“Wow, Sarah looks different,” Ashleigh whispered, her voice being carried by the wind.
Different was an understatement, Dylan thought, never looking away from the woman he hadn’t seen in … far too long. Previously Sarah Fulton, now Sarah Davis since she’d taken her maiden name back, was standing less than ten feet away, her expression reflecting every bit of the surprise Dylan felt.
But Ashleigh was right, the woman looked like an entirely different person than the one he remembered from that night so long ago and the months leading up to it. The innocence he’d once seen in her eyes was long gone, replaced by something darker, more resolute.
Sure, she was just as beautiful as he remembered, possibly more so standing there in a short off-white dress that hugged every curve and knee-high brown boots that made his fucking mouth water. The blood-red lipstick on her succulent mouth made his dick thicken, his jeans becoming far too tight. The tattoos that decorated her arms beneath the sheer sleeves of her dress were probably the most notable difference aside from the fact that she’d lost weight and no longer had the perfect hips he’d once held in his hands. Also gone were the short, silky blond curls she’d once sported, and now the wind teased her long golden locks. He could practically still feel the silkiness against his fingers.
“Who is that with her?”
Dylan forced his gaze away from Sarah and over to the man standing at her side. He shrugged, although he had an idea. He’d heard Jake mention that his aunt had started dating someone recently. A fact that Dylan had done his best not to dwell on.
“Are you gonna go talk to her?”
Jerking his attention back to Ashleigh, Dylan fought to keep himself anchored in the present, rather than drifting back to that fateful day when he’d last seen Sarah… The night he’d fucked her up against her living room wall.
“Dylan?” Ashleigh nudged his arm with hers.
“No,” he answered abruptly, turning his attention back to the water. “I doubt she wants to hear from me.”
“Why?”
Dylan shook his head. He was not going to go into the details, not even with his sister, who’d become one of his closest friends in the years since his wife had died. As much as Dylan wished he could talk to her about that night, he was too embarrassed to admit what he’d done. It was just a damn good thing Sarah had come to her senses and sent him on his way. Otherwise…
Damn it. He didn’t want to think about it.
Ashleigh moved off the rail and touched his arm again. “Well, I’ve got to go find Alex. I’ll talk to you later, ’kay?”
He offered his sister another nod, grateful for the reprieve.
For some reason, he needed a minute to collect himself, and he didn’t need any witnesses to the meltdown he felt coming on.
“YOU OKAY?”
Sarah yanked herself back to the present at the sound of her nephew’s voice, forcing a smile while she willed her heart to stop pounding against her chest. A mere few seconds of looking at Dylan Thomas had brought the memories of that long-ago night back in full force.
She could practically still feel his hands on her, his mouth, the way he moved inside her body. Three years had done little to help her forget.
It took a moment to remember where she was, who she was with. Finally, she forced a smile and glanced at her nephew. “Good. Why?”
Jake passed her a glass of wine and handed Bill, her date, a bottle of beer. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”
Well, that was because she had. She’d seen a ghost from her past, a man she thought she would be able to handle seeing again. For nearly two weeks, ever since Jake had asked her to accompany him to this party, Sarah had attempted to mentally prepare herself for an unavoidable reunion. Hence the reason she’d invited Bill at the last minute. Though he wasn’t her boyfriend, they’d gone on a few dates and she’d thought he would be a good distraction.
Yeah.
That hadn’t worked out too well.
In fact, she hardly noticed that Bill was there now that Dylan was standing ten or so feet away from her. So much for mentally preparing for this. Apparently, thinking about seeing Dylan again and actually seeing him were two very different things.
Being that Dylan was part owner of the company her nephew worked for, running into him tonight had been inevitable. As much as she’d wanted to avoid this event for that reason alone, telling Jake no wasn’t in her nature.
As it was, Jake was the closest thing she had to a son. A child of her own wasn’t in the cards, but Sarah was okay with that. She’d spent most of her adult life as a teacher, getting the opportunity to frame the minds of other people’s children, and she’d never been left wanting more.
Granted, in recent years, Sarah had shed her old life, making some major changes in an effort to make herself whole again. Not only had she sold her house and bought a new one, reclaimed her maiden name, decided to get healthy, changed the way she dressed, and invested in some self-expressive body art, she’d also changed everything else about herself that she could. She’d cleaned out the metaphorical clutter and transformed her … whole life. Some might call it a mid-life crisis, but Sarah liked to think of it as self-preservation.
Yet, as she stared back at Dylan, she felt like her old self—sad, broken, uncertain, miserable—and that wasn’t a good thing. Sarah had decided she despised the woman she’d once been, hating how vulnerable she’d allowed herself to be, and had purposely reinvented herself. It had worked.
Or so she’d thought.
Her gaze strayed to Dylan once more. He looked almost exactly as she remembered. Tall, broad, and obscenely handsome wearing a pair of dark blue Wranglers that hugged every glorious inch of his impressive lower body. The scruff on his face was sprinkled with gray; his once short, dark hair had been shaved almost completely bald. She wondered if that was because it had been receding or if he merely preferred it that way. Whatever the reason, he looked good. Rugged yet distinguished. Better than before, for sure.
What surprised her the most was that the hard years he’d had didn’t show in the beautiful lines of his face. And she’d heard all about his struggle back from the dark side—his battle with depression and alcohol—thanks to the fact that her nephew worked for him and because, at one point, Dylan’s sister had asked her to help.
Remembering Bill and Jake were standing there, watching her intently, Sarah forced another smile and looked up at her nephew. It still surprised her that he was so tall, registering somewhere close to six one. He definitely got that gene from his father and not his mother, being that she and Sarah hadn’t even broken five feet.
“Aunt Sarah?”
“Sorry. Just a little cold, I guess.”
It wasn’t true. With the heaters planted randomly around the outside area, it was rather warm, almost cozy.
“Do you want my jacket?” Bill offered, referring to his ill-fitting suit jacket.
Touching his arm, she smiled at him. “I’m good. I’ll just go back inside in a minute.”