Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,37

eyes were hooded in shadow. “Would it matter if I did?”

His answer threw me off kilter. “Of course it would. This is my career, Landon. Not some passing fancy. The internship has to mean something.”

He shook his head, turning back to the road again as we rounded a hairpin turn. “Of course it means something for your career. I wouldn’t offer it to you if I didn’t think it would help you.”

“Then why are you acting like you do have ulterior motives?”

He was silent as he flicked the blinker on, turning down Orville road. “I offered this to you for a reason. I want to help you. You’re not the same girl I grew up with. The same girl I left behind.”

I couldn’t decide if I was flattered or hurt by his response. “What’s that mean?”

“You lost your mom. That changes people. I get that, I really do. But I miss the way your eyes used to light up. The way you used to crack those stupid popsicle stick jokes. The way your brother would bitch and moan the way he does, and you’d make faces at him behind his back.”

I found my lips curling upward, as I was warmed by the memories. Warmed by the thought of all those hot summer nights as I tagged along with Landon and Matt, pining for Landon without a word. Desperate for him to turn and look at me, even though he never did. Even though sometimes other girls would sit beside me in this car, and he’d drop me off at home and drive away with them, breaking my heart over and over.

We shared so many memories, even though I knew he viewed them through an entirely different lens.

“Do you remember when the three of us went to the ocean?” I asked, rolling down the window.

“Yeah. We barley had enough money for the hotel room, but you wanted an ocean view.” He grinned, thinking about it.

“After we checked in you went to the front desk and told them you were under the impression that our room would have a view. They moved us to one with a balcony overlooking the water. No extra charge.”

He chuckled under his breath. “I can be persuasive when I want to be.”

“I guess I should’ve seen then that nobody ever says no to you.”

“I’ve missed you,” he said, sliding a hand over my bare thigh. His hands were callused, like even though he was white collar, he’d never let go of his blue-collar beginnings.

“I missed you too,” I replied. “I thought of you so much while you were gone.” Just saying it made my eyes get a little glossy and I tried to remind myself not to cry. Crying was not what I wanted to be doing right then.

“We should just keep driving,” he said, his fingers curling back and forth, stroking along my skin. “Go find that hotel.”

“That place was a crap hole,” I said, laughing. “They probably have the same sheets.”

His grin was toothy this time, a glimpse of the Landon I knew before he went away, when his smiles came more easily. I wasn’t the only one who’d grown more serious in the years since we last saw each other.

We took a turn and wound upwards, onto the ridge overlooking Orting. We must’ve been in Puyallup, but it wasn’t until we took two more turns that I realized where were going.

“The theater?” I asked, hoping he couldn’t hear the surprised delight in my voice.

“It reopened a year ago,” he said, flicking a glance over at me, as if to register my reaction.

“I know,” I said. “I just didn’t think you knew.” The truth was, I hadn’t been back. Tried not to look at it each time I drove past, because it reminded me too much of him.

We pulled into the parking lot, and I tried to process how it looked the last time I was sitting in this car beside Landon. Tried not to think of how my heart had hammered out of control as he placed his hand over mine on the stick shift, trying to explain how to find first gear. How he’d kept urging me to ease into it and I couldn’t stop thinking of other things I wanted to ease into. Or onto.

“They only have two screens so it’s a romance or a drama.”

“Romance, obviously.” I grinned.

“So maybe you haven’t totally changed.”

My grin widened as I remembered forcing Landon and Matt through The Notebook. They’d groaned and whined but by