“Funny, I could say the same about you,” she countered his jab, marshaling a bit of annoyance in her tone to combat the rush of heat spreading to her already pink cheeks.
A sexy smile caught the curve of his wide, firm mouth. “Hello, Red.”
“Hello, Summer.” Carrie Ann tossed a trivial nod toward the teenager. “Who’s this? Your new apprentice?”
“Apprentice?” Moving a step closer, he dragged his fingers through the short cropped layers of sandy blond hair. “This is Mark’s boy. Do you remember my nephew, Drew?”
“Your brother’s boy?” she questioned in surprise. Avoiding the view of his bicep curling into the size of a softball, Carrie Ann ran a quick scan over the young man at his side. “Whoa, you had to be four or five years old the last time I saw you.”
“I don’t remember meeting you.” Drew’s eyes flickered with bemusement and optimism.
She extended her hand. “I’m Carrie Ann. I knew you when you were—”
“You’re Carrie Ann? The Carrie Ann?” The boy spun toward his uncle, his blue eyes broadened in disbelief. “The One?”
Her stomach twisted hearing the title. A flash of perspiration instantaneously flooded her palms. Before she had time to renege on the clammy greeting, Drew clasped her hand, giving it a polite shake.
A low rumble of laughter simmered in Summer’s chest and a rosy shade of red burnished high on the bridge of his nose. He nodded, “This is The Carrie Ann. The One who got away.”
No matter how many years had passed, it never got any easier to see him. Each time she did, she suddenly found it harder to breath.
The pounding of her heart quickened as her gaze slipped over his rugged well-defined features. A three day scruff accentuated the slight dimple at the bottom of his chin. The disheveled layers of hair were wet from exertion near his temple and nape. Time had been very good to him.
She felt the warmth of Summer’s hand close around the back of her bare arm. The early morning stubble of his beard brushed against her cheek as he leaned closer pressing a small kiss near her temple. Carrie Ann squirmed at his nearness, ducking to the side attempting to put some space between them.
“I’m…I’m all sweaty,” she insisted breathily.
“It’s okay,” he murmured softly in her ear. The heat of his breath brought chill bumps to the damp skin near her neck. “I remember enjoying you all sweaty.”
Ryan’s golden eyes locked onto hers, anchoring her feet to the floor. The penetration of his stare momentarily tied her tongue in a knot, turning the awkward moment even more difficult. Carrie Ann hadn’t bumped into Ryan in at least three years and she hadn’t seen him covered in sweat in ten. An image of him, gloriously naked, flashed in her mind and her thighs. Frustration mounted as her body willingly betrayed her.
Carrie Ann’s jaw set rigid contemplating the idea of flipping off her hooha for its insubordination.
“That was a long time ago,” she snipped abruptly.
“Seems like only yesterday to me.” His voice so faint the words were nearly inaudible.
She returned her attention to Drew. “I’m sure I’m just one of many women who’ve made your uncle’s list.” Her tone came out a bit sharper than intended filling her with a strange pang of guilt.
The boy, oblivious to her insolence, gave a doubtful shake of his head. “I don’t think so. He still—”
“No matter how many years go by, Carrie Ann,” a rogue smile tipped the corner of Summer’s lip, “you’re still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known.”
Carrie Ann tossed him a sardonic one-shoulder shrug of appreciation for the compliment. A compliment she suspected he used on all of his old girlfriends. Desperate to change the direction of their conversation, she chided, “Drew was just showing off his greatest pick-up lines. Is that seriously the best you can teach him?”
“Blame that on his dad, not me,” he joked.
Her eyes scanned beyond rows of sports equipment toward the exit, mentally visualizing walking out the front door, before settling her gaze back on Ryan’s handsome face.
“And you know I don’t need pick-up lines to impress a woman.”
He stood a mere twelve inches from her, filling her breath with traces of clean heated male skin. A scent that was all too familiar. The thumping of her heart impeded the movement of her feet. Another bolt of awareness struck low in the pit of her stomach watching his grin turn full detecting her discomfiture.
The cocky smirk spreading over his face was damn near like striking a match to kindling doused in gasoline. Dangerous. Especially if you stood too close.
“Yeah, I remember. All you had to do was flash a football jersey at women to get them into bed. I’m sure you get much further with an Oscar.” She dished out another jab before rationalization kicked in. It took less than five minutes for her ex to burrow under her skin like a sliver. Why the hell do I let him get to me like this?
The smile chased away from his face. Replaced with sort of deep contemplative sadness. His gaze drifted to her ponytail. As if in a trance, Ryan reached out and looped a piece of her silky dark hair through his fingers. “Your hair’s getting long. You growing it out?”
It was getting awkward.
It always did.
Every time they bumped into each other she felt like he wanted to pick up the pieces of their relationship right where they left off.
“Yep, I’m growing it out. Women do that occasionally. I should get going. Good luck finding a date, Drew.” Hiking the strap of her gym bag over her shoulder, she forced a subtle smile looking at Ryan. “And please, for the sake of all women in LA, teach him some better material. Maybe even go the extra mile and teach him the proper way to ask a girl out. You know…flowers, movies, maybe even go as far as making sure the woman is born in the same decade.”
“I’ll be sure and do that.” His smile warmed, heating the color of his eyes to smooth cognac beneath the thick rim of dark lashes.
Carrie Ann didn’t bother wasting time changing out of her cycling shoes or stopping at the ladies locker room. The sound of her hurried steps drowned out the pounding of her heart as she made a beeline past the front door toward the parking lot.
Slipping into the solitude of her car, she gripped the steering wheel with both hands. Attempting to rid herself of the onslaught of emotions rising to the surface, Carrie Ann closed her eyes and drew a breath of air through her nose. Slowly, she filled her lungs to full capacity, and held, before letting it go between pursed lips.
Her head fell back against the beige, leather headrest. Every time she saw him, their goodbyes always seemed unfinished, the air always felt heavier, and the pain in her heart always tore a little deeper.
Carrie Ann and Summer met her third year of college at a party following a football game. Sparks flew the first time they laid eyes on each other. He was smart, gorgeous, funny and cocky as hell. None of which could be measured on a small scope. Summer wasn’t the egotistical, narcissistic, big-headed kind of cocky that came strapped to the majority of football players she knew. Summer bore the kind of cockiness a man possesses when he holds enough self-assurance for that of a dozen men. Nothing was out of his reach. Not even Carrie Ann Lowell.
Carrie Ann grew up with the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth, or as she liked to refer to it as the silver shovel crammed down her throat. Her father was a renowned LA attorney. He cut his teeth and his sheets defending the rich and famous. Her mother died of a rare heart condition when she was only eight years old. After surviving three stepmothers from hell, or gold diggers as she preferred to call them, Carrie Ann vowed never to settle down until after college. More specifically, she swore she’d never step into a serious relationship until she was at least thirty years old.