Not exactly the welcome-home response he would have hoped for. “You want to tell me what this is all about?”
“Not really,” she admitted.
“Sadie …”
She stood up, tucked her purse under her arm and said, “Just, take me to my parents’ house, will you Rick? I’m staying with Dad until I get my own place. Once we’re there, I’ll explain everything.”
Standing, he nodded. Whatever the hell was going on, Rick would deal with it as he did everything else in his life. Head-on. “Right. Then let’s get going.”
Two
Sitting in Rick Pruitt’s black truck brought back a flood of memories. Three years ago, she and Rick had shared one amazingly hot, sexy night that had changed her life forever. The next morning he left, reporting for a tour of duty in the Middle East.
And maybe that was partly why Sadie had given into her impulse to grab at that one night with him. She had known he’d be leaving again right away. But the reality was, Sadie had just needed someone. Back then, she had felt as though she was disappearing. Becoming nothing more than the socialite daughter of a wealthy man. She never did anything for herself. Never stepped out of line from what was expected.
Until that night. Neither of them had made the other any promises. Neither of them had been looking for anything more than exactly what they had found together. A little magic.
But the truth was, that night with Rick had changed Sadie’s life forever—and he had no idea.
She looked at him from the corner of her eye and felt a flutter low down in her belly. His square jaw, gorgeous mouth and deep brown eyes were enough to make her body tremble with a need she hadn’t felt since that long-ago night. She remembered it all so well. The soft touches, the hungry sighs, the frantic whispers. She could almost feel his hands on her skin again. His hard-muscled body covering hers, his heavy thickness sliding deep inside—
“So,” he asked companionably, “how’ve you been?”
Sadie jolted, called herself an idiot and forced a smile. She wasn’t going to have the conversation they needed to have while riding through town in his truck, so she stalled. “Fine, really. No complaints. How about you?”
“You know,” he said with a shrug, “I’m good. Nice to be home for a while though.”
A while?
“How long are you home for?” she asked.
“Trying to get rid of me already?” He shot her another quick look and steered the truck down Main.
“No,” she said and half expected her tongue to fall off due to that whopper. “I was just curious. You haven’t been around much the last few years.”
“And how would you know that? Weren’t you living in Houston?”
“Houston isn’t the moon, Rick,” she said. “I talk to friends. My brother. They keep me up on hometown news.”
“Me, too,” he said. “Well, not your brother. He and I never really were friends.”
“True,” she said and silently added they were even less likely to be friends now, though Rick didn’t know it yet.
“Joe Davis told me when you moved out.”
Sadie smiled and nodded. Joe and Rick had always been close. Not surprising that the town’s best mechanic had kept Rick up to date on things. She was more glad than ever that she had left Royal when she had. If not, Joe would have told Rick her big secret and heaven knew what might have happened then.
“He, uh, also told me about Michael. I’m sorry.”
A twinge of pain rattled through her heart at the mention of her late brother. Michael Price had led a troubled life. Somehow, he had never been able to find happiness, but he’d always looked for it in the bottom of a bottle. Eight months ago, he had been driving drunk and driven off a cliff road in California. She would always miss her brother, but Sadie hoped that he had at least found the peace he had been searching for.
She lifted her chin. “Thanks. It was hard. Losing him like that. But I was grateful that he hadn’t killed anyone else in that wreck,” she said simply.
“He was a good guy,” Rick said softly.
“He was a good brother, too,” Sadie said, smiling sadly. Her memories of Michael were mostly good ones and she clung to them.
“And,” Rick said, changing the subject, “now you’ve left Houston to come home again. You’re living with your dad?”
“Just temporarily,” she said. “Until I find a place of my own. Ever since Mom died several years ago, Dad spends most of his time on fishing trips. He’s in the Caribbean now, and Brad doesn’t live there anymore, so …”
“You’re not lonely in that big place all by yourself?”
She nearly laughed. “No. It’s fair to say, I haven’t been lonely in a long time.”
Rick frowned. “What’s his name?”
“His? Who his?”
“The guy you’re seeing,” he countered. “The I’m-too-busy-to-be-lonely guy.”
Sadie snorted. “There’s no guy. Too busy for one of those, too.” She left it at that, not bothering to explain what he would find out for himself all too soon.
Silence stretched out between them, the only sounds the crunch of the wheels against the asphalt and the soft sighing of the truck’s air conditioner. Outside, summer sun beat down on Royal, Texas, making even the trees seem to slump with fatigue.
“You know,” he said finally, “I seem to remember you being a hell of a lot friendlier the last time I saw you.”
Oh, boy. She remembered, too. In fact, her memory was so clear and so strong, it was all she could do not to squirm in her seat. A flush of heat spread through her body as images rushed through her mind. His body. Hers. Locked together. Desperate kisses, amazing sensations. Didn’t seem to matter that she was already so nervous she could hardly swallow. In spite of everything, Sadie knew that if he reached over to touch her right now, she would probably go up in flames.
“You okay?” he asked from beside her and that deep voice of his seemed to roll across her skin.
Oh, she really was not okay.
“Sure,” she lied. “Fine.”
The familiar scenery raced past them as he left town behind and drove along the highway toward the Price family mansion in the exclusive development of Pine Valley. Three years ago, Sadie had walked away from the home where she grew up to live in Houston, losing herself in the hustle and the crowds. At the time, she had definitely needed to get away. To find a fresh start where no one really knew her. Where her private life wouldn’t be fodder for local gossips.
Now though, she was back and the past was reaching out to grab her.
She
