Free Caught Up in You by Sophie Swift Page B

into mine and I feel a familiar fire shoot through my veins. Like an invisible caress that covers every inch of my skin. How is it that after all this time, he can still liquefy me from the inside with just a look? Granted, it’s an unusually long look. And the way he’s staring into me, it almost seems like he’s trying to reach into my mind and pull out all the secret longing thoughts I’ve kept safely hidden for the majority of my young adult life.
    I stand slack-jawed and stupefied. My brain still can’t seem to wrap itself around the fact that he’s here .
    At La Bella Vita Italian Restaurant.     
    Standing in front of me.
    The word destiny flits through my mind as I feel that small surge of hope start to dry my throat. If this were a movie, it would make perfect sense. My long-time secret crush comes fatefully waltzing back into my life to sweep me off my feet and confess that it’s been me all along.    
    Of course, if this were a movie, the first words out of my mouth wouldn’t be “What the fuck are you doing here?”
    But they are.
    Because it’s me. 
    He blinks out of his apparent trance and chuckles at my brashness. His hands drop from my shoulders and he reaches out to playfully pinch my cheek, making me feel like a dorky fourteen-year-old with braces all over again.
    Nice, Lia, I scold myself. Way to ruin the moment like a pro.
    But in all honesty, it’s a fair question.
    What the fuck is he doing here?
    The last I heard, his mom moved to Florida or somewhere. It’s not like he has reason to come back to this dinky little town.
    But he doesn’t answer the question. In fact, he appears to dodge it completely.
    “I see you still haven’t cleaned up your act,” he states, jokingly referring to my notorious trucker mouth.
    I give his preppy slacks and button-up shirt a critical once-over. “And I see you’re still dressing like a momma’s boy.”
    He snorts. “You know my ‘momma’ would never approve of this outfit.”
    “Because your momma actually has taste.”
    He bursts out laughing and pulls me in for another hug. “God, I’ve missed you. I’ve missed this .”
    I instantly melt against him, reduced to vapor by his embrace. I want nothing more than to murmur into chest how much I’ve missed him, too. How much I’ve tried not to think about him all of these years. And how badly I’ve failed.
    But I don’t.
    Because I can’t.
    Because with Grayson the words have always been stolen from my tongue. Stowed away in a secret chamber that I’ve never had the courage to unlock.
    So instead I just ask again, “So, what are you doing here?”
    “Well, I—” he begins to answer as he pulls away, but is quickly interrupted by the sound of Alex’s breathy, phone-sex-operator voice squeezing between us.
    “I forgot the bathroom here only has air dryers .”
    I turn and see her emerging from the restroom, flicking droplets of water from her hands as she walks. She grabs a cocktail napkin from the bar and dabs her fingers with it. Then she turns to me and gives me a perfunctory one-armed hug, tapping my back like she’s trying to burp a baby.
    “Hey, Li. Good to see you.” She glances around the empty restaurant. “Is this place even open?”
    “Uh,” I say, my mouth suddenly filled with a giant imaginary piece of foam.
    But she doesn’t wait for me to respond. “Anyway, sorry we’re late. The train stopped in Bridgeport for like an hour.”
    I glance anxiously between them. Alex is crumpling up her used cocktail napkin and tossing it onto the bar while Grayson, for some reason, is staring awkwardly at the ground.
    “Wait? What?” is all I manage to say.
    We?
    Alex flashes me one of her beaming smiles that I know, from years of living as her inferior younger sister, is completely fake. “I was hoping to tell you and Dad at the same time, but oh well.” She reaches down and grasps Grayson’s hand in hers. A familiar queasy sensation settles into my stomach as I watch