Love Lies Waiting

Love Lies Waiting Stephanie Bennett

Blush: This is a suggestive romance (love scenes are not graphic).

Lexi Gentry is under the impression that her life can’t get much worse than having to return to the confines of hell—also known as her small hometown of Conway, Kentucky—for her 20th high school reunion. Back then, she wasn’t part of the “in crowd”, being a geek who wanted to write romance novels. Classmate Nathan McKinley was her only friend. Now she’s a well-known horror novelist (the romances she loved to write didn’t sell well), living and working in New York. Nathan, whom she hasn’t seen since graduation, is back from Iraq, scarred and emotionally damaged. He wants to recover his dream—Lexi—and inspire her get back to her dream of writing romance.

Ellora’s Cave Publishing

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Love Lies Waiting ISBN 9781419932946 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Love Lies Waiting Copyright © 2011 Stephanie Bennett Edited by Raelene Gorlinsky Cover art by Syneca Electronic book publication April 2011 The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502. Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

LOVE LIES WAITING Stephanie Bennett

Love Lies Waiting

Chapter One Lexi Gentry wasn’t amused. As she glanced over the enormous banner strung above the gymnasium doors, she groaned in disgust. This wasn’t happening. This could not be happening. “Tell me again why I’m doing this,” she whispered. Lauren Friedman, her coworker and best friend, gave the people around them an enchanting smile before leaning in close so as not to be overheard. “Because you’re practically a celebrity here,” she replied. “Plus, Owen insisted on it.” Lexi smirked and rolled her eyes. It certainly wasn’t the first time their boss, Owen Truman, had forced her to attend some public relations event, but this one was far beyond her comprehension. When her gaze fell once again upon the maroon and gold script on the banner, she shook her head in disdain. Conway High School—Class of 1990. Surely this had to be some kind of mistake, because there was no possible way she would have ever agreed to visiting her alma mater. After all, she’d spent the past twenty years trying to purge every shred of evidence from her life that even remotely suggested she had ever lived and breathed in Conway, Kentucky. “I’ll never forgive him for this,” she vowed. Now it was Lauren’s turn to smirk. The comment apparently left her unfazed. “You’ve said that before,” she retorted. “And you always do. Besides, I’ve been reminding you about this for two weeks. It’s not my fault you have selective hearing.” Lexi looked across the packed gymnasium and pinpointed several familiar faces amongst the crowd, but surprisingly there were also many she didn’t recognize, which was odd considering Conway was such a small town.

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Much to her displeasure, she and Lauren had been assigned seats at the largest table in the room with what appeared to be some of the school faculty. For the hundredth time or so, she shifted uncomfortably in her chair and drew a long breath. Though she’d never experienced it before, she had to assume prison couldn’t feel much worse. A handful of people had stopped by her table to chat, but most of the attendees, especially the women, remained huddled with their own cliques, just as they had in high school. Lexi bit her tongue. Some things never change. “Anyway, who ever heard of digging up a time capsule after just twenty years?” she complained. “Aren’t you supposed to wait the standard hundred years or so first?” Lauren laughed at the remark but kept her voice low. “This is big news here,” she said. Oh please. “The mayor’s grandmother could have the biggest quilting loom in the community, and that would be more exciting to these people than this. Trust me.” Lauren gave her a weary look before changing the subject. “Who was the redhead with the gaudy perfume who greeted us at the door?” she asked. “The one who went on and on about being chairman of the reunion committee?” Lexi crossed her legs and smoothed her black skirt over her knees. Glancing once more around the crowd, she caught sight of the one and only redheaded woman in the room as she flitted from table to table. The way her ample behind jiggled under her tight dress made Lexi laugh genuinely for the first time since their arrival. “That’s Trudy Marks.” She grinned. “Former captain of the cheerleading squad and student body president. And—oh yes, there he is—her husband, Daniel, everyone’s favorite former quarterback of the Conway Cougars. He’s the tall one standing by the back door, flirting with the pretty brunette.” Lauren’s jaw dropped when Daniel Marks bent down and whispered something in the young woman’s ear. Whatever it was made her blush profusely. 6

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“Brave, isn’t he, with Trudy and these other people around?” Lauren wondered aloud. Lexi joined her friend and watched as Daniel brushed a stray tendril of the woman’s hair away from her face. The act alone made Lexi want to gag. “No, just incredibly stupid.” She tore her gaze away from the brazen couple and looked around the room while Lauren took a sip of her drink. The bright gold tablecloths scattered around the gymnasium were such an eyesore that she had to close her eyes every few minutes to adjust her vision. Leave it to someone like Trudy to choose the tackiest decorations for such an occasion. Between the tables and the neon streamers hanging on the walls, the array of colors was enough to blind a person. “Who’s the pirate?” Furrowing her eyebrows at Lauren’s odd question, Lexi followed her stare to the far corner of the room where four people sat, talking and laughing. Squinting, she could just barely distinguish whom Lauren had been referring to. In dark dress slacks and a short-sleeved top, a man who appeared to be around Lexi’s age sat beside a stunning woman with blonde hair, whom she also didn’t recognize. The man had a rugged, muscular build and dark wavy hair, but what stood out most prominently was the black patch that covered his left eye. “I have no idea who that is,” she said wistfully. “But I wish I did.” She continued watching the couple for several minutes until Lauren nudged her side and steered her attention toward the double doors. “You know, Mr. Williams told me he was very adamant about you visiting when he called the office and talked to Owen about it a couple of weeks ago,” she stated. Lexi caught her onetime English teacher’s gaze. He was propped against the doorframe, watching her intently, as he had since the moment she’d stepped off the plane. Much to her dismay, he’d been sent by the principal to pick them up from the airport, and even though Lexi believed nothing could possibly be worse than that, she 7

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couldn’t have been more wrong. When he caught her staring, he winked and gave her an enthusiastic smile, which she unenthusiastically returned. “Owen has his nose so far up Mr. Templeton’s ass right now that he wouldn’t know his head from a hole in the ground,” she remarked. Lauren covered her mouth to stifle a giggle, but even she couldn’t deny it was the truth. For two months Owen had been in the lengthy process of buying a new building, and although the owner, a shrewd millionaire businessman named Oliver Templeton, was getting on in years and couldn’t manage it properly anymore, he wasn’t about to let it go without a fight. Through it all, Owen never wavered. The building was nestled in the heart of Manhattan, a prime location for his business and far from the miniscule building they were currently occupying. “And just so you know, the only reason Preston Williams wanted me here in the first place is because he’s been trying to contact me for the past couple of years, but I’ve been putting him off. I guess he finally decided to go above me to get what he wanted,” she mumbled spitefully. “I swear I wish I’d never slept with that man.” Lauren turned abruptly in her seat to face her, almost dropping the plastic cup in her hand, which was full to the brim with cheap, dollar store ginger ale. If nothing else, the stunned look on her face was priceless. “You did what?” she exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell me? Lexi, he has to be at least twenty years older than you, not to mention the fact that he’s married!” Lexi grinned innocently when some of the faculty members looked in their direction. “Oh, relax. It was a long time ago. I was eighteen years old and in college, so it was all perfectly legal. Don’t go getting your knickers in a twist. And he wasn’t married at the time either.” Before Lauren had the chance to reply, the doors of the gymnasium swung open and the school’s principal, Mr. Benjamin Everett, entered the room. While Lexi gazed on with feigned interest, the elderly gentleman made his way, at the hurried speed of a

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dying snail, to the makeshift podium beside their table, carrying a large metal container in his withered hands. In an instant, a hush fell over the crowd. Several cameras flashed at once, momentarily blinding her, and there were a host of ooh’s and ahh’s that echoed around the room—some people even clapped their hands. It was all sickeningly surreal. Aside from the rust, the box looked exactly the same as it had twenty years earlier when she and the rest of her classmates had taken such care in burying it beneath the lone oak tree on the school’s front lawn. Like a proud parent, Mr. Everett cradled it gently in his hands before tapping the microphone and clearing his throat. Those who had been mingling about the room immediately took to their assigned seats. “Good afternoon, everyone,” he began. Lexi wanted to listen, but his voice was low and so feeble that he was barely audible, even from her short distance away. “It gives me such pleasure to welcome you all back to Conway High School. You’ll have to forgive me if I have trouble recalling some of your names. After nearly forty years as principal, my mind just isn’t what it used to be.” Trying her best not to sneer at his remark, Lexi jumped when Lauren reached under the table and pinched her thigh to keep her quiet. For several agonizing minutes, Mr. Everett droned on about Conway High School, past and present, and the changes he’d witnessed in his many years at such a “fine, upstanding establishment”. While the others in attendance seemed to cling to his every word, Lexi found her mind drifting elsewhere. Risking a glance to the far corner of the room, she shivered when she caught the gentleman with the eye patch looking in her direction. Though she couldn’t recall him as a former classmate, something about him felt oddly familiar. If only he hadn’t been seated so far away. Perhaps if she could just get a closer glimpse of him, something would stir a memory. “How many of you remember the events of May 31st, 1990?”

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Principal Everett’s question caught her attention, and when she turned to look at him again, she saw that he now held the box at eye level, so everyone in the room could see it clearly. Several people nodded and smiled. “I’m sure most of you remember it as a day of freedom. It was your graduation day, after all, but I also remember it fondly as the day this time capsule was buried. The socalled ‘experiment’ was a first for those of us here in our small community, and no other capsule has been buried here since. I guess you could say it’s a part of Conway’s history.” Lexi managed to abstain from rolling her eyes and groaning at the statement, but honestly, how much longer was he planning on jabbering before they got down to the business at hand? The minutes were flying by at a rapid pace, and the walls surrounding her were threatening to close in. “And now, before dinner is served, we would like to take a few moments to relive that part of history with all of you. Mr. Cannon?” Finally! The assistant principal, Mr. Walter Cannon, left his place at their table to join him, and together they began sorting through the mound of keys that were strung through a golden loop attached to Mr. Everett’s belt. Lexi could faintly hear them bickering over each one. “They probably won’t find the one that opens the blasted thing,” she muttered. Lauren pinched Lexi’s thigh again, while the others in the room craned their necks to get a better view of the two men. No sooner had she prayed for some type of divine intervention to magically make the correct key disappear into thin air, when she heard the padlock snap open. Damn it. Though Preston had already told her several times during their drive from the airport about what was going to take place, it couldn’t ease the butterflies that now swarmed madly in the pit of her stomach. After removing the lock, Mr. Everett motioned for her to come forward with a slight wave of his hand to begin what would certainly be the most boring unveiling ever. 10

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When he and Mr. Cannon returned to their seats, Lexi took her place behind the wobbly podium and, with her hands tightly gripping both sides, she squared her shoulders and gave a mock smile to the people gathered around her. “Thank you, Mr. Everett and Mr. Cannon. It’s such an honor to be back in Conway with all of you,” she began, trying not to choke over her insincere choice of words. “Twenty years ago, Mr. Williams posed this question to the graduating class of 1990— ‘Where do you see yourself in the year 2010?’” From the corner of her eye, she caught Preston beaming at the mention of his name, but she carried on without a second glance in his direction. The desire to finish as soon as possible had become almost unbearable, as was the need to board the next flight back to New York. It was time to end this charade and quickly. Lexi opened the metal tin and began thumbing through the stack of envelopes inside of it until she came across the one with her name neatly printed on the front. Several cameras flashed once again as she broke the seal and dumped its contents onto the top of the podium. Smiling in remembrance, she picked up the silver ballpoint pen and held it up for everyone to see. “I didn’t write my dreams down on a piece of paper all those years ago. Instead, I placed this pen in my envelope because it’s a symbol of the reality I hold close to my heart today—being an author,” she continued. “And it’s my hope that the life you dreamed of twenty years ago is the one you’re living today too.” When everyone clapped, Lexi swallowed hard and forced a smile. She could honestly care less what these people had dreamed about twenty years ago, or even five minutes ago for that matter. Still, she carried on with her performance and counted down the minutes until it was time to leave. As requested by Preston, she called out the names on each envelope so those who were present could come forward and claim them. Most of her graduating class was in attendance, which honestly didn’t surprise her given that they’d probably never once set foot out of the city limits of Conway.

