She walked out onto the floor andtook orders at the two tables she had acquired. She rushed them back to thekitchen and refilled drinks for another table. Brennan handed her a full tray,and she quickly deposited the contents around the room.
“Here you go,” she said with abig smile, giving out the last drink to her customer.
Devon turned around toward theentrance to greet an incoming customer, and her tray slipped out of her hand,clattering to the ground.
“Reid?”
REID BENT DOWN and collected thetray from the floor. He looked up, his eyes met Devon’s, and he smiled brightand beautiful. He had an award-winning smile. Her hands were shaking as hehanded the tray back to her, and she automatically tucked it under her arm.
How had he found her? Shehad thought that she was safe, that she had time, that she would be able tofigure things out. He wasn’t supposed to be here. He wasn’t supposed to bestanding in Jenn’s, staring at her expectantly. He had only texted her thismorning. There was no way he could have found her in less than a day,right? That wasn’t even supposed to be possible.
And Brennan. Oh fuck—Brennan! She hadn’t told him. There hadn’t been time. Her mind had been elsewhere, runningahead of her as always to his one-bedroom apartment. She had been planning totell him night when she was supposed to go to his apartment.
Now, what could she do? Brennan didn’t know, and she had told him that she had broken up with herboyfriend. But now, Reid was here, and he was staring at her, making it veryobvious that she was his property. He had a way of looking at her that made itvery clear they were together. She never got hit on in public, and Hadley hadbeen the one that pointed it out the first time. Devon recognized it now aspossessiveness, which was part of his problem.
Would Brennan notice? Fuck! Hewas the most perceptive person she knew. Of course, he would notice. Plus,with the way they hadn’t been able to keep their hands off each other the pastcouple days, it would be strange for her to act any different now.
But if Reid saw her withBrennan, what would he do? She couldn’t think about it. She couldn’timagine her life right now without Brennan. He made her feel human, and shenever wanted to feel like she was anything less again.
As she saw it, she had twochoices, neither of which she wanted to face. She could confront Reid righthere, something she had never prepared for, and watch him go ballistic,potentially hurting her and Brennan. Hadn’t she thought that if Brennanever collided with her problems that he might end up dead? She couldn’tlet that happen, but she knew what Reid was capable of. The other option wasto act like everything was fine—leave with Reid and keep Brennan out of it. Figure out what to do from there. It sounded like a suicide mission to her,but it felt selfish to risk Brennan.
All she had to do was figure outwhy Reid was here and how he had found her. She couldn’t do much else.
Devon’s whole body was trembling,and she was sure that Reid saw the shock all over her face. Heat rose to thesurface of her skin. Her body flushed all over. And all she could do wasstand there and stare at him. It had been two-and-a-half months since she hadlast seen him. It was the longest amount of time she had been away from him innearly three years.
Devon could see what she hadfallen for all those years ago. He wore the requisite prep look like a secondskin. It was a trait he had acquired long ago when he had attended an all-boysprivate school in the Kansas City suburbs. He had perfected it when he hadpledged a fraternity at Wash U. His height had gotten him the quarterbackposition in high school, but he hadn’t been good enough to play Division I incollege. Pride had kept him from going to a lower division. He had used thelegacy factor from his father as the reason he didn’t play in college. Most ofall, Reid just seemed like the perfect guy—smart, confident, ambitious.
But then, she also saw what shehadn’t seen when they had first started dating. His smile was a promise,telling her she was in a lot of fucking trouble without even saying a word. His eyes were icy, threatening her with just a glance. His height didn’t justmake him taller than her; it was a power struggle. He had to take up the roomand break her down, make her less than nothing. His entire presence wassinister.
And she could do better.
It was a scary thought.
“Hey, Dev,” Reid said, still notmaking a move toward her.
“Hey,” she whispered. “Wha…whatare you doing here?”
“It’s good to see you, too,” hesaid, smiling that terribly beautiful smile in her direction.
Devon deadpanned. She couldn’tsay it was good to see him. It was shocking to see him. It was fucking scaryto see him. It made her want to collapse into a puddle on the floor. Goodwasn’t even in the first hundred adjectives she would have used.
She didn’t miss that he didn’tanswer her question. She hadn’t asked what she wanted to know the most. Notwhat was he doing here, but how had he found her? She didn’t think thatone would go over well.
“How have you been?” he asked.
Devon swallowed. This soundedlike a trick question. “Fine.”
“I’ve missed you.”
Devon couldn’t bring herself tosmile. Her insides twisted, and she did everything she could not to look away.
“You didn’t return my messages,”he said, taking a step closer this time.
“I accidentally left my phone athome,” she told him.
She wanted to run. She wanted toturn around and run away from him…into Brennan’s arms. But that wasdangerous…too dangerous.
“Well, I’m glad I found youthen. We have a lot to talk about.”
She knew what his talking lookedlike. “I have to work,” she said softly.
He smiled like he knew she wastrapped. “I’ll wait.”
What could she say to that? No,
