Page 3 of Cheyenne

“Hmm.”

“I have to run.”

He sighed. “I love you. Have a good trip.”

Praise the Lord, he was backing down. “Bye. I love you too.” She hung up the phone before he could change his mind.

“Chey …” Eli looked a little unsure, carefully making his way closer. “Is that you?”

She gave him an awkward wave. “Hi.”

A dazzling smile appeared on his face. “I just wanted to say hi.” He pointed back at her place. “I noticed you walked out of the condo adjacent to mine. Well, strike that,” he said, his face flushing. He was clearly nervous. “At least, I hoped it was you. What are you doing here?”

It was like she had been thrown into some romance movie, and she didn’t know what to say. “I, uh …” Her mouth was dry, her palms clammy. “Just came down to enjoy spring break.”

Their chance meeting felt a lot more than serendipitous. After she’d broken up with him last year, he’d stalked her for a bit, ‘accidentally’ running into her in random places … but then he’d gone to law school at Duke and she hadn’t seen ‘hide nor hair of him,’ as her father would say.

“By yourself?” He put his hands up in surprise and let out a laugh. “Wow. This is …” He glanced away before pinning her with his gaze again. “This is crazy.”

Her heart was finally calming down. “Yeah, it is crazy.”

For a long time, they stared at each other. The past year had been hard emotionally for her, not that she’d told a lot of peopleabout it. She missed Eli, even though she’d been the one to break things off.

She coughed. “So … what are you doing here?”

“I’m on spring break, too. But my friends don’t show up until tomorrow.”

She wanted to believe him. He looked really good. They’d met in debate class and he’d smoked her. She’d been interested in debate and wanted to learn; he’d been a seasoned debater at the university, and the way he could convince people of almost anything when he wanted to … well, that had been attractive to her.

He hadn’t been able to convince her to get married, though.

His eyes swept her up and down, and he opened his arms. “Can I have a hug? I mean, for heaven’s sake, this is crazy.”

It was impossible, but her heart was beating faster. He was tall, dark, and handsome with his black hair and stunning blue eyes. Manners were drilled into her, and she let out a light laugh that seemed to get caught in her throat. “Of course.”

She walked into his arms. He smelled just like she remembered—like sandalwood and cedar. She had always loved that about him.

He pulled back and searched her face. “So … how have you been?” After the breakup, they’d both agreed to break off contact on social media.

“Good. And how’s your senior year?” She faltered a bit. “How’s Duke?”

A smile flashed across his face. “Everything I dreamed it would be.”

She nodded. He’d wanted a high-profile school, something to get the taste of Montana washed out of his mouth, and he’d gotten it. “That’s good.”

He nodded, seeming to drink her in with his eyes. “Do you have dinner plans?”

She hesitated. “Uh …”

He waved a hand. “Never mind. It’s all good. You can’t fault a guy for trying, right?” He started moving toward his condo, then shrugged and turned back. “It would just be dinner, Chey. I have friends from law school flying in tomorrow, so I’ll be busy. We could just catch up.”

She hedged. Then she thought of being alone all week, and she caved. How much harm could it do? “Okay.”

He squinted his eyes. She’d always loved that beautiful shade of blue. “If you want—I did a little research—there’s a really good Italian place just down the street. I was going to walk. It’s about a mile. If you’d rather, we could drive.”

Even though Cheyenne felt a tad skittish, she pushed those feelings away and decided to be the determined, strong person her brothers never treated her as. “I’d love to. What time do you want to go?”

CHAPTER 2

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