Free Live for You by Marquita Valentine Page A

peasant
top. “I run every other day.” Not a complete lie in light of the
fact that I will go running tomorrow just so that I’m not telling a
lie. Now I really know why lies are exhausting to keep up
with.
    “ Rae?”
    I glance up at him. He’s
leaning into me and I shift forward the tiniest bit.
“Yes?”
    “ I have to know
something,” he says, his voice all husky. Up close like this his
eyes are impossibly blue and I’m impossibly turned on by him. I’m
possibly the dumbest girl alive for feeling like this about a guy I
barely know. “But I don’t want to hurt your feelings or make you
uncomfortable.”
    Cole knows. He broke his
promise and looked me up. And now he wants all the dirty
details.
    I swallow the regret and
anger, sharp and cutting my throat as they go, replacing it with
the acid of resignation. It’s not like what happened wasn’t public.
It’s not like everyone in the damn world found out about the crash
within minutes, thanks to Twitter. It’s not like I wasn’t bombarded
with questions and accusations for weeks after the
incident.
    So, why should he be any
different?
    What I did was wrong and
reckless. It doesn’t matter that I can’t remember driving my car or
that the bouncers at Club Blue don’t even remember me leaving in my
car. None of that matters, because I was the only one lying in a
field, surrounded by glass and steel. Broken and bleeding out with
every beat of my heart.
    “ Okay,” I say, mentally
bracing myself.
    His arm goes around me,
grazing my waist, then he pulls it back and hold up a slice of cake
wrapped in cellophane. “Did you make this or Miss Violet? I’m
really hoping it’s you, because… dayum girl, you make a mean apology
cake.”
    The breath I’d been holding
rushes out and it’s all I can do not to cry in relief. Or hug him
in thanks. He didn’t break his promise. “We both did.”
    He grins, not even remotely
aware what he’s doing to me. Betrayal has been my constant
companion for so long that I’m not sure what to do without her.
“Guess I’ll have to be satisfied with that.”
    “ Doesn’t take much to
satisfy you.” I blink at my blatant flirting. Ugh. Bad flirting. Maybe he didn’t
notice.
    “ Now that’s where you’re
wrong. It entirely depends on the one doing the satisfying,” he
says, smirking. Oh God. He noticed.
    I scoot away from him,
digging through the picnic basket and talking a mile a minute.
“Hungry? There’s all sorts of things Nana packed for us. She said a
grown man like you would want to eat more than just some pitiful
sandwiches. Her words not mine. I like sandwiches. Okay, so
crackers, sliced cheese…Do you like cheese? Oh gosh, are you
lactose intolerant? Ugh. I can’t believe I didn’t check with you
first. Of course there’s nuts in here too and you—”
    The touch of his hand on my
arm stops my words and compresses my chest. Slowly, I turn to look
at him. “Calm down and take a deep breath, Rae.”
    “ I’m trying,” I confess,
but breathing’s not easy when you feel as though you’re
drowning.
    “ I won’t hurt you.” He
says those four words with such conviction that I’m tempted to
believe him. But I’ve been fooled before and I don’t trust myself,
much less some guy I only met three days ago. It doesn’t matter
that my own grandmother says he’s a nice young man. That
description does nothing for me, but leave the taste of ash in my
mouth. “Besides, you have your phone and Miss Violet knows we’re
together.”
    He’s either the real deal
or my ex’s twin in disguise. And I hate myself for even comparing
Cole to that asshole. But what else can I think? Jaxon is my entire experience with
the opposite sex. “Look.” I bite my lip. “I’m nervous.”
    “ About lunch?” he asks,
one dark eye brow rising. “It’s just good food and good
company.”
    I turn his words over in my
mind, examining them from every angle, but I can’t come up with
anything to discredit him.