Chapter Two

Daniel figured out the entire party was a mistake ten minutes in, which was right around the time Adam and Quinn walked in the back door with a motherfucking puppy. He shook his head, backing away. “No.”

“It was this or that little hellion Mr. Winkles.”

Thinking of that asshole cat who currently resided in Jules’s cat café, Daniel cringed. Then he made the mistake of looking at the dog in Quinn’s arms. The big man dwarfed the tiny pup, which had to contribute to how cute the little fella was. He was a border collie and had big blue eyes and a patchy fur coloring that was black, brown, and white. His left ear flopped down, and if he wasn’t the cutest little thing…

Goddamn it.

“I don’t want a dog.” His heart wasn’t really in the protest, though, so when Quinn offered the pup, Daniel took him. The pup immediately scrambled up against him and licked his chin. “Though he’s cute.”

“She.”

That startled a laugh out of him. “The last thing I need in my life is a woman, and both you assholes damn well know it.”

Adam got a funny look on his face, one Daniel would have called guilty. “Yeah, well, about that. Brace yourself.”

He didn’t get a chance to ask what the fuck his friend meant by that because the front door opened behind him and Jules’s voice rang out, “Honey, I’m home.”

“Hey, sugar.” But Adam’s voice wasn’t quite right, and he was looking over Daniel’s right shoulder when Jules was clearly behind his left.

For one eternal moment, Daniel considered shouldering past his friends and walking out the back door. Whatever put that look on Quinn and Adam’s faces wasn’t something he wanted to deal with. They almost looked like they’d seen a ghost.

But his dad hadn’t raised a coward, so he took a deep breath and turned around.

And froze.

She looks the same.

He blinked, but Hope Moore didn’t disappear. She just stood in the doorway, her blond hair pulled back in an effortless ponytail, her face older than when he’d last seen her but more beautiful for the years written across it. Her body had filled out, her hips and breasts curvier than they’d been at eighteen. She didn’t look like a girl anymore. No, Hope was full woman.

And then, because he couldn’t help it, his gaze dropped to her left leg. Her skirt was too long to see the scar he knew must wind down her leg, the scar he’d put there. Knee replacements weren’t pretty, and her bones had already been mangled by the time she made it to the hospital, her entire future ruined in the space of a single heartbeat.

Because of him.

She flinched, which was answer enough. He hadn’t imagined it, and the handful of surgeries, the months and months of recovery, the loss of her cross-country scholarship, all of it, had really happened to her. What’s the ability to run compared to a brother? You fucked everything beyond recognition. He dragged his attention back to her face, determined not to look at her leg again. He’d been the one responsible—the least he could do was avoid making her feel uncomfortable.

She recovered quickly, offering him a small, sad smile. “Hey, Daniel.”

“What are you doing here?” It came out too harsh, but he didn’t take the words back. Thirteen goddamn years and she chose today to show up in Devil’s Falls? It wasn’t a coincidence, and he had a feeling he knew whom to blame. He spun and pointed a finger at Quinn, keeping his hold on the pup gentle despite his growing anger. “You. What the fuck did you do?” He knew Quinn had seen Hope last month at his sister’s wedding, which meant he’d opened his idiot mouth and said something to bring her home.

You should be thanking him.

Fuck that. She doesn’t want to be here. If she did, she would have come back before now.

Quinn held up his hands. “Don’t look at me. This isn’t my style, and you know it.”

He had a point. Both his friends were more direct than to pull some shit like this. Jules, though… Daniel turned to glare at her. “This is out of line—even for you.”

For her part, she didn’t look the least bit repentant. She propped her hands on her hips. “Fun fact—Hope is a grown woman who’s more than capable of making her own decisions. She wandered into my shop and I was polite enough to invite her along. I didn’t kidnap her.” She motioned at Hope. “Tell him I didn’t kidnap you.”

Despite everything going on around them, Hope burst out laughing. Daniel’s chest gave a lurch. Fuck, the woman’s laugh could still do a number on him. All these years later, she should have sounded different from the innocent girl he’d been head over heels in love with. Too much had changed for her to still love life as much as she had back then.

Hadn’t it?

Hope shook her head, still laughing. “I can attest that I drove into town of my own free will. I take no responsibility for what happened after that cup of coffee. Jules is a hard woman to say no to.” She pinned him in place with those dark eyes. “Happy birthday, Danny.”

No one had called him that in…well, hell, in thirteen years. Hearing it on her lips nearly had him crossing the room to her and seeing what else was the same. Common sense stopped him cold. Whatever had brought Hope back into town, she wasn’t here for him. There was no forgiving what he’d done, and he’d be worse than a fool to forget that.