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Most of them didn’t say anything to her when they approached, especially the women. After hastily snatching their envelopes from her hand, they returned to their tables, where they huddled together and giggled. Through it all, the teachers who weren’t seated with the rest of the faculty members were steadily milling around the room, snapping pictures of her classmates as they hugged and relived old times and fond memories. For a fleeting moment, she was almost envious of their closeness. After twenty years, everything remained the same. The “popular kids” still kept close to their group, and the “brainy kids” did too, while Lexi remained on the outside, as usual. Unfortunately, no amount of books sold or autographs signed could change small town ways. Picking up the last envelope in the box, Lexi smiled broadly when she recognized the name. Brushing her fingertips across the familiar handwriting, she looked anxiously through the crowd. “Nathan McKinley,” she announced. Now there was a name she hadn’t thought about in many, many years. Scanning the horde of people in front of her, she stood on her tiptoes to get a better view. Perhaps he’d been there all along, and she’d just overlooked him somehow. For some reason, part of her felt a strong surge of disappointment at that thought. If he were in attendance, certainly Nathan of all people would have taken the opportunity to come speak to her, even if none of their other classmates cared to. When the gentleman with the eye patch stood up and began walking her way, Lexi gasped. It couldn’t be. Immediately it felt as though the entire room had grown deathly quiet, and everyone’s attention had been drawn to this man the instant his name was called. She shook her head in confusion. Even after the years that had separated them, she still would have been able to recognize the one and only person who had made her life at Conway High School somewhat bearable—wouldn’t she?

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As he drew closer to where she stood, there was no denying that it was indeed Nathan, with his confident stride and wavy, black hair, but something wasn’t right, even apart from the patch over his eye. He kept his head down as he approached, and perhaps she was the only one who felt it, but there was a sense of dread in the stillness of the room that only increased with the echo of each step he took across the gymnasium floor. When he’d finally closed the distance between them and looked up to meet her gaze, she swayed precariously on her feet and clutched the podium to keep from falling. Like the ripple of broken glass, numerous scars on the left side of his face extended in different angles from underneath his eye patch, with the longest one ending abruptly at his jaw line. The contrast between the smoothness of the right side of his face and the coarseness of the other side left her speechless, and by the faded definition of each scar, it appeared as if they had been there a long time. She noticed two other scars along the left side of his neck, but unlike the ones on his face, these were far less conspicuous. Lexi felt the color drain from her cheeks, and for a split second, she thought she might even faint. When something warm touched her hand, she inhaled sharply and looked down. She’d been so focused on Nathan’s scars that she hadn’t noticed when he’d reached for the envelope still in her grasp. “Hello, Alexis,” he whispered. Somehow, she managed a smile. In the many years since they’d seen each other, no one else had ever called her by her full name. Since she was a baby, she’d always been referred to as Lexi, even by her parents, but not Nathan. He’d always preferred to call her by her given name. When his fingertips grazed her hand once again, she shook involuntarily and let go of the envelope. As soon as he retrieved it, he turned and walked back to his seat, leaving her disoriented and more than a little confused. It seemed odd to her that no one else in the room looked the least bit surprised by his appearance, except for Lauren,

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whose shocked expression mirrored hers. Once she was able to regain her composure, Lexi picked up her pen from the podium and forced another smile. “Thank you,” she stammered into the microphone. Amidst the sporadic applause from her fellow classmates, she turned and walked the short distance back to her seat, while Mr. Cannon rose from his and began walking around the room, commenting on this and that to anyone who would listen. She could feel Lauren’s inquisitive gaze on her, but she chose to ignore it. Instead, she stole a glance toward the corner of the room where Nathan now sat with the gorgeous blonde. Dozens of questions invaded her mind all at once. What happened to him? What type of accident could have left such a horrible reminder? For a brief moment, she wished she hadn’t ignored Preston’s emails and phone calls. Perhaps he would have mentioned it. After Mr. Cannon finished his speech, he motioned for the caterers, who were standing on the opposite side of the gymnasium, to begin serving dinner. The small group of women nodded and disappeared inside an adjoining room, returning seconds later with an array of dishes that contained everything from fried chicken to pecan pie. Once they had placed the food buffet-style on two long, cloth-covered tables, people stood up and began forming a serving line. Conversation flowed freely, and the quiet atmosphere was soon replaced by loud, animated voices and laughter. Lexi, on the other hand, had no appetite. She glanced beside her at Lauren, who was now perched on the edge of her seat, looking as though she could jump out of her skin. Lexi waited until the others seated around them had gotten up from their seats to fix their dinner plates before turning to face her. “I don’t know. I have no idea what happened to him, Lauren,” she said sadly. “I’m just as curious about it as you are. We were best friends since preschool, but I haven’t seen him since—well, honestly I don’t remember the last time I saw him.” Lauren gave her a puzzled look.

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“And you were best friends?” she questioned. “Then how come you never kept in touch?” Lexi thought for a moment, trying to recall why she and Nathan had gone their separate ways, but she couldn’t give Lauren an answer because truthfully she didn’t know. Nathan had joined the military immediately following graduation, and although they’d promised to see each other after he finished basic training, she and her family moved away during her first semester of college when her dad’s company transferred him to New York. Lexi applied for a job with Truman Publications and time just slipped away. “I suppose our lives took us in different directions.” Lauren stood up and pushed her chair under the table. “Then you should go talk to him,” she replied. “But first, let’s get something to eat. I’m starving.” Lexi shook her head to clear her thoughts, but she didn’t follow suit. The last thing she wanted to do at the moment was eat, even though her stomach growled in protest. “I’m not hungry,” she said, eyeing the double doors that led from the gymnasium. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. I need to go to the restroom.” Before Lauren could answer, Lexi got up from the table and began making her way to the doors. She hated lying to her best friend, but she needed a few minutes alone. She spotted Preston Williams a few feet away, staring at the spot she had just vacated, and Lexi ducked quickly behind a group of faculty members when he turned to look for her. With her head down, she sidled quietly past them and took the last few remaining steps toward the doors—and freedom.

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Chapter Two The corridors of Conway High School looked exactly as they had twenty years prior. The metal lockers lining the walls were painted the same muted shade of gray and the polished floor smelled faintly of ammonia. As Lexi walked past the classroom doors, she could just barely make out the silhouette of desks by the moonlight shining through the large windows along the east side of the building. The only noticeable difference was the nameplates tacked beside every doorway, each bearing the name of a staff member or teacher she had never met before, given that most of her former teachers had retired or moved away since her graduation. The tapping sound of her high heels on the concrete floor echoed, but Lexi could also hear the laughter emanating from the gymnasium at the other end of the hallway. Turning left, she continued walking down another expansive corridor until the noise had died behind her and she found herself standing at the foot of the tall stairway that led to the second floor. After removing her shoes, she walked halfway up the narrow passageway before sitting down. It had been such a long day and she was ready for it to be over with. She longed to be back in New York. She’d only been away a few hours, but she missed her apartment, her cluttered desk at work—even the scent of exhaust fumes on the busy streets of Manhattan seemed better than where she was at the present time. Setting her shoes down beside her, Lexi leaned forward and rubbed her aching feet, wondering aimlessly if clicking her heels together three times would magically transport her home. Just as she had forewarned Lauren, the stoic reaction from her classmates and the rest of her community hadn’t surprised her. They could honestly care less how many books she’d written or how well known she had become in the publishing business. It wasn’t as if she’d been expecting some grand celebration upon her arrival anyway, so

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there would be no tears of sadness when she boarded the plane for New York in a couple of hours. “It’s nice to see someone else is as thrilled to be here as I am.” The familiar voice startled her, and Lexi jumped, accidentally bumping her shoes in the process and just barely catching them before they tumbled down the stairs. She spotted Nathan at the bottom of the stairway, leaning against the wall with his hands stuffed inside the pockets of his slacks. He was smiling up at her, and although she attempted to smile back at him, the scars on his face once again confounded her and she couldn’t speak. Embarrassed, she looked away and began putting on her shoes. “Is it that obvious?” she asked quietly, trying not to choke on her tongue. From the corner of her eye, she watched as he ascended the stairway before stopping a few steps below her. After clasping the buckles on her shoes, she realized she had no choice but to look at him—not to do so would be downright rude, and even she knew how to mind her manners. “Perhaps not to the others,” he replied. “But I like to think I still know you better than anyone else in that room.” His remark made her smile. “I guess, after all these years, this place still brings out the worst in me,” she admitted. Inhaling deeply, Lexi looked up. The dim light of the stairwell cast shadows on his face, leaving the jagged lines on his skin barely visible until he turned to his left and the harsh fluorescent light from the corridor caught them in its glare. She looked past his shoulder to keep from gawking at them, but he didn’t seem fazed by her reaction in the least bit. Instead of the short haircut she remembered from their school days, his wavy hair now touched his shoulders, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he kept it such a length in a vain attempt at hiding his scars. Given that he had to be at least six feet tall, his long hair, combined with the broadness of his chest and shoulders, gave him the appearance of a giant, at least from where she sat. 17

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The rugged scent of his cologne wafted through her senses and Lexi braced her hands on the step to keep from swaying. He certainly wasn’t the lanky boy with the goofy grin full of braces she remembered. Much more than his scars was starting to unsettle her, and she shut her eyes hastily to reprimand her train of thought. You’re being ridiculous, Lexi. This is just Nathan, after all. “You can ask me, you know.” She looked up at him shyly. He didn’t sound annoyed by her curiosity, but rather expectant, as if he were anxiously waiting for the chance to open up with her about it. Moving over to the far right side of the step, she patted the spot beside her, but once he sat down, she soon realized that the step was much narrower than she’d first thought. The heat that radiated from his body made her light-headed, but there was no avoiding it since the space between them was now limited. Sitting to his right, she couldn’t see the scars on the left side of his face and she felt a sting of shame, knowing she had planned it that way when she’d encouraged him to sit down. But now, the smooth and muscular definition of his right side became just as unnerving. Although his left eye remained covered with the black patch, the depth and sincerity of his gaze had never changed. Only now it disturbed her for different reasons. Stop it! You’re doing it again. “I’m used to the questions, Alexis, and it doesn’t bother me anymore,” he began. “I was sent to the Gulf War not long after I completed basic training and I was injured there during an explosion. I lost all vision in my left eye. I was honorably discharged from the military a few months later.” Lexi’s heart sank and at first she didn’t know how to respond. He spoke about it with such little emotion, as if he’d recited the words numerous times, and she knew there was nothing she could say that would take away the painful experience or the horrible memories that must have followed it. “I’m so sorry, Nathan,” she said. “I had no idea.” He gave her a half-hearted smile before looking down at his feet. 18

