Page 1 of Thought You Were the One
Mercer
ThedayGawainPiazziwaltzed back into my life, things definitely looked up.
My high school crush stepped into Fifties Diner just as I was leaving.I halted, nearly knocking Sarabeth off her feet.
Gawain smiled as he caught my stare.“Going somewhere?”
“I was about to go home.”
Sarabeth scooted around me and headed into the main dining area.“Careful, Mercer.”
Whether she was warning me about standing in the middle of the diner, gaping like a landed fish, or she was warning me to protect my vulnerable heart, I couldn’t be certain.
Gawain sized me up—his gaze raking up and down my body.
I did my best not to harden under the scrutiny.I wasn’t a fifteen-year-old boy anymore.I was twenty-eight.A man.The man in my house.
Which left an ache in my chest.I would’ve done anything to have my parents back, but life hadn’t worked out like that.They were gone.I ran the business and supported my three younger siblings.
Life moved on.
Except at this moment, when I wanted to rewind to high school graduation.I’d come within a breath of telling Gawain how I felt about him.Then his twin brother had tackled him, and the moment had been lost forever.Both men had fallen entirely off my radar as neither had, to the best of my knowledge, returned to Mission City.Apparently, our little corner of southwest British Columbia didn’t merit a visit.Either that, or I’d been so wrapped up in my grief that no one else had mattered.
Well, Andie, Korden, and Deanna mattered.All three of my siblings had managed to graduate high school.Korden had even finished college and was working as a medical assistant in a lab in nearby Vancouver.Andie and Deanna were still toiling away, racking up huge tuition bills as they went.But one was on track to be a vet, and one was going to be a pilot.So, money well spent.
“Mercer, right?”Gawain gazed at me with those piercing dark-brown eyes of his.He was Italian on his father’s side and Welsh on his mother’s.
“Yeah.I’m amazed you remember me.”We hadn’t been close.At least not as close as I’d hoped we might be.
Gawain waved me off.“I remember everyone from high school.Mission City Collegiate all the way, right?”
“Sure.”
He and Giovani had been popular in high school.I…hadn’t been.
Sarabeth reappeared.“Table for one?”She gazed at Gawain, just as handsome as ever.
In turn, he looked at me.“Keep me company?I mean, if you don’t mind me eating in front of—”
“It’s fine.”Oh my God, oh my God, stay calm.“I still have a bit of room.Might have a milkshake.”I’d put in a long day at work.Stopping for a quick chili dog had been a treat.Staying for a blueberry milkshake and some time with my former crush would totally be worth it.
“Great.”He turned his attention back to Sarabeth.“Booth for two.”
She indicated toward the back.“Any of the two-seaters on the left.”
Gawain looped his arm in mine and coaxed me to the last booth at the back.
I removed my jacket and slid in opposite him, only then noticing the paint stain on my shirt.Too late to put the jacket back on…hopefully he won’t notice…
He snagged a menu and started perusing.“You know, I don’t think anything’s changed in the last ten years.”
I have.I’ve changed.I’m a different person.But I wouldn’t say that.“I think they’ve added a couple of milkshake flavors.”
He glanced at the list, running his finger down it—his long, sexy finger.
What would it be like if he— “I think I’m going to have the steak dinner.A good T-bone will fill me right up.”He patted his flat stomach.
My cock jumped to life.The man was just as attractive as he’d been in high school.Filled out, perhaps.A bit more heft to the bulk—but in all the good ways.
