I hadn’t seen Nick in ages. At least eight or nine years, if not longer. He’d changed a lot since then, filling out his lanky body with hard muscles that looked really damn good under the black T-shirt and dusty jeans he wore. Tattoos covered his forearms—an Ace of Hearts, a four-leaf clover, a black cat, cherries, a couple of flowers. His blond hair had been cut into a mullet, and I was even more shocked by how good it looked on him. Silver piercings gleamed on the shells of his ears, his square jaw firm, gaze searching mine.
Holy shit. He was drop-dead gorgeous. Panty-melting hot.
“Hey, stranger,” he said with a half-smile.
Oakley stood up across from me, his lips curling into a snarl. “Just who the fuck do you think you are? I’m trying to get laid, you tattooed freak?—”
“Leave. Now.” All the sweet warmth I’d just felt from Nick turned sharp and cold, aimed right at my date. He glowered at Oakley, his jaw ticking. “You don’t want trouble with me.”
The way he said that sent a chill up my spine. Oakley’s eyes darted between us, then he tossed his hands in the air, marching off. Dust kicked up from his boots as he stomped straight to his truck and peeled out of the parking lot.
My shoulders deflated. Well, fuck. Not that I was enjoying that date, I wasn’t. I’d wanted him to leave. But this felt like another failure to add to all the other failures that painted the ugly canvas of my dating life. “Well. I guess my date is a bust.”
Nick slid into the seat across from me smoothly. “Doesn’t have to be.”
My brows shot up.
Nick grew up in the little Texas town of Whynot, just like me. He used to go to school with Austin, my best friend’s older brother, but the two of them were always at each other’s throats. Austin and Nick were always rivals. I couldn’t remember there ever being someone Austin hated more than Nick, aside from Avery’s ex and a couple other bad people. But Nick had never beenbad. Maybe a bad boy, yeah, but not a bad person. And admittedly, I’d had one too many fantasies about the two of them years and years ago.
They hated each other.
And yet here he was. Austin’s high school rival had just rescued me from an awful date.
I couldn’t believe he was sitting right here in front of me. After he graduated, he disappeared from Whynot. We’d never been close, of course. I didn’t even think he knew I existed.
“What the hell are you doing here, of all places?” I finally asked. “Also, how do you even remember me?”
“I’m surprised you remember me, actually,” he said with a grin. “It’s been a long time.”
Oh god, that grin was just as lethal as it had been back in the day. When he was in high school, Nick was all trouble. Smoking, drinking, chasing girls. I remembered hearing a rumor that he got suspended for giving someone a piercing in the bathroom.
“It’s been ages,” I said. “I think we talked once . . . maybe twice.”
“Three times, actually.” His dimples kept shining like stars. “Sorry if I scared you. I stopped by this place on my way back from work last week and it’s been my new routine. I overheard the two of you, and I recognized you after a moment. You looked a little out of place here, so you caught my eye, and then it clicked.”
I blushed, looking down at myself. I was wearing one of my favorite dresses. It was denim with a short skirt and a deep V neckline that looked really damn good on me. With my favorite cowgirl boots and cherry red lipstick, I’d shown up to this date with high hopes forsomething.
Maybe . . . just maybe Nick was that something.
“To be clear, you looked out of place because you’re gorgeous.”
I raised a brow. “Nice save.”
Nick leaned forward, resting his chin on his hands. It was a bad sign that the direct eye contact with him felt like a win. Almost like . . . almost like there was chemistry here.
Was I imagining things? Surely I was. Avery and June were not going to believe this when I told them thatNick Steelehad rescued me tonight.
“So you live here now?” he asked.
“Oh, no,” I said. “No. I’m still in Whynot. I run Whynot Treat Yourself, which is the local bakery.”
His eyes lit up. “Do you really? It’s all yours?”
“It is.” My chest warmed with pride. “I started it about five years ago. I’ve always loved baking. That’s how I made extra money when I was a teen.”
“I remember you being the reason we had cookies for graduation,” he said thoughtfully. My eyes lingered on the way his smile softened his features. I remembered him as cute and dangerous, but now he wassexyand dangerous. The mullet was really doing something for me. “They were . . . snickerdoodle? I think? And chocolate chip, of course. But there was another one I’d never had before I still think about to this day.”
“Maybe the chocolate mint bomb,” I said excitedly. “I still make those. They sell out fast when I have them available. You should come to the bakery some time if you’re ever out toward Whynot. Do you live in the area still, or . . .?”