10 Years Later

“Tell me how it happened,” she said. “Please let me live vicariously through you. This job exhausts me. They’re lucky I’m so damn good at it.”

“He was actually leaving. I mean, I had walked him to the door and told him good night, when I admitted that I was tempted to ask him to stay instead.”

“Cammie Angela Carmichael! I’m so impressed with you!”

I looked away from her beaming face, feeling myself blush. “I didn’t want him to go. It’s not too fast, right? You don’t think I’m a slut?” Not that I really felt like one, but I wanted the reassurance.

“Oh, hell no. It’s Dalton Thomas. You guys have history. A past. But even if it wasn’t some guy you’ve known forever, you still wouldn’t be a slut for wanting to have sex with him. I honestly figured you two wouldn’t wait very long once you saw each other.”

“Really? Why’s that?”

“Because of your history. Because of your past. And because of whatever the hell it is that exists between the two of you now. Even I can sense it when I’m near you guys.”

I yawned and smiled at the same time, making my ears pop and my jaw cramp awkwardly. “Well, you were right, Miss Smartypants.”

“I’m always right. How many times do I have to tell you that?” Her eyebrows raised as she shook her head.

Kristy stayed for another hour, indulging me in watching a TV show that I loved and she hated before heading home. She worked all hours of the day and night, depending on what her role was on the case she was assigned, and she loved it. It wasn’t required of her to do the additional work, but Kristy was a go-getter and she wanted to be the best.

The sun had yet to set when I passed out exactly where she left me. Sometime later, my cell phone vibrated against the coffee table, startling me awake.

I glanced down to see Dalton’s name taunting me, and I grabbed it quickly as a shudder of excitement raced through me. “Hi,” I breathed into the phone.

“Hi, yourself,” he said back. “What are you doing?”

“Just sitting here.” Literally.

“Are you tired? Shit, did I wake you?” He sounded concerned, and I wanted to lie to him but couldn’t.

“It’s okay. I like talking to you.”

“Just talking?” he teased.

“Yep. I’m only using you for your incredible phone conversation ability.”

“Figures. Usually girls use me for my huge—”

“Hey!” I cut him off, not wanting to hear what I thought he was going to say.

“I was going to say personality. They use me for my huge personality.” He laughed. “I miss you.”

My heart leaped into my throat and decided to live there forever as something in my stomach did handsprings over and over again. “I miss you too. Thank you for the roses. And for making my bed. But not for eating all my cookies.”

“You can punish me later. And you’re welcome.”

I stretched on the couch, reaching my arm above my head and pulling the muscles in my back. “I’m so tired, but I really want to see you,” I admitted as my boss’s warning played in the back of my mind.

“You want me to come over? I don’t have to stay long. But if you want to just talk on the phone, we can do that too.”

“Really? You’d just stay on the phone with me?”

“For hours.”

“Get over here.” I laughed. “But I’m warning you. I’m changing into my pajamas and I’m getting ready for bed.”

“Already trying to lure me into the sack for round two,” he said, clucking disapprovingly into my ear.

“I’ll lock the door and not answer,” I said with a playful warning in my voice.