Free Tiana (Starkis Family #3) by Cheryl Douglas

parked out front.
    “Thanks,” I muttered to the driver, passing him a bill large enough to cover the fare and tip.
    “Thanks. Have a good night, lady,” he muttered.
    Whether I would or not depended on Damon.
    “Hey,” Damon said, his handsome face splitting into an infectious smile as he jumped out of the car. “I’ve missed you.”
    Oh. Those three little words hit me harder than I’d expected. I’d missed him too, though I wasn’t ready to admit it. I wanted to play my hand close to the vest and see what he had in mind before I revealed what I’d been thinking and feeling since his abrupt departure.
    “This is a surprise,” I said, trying to resist the urge to lick him like an excited puppy when I caught a whiff of his cologne as he pulled me into a tight embrace.
    “A pleasant one, I hope?” he asked, drawing back. He frowned as he gave me a quick once-over, taking in my short blue dress and high heels. “Did I catch you at a bad time? Looks like you’re dressed for a night out.”
    “I had a date.” Ha! At least that sent the message I wasn’t sitting around waiting for him, a container of ice cream on my lap and a tissue box at the ready.
    “Hmmm.” It was more of a grunt than an acknowledgment. “Miles?”
    “As a matter of fact, yes.” I reminded myself that I was supposed to be the one asking the questions. He was the one who’d left town without a word after leaving me wet and wanting.
    “Sounds like it’s getting serious.”
    I knew he was testing the waters, hoping I would volunteer more information about my relationship with Miles, but I refused to make it that easy for him. “Enough about me. I want to hear about you. Where’ve you been?”
    Instead of responding, he opened the passenger door. “Why don’t we take a little drive, and I’ll tell you about it?”
    I couldn’t claim I wasn’t frustrated that he would rather drive than get horizontal, but whatever. I’d let him call the shots. For now. “Sure. Why not?” I settled into the low-slung sports car before fastening my seat belt. I waited for him to round the driver’s side and get comfortable behind the wheel before I said, “So where’d you run off to in such a hurry?”
    “I had some business to attend to,” he said, easing into the late-night traffic. “Then I spent a few days on my boat. I just needed to clear my head, gain some perspective.”
    “Sounds ominous,” I said, trying to hide my curiosity. It wasn’t as if he owed me an explanation. I wasn’t his girlfriend. We weren’t even sleeping together, yet I had a maddening urge to know everything about him.
    “Not really.” He sighed. “I guess I’m just not used to having to live up to other people’s expectations.” He flashed me a quick grin when we pulled up to a red light. “I’m kind of used to being the screw-up. That way no one expects too much of you.”
    I laughed. “You graduated top of your class at an Ivy League school and were scouted by several Fortune 500 companies after graduation. I don’t think most people would define that as being a screw-up.”
    “Ah, but most people didn’t grow up with my old man.”
    He curled his hand around the steering wheel, and I noted his knuckles were turning white. Damon didn’t talk about his father often, but when he did, it was obvious they had a complicated relationship. I could certainly relate.
    “Looks like you’re kind of stressed,” I said, setting my hand on his thigh. “You want to talk about it?” I’d intended to let him have it for leaving town without so much as a text, but I could tell he needed a friend. I was flattered he’d reached out to me, and I didn’t want to make him regret it.
    “Have you ever done something you wished you could take back?”
    I laughed. “Of course. Who hasn’t?”
    “I don’t regret much,” he admitted. “That’s not to say I haven’t made a lot of mistakes. I have. But I don’t have many regrets. Whatever happened, I just