Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(100)

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Thinking that this new quarter at school might be the best one I’ve had there, and the hardest, Cheyenne and I decided to duck out for some much needed coffee after poetry class one frigid February afternoon. The professor had been discussing how different interpretations could alter the meaning of the work completely. The flowery language was a little hard to wrap my head around, but Cheyenne was actually very intuitive on the subject.

I listened to her explanation of our latest assignment, enraptured. I was finally starting to feel like I understood the piece. That was how I ended up walking right into someone. I’d never actually had that happen to me before, collision-coursing into someone, and my face turned about five shades of red. While Cheyenne giggled at my clumsiness, I quickly apologized to the stranger I’d nearly steamrolled over.

He took a step back, steadying himself, and we both locked onto each other’s eyes at the same time, each stammering apologies. “I’m sorr—” I couldn’t finish my sentence as I stared into a warm set of deep brown eyes. Brown eyes that I’d been sure I’d never stare into again. Feeling all the blood drain from my face, I whispered, “Denny?” He inhaled a deep breath, holding it for a second before releasing it in a rush. With a soft smile, he quietly said, “Hi, Kiera.” Hearing his accent curl around my name in person, gave me an ache in my stomach. I stared at him, shocked into momentary silence. Denny Harris. He looked the same as the last time I’d seen him, over a year ago.

The same, yet different, too. His dark hair was a bit longer than before, styled back away from his face in a way that made him seem older. The scruff along his jaw was thicker too. Nowhere near a beard, but heavier than he used to keep it. It also aged him. In fact, everything about him seemed older, from his clearly more expensive clothes to the way he stood just a little taller. It was almost like he’d left Seattle a boy, and returned a man.

“You look good,” I finally whispered, my throat feeling painfully dry.

He smiled uncertainly, his eyes drifting over my body for a second.

“So do you.”





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A tension built up as we stared at each other. It must have made Cheyenne uncomfortable; I know it was making me feel that way. I just never expected to literally run into my ex on the street.

Placing her hand on my shoulder, she murmured, “I should go…I’ll see you later, Kiera.”

I nodded at her, never once taking my eyes from Denny. People hustled around us on the chilly sidewalk but I ignored them. The im-possibility of Denny before me was all I could focus on. After another long moment, when Denny started looking around, like he didn’t know what to say, I sputtered, “You’re back…in Seattle?” He looked at me and smiled and I felt stupidity flow right through me.

Of course he was back…I was staring right at him. Shaking my head, I added, “I mean why are you back?” Closing my eyes, knowing I was sounding rude and flustered, I took a deep breath before I spoke again.

Reopening them, I calmly told him, “I mean…it’s good to see you.” He ran a hand through his hair, biting his lip before answering. “It’s good to see you too.”

Shaking my head at him, only one thought kept crashing around my head. Well, second thought really, right behind the first one that I’d already rudely asked him. Thinking this one wasn’t quite so rude, I allowed myself to ask it. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” Fourteen hour flights weren’t exactly spur of the moment things after all, and Denny and I did talk on occasion, although, not since Kellan had left, back in November.

Denny looked around the street, then over to the coffee shop Cheyenne and I had been heading towards. He motioned to it with his hand.

“Do you want to go inside? Talk somewhere…warm.” He shivered and I smiled, knowing that he was used to warmer climes now, especially this time of year.

After I nodded an agreement, we silently walked towards the shop.

Walking beside him, a small part of me wanted to hold his hand. It was odd to feel that way, after so much time apart, but it was still in me, 281



somewhere. I didn’t, though. I’d made a promise to be true to Kellan, a promise encircled on my finger. I wasn’t about to break it.

Denny paused at the door, holding it open for me like the gentleman he was. I smiled and thanked him and he looked away, a flush lightly coloring his tanned face. It would seem I wasn’t the only one holding onto a lingering attraction. But I knew Denny wouldn’t do anything about it either. He was loyal when he was with someone, and right now, he was with Abby. As we moved to order our drinks, I idly wondered if she was in the city with him.

I ordered a latte, Denny ordered tea. I smiled at the familiarity of it all.

Sitting at a quiet booth, we both sipped our steaming cups in silence. I was the one that broke it first. “So, do you need your car back?” I cringed, both over asking him that right out of the gate, and at the fact that Anna had so girlified his vehicle that he probably wouldn’t want it back. Denny smiled and shook his head. “No, the company got me a rental. You can keep it.” He tilted his head and smiled warmly before returning to his mug.

I cleared my throat, tucking some hair behind my ears. “The company? So, you’re here for work?”