I’d argued with my grandaunt not to pick me up from the airport. The stubborn woman won, of course. Just as she’d won in getting me to return to a town I’d sworn ten years ago I’d never come back to.

As put out as I was at her for manipulating me to visit, I was relieved I didn’t have to pick up a car and drive the hour and a half to our home. My back-to-back flights left me exhausted.

In less than twenty-four hours of arriving home in Atlanta from a cybersecurity conference in Barcelona, I’d had to pack and catch a flight to Minnesota. I foresaw nothing but sleep in my near future, which was fine with me. I had no intention of wandering around town while I was in Rosewood, lest I ran into him.

I had one reason for being here — convincing my grandaunt to pack up house and move in with me.

Grabbing my bag from the carousel, I dragged my feet toward the waiting area while deactivating Airplane Mode from my phone. A couple of missed calls popped up and a voice mail from Gladys. Frowning, I pressed Play, and her sweet voice filled my ear through my AirPods.

“Cole, honey, my knees are acting up, so I won’t make it to the airport, but not to worry. I’ve asked a sweet, dear man to pick you up.”

I stopped walking and glared at my phone. Oh god, she didn’t. She thought she was slick, but I knew all her tricks. For years, she’d tried to get me to revisit. The one time I set foot back in Minnesota and she conveniently couldn’t get me? After she’d insisted on me not renting a car?

I wouldn’t be surprised if “Mr. Right” wasn’t the only thing she’d already picked out for me. If a reverend and witnesses were waiting for me at her house, I wouldn’t be shocked. Outraged, yes, but not shocked.

She hadn’t even mentioned what this guy looked like. A name would have been helpful. I scanned the waiting area, hoping for at least a familiar face.

Someone tapped on my shoulder. “Cole?”

No.

No no no.

I slowly turned. Shit, my incantation to ward off the fling from my past hadn’t worked. My breath caught in my throat, and my heart hammered hard.

Life wasn’t fair.

Why else would Max Cadwell be standing in front of me, looking like a wet dream? The man had grown even hotter in the decade since I had seen him. He’d bulked up. His arms were like friggin’ tanks in his sleeveless shirt. Back then, he’d had only a couple of tattoos, but now both arms were full sleeves.

He still wore his blond hair too long, past his shoulders. Had he let it down because I loved running my fingers through the tresses?

Of course he hadn’t. But what the hell was he doing here?

His piercing blue eyes were bracketed by deep grooves as though he worked outdoors a lot. The wrinkled skin might be new, but the eyes were still as mesmerizing as the first time I’d looked into them and seen desire. Back on the couch in his father’s house.

If only I’d shoved him away instead of kissing him back, then. I would have saved myself a whole lot of heartache.

“What are you doing here?”

He winced at my voice lashing out in a way I would never have dared to do ten years ago. But this was a new me. I wasn’t the same wimpy nerd who allowed his face to be smashed into a locker while his heart broke into a million pieces. Max might still be bigger than me, but I’d beefed up over the years. My muscles might be leaner than his, but if he tried that shit he’d done in high school with me now, he wouldn’t walk away unscathed.

“Gladys asked me to pick you up,” he said softly. “Her knees were acting up.”

That old bird was healthier than the rest of us. I tightened my grip on my suitcase, the words on the tip of my tongue to tell him to take a hike. He’d driven all this way to get me on Gladys’s behalf, though. Turning him down would only make her suspicious. I would rather spend the two weeks I’d promised her in peace than have her pry into what was up between Max and me.

“You shouldn’t have,” I said, using my business voice. “But since you’re here, I won’t turn down the offer.”

“Good. And listen, don’t think anything of it. I was happy to offer.”

He’d offered?

He grabbed my suitcase handle, and our hands touched. A spark of electricity shot up my arm. Fuck. Some attraction was to be expected, given our history, but the pure intensity of it robbed me of the ability to breathe…to speak. Without a word, I let go of the suitcase, even though I didn’t like the idea of him carrying my luggage. The faster we got to Gladys’s, the better, though. Then I didn’t have to see him anymore.

“This way.”