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Paige grabbed a coffee, set herself up at the table next to the window, and sat facing the door. She spread her notes out and set up her laptop, getting comfortable for the hour or so she expected Austin to be in his interview.
Every time the bell above the door jingled, her gaze was drawn to the people entering the coffee shop, and then she would get back to her paper. Considering Starbucks was across from the medical school campus, the bell jangled more often than not. Even though the waiting line wrapped around the small shop, the seating was sparsely populated, so Paige didn’t feel like she was imposing.
Her fingers flew on the keyboard, and her gaze dropped to the clock in the bottom corner of the screen. It had been over an hour and her paper was almost finished. Her gaze bounced to the door as the bell dinged again, and her hands froze over the keys.
His bright green eyes locked on hers, and he stopped before he got to the counter. The familiar stare penetrated her and Paige swallowed hard. The moment passed when the new patron moved his gaze away from hers and stepped to the counter.
Paige couldn’t pull her eyes away from the stranger. His dark hair fell in soft waves past his shoulders, and his profile was equivalent to a Greek god with a perfectly clear olive complexion and chiseled cheekbones that most girls would swoon over. But it was the eyes that had Paige’s gaze glued to the man.
The only time she’d seen eyes that green was when Hunter Garrett had possessed Austin. Her chest tightened when the stranger took the far table at the window and sat facing her. His eyes flashed in her direction, and she dropped her gaze to her computer. Heat filled her cheeks at being caught staring, but a quick glance found him hidden behind an open Wall Street Journal.
After a few moments, the corner folded down, and she was caught again. Her heart slammed in her chest, and she barely remembered to press save on her computer before she closed the laptop. In a flurry, she swept her papers together and shoved everything into her computer bag.
Chancing a glance, she caught a smirk on the stranger’s face as he watched her flustered behavior. He folded the paper onto the table and leaned back in the chair, studying her with fascination.
She scrambled out of her seat, only to realize the path out the door took her within arm’s reach of the stranger. Paige couldn’t catch her breath, and a cold fear wrapped around her heart, squeezing at the thoughts rampaging through her head.
Thoughts of banishing Hunter.
What if she had failed?
Her feet moved without permission, and the moment she stepped into reach, his hand wound around her wrist.
“Do I know you?” he asked.
The foreign lilt in his voice should have soothed her, but it just served to make the fear settle into her bones, creating a dull ache through her entire form.
She shook her head but found she could not tear her eyes from his as they studied her before narrowing just enough for the spit in her mouth to dry. He still gripped her wrist, and the physical contact unsettled her even more than his cautious study of her.
“Are you sure?”
She forced a smile and pulled her wrist out of his grip. “I’m sure,” she said and didn’t wait for him to speak again. Instead, she bolted out the door with her bag and slammed right into Austin, nearly knocking them both over on the sidewalk.
Austin caught her, steadying her on her feet before she looked up at him.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he said.
She pulled him towards the car without acknowledging his comment. For both of them, his words were not just the usual cliché. And he pulled her to a stop at the curb behind their car.
“What is wrong?” he asked.
Paige met his gaze, uttering a high-pitched squeak of a laugh.
“Excuse me,” a voice from behind them said, and Paige froze. “But you left your pocketbook on the chair where you were sitting.”
Austin’s brow creased and Paige turned, meeting the stranger’s gaze.
“I thought you might need it.” He extended the purse to her.
“Thank you,” she said and took the offering.
“Are you sure we haven’t met before?” he asked, and his head cocked to the side like a curious German Shepherd.
“I’m sure.”
Austin put his hands on Paige’s shoulders and the stranger raised his gaze from Paige to him. The tightening of Austin’s grip told her enough, and she gave the stranger a smile.
“We really have to go,” she said and unlocked the car. Neither she nor Austin said anything until she was in the thick of the city traffic, heading in the direction of the hotel that they’d booked near Columbia.
“Was that... Hunter?” Austin asked, his hands clenched into tight fists.
Paige glanced at his stony profile. He didn’t look her way.
“I don’t know,” she said. “He just asked if we had met before.”
Austin huffed and glanced out the passenger window, crossing his arms. “Is that why you were running out of there like the place was on fire?”
Paige pulled into the hotel valet service and put the car in park before she glanced at Austin. “He scared the hell out of me.”
Austin swung a deadly glare in her direction. “I thought you banished him.”
“I did.” Despite her words, doubt colored her voice.
A knock on her window interrupted them and she turned, staring into the dark eyes of the hotel valet.