Spring Secrets - Allie Boniface Page 0,12

and hurt inside them. She gave a short nod, stood, and rolled up her mat. “Thanks for the workout. I’ll see you next time.”

“Wait. I...” He stopped, unsure what to say. She hesitated, but he couldn’t put a sentence together, and after a minute she pushed open the door and left. Idiot. Dash cursed himself as he watched Sienna go. But seriously, where did that kiss come from? He’d been caught completely off guard. Hadn’t imagined in a million years that Sienna Cruz, of all people, would kiss him out of the blue.

He chewed his bottom lip as he headed for the locker room. Damian had said she’d just broken up with her boyfriend. It was probably a rebound thing. He’d been around women enough to know how that worked. And as much as he’d like to spend more time kissing her—hell, doing a lot more than kissing her—that wasn’t a road either of them needed to go down. She didn’t need to get involved with someone with a past like Dash’s. And he didn’t need to get involved with someone who was leaving town in a matter of months. Pretty women had always been his downfall. If he wanted this place to succeed, he couldn’t follow the urges of anything but his brain. Been there, done that, he thought as he ran a hot shower.

Dash soaped up, the pattern of his tattoos turning a rainbow of colors under the water. Every one, a memory. Every one, a reminder. It’s better for both of us. He’d train her, they could be friendly, but that would be the end of it. Tomorrow he’d explain that to her, just to make sure things were square and she wasn’t expecting anything more than self-defense training.

He just wished Sienna Cruz looked a lot more like Godzilla and a lot less like a Sports Illustrated model. Beasts, he could slay. Beauties, he didn’t stand a chance against.

Chapter Six

Sienna sat in her car and turned the heat to high. Had she misread the situation? Obviously she had. She’d thought maybe Dash was interested in her, attracted to her, the way he kept stealing glances and smiling at the smallest thing she said. I thought we were getting along. Thought we had some chemistry. Her face burned with embarrassment. She’d made a total fool of herself, kissing him that way.

“You were wrong, Max,” she said aloud. Dash Springer obviously wasn’t interested in casual hookups. She might as well shelve that plan right now.

Thankfully, her phone buzzed with a text from her mother. Dinner in 10 minutes. Want to join us?

Sure. Friday night dinners were a staple at her parents’ house, but sometimes she ate there during the week too. Sienna’s cooking couldn’t beat her mom’s. And it was better than sitting in her apartment overanalyzing a kiss that never should’ve happened.

Your brother won’t be here, Ma added, so there’s more for us.

That didn’t surprise her. Since turning sixteen, Louie had turned mopey and distant, spending more time at his friends’ houses than his own. Sienna knew it bothered her parents, but teenage boys were a breed all their own. He’d come back around when he grew into his hormones.

Need anything? she texted before pulling out of the lot.

Just you.

Be there in 5. The nice thing about Whispering Pines, Sienna thought as she headed down Main Street, was that it took ten minutes to get anywhere. More than that, and you were lost or on your way over the mountain to Silver Valley. She headed down Main Street on her way to Galley Circle, one of a handful of cul-de-sacs that ringed the town. Theirs was only a half-mile around, and she knew every single one of her neighbors. Eight homes, all the same style, either white or beige or blue, all with black shutters. They’d gone up in the late 1980s, and some still had pastel tiled floors inside and the attached redwood decks that had been so popular back then.

Sienna parked in the driveway and hurried inside. Snow spit from the sky, angry and ominous, and she wondered how much would stick before morning. A gust of wind took her breath away, and she yanked her hood over her still-sweaty hair. If I catch a cold because of that stupid workout...

She couldn’t keep thinking about the workout, though, because that meant thinking about Dash. And the kiss. And what had happened after the kiss. Am I the first and only person he’s turned down? Because honestly,