Melting the Ice(14)

            She’d waited years for that apology, had played over and over in her head what she’d say to him if he ever said he was sorry.

            She’d planned to throw his apology back in his face. She’d tell him she’d cried over and over again for months after he walked out on her and never called her. She’d felt worthless and used and in love with someone who obviously felt nothing for her.

            But that was the twenty-year-old, brokenhearted Carolina who’d had all those feelings.

            Drew had never once made any promises to her that night, and all her feelings had been just that—her feelings—the ones of a very young girl who’d wrapped all her hopes and dreams in fantasy, none of which had been his fault. She’d known he was leaving campus, that he had a promising career ahead of him with a hockey team. Instead, she’d manufactured some love story in her head that had nothing to do with reality.

            Which, again, hadn’t been his fault at all. It had taken her a long time to come to grips with that. But she’d moved on, finished college, and had become an adult. She’d had other relationships and had shoved Drew into a drawer of the past.

            Sometimes love taught very painful lessons, but she’d long ago decided she wasn’t equipped for that whole falling in love thing.

            “Apology accepted. I’m sorry I brought it up—again.”

            He took her hand. “You’re entitled to bring it up as many times as you want to. I was a jerk that night. And a lot before that. I didn’t notice you when I should have.”

            He wasn’t making this any easier. “You weren’t supposed to do anything other than be who you were. I was the one who threw myself at you.”

            He smiled at her. “You did. Thanks for that. It was good for my ego.”

            “As if your ego needed any more stroking. You had girls lining up to crawl into bed with you all through college. For as long as I can remember, you were the hot stud every girl wanted to get with. And you were oblivious to most of them, or you strung them along, choosing the best ones and discarding the less attractive ones.”

            “Ouch. Was I really that bad?”

            “Yes. You were really that bad. As far as I know, you might still be.”

            “Trust me. The only thing keeping me busy these days is hockey.”

            “Uh-huh. Somehow I find that difficult to believe. A leopard doesn’t change its spots, Drew. And you haven’t suddenly become a monk.”

            “Okay, maybe not. But I’m an adult now, and chasing after women like there’s no tomorrow isn’t high on my priority list anymore.”

            She wasn’t sure she bought his reformed-bad-boy speech, but as they ate dinner, she noticed he focused only on her, despite several very attractive women trying to get his attention. Okay, points for him on that one. She’d been out on dates with plenty of men who had a roving eye, who seemed to think that they’d been placed on earth to have women service them.

            Generally, those were the one-date-only types. A man who couldn’t pay attention to her for the duration of a date didn’t deserve her, and the one thing she’d learned over the years was that she deserved to have a man who wanted her—really wanted her.

            Maybe she had Drew to thank for that, since she’d endured a lot of misery because of him, and she’d grown up during those months she’d spent crying over him and mourning the loss of her fantasies about love and happily ever after.

            “You’re quiet over there.”

            She lifted her gaze to find him staring at her. “Just enjoying my dinner.”