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“It’s okay,” he replied. “I was in the hospital for a couple of months, and then I moved back home so I could finish healing. A few years ago my parents decided to leave me the house when they felt the sudden urge to spend their ‘golden years’ on the beaches of Florida after my Dad retired.” Lexi smiled. She could picture his parents doing just that. “I was living in Virginia, and I still live there today. I couldn’t bear to sell the house though, so I come home every other weekend, or sooner if there’s something’s going on, like this reunion. But, I think you know as well as I do that there is rarely anything exciting going on here.” She smiled again. “So, what’s in Virginia?” she asked. “Do you work there?” He shuffled his feet and nodded. “I own a construction company out of Richmond.” Feeling somewhat embarrassed, Lexi posed another question. “And your wife— what does she do?” She hated coming off as an interrogator, but she also couldn’t deny her curiosity over the beautiful blonde woman who had accompanied him. Even in the dim light, she noticed the way his cheeks flushed. “Claire isn’t my wife. She’s just a friend who lives a few miles from Conway. We have dinner together when I’m in town,” he remarked. “I’m not married.” The sudden rush of relief that flooded through her caught her off guard. Resting her hands on top of her lap, she resisted the urge to ask him any more questions, although a dozen or more threatened to slip off her tongue. Pressing her lips together tightly, she smiled at him when he glanced her way. “What about you?” he inquired. “How is life in New York with Owen Truman? You’ve been with his company a long time now, haven’t you?” His question took her by surprise. Pressing her body against the wall, she did her best to turn sideways on the narrow step so she could look at him more closely. When

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she didn’t answer right away, he grinned widely and the redness in his cheeks deepened. “I’ve been keeping up with you,” he admitted. “And you know how word gets around in a small town. Before my parents moved, my mom mentioned it to me. Now it’s kind of hard not to know what’s going on with your boss in the news so much.” Lexi groaned. Unfortunately, what he said was true. Besides being her boss and close friend, Owen was also known as one of Manhattan’s most eligible bachelors, and calling him a playboy was putting it mildly. Over the years, she had lost count of the numerous times his wealthy father had been forced to bail him out of jail and clean up the remnants from his reckless behavior. It could be very embarrassing at times. After all, Truman Publications was one of the most prestigious companies in Manhattan, and there was a lot of work involved in keeping up their good name. Mr. Truman had turned the reins over to his only son when health complications had forced him into an early retirement, but she could still vividly recall several occasions where she’d overheard the elder Truman threatening to take it away if Owen didn’t clean up his act, which usually frightened him into doing better—for a little while. Lexi had been on the receiving end of Owen’s flirting a couple of months after he’d hired her, so she knew all too well the lengths he would go to in order to get what he wanted. He’d used countless tactics to get her into bed with him, and after several months spent turning him down, she’d had enough. That was the morning she marched into his office, slammed the door behind her, and told him in no uncertain terms that her goal was to be a best-selling author and not some notch on his bedpost. At first he seemed shocked by her outburst, but from that day forward there was an understanding and respect between them that had never been tested again, and eventually a close friendship grew which still remained, nineteen years later. Not long after that fateful day in his office, Lexi became his assistant, and she had held the

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position ever since. The pay was wonderful, but she couldn’t deny there were still days when she grew tired of his antics and thought of looking for a job elsewhere. “He can be difficult to work with at times,” she confessed. “I just keep hoping someday he’ll decide to grow up. It’s never dull around the office though, that’s for sure.” Nathan smiled, and from that moment on the conversation flowed effortlessly. The animated way he talked and gestured with his hands made her laugh and it felt like old times again, despite the awkwardness she felt every now and then when she caught him looking at her in a way that made her pulse race. She had to constantly remind herself that it was just Nathan—the same person she used to talk on the phone with until the early morning hours, and the same person who sat on her bedroom floor and played video games with her every weekend until they graduated high school. Scars or no scars, he would always be the Nathan from her childhood. She had made many friends in New York, but most of the people she associated with there, besides Lauren, only wanted to discuss work. Every day it felt as though she constantly rushed from point A to point B with no rest in between. Talking with Nathan felt like breathing deeply for the first time in years. Hanging her head in remorse, she couldn’t ignore the guilt that flowed through her, recalling how she had complained to Lauren all afternoon about being there, and she made a mental note to apologize to her. “I must admit that I was surprised when you switched to writing horror stories a few years ago,” he said. “I never would have expected that from you.” She noticed his smile had faded, and when he turned to look at her, there was something odd about his expression that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. “You’ve read my books?” She was beyond curious now. It wasn’t that she minded him reading her books or keeping up with her life, but it was the strained way he had mentioned it, as if doing

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that pained him somehow, and he didn’t answer right away. Instead, he wrung his hands together, as if the question made him nervous or uncomfortable. “Every one of them,” he replied. Lexi leaned in close to try to avert his gaze from his lap, but he wouldn’t look at her again. He was suddenly so quiet that she didn’t know what to say or what to do. The fact that discussing her books had caused such a strange reaction in him was a bit— disheartening. As much as she enjoyed reading the glowing reviews from her books, she was by no means a stranger to bad reviews too. “Nathan, if you don’t enjoy my books, you can tell me,” she said. “It’s not like I’ll get angry with you because of it. I’ve gotten emails from dozens of critics who don’t like…” Before she could complete her sentence, however, he stood up and descended several steps, keeping his back to her. The abruptness of it left her reeling. “It’s not that I don’t enjoy reading your work, Alexis, because I do,” he began. “Over the past couple of years though I’ve read and reread your books numerous times, trying to pinpoint the reason—the reason why they bother me so much.” His comment astounded her. It wasn’t as if she’d been expecting a round of applause or compliments galore from him or anyone else for that matter, but to know her words “bothered” him? She didn’t know what to say, or even if she could utter a single reply without tearing up. Criticism was far different coming from someone you knew personally than from some article in a newspaper written by a person you’d never faced. Honestly, his admission felt worse than the cruelest review from any book critic. He turned around to face her, but this time it wasn’t his scars that rattled her. On one hand he appeared upset over the fact that he’d even made such a statement, but on the other hand he looked absolutely relieved. Lexi placed a hand against the wall and stood up slowly.

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“My stories bother you?” she reiterated, still trying to wrap her head around the idea. “But why?” Looking apprehensive, Nathan opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again quickly, as though he were fumbling for the right thing to say. He did this several times before finally speaking up. “Alexis, when we were in tenth grade, you let me read one of your short stories for the very first time. I don’t recall the name of it, but I’ve never forgotten it, because it was the first time I could recall when it felt as if your words actually came alive for me,” he said softly. “Do you remember that?” Lexi thought for a moment before nodding. It had taken her days before she’d managed to work up the courage to let him read it. Even though he was her best friend, he was still a boy, and it was her first romance story. She couldn’t bear the thought of him laughing over it. “The first two books you published had the same effect on me,” he continued. “I guess what I’m trying to say is I don’t understand why you decided to switch from writing something you love to writing something you hate.” Her jaw dropped open, and she stared at him in disbelief. “Something I hate?” she echoed in amazement. “Why would you think that?” He shook his head and laughed as if she’d just said the funniest thing, but Lexi was now far from amused. “Alexis, from the first day we met in preschool, you were always the one who shied away from doing anything even remotely scary,” he explained. “Do you remember the first time I convinced you to watch The Exorcist with me? You didn’t speak to me for a solid week afterward.” He said it as if he couldn’t believe he had to explain himself, and there was a mocking tone in his voice that began to anger her.

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“I couldn’t get you to watch any more horror movies with me from that day on. Every year I literally had to drag you out of your house to go trick-or-treating after that one Halloween when old man Tatum jumped out from behind the bushes to scare us and you ran away screaming at the top of your lungs.” She held her hand up to stop him from going any further. “What has that got to do with anything? That was over twenty years ago,” she retorted. “A lot has changed since then. I’ve changed.” When he moved toward her, she took a cautious step backward, almost tripping over her feet, and she instinctively grasped at the wall behind her for support. He was so close now that she could feel the warmth of his breath against her skin, and the impact of it made her tremble. “When was the last time you watched a scary movie, Alexis?” he asked. “Have you ever done something spooky on Halloween, like the stuff you write about in your books? Have you toured a haunted house or walked through a cemetery at midnight?” Her eyes brightened. “I’ve visited a haunted house before,” she said, a bit more emphatically than she would have liked. “You talked me into it when we were in sixth grade—the one on Spring Road.” He laughed again and shook his head. “You threw up before we made it to the front door,” he reminded her. “We never went inside.” Embarrassed, Lexi shrunk against the wall away from him. She thought hard, trying to recall some instance in her life where she had done something frightening— something that would rival anything she’d ever concocted in one of her books. Yet, there wasn’t a single memory she could throw back at him to knock the irritating smirk off his face. “It doesn’t matter what I have or haven’t done, Nathan,” she explained. “Writing a book is more research than actual life experience, and I do extensive research before I write anything.”

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By the way he ran his fingers roughly through his hair, it was obvious her answer struck a chord with him. “That’s what bothers me so much, Alexis,” he admitted. “There isn’t any emotion in them—it’s just a bunch of research masked by fancy words.” Lexi inhaled sharply. “What could you possibly know about writing a book?” she replied angrily. When he started to respond, she put a hand up to stop him. She’d had enough. What gave him the right to judge her over something he knew nothing about? Placing her hand on his chest, she went to push past him, so she could make her way down the stairs, but he grabbed her wrist and wouldn’t budge. “I know you, and I know when your heart isn’t in something,” he whispered. “The first two books you published—the romance ones—that was the Alexis Gentry I remember.” Her gaze left his and wandered to the scars etched on the left side of his face. He was so close now. For a fleeting moment, her anger lessened and she felt an irresistible urge to touch him. “Those books received horrible reviews, Nathan.” He shook his head. “I don’t care about critics and reviews, Alexis. I want to know if you enjoyed writing them.” His stubbornness unnerved her. Why the hell was he being so persistent anyway? When she attempted to free her arm from his grasp, he gripped it tighter in return. Realizing it was futile to try to make him understand, she glared at him spitefully. “I’ve never been in love either,” she confessed. “So if life experiences mean so much to you, and you believe they make such a wonderful story, then how could my heart possibly be in those two books you care so much about?” Her honesty affected him more than she expected it to. At first, he simply looked at her as if she were some stranger he’d never met before. Then, without another word, he released her arm and moved away from her, stopping only when he bumped into the stairway railing. 25

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“I’m not trying to be rude, Nathan, but you know nothing about the publishing business,” she explained, trying to keep her voice calm. “Most book lovers and critics over the years have told me repeatedly how much they prefer a good scare over a love story. Times have changed. Readers want vampires, werewolves and ghosts—not romance.” Lexi waited for him to say something, but when he remained quiet and motionless, she had no other choice but to give up and leave. Once she reached the corridor floor, she turned just in time to see Lauren rounding a corner, walking hurriedly in her direction. “So what you’re really saying is you sold out?” Stunned, Lexi whirled around to face Nathan, who was now making his way slowly down the stairway. He looked at her defiantly, as if daring her to refute his accusation, but before she had the opportunity to do so, Lauren had reached her side. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but we’ve got less than an hour to make it to the airport,” she announced, trying to catch her breath. “Lexi?” It wasn’t until Lauren reached out and touched her arm that she was able to tear her gaze away from Nathan’s, and so many emotions coursed through her that she didn’t dare try to speak to either one of them for fear she might scream—or cry. And so, without another word, she turned her back on Nathan McKinley—and walked away.

