Chapter 2

Liam

Well, damn. I was not expecting this. I didn't want to go out in the rain when I thought my workday was over. I was looking forward to eating pizza with the basketball game on in the background while I did the accounts for the past week.

But everyone else in the area was refusing the call thanks to the storm that's rolling in fast, and I like to keep my good reputation with the roadside assistance plans I'm signed up under.

So, I'm in a pretty surly mood driving out in the rain, looking for the unlucky idiot who went off the road and hit a tree. If this person even has one whiff of alcohol on their breath, I'm not going to be cool about it.

Then I see the red sports car, its hood firmly attached to a pine tree, and a small figure huddled against the driver's side, getting drenched.

Imagine my surprise to see it's Kayla Woods. How do I recognize her from the glowing princess she used to be when we went to the same schools? She was so perfect, prim, and proper, it was easy to tease her. Very satisfying to get under her skin and even more so when she'd get irritated enough to try to bite back.

I didn't see her for a few years after I started high school, until she showed up as one of the many shy freshmen. My buddies and I didn't want to waste too much time picking on the poor souls, but since we'd been hazed by the older kids when we came up, it seemed only right to carry on the tradition.

Kayla was good at everything and so damn pretty. Excellent grades, on all the school committees, even played volleyball that year. Long after we older kids grew bored of teasing freshmen, I found out Kayla was still being bullied.

Our paths crossed once in a while, and I finally noticed some of her "friends" weren't acting very friendly. The tears in Kayla's blue eyes made my fists clench and I started paying attention.

"Do you think anyone like that could ever like you?" one of them sneered one day, "Look at you, scarecrow." She reached over and tangled up Kayla's pin straight golden hair. "Would any guy want to run his fingers through this straw, let alone a hot senior guy?"

All the others cackled like deranged witches. I saw it for what it was. Pure jealousy. Kayla was anything but a scarecrow.

"We all know he has a crush on you , Lizzie," one said, sucking up to their leader and purposely scuffing Kayla's shoes.

It was at this point Kayla looked over their shoulders and saw me standing at the corner nearby. Her face lost all its burning color and the desperation in her tear-filled eyes had me striding over before I could think.

The moment the one little shrew saw I was there I could tell it was me they'd been talking about. She looked like she wanted to sink into a hole and never reappear. Sounded like a great plan to me.

"Do any of you whiny babies think any guy outside of kindergarten would be interested in you?" I asked with a harsh laugh, turning to the one who'd kicked Kayla's foot. "And you should probably stop stalking me before I have to take out a restraining order. It's getting embarrassing."

That one put her face in her hands while the others laughed nervously. The only thing I cared about was that Kayla's tears had dried up. I reached for her wrist and dragged her away from them, walking her to the end of the hall. The sound of the girls scrabbling not to be the new lowest in the pecking order made me roll my eyes.

"Sorry," Kayla whispered when we turned the corner.

I wanted to tell her she had nothing to be sorry for. I wanted to tell her she'd definitely have a chance if she hadn't been unlucky enough to be born three years before me. If my reality wasn't so bleak that I had time or money to spare for a girlfriend.

If she hadn't been so far out of my league.

"Make better friends," I snapped, stomping off to my next class.

We barely interacted after that. My life was collapsing and it took all my strength to keep it from crushing me. But I made sure that nobody ever ganged up on her again and by the time I graduated, she was doing fine on her own.

Now, she's anything but perfect. Soaked to the skin, her golden blond hair that I remember cascading straight down her back is clinging to her head in long ringlets. Her short-sleeved sweater has pine needles clinging to it and her sneakers, which probably started out pristine, are caked in mud. A fern frond is tangled around one ankle.

She's more beautiful than I remember. She looks shocked to see me and once I have her bundled into the car and wrapped in a blanket, I can tell she's desperately trying to think of a comeback for me basically calling her a turkey.

As soon as we're driving toward town, she raises her chin to me, shrugs off the blanket, and says, "It was so hot before the rain started." She reaches over and swivels the heat vents away from her.

Goosebumps immediately raise on her arms.

"Yeah, real refreshing out there now," I say, grinning at her scowl. "How the hell are you, Kayla? It's been years."

"How do you even remember me?" she asks.

It's then that it hits me she may have no clue who I am. The wind goes out of my sails. "Uh, we used to go to school together. I'm—"

"I know who you are, Liam," she interrupts.

We both talk over each other for several sentences and end up laughing before settling into reminiscing about various teachers we both shared. I want to really take her in, but have to keep my eyes on the road with the rain lashing down harder than before. I make do with stolen glances as she tries to get a signal on her phone. She's not the same at all, really. She's a grown woman now, and the three years between us don't mean anything anymore. The chasm of our social status hasn't filled in at all, though. Still, I can't keep my eyes off her. She's hotter than hell now.

The wet clothes cling to her body, and her curves, in her form fitting jeans and top, make me much too warm, so I turn the heater off altogether. With another glance I see drops fall from her hair onto her nose, then onto her lush lower lip, giving me an almost uncontrollable urge to lean over and lick it off.

How about getting us back to the shop alive, instead?

At my garage, I pull in out of the rain and hustle her into the shop as a crack of thunder snaps off the lights. Kayla jumps, peering at me through the gloomy office area.

"I was going to offer to let you use the phone if you still can't get any signal, but we'll have to wait for the power to come back." We can't see anything past the sheets of water streaming down the office window. "It's not safe to head back out in this but I'll drive you wherever you need to go when it lets up."

She shivers again and I have to strain not to rub some warmth into her smooth, slender arms. "It's fine," she says in a resigned voice. "Not like I was in a hurry anyway." Two more thunderclaps have her jumping closer to me.

"I live right behind and have candles. And chairs that aren't covered in motor oil."

In my house, I flip all the switches automatically. They're still dead, so I find the emergency candles and light them, then pull her over to peer into the nearly empty fridge. She turns to me with a smirk.

"Oh boy, I've never been great at making decisions when there's so much to choose from."

I smirk right back and hand her a bottle of water. "I eat at the place up the street most of the time. This was supposed to be pizza night."

Her stomach rumbles and she claps her hand to her middle before laughing. "That sounds amazing. I'm sure my mother has a three-course meal prepared for my homecoming."

"And pizza still sounds amazing?"

She nods. "You're talking about Ronny's, right? God, I loved their pepperoni and pineapple."

"Yeah, with banana peppers," I say.

The lights go back on and I almost groan that our time might be up, but end up laughing at her as she blinks at the overheads flickering. I keep laughing until she puts her hands on her hips.

"What?" she demands.

I reach out and pull some pine needles out of her hair, holding them up. "Here, maybe you can make a snack out of them later."

Her cheeks blaze. "You remember what a weirdo I was?"

"You weren't a weirdo, you had an imagination." And yes, I remember everything about her.

She can't seem to decide what to say, and self-consciously tries to smooth her tangled hair. I grab her hand and shake my head. "It looks great."

With a snort, she points out the window at the storm. "Is it still too dangerous to drive?"

"Depends on how much of a death wish you have. But you can probably get a call out now."

I can't let her know how badly I need to keep her here, at least a little while longer. Now that she's dropped back into my life, I don't want to lose her again. Despite everything, she's going to be mine this time around.

She shakes her head slowly. "I was just thinking about that pizza." Her smile squeezes my heart. "Look, we're already soaked, and Ronny's is what—half a block from here?"

"I like your thinking," I tell her, grabbing an umbrella from the closet.

On the porch, I open it and hold it over our heads. We look at the wall of water and then at each other. I hold out my hand and she takes it, and we run out into the rain.