Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
A quick glance revealed two young women who were snort-laughing into their drinks as they peered at us.
“I’m Amy.” The redhead held out her hand, her expression filled with interest. “I’ve seen you around. You’re Eilidh’s big brother, right? I’m a PA. Production assistant.”
Realization dawned.
They’d pushed her into me.
“Nice to meet you.” I gave her a toothless smile because I could feel Callie at my back, and while I’d been seconds from walking out, I found now I couldn’t. She was here. And I hadn’t heard her voice in so long. “I have to get to my sister. Have a good night.”
The redhead’s face fell with disappointment as I swiftly turned and marched toward the bar. Now both Eilidh and Callie were watching me, but I only had eyes for my ex. Her long blond hair curled over her shoulders, and she wore a figure-hugging black dress that stopped above the knee. It had a modest neckline, but it didn’t matter. The dress was so tight it did little to hide the fact that Callie was curvier than she’d been when we were teenagers. And she still had the best pair of legs I’d ever seen. Right now, every strong curve of her long legs was enhanced by the sky-high heels she wore.
Heat tightened in my gut.
And when I dragged my eyes back up her body as I arrived at the bar, I saw Callie swallow hard. It suggested she was just as nervous to see me.
Good.
“Lewis!” Eilidh reached out, tucking her arm in mine. “You remember Callie, right?”
I shot her a look before returning my attention to my ex. “It’s been a long time.”
Callie straightened to her full height, her expression uncharacteristically blank. “I didn’t know you’d be here.”
Meaning … she wouldn’t have come otherwise?
Irritation gnawed at me. “Well, I’m Eilidh’s brother. What are you doing here?” I cursed inwardly at how accusatory that sounded.
“Oh, Callie’s home now,” Eilidh answered for her. “Back in Ardnoch, running the bakery with her mum.”
Shock thrummed through me. “No more France?”
“That was always the plan,” Callie answered politely but emotionlessly. “School in Paris and then bring what I learned back to the bakery.”
It was always the plan? She hadn’t … she hadn’t left Ardnoch for good after telling me she never planned to leave? She hadn’t lied.
Something in me eased.
“Isn’t that great?” Eilidh nudged me mischievously. “And she left the Frenchman behind.”
I watched as Callie narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Eilidh, all the while feeling a relief like I hadn’t experienced in a long time.
“He was a French fling after all,” Eilidh continued.
They weren’t serious? She wasn’t in love with him? My pulse raced and the room swayed a bit.
Fuck.
“It looks like Amy fancies you.” Eilidh suddenly released my arm to stand between me and Callie. But I couldn’t take my eyes off my ex. It took extreme willpower to drag my attention to my sister.
“What? Who?”
Eilidh chuckled. “Oh, poor Amy.”
Oh right. The redhead.
I looked at Callie again. She was leaning against the bar now, her back almost turned to me as she played with the straw in her drink.
“Beer, brother?”
“Do they have NA? I’m riding tonight.”
“Of course they do.” She gently pushed me toward Callie. “You two catch up. There’s a castmate out there I can finally hook up with now the show’s over.”
“Eilidh,” I warned.
She grinned unrepentantly and sauntered off in pursuit of another conquest.
Heart thumping so hard I could hear the blood whooshing in my ears, I stepped up to the bar beside Callie.
Her perfume was different.
When we were sixteen, I’d bought her a bottle of perfume for Christmas, and she’d worn the same scent for the next two years.
This new scent was more intense—something fruity, floral, and spicy all at once. Sexier.
She refused to look at me, staring into her drink.
I knew her profile like I knew the back of my hand. And yet there was something different about her that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Perhaps because the last time I stood this close to her, we were eighteen. All at once seven years felt like forever and no time at all.
We said nothing as I waved down a bartender and ordered an NA beer.
Callie was tense beside me but made no move to leave, so I was encouraged by that.
By the time the beer arrived, someone had pumped up the music to an obnoxious level. So, I leaned my elbows on the bar, close enough to almost touch her, and sipped my drink.
Glancing at her out of the corner of my eye, I was satisfied to see her chest rising and falling a bit too quickly.
She was as affected by my proximity as I was hers.
“I thought maybe you’d moved to France permanently,” I called over the music.
I felt her look at me and turned to meet her gaze.