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Chapter Three “For heaven’s sake, would you please stop fidgeting, Lexi? You’re shaking this whole row of seats!” Lauren’s voice broke Lexi from her reverie, and she mumbled an apology before getting up from her seat so she could pace back and forth. Fortunately, the small waiting area inside the airport was otherwise deserted. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest and there was an urgency to keep moving so that her body wouldn’t spontaneously combust. She’d never felt so angry and hurt in her whole life. “I just—I can’t believe—I mean—he had no right.” Lauren put down the gossip magazine she was looking at and gave her another exasperated look. “Are you ever going to speak in coherent sentences again, or am I going to have to commit you when we get back to New York?” Lexi stopped in front of her and put her hands on her hips. “He had the nerve to call me a sellout, Lauren!” she exclaimed. “Me! I just can’t believe—to think, he wouldn’t possibly—how could he—it’s ridiculous.” Lauren threw her head back and groaned loudly. “You’re doing it again,” she complained. “Come sit back down, please.” Feeling defeated, Lexi flopped down on the chair and crossed her arms haughtily over her chest. Lauren turned sideways to face her, but Lexi focused on the window across the room, trying her best not to fidget. “Look, Lexi, I don’t want to sound as if I’m choosing sides, because I’m not, but have you even considered, just once, that Nathan might have been telling the truth?” Lexi gasped, but before she could say a word, Lauren closed a hand over her mouth. “Just listen to me!” she demanded.

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Lauren made no effort to conceal the irritation in her voice, which Lexi thought was peculiar. She could probably count on one hand how many times she’d seen her best friend visibly upset in the many years they’d known each other. It was a formula that kept them in sync. Lauren was the calm one and Lexi was the passionate and sometimes reckless one. “Lexi, I’ve been by your side almost from the very beginning. I was there when you published your first book, and I was there when your last one went to press. If I said that I hadn’t noticed a difference in you since that first time, then I would be lying, and I respect you too much as an author and a friend to do such a thing.” Lauren removed her hand from her mouth but she kept her other one firmly clasped around Lexi’s arm, as if she expected her to try to run from the room. “You’ve been in the publishing business a long time, and so you know what sells,” she said. “When your first two books received those mixed reviews, you decided to conform to what you knew people wanted.” Lexi swallowed hard but kept her eyes glued to the window. “Since then, I’ve noticed a change in you, especially over the past year or so,” Lauren remarked. “Perhaps I should have said something before now, but I’ve seen the way you’ve started taking on more responsibilities at work instead of focusing on your writing. I know there are two manuscripts on your computer that you haven’t touched in months. It’s not hard to see you’re avoiding it.” A movement in the corner of her eye caught Lexi’s attention, and she watched as a couple entered the waiting area and sat down. Lauren leaned in closer. “Now, I’m no writer by any means, but I’ve been around dozens in my lifetime, so I can tell when an author is truly passionate about their work. It’s their life, the very air they breathe, and you can’t tear them away from it. They become unstoppable,” she whispered. “But somewhere along the way, Lexi, you just—stopped.” A noise outside the window drew her gaze and she caught sight of their plane slowly rolling into view. The attendant near the loading gate announced its arrival, and 28

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Lauren finally let go of her arm. Once she got distracted with her carry-on suitcase and their boarding tickets, Lexi took the opportunity to grab her purse and stand up. “I’m going back,” she said. Lauren jumped from her seat, her eyes wide and frightened. “You’re doing what?” she exclaimed. “You can’t, Lexi. Owen is expecting you in his office first thing tomorrow morning.” Lexi shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll call him and explain,” she replied. “He’ll understand.” As she bolted for the door, she caught a glimpse of Lauren as she threw her hands in the air in frustration. “Lexi!”

***** It wasn’t until Lexi stood on Nathan’s front porch almost an hour later that she wondered if she’d made the right decision. The lights from the taxi slowly faded from view as the driver pulled out of the long driveway. After several minutes, when Nathan didn’t come to the door, Lexi’s heart sank. Perhaps he had left for Virginia after the reunion. But that didn’t explain the lights that shone dimly through the front windows, or the truck in the garage, if it was in fact Nathan’s vehicle. Lexi thought for a moment and then her breath caught when another explanation crossed her mind. What if Nathan had brought Claire back to his house after the reunion? Suddenly she felt unbelievably stupid for not even considering that possibility before making such a hasty exit from the airport. She turned to leave, but stopped in her tracks. Who was she kidding? Where would she go? There had to be at least six or seven miles between her and Conway, and the thought of interrupting Nathan and Claire so she could hitch a ride into town was too mortifying to even consider. Before she could decide what to do, the door behind her opened and a familiar voice filled the air around here. 29

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“Alexis?” There was no disguising the surprise in his voice, and she knew she had no other choice but to face him. “What are you doing here? I thought you were on your way back to New York.” She couldn’t remember another time in her life when she’d wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole. “Nathan, I’m so sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.” At first he seemed puzzled, but then his face broke into a huge grin that seemed to stretch from ear to ear and he laughed. The sound of it put her at ease and she smiled back at him. “There’s no one here with me, Alexis.” When he stepped to the side and motioned for her to come in, Lexi let out a sigh of relief, but the enormity of that relief unsettled her. What if Claire had been with him? How would she have felt then? The complexity of the emotions she’d struggled with all day left her feeling very strange. It wasn’t like her to be unsure of anything. “How did you get here?” he asked. Embarrassed, she refused to meet his gaze. Instead, she walked farther into the den, which looked exactly as it had the last time she’d seen it many years before. “I paid a cab driver to bring me here,” she replied. “I wasn’t about to call Preston Williams to come pick me up again.” She heard the softness of his laughter behind her, and the warmth of it settled into her bones. “Preston Williams,” he echoed. Even without looking at him, she could tell where his thoughts had wandered. “I had forgotten about the two of you and your—“ “Mistake,” Lexi quietly intervened. “At least that’s what it was to me.” She finally turned to look at him, and without needing to carry the topic of conversation any further, he nodded his head in understanding. He seemed cautious, as 30

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if he wanted to say or do something but he wasn’t sure what. He still had his dress slacks on, but his shirt wasn’t tucked inside them anymore. Now it hung loosely around him, and it was buttoned only halfway, revealing the sculpted definition of his chest underneath. His years of construction work showed not only in his strong build, but also in his tanned complexion and his calloused hands. Remembering the roughness of his skin when he’d grasped her arm earlier in the stairwell sent a shiver coursing through her veins, causing her to blush and look away. “Nathan,” she began. “You were my closest friend since preschool and I have so many fond memories of us from my life here. It’s been twenty years since we’ve seen each other, and I—well, I just didn’t want my last memory of our friendship to be of us arguing.” Nathan nodded his head and made a motion to say something, but she stopped him. “Please,” she pleaded. “Hear me out first.” The long ride from the airport had given her plenty of time to reflect on their conversation in the stairwell and also the discussion she’d had with Lauren, so there was an urgency to get the conflicting emotions off her chest. Hopefully her oldest friend would understand. If not, then at least she would know that she had spoken what was in her heart. “Do you remember in high school how we used to joke about not fitting in with our classmates? Well, that’s what it still feels like for me after all these years,” she admitted. “The only difference for me now is those ‘popular kids’ in high school are now editorsin-chief of major publishing companies.” She set her purse down on the nearest table and crossed her arms over her chest. It felt demeaning to admit such a weakness, but she needed him to understand. He didn’t move or try to interrupt, much to her relief, so she continued. “It’s one big popularity race, Nathan, and even though I did enjoy writing romance stories more than anything, those weren’t accepted by those ‘popular kids’, and it hurts 31

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much worse as I’ve gotten older than it ever did in high school,” she explained. “After a while you start wondering if it would just be easier to go along with them.” Nathan crossed the living room and stood before her. With him so close now, she could see his chest rise and fall with each breath he took. “But it is worth it, Alexis?” he asked. “The good reviews and the notoriety—do those things make it easier giving up what you truly want to write about?” She couldn’t answer him, not only because she knew admitting he was right would change everything she had come to accept over the past few years, but even more so because his tone of voice had changed. It was soft and deep—almost mesmerizing. When he reached out and grasped her hands, her breath caught and held for several painful seconds. He rested them against his face, and the heat radiating from his body made her unsteady on her feet. She expected him to let go, but he held her hands in place and closed his eyes. “After I was injured, I had to force myself to look in a mirror, and there are still days when I curse these scars. You have no idea what it’s like to see the fear in a small child’s eyes when they look at you as if you’re some type of monster, or to see the expression on a beautiful woman’s face when you finally work up the courage to introduce yourself,” he said hoarsely. “I do understand that feeling of wanting people to accept you, Alexis.” As her heart pounded, Lexi began tracing each scar with the tips of her fingers. It was a sudden decision, but one she didn’t regret. Nathan kept his eyes closed and he released her hands, but instead of relaxing his arms by his sides, he slid his hands along her forearms, and the roughness of them against her skin stole her breath. “No imperfections could change the Nathan I remember,” she whispered. “You will always be one of the most compassionate people I have ever known.” With more than just the need for him to understand and believe her, Lexi stood on her tiptoes and very gently pressed her lips to each of his scars. She couldn’t imagine the horror he must have gone through and although she wished to know more about 32

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that day, she didn’t want to upset him by intruding on memories that were undoubtedly very painful. The shallowness of his breathing had subsided, and he now took slow and easy breaths, as if he were in a deep sleep or trance. Though she hated to admit it, knowing her touch had such a powerful effect on him was intoxicating. When she stopped and leaned back to look at him, she noticed his lips were parted slightly, and for a fleeting moment she wondered what it would be like to feel them against hers. Before she could dwell on that thought, however, the sound of a cell phone ringing broke the silence. Nathan’s arms dropped to his sides as he looked dejectedly up at the ceiling and groaned. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I’ll be right back.” When he disappeared down the hallway, Lexi sat down on the sofa to wait for him. Everything about the house remained exactly as she remembered it—the only difference being the numerous picture frames that had adorned the living room walls were gone. Lexi laughed when the thought of them now hanging in a swanky beach house in Florida crossed her mind. She’d always loved Nathan’s parents as much as her own, but whereas her parents were strict and reserved, Mr. and Mrs. McKinley were spontaneous and carefree. That was one reason it didn’t surprise her at all when Nathan mentioned them moving to Florida. A white piece of paper on the coffee table in front of her caught her attention, and upon closer inspection she discovered it was Nathan’s envelope from the reunion. As much as she wanted to ignore it, she couldn’t help but wonder what was inside. All through high school, he’d talked about joining the military, so more than likely that was what he’d written about. His voice echoed clearly from the hallway, and from what she could gather, the conversation had something to do with his job. Lexi kept eyeing the envelope until curiosity got the best of her and she picked it up. The seal had already been broken, and when she reached inside, she was surprised to find a picture instead of a piece of paper.

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What shocked her even more was that the picture was of her—or at least half of it was. There were two pictures taped together with the other picture being one of Nathan, with his unruly black hair and mouth full of braces. From what she could tell, her picture had been taken in the chemistry lab at school, and she winced when she saw her Aqua Net big hair and eyeglasses. Thank God for contact lenses. There was no writing on the back of the photos though, so she had no idea why Nathan had decided to put them in the time capsule. When she heard his footsteps in the hallway, Lexi stood up with the pictures in her hand and met his gaze, hoping her expression conveyed how puzzled she was. As soon as he spotted them in her grasp, it was very obvious by the way his cheeks flushed a bright red that he wasn’t expecting her to find them. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air, broken only by the wind outside the window. “Williams wanted to know where we saw ourselves in twenty years,” he said softly. “This was where I pictured my life—with you.” Taken aback, Lexi didn’t know what to say. In all of their many years as friends, she would never have guessed that his feelings for her went anywhere beyond friendship. There had never been an incident she could recall that would have suggested otherwise. “Why didn’t you say something?” she asked. Nathan stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked down at the floor for a moment. The redness in his cheeks never went away, so she didn’t force the subject. It was apparent that talking about it embarrassed him. “I didn’t want to ruin our friendship,” he admitted. “But I never lost hope.” Lexi gazed longingly at the pictures again. In so many ways it felt like a lifetime ago, but in other ways it seemed like only yesterday when the two of them were walking the halls of Conway High School together. So much had happened since then. “There was a time during our senior year when I thought your feelings for me might have changed, but I suppose that was just wishful thinking on my part,” he admitted. “After all, you did say you’ve never been in love before.” 34

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The despondent way he echoed her words made her heart ache. “I’m sorry, Nathan.” He put a hand up to stop her, and as much as she wanted to continue the conversation, she wasn’t about to do anything that would make him feel worse. “It’s getting late and you’re probably tired,” he replied. “Did you bring a suitcase with you?” He changed the subject so quickly that Lexi stumbled at first for a reply. “No,” she answered. “Lauren and I weren’t planning on spending the night, so I didn’t pack any clothes.” He nodded. “I’m sure I can find you something to sleep in,” he said, sounding much more disheartened than she would have liked. “You can have my room, and I’ll stay in the spare bedroom.” She stepped toward him, but he moved away. “Nathan…” Before she could finish her sentence, he walked past her, and within seconds he had disappeared behind his bedroom door, leaving her standing alone in the empty living room and feeling more confused than ever.

