LITMIR.BIZ

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she’d refused to ask Sawyer or Ray about him.

      Pasting a smile on her face, she said, “Evening, Kaegan. Any particular place you’d like to sit?”

      “I’ll grab that table by the window.”

      She nodded. That was where he normally sat whenever he came in alone. No need to remember even when they were in high school that he would sit there to wait for her to leave the restaurant so he could walk her home at night. “And what would you like to drink?” she asked, walking over to the table to put down a place mat and eating utensils.

      “A cold beer would be nice.”

      “One cold beer coming up. Here’s the menu,” she said and made a move to walk off.

      “I don’t need a menu. I talked to your mom earlier when I dropped by for lunch. She promised to put aside some of her lobster stew and corn bread for me.”

      “My parents have gone for tonight, but I’ll see if Mom mentioned anything about it to my brothers,” she said before walking off.

      Her mother had indeed told Duke and Ry about it. After getting Kaegan a beer, she went behind the counter to wait for Duke to get the meal together. As she wiped down the counter she could feel Kaegan’s gaze on her, but refused to say anything to him or look his way.

      Why did he have to look so darn good today? Of all days? Being at Samuel’s wedding and seeing how happy he was had made her wonder if there was a man somewhere out there for her. She hoped so because she definitely wasn’t getting any younger. She was thirty-two and never had a ring on her finger. And she did want kids one day. She loved her nieces and nephews but they were just that—her nieces and nephews. She wanted to have children of her own.

      A pain settled in her chest when she recalled how she would often lie in bed and visualize how her kids would look. They were kids she thought she’d have one day with Kaegan. They would take on more of his prominent features. Her son would be strikingly handsome and her daughter would be eye-catchingly gorgeous. They would have their father’s long silky black hair and that hawkish nose that she used to love rubbing hers against. Her son would grow up with his father’s rugged good looks, chiseled jaw and those dreamy dark eyes. She would have to work hard to keep the girls from him.

      Duke rang the bell for her to pick up the food. She carried the dishes over to where Kaegan sat watching her with those dark eyes. Why did he still have to be, after all these years, the work of impossible male beauty? She knew then that she needed to meet someone and get involved real quick-like. She didn’t do casual sex but her vibrator had seen its useful days. She hadn’t shared a bed with anyone since Marcel and that was close to four years ago.

      Kaegan didn’t say anything when she placed the food in front of him on the table. She was about to walk off when he said, “You’re usually not here on Monday nights, Bryce.”

      How would he know that? And why did he have to say her name in that deep, husky voice that could still send shivers of desire down her spine? “You’re right—usually I’m not. I was away this weekend, so I thought I’d pitch in so the folks could leave early.”

      He nodded. “Today your mom mentioned that you’ll be taking a six-week class at a university in New Orleans.”

      She wondered why he was holding a conversation with her when all those other times he’d come into the café he’d acted like he could barely tolerate her presence. “Yes, that’s right. I’m taking the class so I can become a licensed Realtor in other states. Very few people are leaving the cove and selling their homes, so I need to expand my horizons if I want to continue to make money.” She wondered why she’d told him all that. It wasn’t like he was interested in knowing any of it. “I’ll let you get to your meal now.”

      Bryce walked away, and like before, she could feel his gaze on her. She wondered if, like her, he was remembering how things used to be between them. Every time she saw him, she was reminded of how close they used to be. How incredibly close, both in and out of bed. Each time she looked into his face, studied his lips, she couldn’t help but remember how he’d taught her to kiss that first time and all the times after that, and just how much she enjoyed doing so. Kaegan had taught her a lot of things that she’d rather not think about now.

      Bryce decided to wipe down the counter and restock supplies so her parents would have less to do in the morning. Anything to keep her concentration elsewhere and not on Kaegan. She moved from table to table, filling up the napkin dispensers and straw holders. Afterward, she wiped off the laminated menus and placed them back in the rack. When she saw Kaegan’s beer had gotten low, she asked, “Would you like a refill?”

      He glanced over at her, as if considering her words. Instead of giving her an answer, he asked one of his own. “Why did you and Samuel Abbott break up, Bryce?”

      His question was like a blow to her stomach. She actually felt the sharp pain, which was why her hand suddenly covered the lower part of her abdomen. Honestly, she wasn’t ready for this. In a flash, anger replaced the pain and she had a mind to go get that pitcher of beer off the counter and pour it on his head. But why waste good beer over a brutal hard head? The one still filled with untruths about her.

      She crossed the room and stood beside his table with her hands on her hips. “I’m going to tell you the same thing I tried telling you ten years ago,” she said, trying to hold back her anger and failing miserably. “There was never anything going on between me and Samuel Abbott. It was lies your father made up. Lies you chose to believe.”

      His jaw tightened and his dark eyes flared. “I saw the two of you together, Bryce. He was leaving your house at two in the morning. The two of you were hugging on your front porch. Do you deny that?”

      She tossed her hair back from her face. “No, I don’t deny it. It was a friendly hug that you tried making into something dirty.”

      “I tried making into something dirty?” he said, as if incensed with what she’d said. “Don’t you dare blame me for what you did to us.”

      Bracing her hands on the table, she leaned in closer, almost right in his face. If he wanted a good fight, she would give him one. “I am blaming you, Kaegan, for not believing in me when you should have. For your lack of trust in me. I’m also blaming you for sleeping with another woman to spite me when you thought I had wronged you.”

      She drew in a deep breath and backed away from him, trying to get her anger under control, but she couldn’t. “And as far as Samuel is concerned, he’s living in California and I went to his wedding this weekend.”

      “So I heard.”

      Had her mother told him that, too? Was that the reason he’d asked why she and Samuel had broken up? “It was a beautiful wedding.”

      “Must have been pretty damn awful for you to be at the wedding. Seeing the man you once loved marry someone else,” he sneered.

      She lifted her chin. “No, it wasn’t awful at all. In fact, I am very happy for him. Samuel deserves to be happy and I believe Matthew will make him extremely happy.”

      “Matthew?” he asked, as if to make sure he’d heard her right.

      “Yes, Matthew. The reason Samuel and I spent so much time together is because he needed a friend. He was having a hard time coming to terms with his sexuality. Since we both attended Grambling, whenever he came home he would offer me a ride back here. And he was in a number of my study groups on campus. That’s when we became close and he would confide in me.”

      Kaegan glared at her. “You should have told me.”

      “And you should have trusted me,” she snapped, glaring back. “That night when you thought you saw us in some kind of passionate embrace, I was giving Samuel a hug of encouragement because he’d made the decision to tell his parents the truth. He was tired of living the lie he had lived all his life and wanted to come out. And before you say I should have told you that, too, I tried telling you after I got that call from you, ending things between us. Just think

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