Read Online Playing for Love at Deep Haven by Katy Regnery - Free Book Online Page A

kiss her
again.
    “I get the couch
to myself,” she said, raising one perfect eyebrow.
    “I’ll sit in a
chair across the room.”
    “I mean it, Casanova.
No more . . . you know.”
    “Duly noted,
Vile.”
    “Seriously? Can
you not even help it? You’re just going to keep calling me Vile all weekend?
Another girl would take offense.”
    “But you’re not
another girl, are you?” His eyes swept down her body once before finding her
eyes again. He wondered if she could feel the energy, like he could, sparking
and snapping between them.
    She took a deep
breath, taking her hair out of its deranged ponytail and running her fingers
through the long, straight, dark strands, to gather them up neatly. “Just for
the record, you shouldn’t have done that. You shouldn’t have kissed me. We
can’t pick up where we left off, Zach.”
    “In a million
years I wouldn’t want to pick up where we left off. Where we left off is the
biggest regret of my life.” The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could
stop them.
    Her body lurched
back as if he’d slapped her, and she lowered her arms slowly to wrap them
around her body. She searched his eyes, and he considered a joke or follow-up
remark but decided against it. Best to be honest with her from the start and
just hope she wouldn’t back out of Scotch in front of the fire as a result. He
wasn’t sure of much in his life, but he was sure of this: fate was throwing him
a bone, just like Cora said. So he stared back at her, steady and unblinking,
until she finally looked away.
    “We were good
friends. Give me a chance,” he whispered, trying to keep his voice even, the
A-flat from their kiss resonating like a tuning fork in his head. “Just come
hang out.”
    “It was a long—”
    “Long time ago,”
he finished, his eyes narrowing as she glanced up. “I know.”
    She tilted her
head to the side, and it surprised him to see her expression soften. Made him
feel hopeful, like a door between them had just cracked open.
    “We’re all grown
up now,” she murmured, like she was going to gently push that door closed again.
    “That’s okay,”
he said, watching her closely, wedging his foot in the door before it could
click shut. He held up his calloused picking finger. “One drink.”
    He was pretty
sure she was going to say no, so it surprised the hell out of him when she
nodded. He didn’t even realize he’d been holding his breath until that little
jerk of her neck gave him permission to breathe.
    “Okay,” she
said, unsmiling. “Give me a minute. I’m going to change, and then I’ll come
down.”
    He dragged her
suitcase and bags into her room and pulled the door closed behind him.
    ***
    Where we left off is the biggest regret of my life.
    She’d
practically fallen over when he said that. It was the last thing she’d expected
to hear. It set her world off-kilter when he kissed her, and made her body
tremble when he fell on top of her, but neither instance impacted her like his
confession. He’d never said or done anything after that night to indicate that
he regretted his decision to push her away.
    Part of her
brain, the sensible part, told her not to believe him, told her that she needed
to stay in her room and avoid him until Tuesday. But she had to confess, she
was curious. When had he decided he regretted it? When he threw on a pair of
jeans and left her alone in his bed? When she was crying her eyes raw down the
hall from him for the ensuing weeks? When he’d started seeing her with Shep ? When he’d approached her that one time, only to turn
and stalk away? When exactly had he realized what he had thrown away? And did
it matter to her? (No, it didn’t. It shouldn’t. She hated that it did.)
    She pulled off
her sweater and tank top and folded them carefully before putting them on the
rocking chair beside the window. Opening one door she found a closet and then
another, relieved to find it was a bathroom. A nice bathroom with a