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Chapter Four The sound of breaking glass startled Lexi awake. Sitting upright in the bed, she listened intently to try to discern where the sound had come from, but just as quickly as it had woken her up, it was gone. For a moment she wondered if she’d just imagined it all. There wasn’t a clock in the room, but since it was pitch black outside her window, she assumed that daylight was still hours away. Nathan’s bedroom was the last room at the end of the long hallway, but she noticed a dim light outside the door, which seemed to be coming from the den. Lexi furrowed her brows. She could very distinctly remember Nathan turning off every light before they had gone to bed. Throwing her comforter aside, she slid out of the bed and tiptoed to the doorway. Just as she’d suspected, there was indeed a light shining from the den. Making her way as quietly as possible down the hallway, she peeked inside the spare bedroom and was alarmed to find Nathan’s bed empty. Walking faster toward the den, she had just rounded the corner when she saw another light shining from the adjoining kitchen. Since Nathan was nowhere to be found in the den, she walked toward the kitchen and pushed the swinging door open without bothering to knock first. She found him standing on the opposite side of the room, by the sink. He was staring blankly out the window above it, and from her spot by the doorway she could very distinctly see the glimmer of perspiration on his bare back. To the left of him was a broken glass on the countertop. “Nathan?” The sound of her voice startled him so much that she immediately regretted not knocking first. He spun around to face her, and she saw right away that his face was a ghostly white. Beads of perspiration also dotted his chest, and as she walked over to 36

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join him, she discovered something else that frightened her—his right hand was bleeding. Scanning the room, Lexi grabbed the closest dishtowel she could find and wrapped his hand with it as tightly as she could. “It’s all right, Alexis. The glass just slipped from my hand, and I got a small cut from picking up the broken pieces,” he explained. “Believe me, I’ve gotten worse from building houses for a living.” Lexi looked up at him and shook her head. “This isn’t little,” she replied, trying not to sound as scared as she felt. “You might need stitches.” He laughed softly, and although she was certain he was only trying to comfort her, seeing him in such a way bothered her a great deal. As she pressed the dishtowel to his cut, she felt his hand trembling. “What happened to you, Nathan?” He made every effort to avoid her gaze, and when he attempted to pull his hand free of her grasp, she refused to let him go. “From what I remember, our friendship has always been a two-way street,” she reminded him. “If you expect me to be honest and pour my heart out to you, like I did earlier, then the least you can do is show me the same respect and tell me what’s troubling you.” She didn’t mean for her words to come out sounding as harsh as they did, but she could tell by the expression on his face that he took it that way. At first, he seemed offended, but then his demeanor softened and he inhaled deeply. “For a couple of years after I returned from the war, I had nightmares about the explosion that injured me,” he admitted. “Tonight was the first time I’ve had one in several months.” Lexi frowned. “I’m so sorry, Nathan,” she replied, her heart aching for him. “I wish there was some way I could change what happened to you. Seeing me today probably didn’t help matters. I shouldn’t have asked you about it.”

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He hushed her by pressing a finger to her lips. “It’s not your fault,” he soothed. “It just happens sometimes, and there’s nothing you or anyone else can do to change that. After awhile you learn to cope with it and keep moving forward.” He didn’t remove his hand right away. Instead, he slid his finger gently across her lips and over to her cheek. It was the most tender of gestures, and one that sank deep inside her veins and made her shiver. “When I was in the hospital, I thought of you so often,” he whispered. “There was a time during my stay there when I honestly felt like I was losing my mind. Thinking of you helped me get through more than you could ever imagine.” He stopped and turned away from her, leaving her grasping the countertop to keep from falling. Immediately her body mourned the warmth of his touch. He walked a few feet away before facing her, and when he did, the empty expression on his face made Lexi’s heart ache all over again. “During the war, there was this young Iranian boy who used to come to the base every day to shine shoes. He couldn’t have been more than ten or eleven years old,” he began. “His name was Raheem.” Lexi listened intently, afraid to move or breathe. “I found out later his name means merciful and kind, and I used to think how fitting that was because, even though most days he showed up wearing these ragged, dirty clothes that were a couple of sizes too big for him, he always had a smile on his face. Every morning, after he went through checkpoint, you could find him at his little work station with this battered box full of supplies.” Lexi could almost picture him in her mind, and the thought made her smile. “He couldn’t speak any English, so you can imagine how hard it was for any of us to communicate with him, but one of the guys in our troop, Douglas Hinton, had a son about the same age, so he and Raheem became very close.” He paused for a moment, as if lost in thought.

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“One day I caught Doug teaching him how to whittle a stick with this small Swiss Army knife he’d brought from home. You should have seen the look on this child’s face, Alexis. He was so excited. From that moment on, after he closed his shoe shining station down each afternoon, he would look for Doug, and if he happened to be on base at the time, Doug would sit with him for a couple of hours and teach him how to carve different shapes. I’ll never forget the day he let Raheem take the knife home with him so he could practice when he wasn’t on base. It was like watching someone who’d been given a priceless gift for the very first time.” Lexi moved toward him cautiously. The last thing she wanted to do was interrupt his train of thought, especially now that he was finally opening up. “A couple of weeks later, while I was talking to another officer, I felt someone tug on my shirt sleeve, and when I turned around, it was Raheem. He held out his hand and in the center of his palm was this tiny piece of wood. I picked it up and looked at it closely, but I honestly couldn’t tell what it was. He kept repeating something in Arabic, and he would hold out his arms and flap them like a bird, and it was then I realized that’s what it must be. He had such a grin on his face, Alexis. I don’t know if he understood me, but I thanked him before he turned to go, and I still have it after all these years.” Nathan’s smile faded and his expression changed. “Then one day he didn’t show up, and one day turned into two and then three, which wasn’t like him at all. No matter what was going on between our people and his at the time, he loved being on our base. Even if he didn’t work there shining shoes to earn money for his family, I still believe he would have visited us every day, if he could. Not only did Doug start to worry, but the rest of us did too, since we had all kind of taken him under our wing.” Lexi took a step toward him, but he moved away from her slightly, so she stopped. “On the fourth day, I saw him for the last time. Three other officers and I, including Doug, had just returned to the base after being gone most of the day, and we were 39

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stopped outside the checkpoint. It was standard procedure that all vehicles be inspected before allowed on the grounds, so we climbed out of our Jeep and waited while the guards looked it over. While we were standing there by the gate, something caught my attention, and when I looked out across the desert, I saw Raheem walking toward us.” He paused for a moment and took a deep breath. “Something in the way he moved didn’t seem right to me. He was walking so slowly, as if each step took a great deal of effort, and when he drew closer to us I noticed that his clothes were ripped in several places and—and there was blood on his face. It looked as if—as if he’d been beaten.” Lexi closed her eyes briefly, frightened of what he might say next. A lump had formed in her throat, making it difficult to swallow. “Something stirred behind Raheem, but the sun was shining so brightly that I had to cover my eyes with my hand to see what it was, since it was a good distance away. At the same time, Raheem—he stumbled—and then he fell to his knees. When Doug saw this, he immediately started running toward him.” Lexi placed a trembling hand over her chest. Her heart was beating so rapidly, she could feel its erratic thumping against her palm. “One of the guards tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention, but before I turned around to speak to him, I could finally see a man in the distance. He was too far away to pick out any distinguishable features, but he appeared to be an older man. He—he just stood there, staring in our direction. The guard kept trying to talk to me, but there was this—this horrible feeling that just sunk into my bones.” Nathan was so lost in his memories that Lexi took the opportunity to move toward him. His breathing had become shallow and she could see a vein pulsing hard along the left side of his throat. “Raheem stood back up, and while I was looking back and forth between the guard and this stranger in the distance, something else about Raheem caught my attention. He—he had what looked like a rope hanging around his neck, and there was something 40

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tangled in the rope that kept glimmering in the sunlight. When he got closer, I realized that it was the Swiss Army knife Doug had given him, and knotted in the rope with it was one of the sticks he’d been practicing with.” Nathan glanced at her quickly, and when he noticed her standing so close, he stepped away from her and walked to the other side of the kitchen. He kept his back to her for the longest time before turning around and leaning forward against the large island that stood in the middle of the room. When he gripped the sides of it, she noticed that his knuckles were white. “Doug had almost reached him by this time, and Raheem started crying and shaking his head. He was screaming something in Arabic that I couldn’t understand, but one of the other officers, William Ishee, who helped us translate from time to time, started running toward them, yelling for Doug to get back, but Doug just turned around and stared at him with this—this confused look on his face.” Nathan let go of the island and started pacing back and forth. He kept moving his arms from his chest to his sides, as if every part of him had to keep moving. “He—he was crying so hard, Alexis. For years I couldn’t get that sound out of my dreams at night. It haunted me. I’ve never heard such—such agony. Another glimmer caught my eye, but it wasn’t Raheem’s knife. This time it was coming from the man who still stood far away. My first thought was that it might be a gun, but it was too small. When I finally realized what it was, it—it was too late.” He stopped pacing and looked at her. The color had drained from his face, and he shook so badly that she wondered if he would be able to finish. “It all happened so quickly. William reached them just as Raheem began pulling up his shirt, and that’s when I saw the…the explosives…strapped to his chest. There was a flicker of movement behind him—and then it was if everything around us just…disappeared. A fraction of a second before the bomb detonated, someone grabbed my arm to keep me from running after them, and when I turned to see who it was…”

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The tears that had been threatening to overflow were now streaming down Lexi’s face, and she was too horrified to move or breathe. “The way I was standing—the exposed left side of my face and neck took the brunt of the explosion. The other officer and the two guards sustained critical injuries too, but we were all very lucky. We lived. Doug, William, and…and Raheem—” Nathan leaned forward and braced his hands against the kitchen counter. His shoulders slumped as he looked down at the floor, and when he spoke again, his voice shook with emotion. “What kind of person sends a child to their death, Alexis?” he asked softly. “I—I just don’t understand. I’ve never been able to understand that.” Lexi closed the distance between them and pulled him into her embrace. The need to hold him had become too unbearable, and she needed it almost as much as she felt he needed the comfort. She knew nothing she said could ever erase such a terrible memory and the pain that came with it, so she held him close and consoled him the only way she knew how. As the wind blew against the kitchen window, they wept in each other’s arms until there were no tears left and they were both spent. Taking a step back, Lexi placed her hands against his cheeks and gazed up at him. “A person who could do something such as that, Nathan, is a true monster,” she said. “So please—please don’t ever think of yourself in that way again. You have such depth to your soul and a heart with an enormous capacity to love. No amount of scars could ever make you a monster.” He nodded as if he understood, but Lexi couldn’t help but wonder if he did so mainly just for her sake, because he looked more solemn than ever. Pulling away from him, she reached for his right hand and began unwrapping the dishtowel from around it. Much to her relief, the bleeding had stopped and there was only a small cut. “When I was in the hospital, the doctors kept both my eyes bandaged the first month. They told me there was a chance I could suffer some vision loss in my right eye too, and for two months I lay there in that hospital bed with nothing but darkness all 42

