Page 13 of All Too Well
I walk up to the door and knock.
I can’t imagine anyone actually paying to stay in this place, especially driving a new car.
“Who’s there?” a vaguely familiar feminine voice calls from the other side.
“This is the fire department. Can you please open the door?”
“No, thank you.I’m fine.”
I jerk my head back. Well, okay. “Ma’am, I need to check on the safety of the electrical panel as well as any fire alarms installed.”
“I see them. We’re good.”
Is this woman for real? I knock again. “Please don’t make me call the police department and have them come.”
I hear a grunt, and then the door flies open only to have me rock back on my heels. It’s been four years since I’ve seen Ainsley MacKinley. The woman I’ve loved for far too long. The woman whose heart I broke, breaking my own at the same time.
For four years I’ve kept away from her, pretending she was still the girl next door who was much too young.
This girl—thiswoman—is nothing like that image, and it knocks me on my ass.
Instead, Ainsley is slender with curves in every place a woman should have them. Her hair is long, pulled to the side in a braid, and she’s wearing leggings and a crop top with glasses perched on her nose.
Only they don’t make her look dorky. She looks smart and fucking stunning.
“Hi, Lach. Good to see you. Sorry, I’m working and I didn’t know that you were stopping by. As you can see, the place is perfectly lovely and safe. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
Before the most beautiful pain in my ass can shut the door, I push my hand out to stop it from closing. “Why in the hell are you in Ember Falls, and what in God’s name are you doing staying in this shithole of a cabin, Ainsley?”
four
Ainsley
The nerve.
The freaking balls on this guy. Not that I’m looking at that region. No, I’m smiling and imagining that I can shoot fire out of my eyeballs as I come face-to-face with Lachlan and all his ... deliciousness.
Seriously, he’s so damn hot. More than my mind let me remember. He’s tall and broad shouldered. Every part of him is better than the stupid dreams that have haunted me. His jaw tics as he waits for an answer.
I force the brightest smile I can muster. “I’m here for work.”
“And stayinghere?”
“It’s the only accommodations I could find on short notice.”
I mean, there was that seedy motel. In hindsight, I should’ve done the hourly place, maybe that would’ve had hot water. Instead, I’m in this ... cabin, if you can even call it that. It’s definitely not the lodge it was described as online.
But I’m a grown woman. The Admiral used to take us camping every summer, and I can hack it. I’m strong.
Even though I want to pack my bags and run.
“Why wouldn’t you call me?”
I blink. “I was going to once I was settled in.”
I don’t really have a choice since I’m writing an article on him, but that’s beside the point.
The real reason is that I didn’t want to face him. I’ve done my absolute best to forget him, and I’ve done a good job of it.
