“Thanks. Ah…Lisa will appreciate that,” he said awkwardly. Whatever this was, it was clear he felt it too. It took me a second or two to process what he’d said.
“Lisa?”
“One of the ladies who works for me at The Mill.”
My ears perked up and I pushed away the strange feelings. I needed to focus. The Mill sounded like it might be a restaurant or local bar. I had experience waitressing, even though it had been a while, and bartending was like riding a bike—one never forgot. Maybe they were hiring.
“I just got here a few weeks ago. I haven’t heard of The Mill. Is it nearby?”
“Yeah, it’s attached to the building. It’s where I grabbed the cleaner. Lisa takes care of washing the used sweat towels.”
I frowned.
“Now, I’m confused. Sweat towels? I think my assumption about The Mill is incorrect. I thought it was a restaurant or a bar,” I admitted. Derek laughed.
“No, not at all. Do you remember me telling you about the gym I was going to open?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“That’s The Mill. I own the one on the property as well as a few more in other areas of the city. There’s a side entrance off of this hallway I usually use when I want to sneak in unnoticed,” he explained and pointed to a glass door about twenty feet behind him.
Realization dawned.
“Oh, I gotcha now. I knew a gym was next door, but I never paid attention to the name.”
“I give discounts to building tenants on this block. I live in the building across the street so it’s my way of getting in good with the neighbors,” he teased with a wink. “If you and your husband are interested in joining, I can hook you up.”
“Oh, no, there’s no husband,” I said in a rush. When he raised his eyebrows in question, I explained. “We’re divorced.”
The lie caused a pang of guilt to stab at me. Then again, what was a piece of paper? To me, Ethan and I were divorced in every sense of the word. There was no need to go into all the sordid details.
“Well, just you then,” he offered with an easy smile. He stuffed his hands in his jean pockets causing the dark blue denim to stretch across his legs.
I stared back at him, unsure how to respond. I couldn’t figure him out. He was just as kind and charming as I remembered, but there was something else. I’d found him attractive when we first met, and time had been good to him—very good. He was distracting, to say the least, and I didn’t mean that in a simple sense. His tall, broad build would make most women drool. He wore his sandy brown hair cropped short in the back with long, tight waves left on top to frame his tanned forehead. He had an easy aura that made me feel at ease—a feeling I couldn’t afford to have. I still needed to be cautious.
“Thanks for the offer, but I’m going to have to pass,” I told him. His smile loosened, but he nodded.
I stepped away, meaning to retreat back to the confines of my apartment, yet found myself hesitating. I didn’t want to walk to my door with him watching. I didn’t really know him and didn’t want him to see which apartment was mine. Perhaps I was being ridiculous, but my past proved I had a poor track record when it came to sizing up a person’s character. I couldn’t trust my judgment about anyone.
“Are you sure?” he pressed. “It’s a great way to get to know people since most who live in the surrounding area are members of the gym.”
I was at a crossroad, conflicted about whether or not I should be getting to know anyone right now. A part of me wanted the security of friends and I’d been missing Natalia so much. If anything bad ever happened, I was truly alone here. Another part of me was terrified. Allowing people to get too close to me meant the web of lies surrounding my identity could be jeopardized. Then there was the issue of money. At this point, there was no way I could afford a gym membership.
“Yeah? Well, I suppose I can think about it.” I shrugged my shoulders in a noncommittal way.
“Well, if you want to come by,” he began and took a step closer to me. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small card. “Here’s a coupon for a free month just to try it out. If you decide to join after that, you’ll get the neighborhood discount.”
I took the card and forced a smile. Without another word, he turned and walked out the front doors of the building. I stared after him for a short moment before carting my groceries and the bag of soiled rags back to my apartment.
Once inside, I closed the door with a sigh, let my head fall back, and closed my eyes. I’d been here for only two weeks, and my situation was already complicated.
13
Derek
I opened the door to my apartment, and Maisie, my ten-month-old Cavalier pup, immediately began scratching in her crate to be let out.
“There’s my pretty girl! Are you hungry?” I crooned in a not-so-masculine voice that I’d never dare use in public. I bent over to unzip the mesh door, and she came bounding out, her nails scraping on the wood floor as she jumped up to greet me. Picking her up, I allowed her to lick my face, knowing she was equally happy to see me as she was eager to be fed lunch. “Okay, girl. Let’s get you some food.”
After my little companion scarfed down her kibble, I took her up to the building’s rooftop garden, where a section was cordoned off to create a mini dog park for residents with pets. Normally, when I stopped home mid-day, I’d feed her lunch then head back to The Mill until six. As Maisie sniffed around for the perfect place to do her business, I realized I had no intention of going back to work anytime soon. Before I did anything, I had to get over the shock I felt after reconnecting with the runaway bride who’d haunted my dreams for too many years.
She was here—she was actually here.
I paced the perimeter of the manmade greenspace and tried to wrap my head around what happened. Never did I expect to see Gianna—or Val as she was apparently calling herself now—scrambling to collect runaway fruit in the hallway leading to The Mill. It had been three years since our last meeting—three long years. During that time, I’d been with a lot of women. Yet despite a few one-night-stands and many relationships that fizzled out to be nothing more than casual flings, I’d never stopped thinking about the one who got away. I had thought of a million questions to ask if I ever saw her again, but when I finally had that chance, my mind came up blank.
Recalling what she looked like all those years ago in her wedding dress, I knew then she had a great body, but seeing her again put my memory to shame. She had been wearing a cropped top today, just short enough to reveal the creamy skin near her belly button. Her jeans sat low on her hips, molding to her ass and shapely legs. Her cropped dark hair, once a luxurious golden color, had initially thrown me off. However, the moment she looked up at me, I knew it was her. I could never forget those rose-colored lips, the splash of pink on her cheeks, or the flecks of gray in her deep blue eyes. My heart had felt like it momentarily stopped from some sort of power surge, a lightning strike straight to my soul.
She was absolutely gorgeous.
And when our hands briefly touched? Hell, there was no way I imagined that pull—the invisible energy snapping and sizzling between us. It had been there three years ago, and there was no denying it was still there. Had she felt it, too? I couldn’t be sure, but one thing was certain. She was different from how I remembered—and it went well beyond her hair color. Something inside her had dulled, and there was a measure of fear in her eyes that wasn’t there before. She was clearly a woman hiding from something—or someone.