A split second later, she was in Dash’s arms, waltzing across the grass.
* * *
Liam had heard the term déjà vu, but he’d never experienced it. Until now.
Because the moment Anna had stepped into his arms, Liam had taken a step back in time.
They’d danced together at their senior prom, too, although she’d been Anna Foster at the time. Head cheerleader. Class president. Honor-roll student.
Ross Leighton’s steady girlfriend.
But that night, Liam hadn’t cared. When he saw Ross grab Anna’s arm in the parking lot, Liam had experienced an instant, gut-wrenching flashback from his own childhood. So while his classmates drank punch and flirted, Liam had waited for an opportunity to get alone so he could warn her about Ross.
And because Anna was Anna—beautiful and polite—she’d accepted Liam’s awkward invitation to dance. But as soon as the lights dimmed, he’d steered her through the open gymnasium doors into the courtyard instead.
Tiny lights had winked in the trees, mimicking the courtship of the fireflies, and swags of ivory netting woven around the posts of the rented gazebo had fluttered in the scented breeze.
Anna had looked up at him, surprise registering in her beautiful amber eyes, and Liam had almost lost his nerve.
If only he had.
Watching Anna’s initial surprise change to confusion and then anger was a memory permanently etched in Liam’s brain.
It must have become etched in Anna’s, too, because ten years later, she still wouldn’t look him in the eye.
But how could he blame her?
If Anna’s vehement denial that Ross had mistreated her wasn’t enough to convince Liam he’d been wrong, the grief shadowing Anna’s eyes when she’d returned to Castle Falls confirmed it.
Ross may have had a personal ax to grind against Liam for being an “outsider,” but he was also the town’s beloved star quarterback. The guy who sat on the back of the mayor’s vintage convertible and tossed Tootsie Rolls to the little kids at every parade. The guy with the perfect smile from the perfect family who’d swept Anna off her feet and carried her away into the perfect future.
The guy Liam had called abusive.
The crackle of a microphone drew everyone’s attention to the makeshift stage that shelter volunteers had set up on the lawn and Anna smiled up at Liam as he released her.
“I should get back to the bake sale, Aiden.” She caught her lower lip between her teeth. “Oops. I mean Dash. You have to maintain your cover, don’t you?”
Liam sucked in a quiet breath behind his mask.
Apparently he did.
Because Anna assumed she’d been dancing with his brother.
Well, that explained a lot. Like Anna’s whimsical little curtsy. Her willingness to step into his arms.
Her smile.
For a split second, when Anna had taken his hand, Liam thought that maybe she’d decided to put the past behind them. That maybe...just maybe...she’d forgiven him for crossing a line and, in the process, ruining what should have been one of the most special nights of her life.
Something Ross had taken issue with when he’d tracked Liam down after the dance and delivered a warning of his own—a warning accompanied by a few well-placed punches—to stay away from Anna in the future.
But Liam had had to live with the knowledge that he’d made a much more costly mistake than interfering in Anna’s life that night.
By letting the shadow of the past cloud his perspective, he was the one who’d hurt her.
Copyright © 2017 by Kathryn Springer
ISBN-13: 9781488018343
The Bull Rider’s Homecoming
Copyright © 2017 by Alyse Stanko Pleiter
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