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around me. I started pulling each memory I had of you to the forefront of my mind, so that I could memorize every detail just in case I never saw your beautiful face again.” Lexi’s heart fluttered and she looked up at him and smiled, unable to recall the last time any man had said something so endearing to her. When he reached up and caressed her cheek, she gripped the center island behind her to keep from crumbling to the floor. “Do you remember when we used to spend the summer months swimming in Crescent Lake?” he whispered. “By the time we went back to school in September, you were so tan that it looked as if your body had been kissed by the sun. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to touch you, Alexis. Your skin is just as soft as I’ve always imagined it would be.” The way his fingertips glided effortlessly across her forehead and down her cheeks made a shiver race down her spine. When his thumbs grazed her eyelids, she closed her eyes. “You have the most soulful blue eyes,” he continued. “Everything about you— everything you say—every emotion that flows through you—it’s all here in your eyes, Alexis.” His hands traveled downward, and when his fingertips moved over her lips, she parted them instinctively. “I’ve thought of kissing you so many times. I’ve spent countless nights unable to sleep because my dreams of kissing you—of making love to you—were so real that I could almost feel you with me, and it haunted me to wake up and discover it was all just a dream.” Lexi swallowed hard and struggled to control her breathing, but when Nathan slid his right hand down the side of her throat, she trembled so violently that the force of it made her moan. He followed suit with his left hand and continued downward toward the buttons of the dress shirt he’d given her to sleep in. Anxious, but also completely mesmerized, she made no move to stop him as he opened the top three buttons. When 43

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he skimmed the space between her breasts with his fingers, she gripped the island tighter. Through it all, he remained eerily calm as he continued his tantalizing search of her body while she, on the other hand, felt as though she were slowly coming undone. With his right hand, he slipped the shirt over her left shoulder and exposed the small patch of dark skin that she knew he was looking for. “Your birthmark,” he whispered. Just when she felt she couldn’t possibly endure much more, he bent his head and pressed his lips ever so gently to her shoulder. It was an unexpected move and one that left her breathless. As he raised his head, his lips nuzzled her ear. “Turn around.” He didn’t have to ask her twice, although she wondered at first if she would be able to do anything, given the fact that her whole body shook uncontrollably. Once her back was to him, she waited anxiously to see what he would do next, and when she felt his hands against her throat, she held her breath. Gripping the collar, he slid the thin shirt off both her shoulders and down until it just barely covered her breasts. He then moved her long, brown hair to one side so that her upper back was now completely uncovered. Beginning at the base of her neck, he traced a delicate line with his right hand down her back until he reached the long scar between her shoulder blades. “I remember the day you got this. We were eight years old, and you wanted to race to the top of that old oak tree in your front yard. You were winning, but halfway up the tree, you slipped on a branch and fell, cutting your back on the way down. I believe that was also the first time you had stitches and broke a bone at the same time.” Lexi smiled at the memory. If only she hadn’t faltered, she could have claimed a victory instead of being rushed to the emergency room for a broken arm and a gash on her back that required eleven stitches to close.

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Her train of thought diminished once she felt Nathan’s lips on her scar. The unexpectedness of it startled her, and when he began moving his mouth along the length of it, she bit her bottom lip to keep from moaning out loud. His breath was so hot. That combined with the hardness of his body pressed to hers was enough to complete the spiral she had been teetering on the edge of. “Even through those weeks of total darkness, you were my saving grace,” he murmured. “You always have been.” Repeatedly, he whispered endearments against her skin while meticulously tracing the outline of her scar with his lips until she was left gasping and clinging to what was left of her sanity. On one hand it was almost too much to bear, but on the other it wasn’t nearly enough. His grasp on her hips was strong, making it nearly impossible to move or rub her body against his. When she tried, he dug his fingers deeper into her hips to keep her immobile. Moments later, his mouth left her back and roamed upward over her left shoulder, and as Lexi turned around, the expression on his face and the urgency in his gaze sent a chill coursing through her body. When he lowered his head slowly to kiss her, she held her breath in anticipation. At first, he barely touched her lips, and although his tenderness made her tremble, she could feel his strength and the underlying intensity he fought to restrain, which in turn just left her wanting more—so much more. When he parted her lips with the tip of his tongue, she moaned deeply into his mouth and pulled him closer. Within seconds, that will had been tested to its breaking point, and it wasn’t long before they were left clinging to each other with a desperation that extended over a lifetime. “Alexis,” he crooned softly. Being there with him, in that moment, felt as natural as breathing, and her body ached with a longing she hadn’t experienced in a very long time. He murmured her name again heatedly against her lips and his voice was deep and resonated with a passion that matched her own. 45

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“Nathan,” she whispered. “Love me.” Pulling away from her the slightest bit, he smiled down at her as he cupped her head in his hands. When he pressed his lips to her forehead, Lexi closed her eyes and sighed. “I’ve spent my whole life loving you, Alexis. I couldn’t possibly love you more.” With his breath hot against her skin, he left a heated trail over her cheeks and closed eyelids, while she grasped him to keep from swaying on her feet. With every kiss, every touch and every whisper, her legs had weakened to the point of collapsing. “Show me,” she pleaded softly. “Show me how much.”

***** The sunlight streaming through the bedroom window woke Lexi early the following morning. There was also a muffled noise coming from somewhere in the house that she couldn’t identify. She sat upright in the bed and listened closely, but the sound disappeared just as suddenly as it had stirred her awake. “I think that’s your cell phone ringing,” came the deep voice behind her. Lexi groaned and lay back down. After such a wonderful night, the last thing she wanted to do at the moment was talk to Lauren or Owen about work. She knew all too well the questions Lauren would bombard her with about Nathan, and Owen was more than likely coming off a weekend-long drinking binge. When he’d left the office Friday afternoon, he’d mumbled something about throwing a party on one of his yachts, so there was no telling what trouble he’d gotten into that he needed her help to clean up. When Nathan pulled her close in his embrace, she pushed all thoughts of Owen and work from her mind. Snuggling under the covers with him, she sighed peacefully as the heat from Nathan’s body radiated through hers and warmed her up at once. “Nathan, I’ve been wanting to ask you something,” she began. “You said you’ve been keeping up with me all these years, and you knew where I worked, so why didn’t you ever visit me?” 46

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She heard him take a deep breath. “I’ve been to New York twice in the past year,” he admitted. “I stood right outside your building both times, but I could never find the courage to go inside. I was afraid when you saw me that you would turn me away.” Surprised, Lexi drew up and turned to face him. “Nathan, why would you ever think something like that? I would love to have seen you,” she replied. “We’ve already lost so many years.” He propped up on one elbow and reached up to move a strand of hair away from her face. She could tell by his expression that he’d been thinking along the same lines. “I know, and I’m so sorry I didn’t just put my pride aside and come talk to you.” She smiled contentedly as he slid his hand over her shoulder and down her spine. His touch had an intoxicating effect, which made it difficult to concentrate on anything else once he held her spellbound. “I promise to make it up to you, Alexis—if you’ll let me.” He ran the back of his hand upward, along her left side, but just as his fingers grazed her breast, the sound of her cell phone ringing again broke the silence and ruined the mood. With an aggravated groan, she mumbled an apology to Nathan and threw the bed covers aside so she could race to the den and retrieve her phone. On the fifth ring, she managed to find it in her crowded purse. Just as she suspected, it was Owen’s number that greeted her as she flipped it open. “Hello, Owen.” “I hope you’re getting ready to board a plane, because we’ve got a lot of work to do,” he announced. “I got the Templeton building, and there’s no time to waste. We need to start moving in immediately.” Rolling her eyes, Lexi walked slowly back to Nathan’s bedroom. As usual there were no pleasantries involved, and he unloaded on her before she could take another breath.

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“Why so sudden?” Furrowing her brows, she stopped in the middle of the hallway. By the tone of his voice, part of her dreaded what was to come. “Because I’ve already sold our building and the owner wants us out.” Lexi’s heart fell to her feet. “You sold our building? Owen, what have you done? Does your father know about this?” There was a long pause where he didn’t answer, and when Lexi continued toward the bedroom, she found Nathan sitting up in the bed. By the curious expression on his face, she realized he must have overheard her conversation. “I haven’t talked to him about it yet,” he replied sheepishly. “So, how soon can you get here?” Again, her heart sank. She hadn’t planned on leaving so soon. After all, she and Nathan had just found each other again… “Lexi?” She could tell he was anxious, and she could only imagine what trouble he’d gotten himself into, but this was the first time he’d ever mentioned anything about the business in his screw-ups. Usually his troublemaking involved strippers or married women. Knowing that Truman Publications was a part of his latest fiasco filled her with an enormous sense of doom. “I’ll catch the next flight back to New York.” The instant she said it, Nathan hung his head, and after telling Owen goodbye, she walked over to the bed and sat down beside him. The air was thick with tension between them, and for the longest time he wouldn’t even look at her. “Nathan, I’m so sorry. Something has happened at work.” “Don’t go back there, Alexis. Come home with me.” He said it so quietly that she almost missed it, and when he looked into her eyes, she could tell how sincere he was. 48

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“What?” she asked, bewildered. “Nathan, I can’t just go to Virginia with you. I have responsibilities at work.” Still, he wouldn’t be swayed. “If you had the choice between quitting your job and writing what you wanted to your heart’s content, or staying with your job, writing what everyone else wants you to write, and not to mention picking up the pieces from Owen’s disasters—which would you choose?” She shook her head, confused. “I can’t just quit my job,” she tried to explain. “Even though I work there as his assistant, it doesn’t mean book contracts are guaranteed, and I have rent to pay every month.” He leaned over and grasped her arms. His expression had softened, and he attempted to say something several times but kept stopping, as if trying to find the right words first. For a moment, she thought he might be working up the nerve to propose something serious, like quitting her job and moving to Virginia or—or marrying him— which suddenly terrified her more than she would have expected it to. As soon as the possibility crossed her mind, she jumped from the bed and reached for her clothes. “Alexis…” Avoiding his gaze, she walked over to the adjoining bathroom and shut the door behind her. He didn’t say another word, and after several long minutes, she heard the creaking of the bedsprings, followed by his footsteps on the floor. Lexi held her breath and waited for the inevitable knock on the bathroom door, but instead she heard another sound that made her heart ache—the sound of the bedroom door closing.

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Chapter Five Late that afternoon, as the cab driver veered in and out of traffic, Lexi stared aimlessly out the window. The ride to the airport with Nathan that morning had been filled with an uncomfortable silence, which now flowed into the hollow feeling she carried with her. He didn’t bring up the subject of her quitting her job again, for which she was thankful, but after spending such a memorable night together, to leave with so many unanswered questions troubled her more than she ever would have admitted to anyone. Lauren had called her in a panic that morning when she found a company memo on her desk from Owen, announcing that the rest of the week would be spent moving into their new accommodations. Apparently he’d also hired movers who Lauren said were now rushing in and out of their small building, creating more chaos than necessary. Lexi had thought of several possible scenarios for the sudden move, but none of them were very pleasant to consider. Over the past nineteen years, she thought she’d been through every catastrophe imaginable with Owen, but apparently this latest development was something new. To her surprise, she hadn’t received a single phone call from Truman Sr., which was unusual and left her even more concerned. If Owen was too frightened to turn to his father for help, then it must be something far worse than she was expecting. When the taxi came to a stop in front of Truman Publications, Lexi noticed that the sidewalk was more crowded than usual for a Monday afternoon. Several people were huddled around the small newsstand on the corner, and after she paid the driver and stepped from the vehicle, she caught a glimpse of what had garnered so much attention.

