“I can tell you guys about it at lunch today,” Beth offered tentatively. “If you want.”
“We don’t want to bother you-” Claire began.
“Awesome,” Abbie and the mousy girl chorused over her. “We’ll see you then.”
Beth sighed, hoping Claire’s frosty attitude would thaw by the time they hit the cafeteria. Otherwise, it was going to be a long and painful hour, rehashing her failed love life while squirming under Claire’s hostile glare.
It wouldn’t do much for Beth’s appetite.
But then, neither would eating alone.
“Don’t do that, Kane, it tickles!”
Ignoring her pleas, Kane picked up the wriggling brunette and hoisted her over his shoulder as she kicked her legs with mock distress.
“Put her down, Kane!” her little friend, a dainty redhead, shrieked. Kane knew it was only because she was eager for her turn.
“Calm down, ladies,” he urged them, depositing the brunette back on the ground. He slung an arm around each of them, admiring the way his muscles bulged beneath his tight sleeves. The new weights were working already. “You know you love it.”
“Whatever.” The brunette giggled, shoving him. Once their bodies made contact, she didn’t pull away.
“Say what you want,” he allowed, “but I know you’re thrilled to have me back on the market.”
The redhead-or, more accurately, the airhead-stood on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek. “I just don’t know why you stayed away for so long,” she whispered, her breath hot against his neck.
Good question.
“So what happened?” the brunette asked, tickling the back of his neck. He jerked away. “We thought you were reformed.”
“Player no more,” her friend chimed in. “Beauty tamed the beast. What gives?”
So what now, the truth?
Right.
Like he’d ever admit that he’d been the one rejected by a nonentity like Beth, or that losing her had cost him something more than his reputation. He knew that with a few easy words he could turn this around and make it into a win, trashing Beth’s rep and redeeming his own.
But he couldn’t do it.
He had no regrets, he insisted to himself. He’d just done what was needed to get what he wanted, same as always. Beth was a big girl who could make her own choices-and, if only briefly, she’d chosen him. “You can’t fool me,” she’d said once, kissing him on the cheek. “I know who you really are.”
He’d almost been sorry to prove her wrong.
“Come on, Kane,” the redhead pushed. “Dish us some dirt!”
But Kane just smiled mysteriously and tugged her toward him, wishing her hair was blond, her eyes blue and knowing. “What’s the difference what happened?” he asked. “I’m here now-and so are you, which means everyone wins. Right?”
The girls exchanged a glance, then shrugged.
“We’re happy if you’re happy,” the brunette concluded, rising on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek.
Kane forced a grin. He certainly looked happy-and isn’t that what counts?
Harper didn’t have the nerve to face Adam. But she couldn’t stay away. She was too used to seeing him every day, telling him everything, depending on him. Now that he wasn’t speaking to her, the days were incomplete. Harper felt as if she’d lost a piece of herself that only came alive in his presence.
And she had no one to blame but herself.
She’d positioned herself in a small alcove across from his locker, knowing he’d stop by on his way to basketball practice. She just wanted to see him. And if she watched from afar, she wouldn’t have to face that accusing look in his eyes.
She just hadn’t counted on him spotting her.
“So what, you’re following me now?” he growled, turning his back on her and throwing his stuff into the locker.
And there it was, that look in his eyes, as if she were stranger, someone he wished he’d never met. Harper had tried to bluff her way through her encounter with Miranda, pretend that she didn’t care about what happened between them-but when it came to Adam, she didn’t have the strength for that kind of lie.
“Ad, I know you don’t want to talk to me-”
“So why the hell are you here?” He slammed the locker shut, but kept his back to her. She took a small step in his direction, then another.
Because I can’t stay away.
Because I need you.
Because you need me.
“Because I have to tell you I’m sorry.”
“Trust me,” Adam said gruffly. “You’ve said enough.”
No. She’d begged him to stay. She’d left him unanswered voice mails, written letter after letter, but she’d never stood across from him and apologized for what she’d done. She’d never had the nerve. Harper Grace, who could say anything to anyone, had been too afraid to speak.
Was she sorry for what she’d done?
The elaborate plan had given her Adam, opening his eyes to the possibility of the two of them being more than friends. It had pried him away from his bland, blond girlfriend and made him realize that puppy love was no substitute for the real thing.
And when it all came crashing down, it had guaranteed that he would never trust her again.
“I am sorry,” she said, hoping to convince herself as much as him.
He kept his back to her, placing both hands flat against the wall of lockers. His shoulders rose and fell as he took several deep, slow breaths. Harper couldn’t tear her eyes from the fuzzy blond hair at the nape of his neck-she used to love to run her finger across it, making him shiver.
“I’m sorry,” she said again. She came closer, but even as she stood just behind him, close enough to touch, he didn’t turn. He must have known she was there, but he didn’t move away. “Adam.” She put her hand on his back, ran it lightly up toward his bare neck. It felt so good to touch him again. “Please…”
“Harper, don’t,” he said, a low current of anger running through his voice. His fingertips turned white as he pressed them against the wall. “Just walk away.” He slammed his right palm flat against the locker, and a sharp crack echoed through the empty hall. “Go. Please.”
Adam would never hurt her-but, suddenly, Harper was afraid. She put her hand down and watched his frozen form for a moment.
Then she walked away.
Harper didn’t lose. She got what she wanted, without exception. She didn’t give up, ever.
But maybe this time, she had no choice.
“And what are you wearing?” Kaia asked, trying to keep the phone from slipping through her wet fingers as she sank lower into the hot tub. “Oooh, sexy.”
She’d cancelled yet another rendezvous with Powell, but the man was insatiable-and so she’d given in to a little foreplay by phone. Thirty seconds in and she was already bored out of her mind; even that sexy British accent, describing where he would touch her and how, had lost its ability to thrill.
Kaia stretched a long, bare leg up into the air, enjoying the bite of the cool wind against her skin. She closed her eyes, straining to pay attention, wishing she could just tune out Powell’s prattling and enjoy the silence of twilight.
Though she would never admit it to her father-and he would never bother to ask-there was one thing she appreciated about this desert hellhole: sunsets. Spectacular splashes of pink and orange, a blazing ball of reddish yellow sinking beneath the haze, lighting up the open sky. Best of all were the moments just after the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, and the sky gradually darkened, pinks fading to purples and blues until the first stars broke through the dark fabric of the sky.
“What? Oh yes, it feels good. Great,” she said quickly, trying to sound enthused (though not trying too hard). “And if you just moved your hands down, and then I-” She sighed. “You know what? I’m just not feeling it.”