Page 8 of Just Add Friendship

He didn’t answer, just gazed at her with those bottomless dark eyes.

“I didn’t see you—I mean, I might have seen you, but didn’t realize it was you.” She waved a limp hand. “You look … different.”

“It’s the hair.”

His voice was the same low tone she now remembered. How could she have forgotten? Well, maybe she hadn’t. The electricity sizzling through her was a testament that a decade hadn’t dulled her reaction to this man. “It’s more than the hair. You’re … wearing a suit?”

One side of his mouth lifted. “I am.”

“You are.” She needed to get control of her heart rate. And stop stating the obvious. “How have you been?”

His brow arched. “Look, we can skip the small talk. That’s what inside the gym was for. Where you were avoiding me—”

“I wasn’t avoiding you,” Steph cut in. “I didn’t recognize you from a distance.” Now, up close, she couldn’t believe she hadn’t recognized him.

He went quiet for a moment, his brow still quirked. “Look, I owe you an apology.”

“Just one?” she blurted, nervous.

“Probably a lot of them, but mostly for not telling you the truth.”

“About bailing on the prom?”

“Yeah … that, too.” He slipped out of his suit jacket and moved toward her, then set it across her shoulders. “You’re freezing.”

Steph couldn’t deny it. It was plenty cold tonight. His jacket was warm and smelled … like Cal Conner, like the night air. Clean and crisp. He was also standing much closer now, and she knew it wouldn’t take her long to warm up.

“What’s wrong with your car?” he asked, his gaze flicking past her.

“It won’t start.”

He stepped past her, and she grabbed his arm. “It’s fine. It’s not the battery, and I’ll just call the mechanic in the morning. I was going to walk home.”

He paused and looked down at her hand still on his arm. Then his gaze lifted to hers. “Have you been having trouble before this?”

“Cal, I’m not putting you or anyone else out this late,” she said. “But if you really want to help, and maybe that will aid in all your apologies, you can give me a ride home. My feet are killing me.”

His gaze held hers for a long moment, and she wondered what he was thinking—what he saw when he looked at her.

“All right,” he said, his words sounding careful. “Where do you live?”

“Same place.”

Both his brows lifted. “Your pops still kicking around?”

“He is.”

“Good man.”

Steph scoffed. “That’s not what you said when he threatened you.”

Cal shrugged. “Wasn’t the first time I’d been threatened by an adult.” He nodded toward another car in the parking lot. “Let’s get you in a warm car.”

“I’m not that cold,” Steph said, walking alongside him.

He looked over at her—well, down at her, since he’d apparently grown a couple more inches. “You’re shivering.”

“I’m warming up now.”

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