The sun was just beginning to rise when I opened my eyes. I was asleep on the sofa alone. A blanket was covering me and a pillow was under my head. I stretched, got up, folded the blanket and ran a hand through my hair. I needed to leave. Bliss and Nate were going to assume things that hadn’t happened. Not that I should care. But a part of me did. And it had happened before, just not last night.
I found an old receipt and a pen in my purse.
Thanks for last night. It was fun. I hope it helped.
Lila
I placed the note on the table in front of me and then left. I liked Eli Hardy, and in different circumstances he’d be harder to leave. But his heart was taken even if he didn’t want it to be.
My walk back to Nate and Bliss’s was peaceful. The seagulls were out, and the smell of the salt in the air calmed me. The sun wasn’t boiling yet, and I enjoyed just being alone. My thoughts were all over the place as I walked. So much so that I almost missed the motorcycle parked outside Nate’s house.
When I did see it, I paused. I knew that bike. I also knew the guy straddling it. He turned his head and looked at me. Even though I hated it. Even though I would do anything for it not to affect me to see him there, my heart picked up just a little.
I took a deep breath then resumed walking toward the front door and Cruz Kerrington.
“What are you doing here?” I snapped when I was close enough for him to hear me.
He gave me his cocky grin. “I heard you were taking a road trip.”
“So?”
“Why?”
I didn’t want to answer him. But he was here. He had never come here. “Why are you here?” I demanded.
“Why did you take off?” Cruz countered.
I was the new Lila. I wasn’t the same girl that I had left behind in Rosemary. “Because I don’t want to be that girl anymore. The one you described.”
“So you thought leaving town alone would change that?” He sounded amused.
I hated that. I hated his smug grin and self-confidence. “Yes. This is my . . . adventure. Now leave. Let me enjoy it.”
Cruz didn’t move. He studied me a moment. I started to walk past him toward the front door. “Get on, Lila,” he said and I glanced back at him. He was holding out a helmet.
“Excuse me?” I asked thinking I’d heard him incorrectly.