“Don’t get involved with anyone who seems even remotely broken. You can’t fix them, and they don’t want to be fixed,” his brother Gavin had said.
Ethan’s mouth twisted at the irony of having Jacq—Kerri—walk up to him at the airport after all this time.
Now she sported a chic black bob, and her gaze no longer held any shadows. Maybe the years had been good to her. Time healing all wounds and stuff.
Or maybe she’d just gotten better at hiding her pain.
He’d made a snap decision to not talk about the past. What had happened was over and done with. Nothing could change that, and there was no point in wondering about what-ifs.
What they had was the present, and Kerri was too dangerous for his equilibrium. Kerri with her soul-sucking eyes, sassy tone and a body that deserved to be admired and worshiped in every way. And there was the whole Natalie thing. He’d already messed up with Natalie once, in a fairly big way, and didn’t want to complicate things by going after her best friend. That should make Kerri off-limits.
His fingers drummed the steering wheel.
Should.
But he couldn’t ignore the undeniable fascination he felt. He hadn’t been able to forget her after all these years. The impact she had on him was just as powerful as it had been at their first meeting. His body still throbbed when she was near, and her feminine scent lingered in his mind.
He wanted to start over with Kerri, see how far their attraction would take them. And this time she wouldn’t be able to just walk away on a whim.
Chapter Two
KERRI DUMPED HER LUGGAGE and purse next to the four big bags from Hong Kong and sent Natalie a short text message: Checked in. Thanks for the upgrade.
She glanced over the brochures about the hotel amenities, local sites and so on, ignoring her suitcases for the moment. It was a ritual so she would know what to do to stay occupied when she had some free time.
She sighed and rubbed her temples. Before, the ritual had usually been pointless. Now, all she had was free time.
Her gaze drifted to the small fridge. Too bad she couldn’t raid it. She could use a stiff drink, but her liver was shot. It was unfair—she’d never had more than two or three drinks a night. Genetics, however, were hard to outflank. Her father’s side of the family could drink like fish, but bad livers ran on her mother’s side, and in this case, Kerri’s DNA came from the shallow end of the gene pool. Her doctor had been adamant that she give up all drinking, or else get ready to put her name on a transplant waitlist and hope for the best. She chose the former.
Even Barron, with all his influence, had waited close to four years for a new liver, and she doubted she could do any better.
A minute later her phone beeped. Natalie.
No prob. Ethan got you?
Yes. Shouldn’t you be asleep in your new darling hubby’s arms?
The Skype app rang.
“Why are you up?” Kerri said as soon as the video chat started. She put aside the room service menu and grinned at the image of her best friend—long glossy black hair, pale skin and pretty dark brown eyes.
“Oh my god, your hair!”
Kerri put her hand on the wig. She’d forgotten about it.
“You look so…severe. Are you trying to scare the new analysts?”
“It’s a wig.” She pulled it off. “Ta-da! Just trying a new style.” No point in telling Natalie about the irritating PIs. “Anyway, good to see you!”
“Good to see you, too. I was wondering when you’d get in.”
“Flight delay. What can you do?”
“Ugh. I should’ve checked.” Natalie sighed, then frowned. “Hey, did you lose weight?”
“No,” Kerri lied. She’d lost weight in the last few weeks because of a loss of appetite. The bad liver apparently had that particular side-effect, the only thing she could consider positive. “It’s probably the lighting.” She studied the screen. “Are you in a bathroom?”
“Yeah.”