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Pushing through the throng of people, Lexi’s heart thumped erratically when she caught sight of the enormous black and white photo that seemed to stare back at her from every newspaper on top of the small stand. Reaching inside her purse, she retrieved two bills and handed them to the vendor before grabbing the closest copy she could find and making a hasty retreat for Owen’s office.

***** “Is this a joke?” Lexi demanded. “Please tell me this is some kind of doctored photograph and that it’s not you making out with Erin Morris on your yacht in front of God and everybody!” The way Owen slunk back in his chair the instant she threw the newspaper on top of his desk spoke volumes. The color drained from his face and for the longest time he just stared down at the photo and didn’t even bother replying. When a couple of movers walked into his office a few seconds later, Owen jumped up from his seat and rushed them back out, shutting the door quickly behind them. “Don’t you know who that is?” she remarked incredulously. “Erin Morris is married to one of the richest men in Manhattan, and he has connections, Owen, that have nothing to do with business.” He splayed his fingers through his hair and began pacing the floor. As much as she wanted to keep yelling at him, she could tell by his unkempt appearance and bloodshot eyes that the thought had already crossed his mind. The sound of her cell phone ringing startled him, and he peered cautiously over his left shoulder, despite them being the only two people in the room. Lexi turned off the ringer on her phone and stuffed it inside her jacket pocket so she could devote her full attention to Owen. The moment she’d walked through the front door, Lauren had tried to stop her to find out what was going on, but she was so upset that she’d brushed her aside and marched straight to his office. Ever since then, Lauren had been trying to call and text her, and the only thing left to do was turn off the ringer,

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so she and Owen wouldn’t be interrupted. She hated ignoring her, but at the moment she just couldn’t concentrate on anything else. “I didn’t know who she was until it was too late,” Owen explained. “I invited a lot of people to the party, and—things just got out of hand.” Lexi stood up straight and tensed her shoulders. Everything about the situation was putting her more and more on edge. Plus, Owen had been with many married women in his lifetime, but this was the only time she could remember where he seemed visibly upset over the outcome. “Owen, what did you do?” He stopped pacing long enough to face her, but when she walked over to stand in front of him, he looked at the floor instead of looking into her eyes. “Besides Erin, what else happened?” she asked. “Why are you in such a rush to move?” He glanced at her briefly and then his gaze drifted over her shoulder and out the window. He crossed his arms over his chest and took a couple of deep breaths while she waited for an answer. “A few of us started a game of poker…” Lexi’s heart lurched. Anytime Owen combined liquor with gambling, there were consequences. “Owen, please tell me you didn’t do anything stupid like wager the business.” He shook his head and held a hand up to stop her. He still had a very guarded expression though, which didn’t help her relax in the least bit. “No, I didn’t,” he explained. “Just the building.” Lexi gasped. “Just the building, Owen? So you didn’t sell it, you lost it! Have you forgotten how long Truman Publications has called this building home? Your own grandfather bought it over sixty years ago, when he barely had a nickel to his name!”

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He marched away from her as if he didn’t want to discuss it any longer, but she kept on his heels. There had never come a time in the past nineteen years as his assistant when he hadn’t wanted her opinion or respected her for sharing it, and she wasn’t about to stop now. “Would you please stop getting so upset, Lexi?” he replied. “Templeton called me yesterday and accepted my offer, so it’s not as if we have nowhere to go.” Lexi felt her blood pressure steadily rise as she fought to control the anger she felt would surely overflow any moment. His complacency over the matter enraged her. “Oliver called you after your party, Owen—after you had already lost?” she yelled. “What would you have done if he hadn’t called?” He faltered, as though the thought had never even crossed his mind, which in turn just infuriated her even more. “Did you ever once stop to think about the people you were screwing over? You have employees here with families!” she seethed. “You don’t know what it’s like to worry about money, because you’ve never been without it, but you have people here who worry from paycheck to paycheck over how they’re going to feed their families. What the hell is wrong with you?” Owen picked up the newspaper from his desk and tossed it in the trashcan beside him. “The movers are leaving at six, so I need you and a couple of other people to stay late tonight and help me move more boxes to the new building,” he stated calmly. “Tell Lauren and Timothy they’ll be working overtime the next couple of days until we finish.” Lexi put her hands on her hips and gazed upon him with more contempt than she had felt toward anyone in a very long time. “Owen, how do you expect us to get moved so quickly? We have manuscripts going through publication, at least a dozen offices that need to be emptied, and not to mention—”

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When he whirled his chair around so he could look outside the window instead of facing her, she felt her pulse pounding so furiously in her ears that she expected him to hear it too. “I can do as I damn well please,” he replied calmly. “I know you’ve worked here a long time, Lexi, but sometimes I think you forget who owns this company.” Lexi inhaled sharply and took a step back as if she’d been stung. Clenching her fists by her sides, she struggled to control her emotions, but she couldn’t recall a time when she had ever wanted to physically hurt someone as much as she wanted to at that very moment. His tone of voice and the way he dismissed the conversation in such a nonchalant manner left her reeling. In their many years of friendship, he’d never so blatantly ignored her concerns, especially when it involved the business. Not trusting herself to be in his presence any longer, Lexi stormed from the room, slamming the door behind her on the way out.

***** As darkness fell over the city, Lexi couldn’t tell a difference between the building they were busy vacating and the one Owen had purchased from Oliver Templeton, other than it being in a more affluent part of Manhattan. The other businesses along the empty street had long since closed for the day, and she mumbled a few choice words under her breath as she watched Owen stride through the front door carrying more boxes. There had barely been two words spoken between them since their confrontation in his office, which suited her just fine. “Have you heard from Nathan?” Lexi glanced at Lauren, who was busy sorting boxes while their coworker Timothy Sutton unpacked them one by one throughout the many rooms that lined the first floor. Moments earlier, he had disappeared into what she assumed was the supply room. “No,” she answered sadly. “Not a word.”

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Remembering how Owen had acted earlier, she immediately regretted dismissing Nathan’s advice. If only she could go back in time—she would have quit on the spot and never looked back. As if summoned by her thoughts, Owen appeared by her side, his arms laden with two boxes. “These are yours,” he said flatly. “Come with me, and I’ll show you where your office is.” Taking one of the boxes, she gave Lauren a defeated look before falling in step behind Owen as he made his way toward the stairway that led to the second level. She could honestly not care less about seeing her new office, even more so now that the thought of leaving crossed her mind repeatedly with every minute she spent in the same room with him. Halfway down the corridor, he turned to his right, which opened into another hallway. Along the way, she noticed there were several twists and turns, with offices of various sizes scattered here and there. Even if she decided to stay, it would take forever to memorize the place. Almost at the end of the second hallway, Owen walked through a door to his left, which revealed her office—a much bigger space than she was used to occupying. Once they set the boxes on her desk, Owen looked at her as though expecting some sort of praise. “What do you think?” he asked. The way he gloated made her sick to her stomach, so she simply shrugged her shoulders and glanced around the room. It was certainly bigger than any office she’d had before, but she couldn’t help but think of the circumstances that led them there and how Owen had handled the situation. As far as she was concerned, no new building or office space would enable her to respect him again. “Owen, we need to talk…” Her sentence was cut short by a bone-chilling scream. Startled, she glanced quickly at Owen before they both ran from the room in search of the commotion. As soon as they reached the first hallway, a deep male voice broke through the stillness. 55

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“TRUMAN!” They both stopped dead in their tracks. The voice was unrecognizable to Lexi, but Owen’s face turned a deathly shade of white almost instantly, and he wouldn’t move another inch. Fumbling through his pockets, he pulled out his cell phone and started pressing numbers while his hands trembled so violently Lexi worried he might drop it. “What are you doing?” she whispered. When he wouldn’t answer, she continued moving slowly toward the stairway in an attempt to see who was calling from the first floor, and what she observed filled her with a terror she’d never felt before. Gasping, she pressed her back to the wall to avoid being discovered. Standing near the front door was a young man, dressed in solid black from his head to his toes. His left arm was wrapped firmly around Lauren, who was crying hysterically, and to Lexi’s horror, she saw the barrel of a gun pointed directly at her throat. The unknown man jerked his head from side to side as he searched the first floor, and for a moment she was terrified his erratic movements would cause the gun to go off accidentally. “TRUMAN!” he bellowed again. “YOU BASTARD! I KNOW YOU’RE HERE!” His voice sent a chill through her bones, and she scanned the floor quickly for Timothy, but he was nowhere to be found. When someone grabbed her from behind, she bit her bottom lip to keep from screaming. “Come on. We’re getting out of here,” Owen whispered. When he tried pulling her away, she snatched her arm from his grasp. “I’m not going anywhere,” she replied. “He has Lauren, and Timothy might be hurt for all we know.” He reached for her arm again, but she backed away from him. He was as pale as a ghost, and he looked as terrified as she felt.

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“The police will be here any minute,” he explained. “You can stick around, but I’m not.” Much to her disbelief, he did just that. Without another word, he skulked down the empty corridor and disappeared around a corner. Before Lexi had time to dwell on what a true coward he was, Lauren’s whimpering distracted her, and she leaned over again just a tiny bit to see what was happening below her. The gunman looked even more panicked than before, and he said something to Lauren that made her knees buckle, but given the distance between them, she couldn’t hear what had been said. He pulled Lauren up roughly to her feet again, causing her to scream in agony, and the sound pierced Lexi’s heart and brought tears to her eyes. She didn’t know what to do, or even if she could do anything at all to help. All she knew was that she couldn’t leave her best friend alone. The sound of sirens closing in from the distance made her pulse race, and for a split second, she felt a small glimmer of hope. Closing her eyes, she silently prayed for a peaceful resolution, when her cell phone started vibrating. Shoving her hand inside her jacket pocket, she pulled out the phone. Thankfully, she’d forgotten to turn the ringer back on, or else the gunman would have spotted her instantly. Her breath caught when she saw who was calling. Nathan. Moving away from the stairwell, she flipped the phone open and held it to her ear, trying very carefully to not make a sound. The sirens had stopped right outside the building and now the blue lights from the police cars shone brightly through the windows, casting an eerie glow on the walls. “Nathan?” she whispered. There was a sound on the other end of the line, as if he had just exhaled for the first time in days. “Alexis!” he exclaimed. “I’ve been trying to reach you all afternoon. I was starting to worry.”

