I follow behind Knox, allowing my eyes to travel down the length of his body. As I look at him through my adult eyes, there’s fluttering in the pit of my stomach that comes from out of nowhere. Now that he’s in front of me after all this time, all kinds of girlish fantasies come flooding in. Thoughts I’d never entertained before come over me.
I can see now why no one believed we weren’t an item back in high school. Knox Steele is all kinds of sexy and completely irresistible. How I managed to not take a bite out of this apple back then is beyond me. The popular high school girls all adored him, and he was whispered about in the hallways more than any of the other boys. But during all that time we were friends, his bad boy allure never affected me in a sensual way. God knows why. I was either naïve, filtering out these juicy bits of his sex appeal, or just plain blind. Though I must admit I was thoroughly content to be his close friend. He shared a side of himself with me that none of the other girls ever saw.
He gave me his trust.
He shared his secrets.
He let me see all his flaws.
He showed me the real Knox.
His girlfriends and groupies and bed warmers would come and go, but I was his true friend. Knox confided in me in ways he never would with them, and that made me feel like I was more special to him. Maybe I put too much weight in the fact that I knew Knox better than anyone else. Thinking back, I might’ve been smug and self-righteous about it too.
Now I can’t help but wonder if I should’ve been jumping his bones the entire time. Maybe I made a mistake being “just friends” with this ruggedly gorgeous creature.
“What’s your poison?” His lips graze my earlobe as he asks me the question in a sultry baritone voice at the bar. A voice that travels straight to my core and makes my knees weak enough to buckle.
“Sparkling white wine, thank you.”
As he turns back to give the bartender our order, I flick my eyes over the rest of the party, really looking at them now that I’ll stay a while longer. Back at home, when I threw on this dress, I was feeling pretty good about my look. But now, looking around, I feel infinitely more self-assured with Knox beside me. He’s always had that effect on me, although he’d also say that I’m too gorgeous to be shy, just like he always used to. I never saw what he saw in me that made him believe I was that great-looking. I guess it goes to show that beauty really is in the eyes of the beholder. What I see when I look in the mirror is a plain girl with odd hazel eyes and facial features that are a little more elongated than they should be. I’ve never been the girl that turns heads, which is fine with me because of my shyness. Blending into the background is quite all right with me.
But Knox sees something else.
Knox gazes intently at me as he hands me my drink. “So, beautiful, what have you been up to in the last... what, decade? Give or take.”
“Oh, you know, this and that.” I nervously tuck my clutch purse into the crook of my inner elbow. He still knows how to bring the color to my cheeks with just words. There was a time when we knew each other inside and out, and now, with a gap of close to ten years of not seeing each other, some of that closeness returns as though it never left. But the truth is we know nothing about each other today. We could be two completely different people. How did he let so much time pass?
“I heard you stayed in town for college. How was it?”
“Good. I didn’t study business or politics, or anything super-marketable as my parents like to say, but I enjoyed majoring in English.”
“And you’re helping out your mom, right? I believe I saw something in her last charity gala invite.”
“Yes. It pays the bills.” I nod and let out a nervous laugh. Deep down, I’m relieved that he kept up with what I’ve been doing. I take it to mean that he cares. Lord knows I need to believe he still does.
“Knowing you, you’re probably running the charity from behind the scenes. You were always modest to a fault.” He grins, reminding me that he does still know me even if it doesn’t feel like it anymore.
“Not quite running it, but I know my way around the operation. Mom’s stance has always been that she’s preparing me as her successor. She was hoping my sister would eventually take interest, but reality has set in, I think.”
“Yes, I remember. Bethany was…different…cut from a different cloth from the rest of your family. How’s she doing?”
“Great,” I answer to keep it short because every detail of Bethany’s life is a long, long story. “And what about you?”
His face darkens for a split second, and I hope my question doesn’t cause him to relive his family tragedy.
“I’m good. Helping out Pops with the business,” he eventually replies without an ounce of enthusiasm and my chest tightens at the thought.
It’s no surprise to me. The idea of working in the airplane industry must bring him daily torture after losing his parents in a plane crash. No one can fault him for being so disinterested in the family business. I don’t want or need to ask him to elaborate. I can tell that such an unfortunate irony still keeps a solid barrier between him and his corporate legacy.
“So, it sounds like we both ended up where we
