Page 13 of Meant to Be
He shifted his head back slightly, even as his arm continued to band her to him. His eyes morphed from annoyed to intrigued.
“You never did anything without a plan. There’s more to your moving here than you’re telling, but I don’t feel like having this discussion in my sister’s home. So, how about we take this where we can have a drink and you can explain to me what’s going on?”
Sydney didn’t want to tell him what was going on, but she couldn’t turn down spending time with him either.
“Do you still like Moscato?”
She bit back her smile. He remembered something about her that didn’t involve their breakup after all. “Now I preferGewürztraminer.”
“Right. Wine with sugar.” He flashed her a grin that didn’t quite reach his eyes, and yet, she might have melted to the floor if his arm wasn’t still around her. It was both thrilling and annoying that he still had that effect on her.
“Y’all go have fun.” Lexie’s voice came from up the hall. “Unless you want to stay for a late supper.”
Mitch dropped his arm. Sydney stepped away, missing the contact.
“We ain’t eating here. I know what’s been on your table.”
“I don’t care if you carry a gun, Mitchell Cornelius McKenna, I’ll lay you flat.”
Sydney’s brows knitted as she looked down the hall toward Lexie.Cornelius? And what had been on the table?
“We should go. She really can lay me flat.”
Mitch usedthe drive to fortify himself against Sydney and his own memories of what they’d had. When he had touched her in Lexie’s home, his intention was simply to stop her from leaving before finding out why she was there. It had been a mistake because to feel her against him, to have her exotic, sweet scent envelop him, erased everything but the longing. Not just a sexual hunger, but an ache to have the love they’d had before. During the drive, he focused on the pain and bitterness she’d brought to his life, effectively, he hoped, squelching the yearning.
Sydney pulled her sleek, elegant Audi to park next to his old, beat-up Chevy truck. It was a metaphor and a reminder about why they broke up. The difference in their upbringing and background wasn’t as noticeable in college, but as they neared graduation and planned for a future that included marriage, the discrepancy was glaring. Or maybe the difference was always there, but at eighteen, he hadn’t cared. The young woman sitting alone at the college party captivated him the instant he saw her.
“She’s out of your league, man.”
His roommate was right, but it didn’t stop Mitch from grabbing the two beers from his roommate’s hand and taking them to her. She wasn’t like any other Princeton student he’d met; there was a regalness about her. But she wasn’t an ice queen. In fact, she looked relieved when he handed her the beer.
“Someone did tell you this was a party, right?”
She smiled. “Yes.”
He got the sense she was shy, which made her seem standoffish to the other students. “I’m Mitch McKenna.”
“Sydney Preston.”
Her name sounded rich.
She sipped her beer and wrinkled her nose.
“Don’t like beer?”
“Not so much. I’m told it’s an acquired taste, but so far, I’ve yet to acquire it.”
She talked rich.
He took her drink. “Well, in that case, we can’t let a good beer go to waste.”
He stood and her expression fell.
“No, it’s okay.” She reached for the drink.
He downed her beer, tossed the plastic cup aside, and then held his hand out to her. “Tell me what you like, Sydney Preston, and I’ll get it for you.”
Relief shone again as she took his hand and stood. “I like Moscato.”