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Brushing the tears from her eyes, Lexi walked farther down the corridor so she wouldn’t be overheard. It felt wonderful hearing his voice again. If only it had been under different circumstances… “I’m sorry,” she whispered lower. “I’m so sorry, Nathan.” Now that she was a safe distance from the front of the building, she could faintly hear a new voice resonating from outside, possibly from one of the police officers, talking to the gunman through what sounded like a bullhorn. The agitated young man yelled something in return and Lauren screamed again. “Alexis, what was that noise?” Nathan asked. “Sweetheart, where are you?” She explained the situation the best way she knew how, and by the time she finished, she could hear his rapid breathing on the other end of the line. “How did Owen get out? There’s got to be another exit somewhere.” Lexi glanced down an adjoining hallway, but she didn’t recognize it as the one that Owen had taken to her office. This one was shorter and nothing on either side looked familiar. Also, there were no exit signs anywhere to be found. “I don’t know where it could be,” she replied, alarmed. “This is the first time I’ve been here.” A loud pop rang out from the first floor, stopping her abruptly. Oh, God—please—no. “Then find the farthest room from the stairway and hide,” he said. By the tone of his voice, she could tell he was truly frightened, and she could just picture him pacing back and forth as he tried to keep her calm. Lexi walked faster toward the last remaining hallway at the end and turned right. What greeted her were more closed doors she didn’t recognize, and the only thing left to do was choose one. As she raced toward the last door at the end of the hallway, chaos erupted from the first floor and echoed throughout the entire building.

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“Don’t turn on any lights. If he happens to come upstairs, he’ll more than likely go for any light he sees shining under or through a doorway,” he said. Lexi made it to the last door and reached for the handle. Turning it as quietly as she could, she opened the door and stepped inside. Unfortunately, there were no windows, so the room was cloaked in total darkness. “Where are you now?” Lexi squinted, but she couldn’t see anything. She could barely see a foot in front of her. “I’m in a room, but it’s—it’s pitch black,” she replied, trying in vain to keep her voice from quivering. She leaned against the doorway, too scared to move. “Alexis, listen to me,” he soothed. “I know you’re frightened, but you need to feel your way and see if there’s somewhere in there you can hide, like under a desk or in a closet.” She shook her head furiously and turned around to feel the space beside the door for a switch. She needed light. She had to have some kind of light to guide her way. Yet, there was nothing there except the cold, barren wall. Her breaths came out in short gasps, even though she still fought desperately not to panic. “Alexis, you need to stay calm,” he reminded her. “I want you to take a couple of deep breaths for me, okay?” Lexi rested her forehead against the door and did as he requested, breathing in deeply through her nose and exhaling through her mouth. “Alexis, I know what it’s like to be blind, so I understand how scared you are,” he soothed. “Can you hear anything going on downstairs?” She listened, but there was nothing recognizable over the sound of her heart racing. “It’s quiet now,” she said softly.

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Lexi mirrored Nathan’s slow and even breaths until she felt steadier on her feet. Turning back around, she extended her free hand in front of her and took a couple of cautious steps toward the center of the room. Still nothing. Taking two more steps, she stopped when her hand fell upon something that resembled the back of a leather chair. Walking carefully around it, she held out her hand again and felt the space surrounding her. When she hit it against something hard, she bit down on her lip to keep from crying out. “What is it?” Nathan asked. “Tell me what’s going on.” She put her hand on the solid surface in front of her and finally exhaled after what felt like an eternity. “I believe it’s a desk,” she whispered hopefully. With her hand on top of it, she walked around the wide object until she bumped into something else—another chair. Rolling it out of the way, she felt underneath the desk and was relieved to find a large empty space. Falling to her knees, she slid beneath the desk as far as she could go before rolling the chair back into position to keep her hidden. Hugging her knees to her chest, she rocked back and forth, gripping tightly to the phone. Now she could vaguely hear something going on downstairs, but she was too far away to tell what it could be. “Nathan, I’m so sorry. I should have listened to you.” He gently hushed her and she rested her head on her knees to keep from crying. How could her world have been turned upside down in such a short amount of time? She couldn’t be sure, but she felt strongly that the gunman had been sent by Erin Morris’ husband, and remembering how Owen had left them all there to die over his wrongdoing made her blood boil. “Alexis, please don’t apologize,” he murmured. “As soon as this is all over, I’ll be on the next flight to New York.” Her lips trembled, and she shut her eyelids tightly to keep the tears at bay. “But what if…what if…” 60

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“No,” he pleaded. “Alexis, please don’t say it. Don’t even think that way. You’re going to be fine.” His voice shook so much that she could barely understand him, and she wished with all her heart that she could step through the phone and be safe in his arms again. “I told you that I would spend the rest of my life showing you how much I love you,” he said. “That will not stop today.” When a loud noise resounded from the hallway, Alexis sat up straight, afraid to move or even breathe. Listening closely, she heard it again, only this time it drew closer. “Nathan…” She could barely speak. Her heart pounded so violently in her chest that it left her terrified whoever was roaming the corridor would be able to hear it and discover her hiding place. “Alexis, what’s wrong? What’s happening?” Another loud bang echoed nearer, and the tears she’d fought so hard to control now streamed uncontrollably down her face. “Nathan,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.” Lexi laid her head back against the desk and let the tears continue flowing at their own will. “Alexis, honey, please talk to me!” When she heard footsteps right outside the door, she didn’t budge. Where could she possibly go anyway? She was trapped. She heard the handle being turned, and then the brightest light she’d ever seen filled the space around her, temporarily blinding her. “ALEXIS!” Closing her phone, Alexis shut her eyes one last time—and waited.

*****

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The voices were distant and hazy as Lexi stirred and tried to wake herself up. Her whole body ached, and when she lifted her head, she noticed through half-closed eyelids that Lauren’s doctor and a nurse were standing on the opposite side of the hospital bed, going over her medical chart. Propping her elbows on the bed, Lexi took one of Lauren’s hands in hers and lightly squeezed it. Once again, there was no reaction. “She’s going to be fine. All of her vitals look good,” her doctor explained. “It’s just going to take time.” Lexi sat back in her chair and gazed longingly at her best friend, wishing and praying for some sign of movement. After four hours of surgery spent repairing a bullet wound to her neck, Lauren now lay lifeless and still, and Lexi hadn’t once left her side, fearing if she did, Lauren would drift away before she had the chance to say goodbye. Though the doctor’s encouraging news should have brought a smile to her face, nothing could replace the horror of what had happened. A commotion outside broke the solitude, and she looked up just in time to see Lauren’s parents burst through the doorway. They looked as distraught as she imagined any parent would, given the situation and what must surely have been the longest flight from Oklahoma to New York they had ever endured. Lexi moved away from the bed so they could get closer to their daughter, and she watched from the corner of the room as they prayed and wept over her. It was enough to break even the coldest of hearts. When the doctor and nurse moved in to explain Lauren’s surgery and prognosis, Lexi took it as her cue to step quietly from the room and allow them the space they needed to come to terms with what had just happened to their only child. The long corridor was relatively empty, giving her the silence she longed for. After the past few terrifying hours, she couldn’t handle any more noise or mayhem. Turning to face the wall, she rested her forehead against the cold stone and tried to shut out the memory of Lauren screaming and the horrific sight of her lying in a pool of blood while

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emergency technicians worked furiously to save her life. A short distance away, two more technicians had been lifting the dead gunman’s body onto a gurney. When the policeman had burst through the office door and found her cowering in her hiding spot under the desk, she had never felt so relieved, but there was also a sense of dread due to the uncertainty of not knowing if her friends were still alive. As the officer escorted her downstairs, her heart sank the moment she spotted Lauren lying motionless in the lobby, but the officer maintained a tight grip on her arm, refuting her attempts to break free and rush to Lauren’s side. Only once they were outside did he release her, and it was there that she caught sight of Timothy standing on the sidewalk, talking to a policeman who was frantically writing something down in a small notepad in his hand. Timothy was shockingly pale, and even from where she stood she could see his hands shaking. It had all seemed so surreal, as if she were watching the events unfold from a distance instead of actually being in the moment. Owen had been there, but not once did he attempt to look at her as reporter after reporter scrambled to talk to him and take his photograph. When she spotted Lauren being wheeled from the building on a stretcher, she pushed through the crowd of people surrounding her and climbed inside the ambulance with her. The bandages that were wrapped around her neck were soaked in blood and she was so still. Lexi felt the tears slide down her cheeks as she recalled the way the technicians continued working on her best friend on the drive to the hospital and how through it all Lauren never once opened her eyes, nor did she move her hands or gave any indication she could hear them talking to her. There was just—nothing. The double doors at the end of the hospital corridor swung open, and her tears flowed harder when she saw Nathan striding quickly toward her. When he wrapped his arms around her, she clung to him with all her might and truly wept for the first time since the beginning of her ordeal. He gently rocked her in his arms and whispered calming words in her ear until her tears finally began to subside.

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“I got here as fast as I could,” he said softly. “How is she?” Pulling away from him, she took a couple of deep breaths while he wiped the tears from her cheeks with the back of his hand. “She’s going to be okay,” she replied. “When the gunman was shot, his weapon discharged and the bullet struck her neck, but it didn’t sever an artery or lodge in her spine, so she was very lucky. Still—she lost so much blood, Nathan.” He nodded and put his arm around her waist to lead her to a corner of the hallway, so they wouldn’t be overheard. “What have the police told you?” he asked. Lexi shook her head and leaned against the wall for support. “Erin’s husband denied any connections to the gunman, and since he’s dead there’s really nothing they can charge her husband with,” she replied solemnly. “I doubt the gunman mentioned anything to Lauren either, so more than likely the truth died with him.” Nathan grumbled his disgust and she couldn’t have sympathized with his reaction more. The whole situation made her angrier than she’d felt in a very long time. When her cell phone started ringing, she hastily pulled it from her jacket pocket, and that anger multiplied when she saw who was calling. Spotting any empty waiting room across the hall, she walked inside before trusting herself to answer. “What do you want, Owen?” The fact that he hadn’t bothered to check on Lauren at all since she arrived at the hospital made her heart pound so hard she worried she wouldn’t be able to speak properly. Her bluntness didn’t seem to distract him in the least bit either. “I need you to get here early tomorrow,” he replied nonchalantly. “I’ve had reporters here constantly, wanting to interview me about the attack, and I need your help with…”

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Lexi tensed. “The attack, Owen?” she asked, incredulously. “If it hadn’t been for your stupidity, none of this would have ever happened!” Nathan gently touched her arm in an attempt to keep her calm, but she was so overcome with fury that her whole body shook. “Lexi, you don’t know that…” As usual, Owen balked at such an accusation. Never once could she recall a time when he took responsibility for his actions, and that thought alone fueled her anger even more until she could feel her face flush with heat. “Well, I do know one thing, Owen. You’ll have my resignation on your desk first thing tomorrow morning,” she seethed. “And you can also expect a visit from your father very soon. After I called him earlier and explained what happened, he agreed the company was long overdue for a change in administration. If I were you, I’d start packing my belongings.” Before he could reply, Lexi turned off her phone and shoved it inside her pocket before she accidentally dropped it from her trembling hands. When Nathan embraced her, she rested her head on his chest and took several deep breaths to try and settle her nerves. Despite everything that had happened, resigning from Truman Publications filled her with an enormous sense of relief. “I left one of my supervisors in charge, so I can stay here as long as you need me to,” Nathan said. Lexi smiled for the first time in hours. “I want to help Lauren in any way I possibly can,” she said softly. “But once she recovers—when I know for certain that she’s going to be okay—I want to go to Virginia to be with you.” The way his face lit up made Lexi’s heart swell, and she knew without a doubt that it was the right thing to do. Too many years had already been lost and it was time to start living.

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About the Author As a teenager in the 1980s, Stephanie Bennett fell in love with romance novels after borrowing a friend’s copy of Betray Not My Passion by Sylvie F. Sommerfield. She began a mail correspondence with Mrs. Sommerfield that lasted many years, and those letters of encouragement are just a few of the many reasons she chose to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming an author. Stephanie is multi-published in many genres, with contemporary romance being her current genre of choice. She lives in the Deep South with her husband of seventeen years and their two children, and when she’s not busy with her family, you can usually find her with a notebook and pen in hand, dreaming up new story ideas.

Stephanie welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

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