"So, let me get this straight..."

Good grief. It had been a long ride home. Leann asked every question she possibly could, and I answered every one of them to the best of my ability. Now, she was going in for the recap.

"You're at the store in fucking no man's land, buying sugar cookies and lemons, when your tire blows the hell up and a hot roofer comes to the rescue?"

"Basically, yes." I leaned back into the seat, relieved to see the welcome sign for Fairhaven up ahead as the day and the heat were catching up to me. I was exhausted and done talking. Ready for a shower and the serenity of my bed.

"I want all the details," Leann squealed, taking a knife to the mere thought of my upcoming tranquility.

"I just told you all the details," I laughed. "Remember how you just asked about it and I told you everything?"

She shook her head. "No, I mean like...what else happened?"

"Nothing."

"If he works in construction, why doesn't have a beard?"

"Cause he doesn't want one?"

"Did you get his number?"

"No."

Her mouth dropped open with a horrified gasp. "Why?"

"Because I didn't need it?"

"You do need it though," she insisted, glancing over at me with a bounce of her eyebrows, messy blue hair shifting with the movement. "I've been telling you that you need to get under someone new if you're ever going to get over Spencer."

Fucking hell. My stomach did that flippy thing at her casual mention of his name. Stop that. I looked out the window and blew out a breath of air. "I am over Spencer."

"Okay, sure." Leann snort laughed, sarcasm abounding in her tone as she pulled onto my street. But when she parked in front of my house, a smirk emerged. "If you're over him, then there's no good reason why you didn't ask for that tall, dark, and handsome man's number."

"He didn't exactly ask for mine either, Leann," I said to her with a sigh. "He was just trying to help me out in the circumstances I got myself into."

She frowned. "But you said he was really nice."

"Nice people do exist without motives, you know," I pointed out. "I mean, for all I know, he could have had a girlfriend. The vibe just wasn't there."

That lie was as sour on my tongue as the lemons in my grocery bag. I couldn't deny feeling a little something back in that parking lot with Alex. The easy conversation, the eye contact, the comfortable proximity we shared. But as our moments from the day settled into a memory, something else nagged at me from deep within, like a needle poking into a pin cushion. Sharp and quick, taking up space and not letting me rest.

"Thanks for the ride." I grabbed my stuff and made a quick escape from the confines of Leann's vehicle.

She sighed, hands curling around the steering wheel as she watched me go. "You know I'm just looking out for you, right? Whether it's Spence or someone new. My only concern is your happiness."

I shut the door and glanced at her through the open window. "Yeah, I know. I'm just...tired, honestly. It's been a long day."

Leann nodded. "We'll talk later though?"

"Of course." I tapped the door frame of her car. "Thanks for the ride, by the way."

"You're welcome. Let me know when you need to go back tomorrow to pick up your car."

"Will do." I gave her a reassuring smile, then I turned toward my house as she pulled away.

I wasn't even on the front porch before I heard my name being called, fleeing with anxiety from a mouth I hadn't heard call out to me in so long.

My body turned like an instinct, my breath catching in my throat at the sight of Spence charging straight for me. It was actually the strangest thing, watching it in real time.

Since that night I left his house, a month had passed, and we'd shared only minimal interactions. Almost no contact really, except for cordial greetings at work, and even those were few and far between, always around other people. We never spoke here, alone. Never in our houses or near them, never on this sacred ground that stood between.

Avoiding one another was never decided. It just...happened, I think. Somewhere between all the disappointment and heartache, an invisible line had been drawn with hard truths and sadness.

But right now, Spence was crossing that line without permission from my side, and I didn't stop him. I didn't even try. I wouldn't even dream of it.

I didn't want him to stop.

He was wearing basketball shorts and a raggedy t-shirt, a pair of shoes stained green. It was his trademark outfit for when he was mowing his lawn, Elsie's lawn next door, and the small patch of grass in front of my townhouse.

I wondered for a split second if our current situation meant he wouldn't be taking care of that anymore, but when I snagged a quick glimpse at the grassy patch in question, I saw that it was already mowed. Because of course it was...

Spence's eyes stayed on mine the whole time he approached, never moving, always vigilant. When he reached me, his greeting was a simple and breathy, "Hey."

"Hi." My hand reached habitually to my hair, and I tucked it behind my ear, suddenly aware of my appearance and what he was seeing as he looked at me. "What's up?"

I knew exactly what was up.

He glanced over his shoulder at my driveway and then in the direction Leann had just driven off. "Where's your car?" he asked as he turned back to me.

"In Renlow Park," I answered, taking a step closer to him. "Bound for a mechanic first thing in the morning."

When his eyes immediately left mine, I lamented the loss of contact, but as they burned a path up and down my body, that stupid heart of mine did a little flutter.

Spence was looking me over for injuries, his gaze washing over me from head to toe like a laser. It was a simple thing, but the gravity of it hit me like hurricane winds.

I stood perfectly still and let it happen, counting the melancholy seconds that passed, focusing on the smell of fresh-cut grass as it mixed with the heady scent of his cologne, his sweat, and all the memories we had together.

Fuck. I was losing it.

Satisfied that I looked alright, Spence took a step closer to me and went in for verbal confirmation next. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, still out of sorts under the umbrella of his concern. "I'm fine."

