Page 89 of Forever Wild
“There she is,” Piper coos at her daughter. Tyler is holding the birthday girl, bouncing around and talking to her, and she’s waving her arms around happily with a slobbery grin.
I take in my adorable niece, but it’s the man standing next to Tyler that has my feet rooted to the floor.
My stomach drops and my chest feels like it could crack down the middle.
Jack’s dark-blue eyes lock onto me and hold me prisoner. Only seconds pass but a million thoughts and memories flash through my mind. Jack smiling at me. Jack kissing me. Jack breaking my heart.
That’s been the hardest thing to admit. I don’t let guys break my heart. I don’t let them in and I don’t fall for them. But I did both of those things with Jack without even realizing it. It was supposed to be a fun fling. Instead, he wedged his way in without trying. I should have been more careful, but he’s the last person I ever thought would hurt me.
I wonder what flashes through his mind when he sees me. Does he look back at those weeks we hung out and regret them?
Piper moves toward Ty and Charlotte and I follow behind her, standing on the opposite side and making Tyler a barrier. Not that it keeps the heat of Jack’s gaze from reaching me.
Charlotte grins at me, angling her body so far that Tyler is forcedto hand her over to me.
“I think she missed you too,” Tyler says as I take his daughter. My heart squeezes as I hug her to my chest. The pictures and videos I’ve demanded Piper and Tyler send me weekly didn’t do the changes in my niece justice. Her dark hair is longer, curling up at the ends. She’s bigger and her features are more defined. And when she smiles, I can see she’s gotten more teeth too.
“I can’t believe how big she’s gotten.” I grin at her. “What has your daddy been feeding you?”
“Everything but green beans. The kid hates green beans,” Ty says.
“Nobody likes them,” I whisper to her loud enough that Tyler and Piper can hear.
“Speaking of food, should we let everyone eat?” Piper asks.
“Yeah. Good idea. I think the guys are ready.” Tyler nods his head to where Declan is staring into the kitchen longingly. It could be he’s looking at his wife or it could be the boxes of pizza stacked up in front of her. My guess is both.
“Let’s eat,” Piper calls over the noise of the room. The rush to the kitchen is immediate.
“Want me to take her so you can eat,” Piper asks me, nodding toward Charlotte.
“No way. I just got her.”
Piper laughs then says, “I’ll make you a plate.”
Everyone else heads toward the kitchen, but I hang back. So does Jack. I keep my focus on Charlotte but I can feel him watching me.
He steps closer and my body tenses.
“Hey.” His deep voice sends a wave of longing through me.
“Hi,” I reply without looking at him.
Charlotte doesn’t prove to be a very good wing woman. She turnsher attention to him, tipping her head back and grinning wider. When she flings a hand toward him, he reaches out and she takes his finger. He jostles her hand lightly and Charlotte laughs like he’s funny. When has Jack ever been funny?
“How’ve you been?” he asks me.
“Good. You?” My pulse races but I focus extremely hard on making polite conversation.
Instead of answering he says, “Ty says the internship is going well.”
Somewhere deep down—very deep down—I want to handle this maturely. I can’t avoid Jack. I knew I would run into him, and I don’t want it to be weird. He doesn’t get to ruin my favorite place with all my favorite people. However, the anger that sizzles just below the surface of my cool demeanor makes it very difficult to hold back the cutting remarks on the tip of my tongue.
“We don’t need to do this,” I say, finally meeting his gaze. An unfortunate mistake because goddamn, why is he so attractive? Grumpy, happy, beard, no beard, looking at me like I’m the most important person in the world or like he’s filled with regret. There’s no expression or change that makes him anything less than devastating. “We weren’t really friends before and we don’t need to be friends now.”
“Ev…” His voice breaks on my name.
I’m saved by Piper hurrying back with a plate. “I had to fight for this.”
