Love Me If You Dare (Safe Haven) Read Free Page A

that was because of Caroline, who had been one of the few people who’d
cared enough to look past the shyness I’d once clutched around myself like a
cloak. We would never be best friends, but I still enjoyed her friendship.
    The
tiny blonde had her arms around Nate when I approached, the expression on her
face showing exactly what had kept them together since their freshman year of
high school. A pang stabbed me in the chest, just one quick, bloodless slice as
I stopped, hung back, feeling like I was intruding on something private.
    I
wasn’t jealous that she had Nate. The man was a long, tall drink of chocolate
milk for sure, but he didn’t do it for me.
    No,
the slice came from the knowledge that the one guy who had haunted my thoughts,
my dreams since the first time I’d met him wasn’t going to want anything to do
with me now. Even knowing that, I couldn’t stop stealing quick, furtive little
glances around, checking for that thick, spiky hair, or those eyes that had
never been able to decide if they were hazel or green.
    Then
Caroline spotted me, standing awkwardly a few feet away, and for a blissful few
moments I was caught up with nothing but happiness at seeing my friend.
    “Kay...”
My name from her lips trailed off as she looked me over, her eyes taking in my
skimpy red dress, my sky high heels, and her brow furrowed for a moment. I
could follow her thoughts as clearly as if she’d spoken them aloud.
    What
the hell was Kaylee Sawyer doing, dressed like this?
    I
waited, grimacing inwardly, as she broke away from Nate with a squeal. Shaking
long golden hair from her face, the one person I’d kept in contact with in Fish
Lake launched herself at me, hugging me until my ribs felt like they would
crack.
    Relief
was a morphine drip in my veins. She’d noticed that I’d changed. But, true to
how she’d always been, she just accepted me as I was.
    “Kaylee!”
Pulling back, the girl who resembled nothing so much as a forest sprite looked
me up and down in the way that good friends can without being creepy. I waited
to see if she would comment on my look, which wasn’t new to me but sure was to
everyone else here.
    “Nice
dress.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me and grinned. “I don’t have the boobs to
hold something like that up.”
    The
part of me that had frozen as soon as I’d driven past the town limits began to
thaw. I looked down at my own boobs, which were a perfectly respectable B cup
but nothing spectacular, and wiggled my eyebrows back.
    “Victoria’s
Secret.” I stage whispered. “Ssh, it’s a secret.”
    She
hooted with laughter, stepping back to let me at the drink table.
    “Move
that sexy ass, Nate.” Caroline playfully hip checked her man out of the way,
and in return he smacked her butt, grinning at me as he did.
    “Looking
good, Sawyer.” Nate looked me up and down with fake lasciviousness as Caroline rolled
her eyes. “Wanna make out?”
    I
laughed and rolled my eyes along with Caroline. Being around two people who
were just happy I was home and didn’t want to have a long, serious discussion
about anything did me a world of good.
    “Nate,
stop hitting on her and move. It took three years, but Kaylee’s here and ready
to party.” Caroline grabbed two red plastic cups from a teetering stack and
gestured to the array of half empty bottles on the card table. “Let’s get a few
drinks into her before she changes her mind.”
    “I’ll
leave you women to it.” Nate saluted us with his cup before wandering off into
the crowd. “Don’t break too many hearts.”
    “No
shit, Sawyer.” Caroline whistled as she held up a bottle of whiskey in one hand
and a mickey of vodka in the other. “I had no idea you were so hot. Though you
did rock the sexy librarian thing.”
    “A
librarian? Shit.” I gestured to the vodka, ignoring the inquisitive expression
on Caroline’s face as I reached around her for one of the cups that she’d
gotten out.
    It
seemed like such a stereotype,