Page 1 of Fumbled Love

CHAPTER1

KINLEY

“What do you mean,my flight is canceled?” I was on the verge of tears as I stared at the gate agent behind the ticket counter. The day was already off to a bad start before I even left for the airport. Thanks to the near-standstill traffic, I barely made it here on time. I’d taken the entire week off to spend with my family. If only I had booked an earlier flight like I had planned.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but there are snowstorms up along the East Coast and all flights are grounded.” She stared down at her computer monitor and clicked away at her keyboard. Her tone implied she was anything but sorry. “The earliest I can get you out is on Saturday, at 10:05 a.m.”

“That’s three days away.” She couldn’t be serious. I frantically scanned the kiosks showing the arrivals and departures. Sure enough, everything was delayed or canceled. “You do realize Thanksgiving is tomorrow, right?” I wanted to cry at the thought. This would have been the first Thanksgiving I spent with my family in four years. “Surely, there has to be a way to get the other passengers and me there before then?”

“I’m afraid not.” She didn’t look like she was going to relent anytime soon. “There is a staffing shortage as well due to the holiday.” She shrugged. “It looks like we will both be stuck here for Thanksgiving.”

My eyebrows shot up to my hairline. “That’s not my problem. I paid over seven hundred dollars for that ticket.”

The news had been reporting nonstop about the Nor’easter shutting down the East Coast. They’ve had plenty of time to prepare for this. I even checked my app before I left, and it only showed one flight delay. I knew there was a chance my flight would get canceled, but I was hopeful they could get me there by tomorrow. I glanced around to see if there was a place to sit, so I could pull my laptop out and search for other options,but all the seats were filled with pissed-off travelers, complaining everywhere I turned. I thought about renting a car for a quick second, but looking at the blizzard building up outside, it didn’t seem like a safe choice.

“Ma’am. We are doing the best we can here. We have no control over the weather.”

“But you do have control over making sure you’re staffed properly, correct?” My hands went to my hips in frustration. “Like for the busiest travel holiday of the year?”

“Ma’am.” She looked over the frame of her glasses like she was exhausted from trying to explain this to me.

I smacked my palms on the counter, causing her head to bolt up from the keyboard. “Will you stop calling me ma’am!”

I was at the end of my rope and on the verge of losing it in the middle of the crowded airport. My mother and grandmother were counting on me being there, and I was looking forward to seeing them.

“I’m sorry, do you mind?” I jolted at the deep voice that came from behind me. I turned my head and was ready to tell the little intruder that, yes, I did mind. But when my eyes locked on his, my only response was a blank stare. It took me a minute to process what was happening.

His hair was dark, and his skin was tanned from all the hours he spent throwing a football around on the field. I knew that damn face. It looked different and yet exactly the same. I used to write about how handsome he was and drew little hearts next to his name in my high school diary.

Deep brown eyes framed by thick lashes swept over me like they were seeing me for the first time. This could not be happening right now. Either karma was a bitch, or the island of Manhattan wasn’t as big as I thought it was.

There was no way in a city of eight million people it could be him. I never believed in fate before, but what were the odds of this happening? My teenage crush, actually every female at Henninger High, had a thing for Maverick Cross. He was the boy every girl wanted to date and the big man on campus all the guys wanted to be friends with.

The corner of his mouth kicked up into a cocky grin. “Hey, doll, could you please stop staring?” He gripped my suitcase and pushed it aside. “And if you kindly move out of my way, I might feel generous enough and let you take a picture with me for all your friends.”

I smashed my lips together. There were so many retorts on the tip of my tongue, but my head was spinning so fast that I couldn’t form a response.

He leaned in close and whispered in my ear, “I would appreciate your discretion.” He looked over his shoulder at the small crowd gathering behind us.

“Discretion?” Momentarily confused, I blinked up at him.

He looked me up and down, and I suddenly grew self-conscious. Seeing him up close and getting a good look at that five o’clock shadow in all its glory made my knees go weak. A ripple of goose bumps broke across my skin because he was a million times hotter than he was in high school. I found myself pulling my coat tighter around my shoulders because I didn’t know what to do with myself. “Don’t play cute and try to act like you don’t know who I am.” His smile was smug. “The last thing I need is all the autograph seekers stopping me from making my flight.” He placed his hand on my hip and tried to edge his way to the counter.

My palm landed squarely on his ridiculously hard chest. Ugh. Why the hell did he have to fill out like that. “I don’t think so, buddy.”

He angled his head to the side. “Oh, I get it. You’re a fan girl. What will it take to move things along here? I’m trying to get home for the holidays, and you’re holding up the line.” He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “What do you want? Tickets to a game? Box seats? A signed jersey?”

He flashed me a grin that probably got him what he wanted ninety-nine percent of the time. And then it hit me.You’re obviously a fan girl.Holy Shit! He didn’t recognize me. Talk about being rendered speechless.

“Are you serious right now? Fan girl?” I stared up into his stupidly handsome face that only got better looking with age and waited for a flicker of recognition to cross his features. But it never came. He had no clue that I was his sister’s best friend or that I had been secretly in love with him since I was fourteen.

Maverick was three years older than Rylee and me. We didn’t travel in the same social circles when we were younger, not just because of the age difference, mainly because he was a jock and I was just the shy, nerdy girl. I carried a bookbag instead of pom-poms.

He hasn’t seen me in twelve years, but he should still recognize me. Mortification, like I’d never felt before, hit me square in the chest. What I initially thought was fate was actually kind of depressing. My teenage heart cracked into tiny, itty-bitty pieces.

“Does it look like I’m joking?” His tone implied he was serious, but then he flashed a cute little grin at the woman behind the counter.

I folded my arms across my chest. “Do you honestly think you can just waltz up and smile your way to the front of the line?”

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