Hot Pursuit Read Free Page A

finish with Mrs. Martin.”
    Mama gestured toward the pink vinyl seats in
the front of the shop, and Matt gave her the famous Girard smile
that used to melt the female hearts of Rochambeau High School. Evie
felt a little hitch in her own heart, in spite of herself.
    Why did he still have to be so damn
good-looking? Was it too much to ask for him to be balding or
growing a potbelly? Apparently so. Mother Nature was cruel.
    “Sure thing, Miz Breaux.”
    Before he’d taken three steps toward the
waiting area, Mama said, “You remember my daughter, Evangeline,
don’t you? She was a year behind you in school. Y’all used to play
when I’d come out to do your mama’s hair every week.”
    Evie’s heart crashed into her ribs. The
ladies in the shop grew quiet while they waited for his answer. She
knew what they were thinking. What they were waiting for. Why
should it bother her what they thought? What any of them
thought?
    It had been ten years ago, and it didn’t
matter anymore. She was grown up. Matt was grown up. Who cared?
    Except that’s not how Rochambeau worked, and
she knew it. It might have been ten years, but he’d humiliated her.
He’d broken her heart and tossed her to the wolves when she wasn’t
prepared to deal with the consequences of her actions. Not that
anyone knew for sure what had happened, but rumors were usually
enough in Rochambeau.
    “Yes, ma’am, I sure do. How is she?” He
didn’t sound in the least bit remorseful. But why would he? He’d
departed for college a week later, and she’d been the one left
behind to pick up the pieces.
    “Evie’s great,” Mama announced. “Been living
in Florida, but she’s home now. Maybe you can talk to her while you
wait. Y’all can catch up.”
    Evie’s stomach plummeted to her toes. Oh no.
No, no, no . What if she went into the bathroom and refused
to come out? Or just quietly slipped out the back door and
disappeared for a couple of hours? It was time for her lunch break,
and—
    Coward . Evie stiffened her spine. She
wasn’t running away. If it wasn’t now, it’d be some other time. She
couldn’t avoid him forever. And far better to get this over with in
public, while she could maintain her dignity and show the good
people of Rochambeau there was nothing left to talk about.
    “That’d be great,” he said in an aw
shucks way she didn’t buy for a second. He might talk smooth
and act all friendly and gee-whiz ma’am , but she knew
better. God, did she know better.
    He was nothing more than a self-centered,
arrogant jerk with a giant sense of entitlement and no mercy for
those he considered beneath him. A little corner of her heart still
hurt like it had been yesterday, but she ruthlessly stomped on the
feeling until it stopped.
    “Good,” her mother said as if it were the
best idea in the world, her gaze sweeping the shop. “She was here
just a minute ago. Evie? Evie?”
    “She went in the back,” Stella offered with
what Evie was convinced was a hint of glee. Bitch.
    Right. There was nothing Evie could do except
face this particular blast from the past. Because there was no way
on earth she’d ever let Matt Girard humiliate her again. She’d
learned the hard way, but at least she’d learned.
    “I’m right here, Mama,” she said, whipping
off her smock and pushing back the curtain.

CHAPTER TWO
     
    MATT STILL DIDN’T KNOW WHAT he was doing at
the Cut ’N Curl, but the second Evie Baker walked out of the
stockroom, he felt as if someone had dropped a truckload of cement
on his head. He hadn’t seen her in ten years, not since the night
he’d taken her virginity in the back of his daddy’s Cadillac.
    He’d never forgotten that night, never
forgotten what a dickhead he’d been. He didn’t expect she had
either, which is why he wasn’t surprised that she was currently
glaring daggers at him.
    Little Evie Baker. Not so little anymore.
    He remembered the first time he’d ever seen
her, when he’d been seven and his mama had