Kismet: A Serendipity Novella Read Free

divorce.”
Another lie. His heart hadn’t stopped pounding in his chest since
he’d realized she was free.
    “I’m not. It was a long time in coming.” She
glanced down, then looked at him again. “It wasn’t love, Trev. It
never was.”
    Her honest words startled him. From the
minute she’d told him she was pregnant with Bradley Banks’s baby,
all he could think about was that his greatest fear had come true.
Lissa had gone out with Brad, the high school quarterback and rich
boy, and after they’d broken up, Trevor had made his move on the
girl he’d always wanted. Though they’d fallen in love and made
plans for the future, he’d still been insecure about his place in
her life. Back then he hadn’t been able to give her what Brad
could, the things she deserved that money could buy.
    Not that she’d ever asked for or coveted
them, he realized now.
    But his inadequacies had always marked him.
It was the way of things in Serendipity and his dad, bless him, was
the high school janitor. It didn’t make Trevor’s life easy. So when
he and Lissa had a stupid teenage argument, they’d broken up. And
when she’d turned back to Brad, even for one night, all Trevor
could think was that she’d proven him right. And when she’d ended
up pregnant, all hope of fixing things came to an abrupt and ugly
end.
    Trevor met her gaze. She’d waited quietly as
processed her words. “It’s in the past,” he said gruffly.
    But was it?
    “So you’ll do the interview?” she asked,
hope shining in her eyes.
    While he’d been rehashing the pain, she’d
been worried about her career. Okay, that made sense. It wasn’t
like she was here for a personal reason. “Yeah. I’ll do it.”
    “Thank you!” She squealed and impulsively
jumped up from her chair, throwing her arms around him in
gratitude. In that instant, she was the Lissa he remembered, the
full of life, go for the gusto, happy girl he’d fallen for.
    And when she pulled him into an embrace, he
buried his face in her hair and her familiar scent enveloped him.
Desire licked at him, scorching him from the inside out. He
remembered how good they’d been together and suddenly he knew what
that empty hole was in his life. He missed her, the girl he’d told
everything, including his dreams, hopes, and secrets. Since Lissa,
he’d never let anyone get that emotionally close, afraid of
experiencing that kind of pain and loss again.
    She pulled back, an embarrassed flush on her
cheeks. “Sorry. I got carried away, but this series of interviews
means so much to me. I mean, I didn’t think I’d ever get to stop
slinging coffee for a living and now ...” She trailed off. “I’m
rambling.”
    He laughed for the first time since she’d
walked in. “You think?”
    He couldn’t stop thinking about her words.
Serving coffee? Didn’t Banks have so much money that after any
divorce settlement, she should be able to sit back and eat bonbons
if she chose?
    Clearly Trevor had a lot to catch up on, and
suddenly he wanted to. Now that he’d seen Lissa again, his
curiosity was piqued and he wanted the information he’d
deliberately ignored over the years. Thinking back to the schedule
his secretary had handed him first thing this morning, he figured
they had time. Because if Lissa was going to pump him for
information about who he was and what made him tick, damned if he
wasn’t going to do the same thing to her.
    “So when do we get started?” he asked her.
“On the interview.”
    Her eyes opened wide. “Right now, if you’re
ready. I’ll do a combination of observing you at work and, when
we’re alone and you aren’t busy, asking questions and talking.”
    “Now is fine,” he said, suddenly revved up
and exhilarated. “Did Collette give you a copy of my schedule for
the next few days?”
    “She handed me a sheet of paper when I
walked in. I haven’t had time to go over it.”
    He nodded. “You might want to. There’s a
formal event on Friday night and a