelled from behind us.
He froze against my back, but didn’t turn around.
“Yes, I’ll be there in a minute.” He said.
“Come have dinner with me tonight,” he demanded.
It was a demand, too.
I wasn’t even sure if the word please was in his vocabulary.
“I’m busy,” I tried.
“Get un-busy,” he ordered. “I’ll pick you up outside once your shift’s over.”
With that, he turned and left.
While my heart was breaking into a million miniscule pieces.
I watched as Cleo walked down the long hallway in his sexy as hell flight suit, acting like nothing had happened.
‘Come have dinner with me tonight,’ he’d said.
As if he’d spoken to me just yesterday, instead of nearly a year ago.
And what a year it’d been.
I’d needed him, and he hadn’t been there.
He’d disappeared, and I’d been left with no one to talk to when I’d needed my best friend.
Sure, I had friends, but they weren’t him.
I knew I’d be going to dinner with him, too.
“Hey,” Mona yelled, making me stop watching Cleo’s exit.
I turned to find Mona standing at the door to the entrance to the ER with a clip board in her hand. “I have one for you.”
My heart sank.