Lucky Break Read Free Page B

driveway. Kade wiped his face with the shirt hanging from his jeans pocket. Standing by his white truck, he put his hand over his eyes to shield the sun.
    The cab pulled to a stop on the other side of the driveway. Who the hell did Mae know who would have to take a cab here?
    The door opened and his gut sank. He’d know that midnight black hair anywhere. That pale, clear skin. His body tightened even more than before, emotions he buried long ago fighting to barrel to the surface.
    When she stepped around the car and noticed him for the first time, she froze.
    If he thought Rowan had grown up, it was nothing compared to Sidney. Her lips were a deep red, contrasting her creamy peach skin and dark hair. The kind of plump, pouty lips he loved on a woman. She was curvy in a way he didn’t remember.
    Bits and pieces of their past played through his mind: their school days, camping trips, laughing with Rowan. Sidney holding him through the hardest time in his life.
    Her leaving him.
    Anger erupted inside him. Anger at her for being everything and then nothing. For the fact that he was sitting here thinking all these things about her when he’d worked so hard to get past them. When he’d thought they’d all been gone.
    Suddenly, he hated her again. He hated her for being even more gorgeous than he remembered. Hated that he felt something deep in his chest, just by looking at her.
    “Kade?” She still squinted her eyes when she was confused. Had she not known he would be here, either? Knowing Mae, probably not. “Wow…I didn’t know you were back. I… What…what are you doing here?” The old Kade would have let her out of this easily, but he wasn’t that Kade anymore. Or tried not to be.
    “Shouldn’t I be asking what you’re doing here? Telling you I didn’t know you were back?” There was a hard edge to his voice that pissed him off. He didn’t want to be upset where she was concerned. But she always magnified everything he felt: passion, lust, love, and, yeah, anger. Even back then the woman could anger him more than anyone else. She used to make him feel a lot of things no one else did.
    “Um…this is my aunt’s house. I think that entitles me to be here, don’t ya think?” She gave him that confident half smile that said she thought she had him. Hell no, would he let her get away with that.
    “Considering I live here, I think that entitles me to be here, too.”
    Her lips spread into an O .
    “Well…” She shuffled on her feet. He shouldn’t get so much pleasure out of seeing her suffer. And yet… “I guess we’re roomies! Kind of…” She faked a smile. “I’m not going to be here long, though. Just till…” She let her words trail off. He wanted to ask her till when but couldn’t bring himself to do it.
    “I only got a month off work. I’ll be leaving then.”
    Of course she would. Being a Hollywood woman now, she wouldn’t want to spend much time in Shamrock Falls. Again, more questions he wouldn’t ask: What are you doing here? How’s the acting going? Instead, he stayed quiet.
    “It’s been a long time. It’s…it’s good to see you, Kade.”
    Her words pushed his anger over the edge he shouldn’t be standing on anyway. He didn’t want her to think it was good to see him, didn’t think she deserved it. This wasn’t what he planned when he came back home. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get ready to take Freckles to dinner tonight.” A flash of confusion sparked in Sidney’s eyes, but he couldn’t do this with her. Not right now. This time it was Kade who would walk away from her.
    Unlike when she left home, he at least gave her the benefit of knowing he was going.

Chapter Two
    Hi! You’ve reached Mae. Leave a message after the tone and I might get back to you!
    For the third time that night, Sidney left a message on her aunt’s voice mail. “I know you’re ignoring me and it’s not okay. How could you not have told me Kade is back? How could he be living right