It took everything he had to dredge up a halfhearted smile. “Thanks.”

The pup wiggled in his arms and gave a mournful whine. He took the excuse to get the hell out of there. “Be back in a bit.” He had no intention of coming back. Forget worrying about being cowardly—the last thing he wanted to do was stand in a room with Hope Moore and make small talk. As much as the sight of her was like a rain after a long drought, there was too much shit between them.

She should have stayed away. Whatever brought her back here, it could have been avoided.

He set the pup down in the yard and crouched next to her, watching her run back and forth, still in the awkward stage where her paws seemed too big for her body. She really was a cutie. She was also going to need a name. “How about Ollie?”

“I like it.”

He turned to find Hope standing behind him. Again. “You sure move quiet when you want to.” Especially for a woman with a bum leg. Not that he could say as much without sounding like a jackass.

“You mean since I had my knee replaced.” Of course she knew what he meant anyway. Apparently damn near reading his mind was one annoying habit she hadn’t outgrown.

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to.” She leveraged herself down next to him, the move not quiet as smooth as it’d been when she was eighteen.

Daniel almost cursed. He had to stop doing that. Comparing her now to how she was then wasn’t fair to either of them. It was another lifetime completely, and thinking about it was just fucking depressing. “Hope—”

“Are you seeing anyone?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

He was so surprised by the question that he answered honestly, “Why the fuck would I bother?”

“Oh, I don’t know, because you don’t want to be a creepy old man who lives in the middle of nowhere and has to run off silly high school kids with his shotgun because they tell ghost stories about him?”

He looked at her, half sure that she was the one who’d lost her damn mind. “That’s not a thing.”

“It is most definitely a thing.” She leaned back on her hands and stared at the sky. The move arched her back and pressed her breasts against the fancy tank top she wore. It was made of some kind of drapey fabric that looked soft and shiny, and it highlighted the fact that he seriously doubted she was wearing a bra. “You’re too young to just give up.”

“It’s not about giving up.” Though he didn’t expect Hope to understand that. He’d checked up on her a few times since the accident, and every single time he was amazed at the things she’d accomplished. Life had kicked her in the teeth and she’d come back swinging. She’d taken two years off and then attended the University of Texas and graduated with honors. She ran her own successful consulting business to work with companies that wanted to set up scholarships and nonprofits.

She shifted to look at him. “It looks like giving up from where I’m sitting.” She continued before he could respond, not that he knew what the fuck he was supposed to say to that. “Are you happy?”

What the hell kind of question was that? “I’m getting by.”

“That pretty much answers that.” She gave him a bittersweet smile. “I should have come back before now to check on you—or at least knock some sense into you, since apparently you need some tough love.”

Check on him like he was her responsibility, when the truth was he was the one to blame for everything bad that had happened to her. “You worry about your own life and leave me to worry about mine.”

“Because you’re doing such a stand-up job of living it?”

He glared. “What in the fuck is that supposed to mean? It’s great that you’re happy—better than great. You deserve that and more. How I go about my business isn’t any of yours.”

“You’re right. I know you’re right.” She sighed, the sound so small that he wanted to wrap his arms around her. It was more than the sigh, though. They’d dated for two years back in high school, been each other’s firsts across the board. Apparently even after all this time, his body still remembered the feel of hers and craved it like crazy. He just hadn’t been aware of it until she was sitting here next to him.

That’s a goddamn lie.

The truth was he’d never stopped craving her in his arms and in his bed. He’d just stopped deserving her around the time John took his last breath. A person didn’t come back from something like that, and no matter how well Hope had done with her life, that didn’t change the fact that he’d taken things from her that were downright unforgivable.

Needing to get them onto solid ground—though he doubted that was a possibility at all—he said, “What’s brought you back to town?”

“Work. Sort of.” She pulled at the hem of her skirt, lifting the fabric enough for him to catch a glint of scar tissue on her calf. She hadn’t done it on purpose—that he was sure of—but the reminder still struck him cold to the core. Oblivious, Hope continued. “Mom and Dad have been talking about doing a scholarship for John for years. They got in contact with the mayor and the principal of the high school and the city council and basically whoever would listen, and they’ve got a fund set up. So I’m here to get the details ironed out and officially announce it.”

It made sense that she’d come back here for John. If he’d had a chance to stop and think since she showed up, he would have come to that conclusion on his own. Daniel quietly smothered the little voice inside him insisting that she’d really come back here for him. She hadn’t. End of story. Allowing himself the fantasy would only make the truth hurt more.

And the truth was that any possibility of a future between him and Hope Moore was as dead as her brother.