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her,
holding the bottle she’d just ditched. Why did her heart skip the
second he showed up? And why did he have to look so delicious ?
    “I didn’t lose it.”
    He stood there in faded jeans and a dark
T-shirt that molded to his hard pecs and biceps. But it wasn’t his
clothing that got her attention so much as his eyes. There was
something in them, something she didn’t remember seeing when he’d
been seventeen. He’d been part of this crowd long ago, much more
than she had, but he no longer looked like he belonged—in spite of
the longing looks some of the women were casting in his
direction.
    His gaze dropped over her before rising
again, slowly, and her body reacted as if he’d brushed his fingers
over her. There was something hot, sharp, and thrilling in that
gaze—and she was way more susceptible to it than she wanted to
be.
    Once, she would have given anything for him
to look at her like that. Now, she wasn’t certain she’d survive the
experience.
    “Great dress.” His voice was silky.
    Evie swallowed. She was tingling, and that
wasn’t a good thing. The last time she’d tingled over this man, it
had not turned out so well. “Thanks. I think.”
    He grinned. “It’s definitely a
compliment.”
    Evie crossed her arms and tried to look cool.
“Thought you weren’t coming tonight.”
    “Now what made you think a thing like
that?”
    Her blood slogged like molasses in her veins.
“I believe you said ‘probably not’ in response to Julie’s
query.”
    His teeth flashed. “Yeah, but that’s before I
knew you’d be here.”
    “What do you want, Matt?” Her heart thrummed
like she was sixteen again.
    His gaze dropped once more. “Maybe I’d like
to see what’s under that dress.” His voice sounded low and sexy. It
pooled in her belly and sent hot waves of need spiraling
outward.
    “Forget it,” she said with a conviction she
didn’t quite feel. “As I recall, the last time didn’t turn out so
well for me.”
    “I know, and I’m sorry.”
    “You said that earlier.”
    “I did.”
    She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “So
why’d you come then? I heard you the first time.”
    He sighed. “Evie. Jesus.” He raked a hand
through his hair, and her blood hummed at the ripple and flex of
muscle. “I just got back from the desert. Life out there is…
unpredictable. It makes a man think. And I’ve decided that I don’t
like feeling like a shithead for something that happened ten years
ago. I want to clear the slate.”
    Evie let out a breath. She’d been so hurt;
then she’d been angry. But it was a long time ago and she couldn’t
hold a grudge forever. Even now, she recognized that most of her
feelings about the incident were still tied up with having her love
so cruelly flung back in her face. The other stuff, while
definitely unpleasant at the time, hardly mattered anymore.
    “We were kids, Matt.”
    “I hurt you.”
    She didn’t flinch from his gaze. “You did.
But I’m not sixteen anymore. And like I said today, it was my fault
too. I asked you to do it. And I told a couple of my friends about
it, so it wasn’t just you telling the boys.” She shrugged with a
lightness she didn’t quite feel. “What happened was probably
inevitable. The guys thought I was easy. The girls who were jealous
said I was a slut. They made my senior year difficult in some ways.
But what hurt the most was never hearing from you again.”
    There, she’d said it. She’d told him what
really hurt, and she’d given him a window into her feelings back
then. He’d have to be an idiot not to know, but it was always
possible he hadn’t.
    “I should have called you.”
    The music changed, the beat slowing. Evie
took a step backward instinctively, but Matt caught her hand and
held it tight. She tugged once, then stopped. They faced each other
across a few feet of space. Around them, couples began to slide
together, fitting into each other.
    Evie’s pulse beat harder. Her skin sizzled
where