Page 15 of Off Trail Love
“You flirt right back,” I tease. “Plus, you’re the one who kissed me.”
“You should just forget that kiss ever happened.”
“Why would I do that?”
This time, she stops walking and turns to face me. “Jack Freaking Donovan. You can’t say things like that.”
I stare her down. “And why not?”
“Because you declared war.”
“A prank war. With all of our usual flirting. Though, I do miss the touching and innocent bumps. We always seemed to do that back in high school.” I risk it and wink. Pink creeps back up her cheeks.
She bites her lip, and I can’t tear my eyes away—I don’t want to. I want to kiss her again. Flirting with her is even more fun than it used to be, and I want more.
“We shouldn’t touch,” she says finally, but she takes a step toward me. “That would be a bad idea.”
“Why would that be bad, love?” I give her the grin that was always reserved only for her, and her eyes widen.
“Just, because.”
“You don’t have a boyfriend, do you? A fiancé?”
She grimaces. “I wouldn’t have kissed you yesterday if I was into someone else. I’m not like some people.”
Her words feel like a jab, one that I’m still trying to make sense of when she says, “Not that I’m interested in you. I’m just saying, I wouldn’t tell someone that I’m interested in them and then go and kiss someone else.”
She takes a step away, putting the space back between us. I want to close the gap, but she starts walking.
“I did have a fiancé, though,” she tells me. “I ended things about nine months ago.”
It feels like my stomach is full of the rocks I put in her pack. “You were engaged?”
She nods. “I was. His name is Liam. We met when I started working at his family’s agency after I finished college. We dated for about six months before he proposed, and we were engaged for another six months. The wedding was planned. I even had a dress picked out.”
I think I’m going to be sick. I knew that Maggie had never beenmine,but even in my head, the only person she ever ended up with was me.
“But then I realized we were too different. He was too impulsive and too married to his work. I want to settle down and have a family, and he didn’t. So I called it off.”
An awkward silence fills the air when I don’t reply, because I’m trying to take it all in.
“Anyway, now that I’ve told you way too much about my life, I’m going to go hike with Fiona.”
CHAPTER TEN
maggie
I tryto focus on the clouds that are forming above us in the sky, but all I can think about is how men always seem to ruin everything. Stupid men, always ruining my plans. No. Stupidmanalways ruining my well-laid-out plan. Jack Freaking Donovan is slipping back into the cracks of my heart and I’m just watching it happen. I’m telling him my history like I want him to be my future.
And the worst part? I don’t think I hate that he’s slipping through the cracks.
When I found those rocks in my pack this morning, my heart did a funny little flip just like it did last night at the restaurant. Because it meant that Jack still wants to give me attention. And I know I should hate that. I know that letting him slip into the cracks—the cracks that he put in my heart—is the worst possible thing ever, but I can’t seem to make it stop.
Then, when we were talking, it took everything in me to not reach out and hold his hand, just like I would in all of my high school daydreams. But I couldn’t do that. I can’t do that. He’s a flirt and he’ll always be a flirt, and I can’t fall for a flirt again.
“Are you really not mad about the rocks?” Fiona asks for the millionth time, breaking into my thoughts.
“Nope,” I say. And I’m not. I’m already plotting how to get him back.
