Her Forever Hero (Unexpected Heroes #3)(2)

From the sound of his voice, she could tell he was standing at a distance, probably in the entryway to the room. So he hadn’t stepped inside yet. She turned slowly and looked him in the eye for the first time in many years.

“I forgot what it was like to live in a small town. There’s no such thing as privacy,” she said acerbically.

And then their eyes met and something shifted deep within her. Only one person had ever made her feel an unquenchable love that consumed the entire heart, and what a fool she’d been to think time and distance would make that feeling go away. Not even another lover had diminished the feeling.

Even worse was knowing that, although his features might appear composed to anyone else, she once had known his soul, and for one unguarded fraction of a second she saw surprise leap into his expression before he snapped the shutters closed and gave her a cool, nearly mocking look.

The moment was so brief that she wondered if maybe her heart was asking her to see something that really wasn’t there. Maybe her traitorous emotions were just reaching for something familiar.

To ward off the pain, she allowed all-too-familiar anger to pour through her fragile bones. How many times and in how many ways had she tried to forget this man? And in a single millisecond, all of that hard work almost came to naught when she misread something in Cam’s eyes.

One look at him had slid back the bolt she’d placed on her heart. Although she’d called him a liar, a cheater, a heartbreaker, it was really she who deserved to be scolded, because she was the biggest liar of them all. She’d lied to herself for years, almost enough that she’d started believing those lies.

The velvety sound of his voice slowly brought her back from her grim thoughts. “That’s certainly true. You can’t do anything here without it being broadcast at full volume by morning light.” His tone was light, careless. That was Cam—the life of the party, and everyone’s best friend.

He was also the guy who’d decided she just wasn’t good enough for him.

“It’s good to see you, Grace. I’ve missed you.”

She stared at him incredulously for a few heartbeats, before her lips curled into a smirk. The lyrics of an old Rihanna hit, “Take a Bow,” flooded her mind. He certainly was good at putting on a show, but she wouldn’t be fooled by him ever again.

“Well, now that you’ve seen me, you can go,” she replied, syrupy-sweet sarcasm in her voice.

“Have you spoken to anyone since you’ve been back?”

“Do you listen when I speak?” she countered.

“I haven’t spoken to you in nearly ten years, so I guess we’ll find out.” He leaned against the doorframe and smiled, the smile that had haunted her for so long.

“No. I haven’t spoken to anyone because I haven’t been ready to announce my return.”

“Are you staying?”

“That’s really none of your business,” she told him.

Without taking notice of her clear dismissal, he told her, “I’m meeting a client at the offices in an hour, but I should be out of there by five. Why don’t I pick you up and bring you to my dad’s so you can visit with everyone? I’m sure they’ll be more than thrilled to see you.”

“Not gonna happen.”

He stared at her quizzically for a few seconds before speaking. “Come on, Grace. You’ve been gone a long time. The prom queen is back, and you know your court will want to hold a ball.”

He thought he was so amusing.

“It’s funny you should mention that particular event, considering you promised to come back and take me to the dance. But your new girlfriend most certainly wouldn’t have approved of that. No, you had become a college stud by that point.” The bitterness in her tone gave away far more than she wanted, but she couldn’t rein her feelings in. Her heart thudded like a galloping Thoroughbred at the chance to say what she’d bottled up all these years.

“That was a long time ago, Grace. I think we’re both mature enough to let bygones be bygones.”

“I don’t forget anything, Cam.”

“We were young and foolish back then, and both of us made mistakes. It doesn’t mean we can’t be friends now,” he said, and took a step toward her.

No. That wasn’t what she wanted. She needed him to retreat, not come closer.

“That’s exactly what it means, Cam. I don’t want to sit around having idle chitchat, I don’t want to reminisce about the past, and I don’t want to be friends with you.”

“What happened to the girl who used to laugh and dream and always reach for the stars?” he replied.

“That girl has been dead and gone for a long time,” she said, her voice firm, her manner stiff. “If she ever really existed in the first place. You can see yourself out.” With that, she turned back to the lonely piano and once again sat on the hard bench. Even when she heard his steps retreating down the porch stairs, she refused to look.

Grace’s shoulders sagged once she knew he was gone. Coming back hadn’t been a good idea—not a good idea at all. Camden Whitman still had far too much pull over her emotions. But hell would freeze over before she ever let him know that.





SIX MONTHS LATER

“You know, it’s customary for the best man and maid of honor to dance.”