Then, in a move that took me by even more surprise, he placed his hands on my neck and then moved them slowly down to my shoulders, even slower along my arms and stopping on my wrists.

I was distinctly aware of the calm desperation in his touch, warm and gentle but with clear intent, like he needed to see and feel with his own hands that I wasn't broken. I swallowed hard, enjoying the moment a little too much. The sweet gesture was...a lot, after the day I'd had.

"What happened?" he asked, voice full of softness, another thing that sure didn't help my needy disposition.

Neither did the cinnamon on his breath or how close we were standing. A breath hitched in my throat and I held it there. Suddenly, I felt like a cat in heat, unraveling with need.

Being close to him again made me want him again. He smelled too good and I was too aware of the things he was capable of doing with his hands and his mouth and...fuck.

It hadn't been that long since we hooked up, but when you go from seeing a person all the time to never being around them, that first brush of close proximity does things to you.

My body remembered Spence like a delicate memory it wanted to revisit over and over. The tension was there. It was always there. But it grew in confidence as we stood in front of my house with his fingertips on my pulse and that look in his eyes like he was thinking the exact same thing as me.

He's not who you thought he was, I had to remind myself. And he won't tell you the truth of who he is.

That snapped me back to reality real quick.

Clearing my throat, I shrugged out of his hold and crossed my arms over my chest. "I got a flat tire at the Shop-Rite. It wasn't really a big deal."

Spence followed the cues of my body language and took a step back, looking about as gone as I was, but he collected himself quick enough.

"What were you doing there?"

I shrugged. "Getting apples for my mom."

"I could have done that. You shouldn't be venturing out of the town right now."

"Excuse me?" I scoffed a humorless laugh. "You're the one who told me where to get them if I ever needed some. Remember?"

"That was then," Spence replied, and his whole demeanor seemed to change before my eyes, voice going firm, the gentleness replaced with aggravation as he got more details. "This is now. You need to be extra careful."

I headed to my front door, keys jingling in my hand as I grumbled, "You sound like Dante."

"Then it sounds like your brother's actually got some sense after all," Spence said, his voice staying close behind as he tried to follow me inside my house.

"You can't come in." I turned, blocking him from the entrance.

If I let you in, I'll let you fuck me.

And he fucking knew it, too.

He threw his hands up in surrender. "Fine. But tell me what's going on with your car."

I leaned against the door frame. "The tire blew out when I was driving out of the parking lot."

"Did you hit something?"

"Maybe. I'm not really sure. All I know is that it was loud, ripped to shreds, and I didn't have a spare."

Spence nodded. "Yeah, it has a repair kit."

"I'm aware," I said, rolling my eyes. "But how the hell do you know that?"

"Because I put it there."

A breath caught in my throat. "I thought it came with the car."

"Some cars come with it," he said, shrugging. "Not yours. I put it in your trunk last year."

That information had me all sorts of tangled up, even if it wasn't surprising at all to find out he'd been looking out for me. I just didn't know how to handle any of this, now. When everything was so different than it was last year.

"Well, thanks," is what I opted for. "I really appreciate it."

Spence ran a hand through his hair. "Not like it was any help today."

"Still," I insisted, gesturing to the yard. "And thanks for mowing. You didn't have to do that."

And then I turned back around and headed inside the house, only to be stopped again before I made it into the entryway.

"How long were you stranded?" Spencer asked, the softness in his voice pulling me right back to face him.

"Not long at all," I answered honestly. Even if it felt like forever in the moment. "The whole ordeal was maybe an hour, from the time it happened to when Leann picked me up."

He stepped toward me, and I smelled cinnamon again. "I don't like that you were alone for that long, all the way out there."

"I wasn't alone the whole time," I told him without thinking. "Someone from the store sat with me while I waited for Leann."

It was a half-truth that breached my lips like a whole lie, all the important stuff left out. But I knew things with Spence would only get worse if I told him about my rescuer, and I didn't feel like elaborating on my time spent with Alex anyway. It was none of his business.

"Besides," I added with a touch of attitude. "I wouldn't have been out there at all if my mother hadn't needed more apples for that gigantic trough you helped supply her with." I gave him a pointed look. "I won't thank you for that."

The smirk on Spencer's face was downright annoying. "You're welcome."

I turned back around, this time for good.

Only...it wasn't for good.

"Davina."

When he said my name again, I turned with a weary sigh, but I still turned. "Yes, Spencer?"

He hesitated, his eyes solemn as he searched my face for the answer to a question he hadn't asked yet. A question he seemed to be having trouble even asking.

The seconds ticked by slowly. And then, "Why didn't you call me?"

It was a question I should have seen coming. Maybe I sort of did, but I still wasn't prepared for the hurt that streamed out of his mouth when he asked it.

I stared into his wolf eyes, admiring for a moment how the brown one reminded me of an autumn day in Fairhaven, but the black one was so dark it made my spine tingle. It was like looking at the two pieces of him I knew now.

One good, one bad. One I knew so well and one I didn't know at all because he wouldn't give me the truth.

"Are you ready to tell me what I want to know?" I asked him.

He shook his head, slowly. "No."

"Then you're not the person I call for these things anymore."