Page 79 of The One
Trista
At the track? I thought I saw you pull in.
Me
Plan on being at the office tomorrow unless you hear otherwise.
Trista
Got it.
Me
And, Trista … thank you.
I slipped the phone into the inside pocket of my suit jacket and got out of the car, walking to the bleachers that were on the right side of the track. The metal should have felt cool beneath me when I took a seat in the third row, but the truth was, I could have put my ass on a block of ice and I wouldn’t have known.
There was too much fire inside me.
Each flame caused my stomach to churn. My head to pound. My hands were damp enough that I rubbed them over my gray pants, and they immediately turned clammy again.
It didn’t matter if I was walking up the rows of bleachers or trying to find a position that didn’t ache, my eyes stayed on her.
Dressed in a pair of tight, bike-style shorts and a zip-up that clung to her torso, she was three-quarters of the way around the track when she stopped. When her fingers, which hung at her sides, wiggled before they clenched into fists.
If I hadn’t already felt her gaze on me, then the way she’d halted would have told me she’d spotted me. But the intensity of her stare was hitting me in a way where I could feel it on every inch of my body.
This wasn’t the look she’d given me when she was on the other side of the volleyball net and my eyes locked with hers for the very first time.
That was untarnished.
Too innocent.
A time before I knew the sound of her voice. Before I knew the feel of her skin.
Before I’d ever caught one of her tears.
The look that passed between us now was of two people who had experienced some of the hardest parts of life.
Even if it wasn’t together.
I stood from the metal bench, shoving my hands into my pockets. “I just want to talk.”
I knew my voice was loud enough.
Hell, Lainey would have heard me even if I’d whispered.
Her head dropped. Her chest was rising and falling, which had nothing to do with her trying to catch her breath from the walk. Lainey’s body was fit; she could handle any pace.
The reason for her heavy breathing was me.
“Please, Lainey.”
She glanced up.
The fire in my chest moved into my throat. “I only need a couple of minutes.”
That was a fucking lie.
