I'd gone to Stanford on a full ride, heartbroken and alone. I'd studied to block the pain of his rejection, his affair. But then he'd taunted me by becoming famous. His face was everywhere. The songs he used to sing to me in the back of his truck were on the radio. I hadn't been able to avoid him no matter where I went. By then, I'd put a wall around my heart so thick nothing got through. No one with a penis was allowed into my heart. I’d turned into a cold, merciless bitch. Hell, I’d turned into one of the bitches I’d hated all through high school. I’d loved no man since, not even my husband. Which was why Robert was now my ex-husband.
I followed Kit’s career as a friend. And despite how badly he’d hurt me, I couldn’t help but be happy for his success. He’d done exactly what he'd planned. He was ruling the world with a guitar in his hands. Just like I’d always known he would.
As he looked at me, there was no guitar. There was the signature black t-shirt and worn jeans. The rakish hair, the five o'clock shadow. He was the boy I remembered. All grown up. He was all man now and my body responded like a plucked guitar string, coming to life with a vibrant hum I hadn’t felt in years.
Damn him. I couldn’t stop looking. Stop feeling…
“Crystal,” Vi murmured. “What are you looking at?”
When I didn't look away, she glanced up as well. Her hand gripped my arm like a talon. “Holy shit, is that—”
I nodded.
“He's a fucking rock star. God, I have every one of Nightbird's albums. Every one of the guys in the band are hot as hell. And he's staring at you.” She glanced at me. “Crystal, do you know him?”
Did I know Kit Kaswell? I nodded. Every inch of his skin. The taste of his kiss, the thick length of his…
She let out a little scream, but covered her mouth with her fingers.
“Girlfriend, I want the scoop.”
I stared at him for one more second, then turned away. Blinking at Vi, I tried to shake off the jolt of awareness that was wrecking me. She eyed me with an eagerness I hadn't seen before. “You really like Nightbird that much? I had you pegged for a Taylor Swift collection.”
“Come on! He's gorgeous. That dark hair. And the way he plays guitar, I have to wonder what he can do with those hands. Can you imagine how dexterous those fingers are?”
Yeah, I could imagine. I could more than imagine.
I made a non-committal sound and she squealed.
“Not here. Not now,” I whispered. I flicked one last look his way, met his heated, dark gaze. “Not ever.”
I was done. Kit Kaswell ruined me once. I wouldn't let him do it again. I pasted on a smile and got on with my life, turned back to the next person waiting patiently in line. I'd seen him. I'd survived.
Picking up my pen from the floor, I returned to my life, a life that did not include him.
Crystal
“Crystal.”
I knew that voice. Heard it in my dreams. Remembered it. Remembered when he'd said it playfully just before he'd kiss me. Remembered when it had been said rough and deep when he came, buried deep inside me.
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath. Turned.
Put on that fake smile I was so good at these days.
“Kit.”
“Holy shit, Kit Kaswell,” Vi said his name as she moved to stand right beside me, blocking him in between the table and the wall. While he could have moved her out of the way—he was well over a head taller than my pint-sized PR rep—he just gave her the usual charming turn of his lips.
“And you are?” he asked.
“Vivian Lonsdale. My friends call me Vi and you are definitely one of my friends.”
God, she was such a flirt. Definitely someone he'd take into a back room and fuck. If he offered, I had no doubt Vi would give herself to him. She didn't mind being another notch on his bedpost.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
He turned to look at me…and not the way he looked at Vi. This dark gaze was penetrating, as if he saw past my shiny new PR exterior to the girl he'd loved and lost. No, not lost, kicked to the damned curb.
“I saw your face on a billboard a few blocks from here.”
God, I'd seen that. I had no idea my nose was so big until it was forty feet tall.
“I'm in lots of press. You didn't have to come see me in person,” I countered.
“Crystal!” Vi scolded. “She's just tired. You'll have to excuse her behavior.”
He shook his head, his dark hair falling over his forehead again. I itched to reach out, brush it back, to feel those silky strands again.
“No, Crystal's right. I didn't have to come see her. I wanted to.” While he spoke to Vi, he kept his eyes pinned on mine. “I've been stalking her online for a while now.”