“Hold your fucking breath, Jesse. I’m not a stereotype, or a title, or the town’s bully. And I’m going to get you.”

“Get me, then.”

“Give me a clue.”

“The maze is the shape of a snowflake. I’m at the center.”

It was? That was an odd coincidence. Then I remembered her tat.

My Whole Life Has Been Pledged to This Meeting with You

Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe she really was my atonement.

I looked around. I was definitely on some kind of an edge. I knew that, because if I jumped up in place, I could see the rosebushes on the other end. I charged in the opposite direction.

“Are you really looking for me?” Her voice was quiet.

“Nah. I’m taking a lengthy stroll in a stranger’s maze in the middle of the fucking summer because sweating my own body weight is a favorite hobby,” I quipped.

“No one else ever did, and I’ve been coming here for two and a half years now. Sometimes for entire days.”

I sucked in a slow breath, ignoring the fact my blood had migrated from my dick to my head, and now I was angry. Where the hell were her parents?

“I’m getting closer,” I said.

“How do you know?”

“I can smell you.”

“How do I smell?”

Like dessert.

“Green apples and the first rain after a dry spell.”

She laughed, then sniffed. Was she crying? I didn’t ask, because I didn’t want to do something stupid if she was. Already, I sounded like a bad Valentine’s post card. Then she said, “Cedar wood and cinnamon.”

“Huh?”

“That’s what you smell like.” I heard the grin in her voice and imagined her chewing the tip of her raven black hair.

“I didn’t think you were ever close enough to notice.”

“It’s a strong smell.” She sniffed again. Definitely crying.

“Bet it smells delicious,” I said, hating the beat that followed my statement.

“It does.”

Warmth filled my chest. This was not good. My cock was one thing. Anything north of it was something else entirely. We were going to establish a few rules once I got to her. If I ever did. It occurred to me, then, that Jesse sounded sad, but not stressed. She knew her way around this maze, probably better than anyone.

Step. Another step.

My eyes found her back like a light in the dark. Her silky hair. Her sweet, round, small, perky ass. I wanted to sink my teeth into one of the cheeks and dig a finger into that tight hole. Make her moan my name. Then suck on her pussy until I had pussy breath for the next week.

“Boo,” I said dryly.

Jesse turned around, the red of her eyelids against the blue of her pupils sending me crashing back to planet Earth.

“I can’t believe you looked for me.”

“I can.” Mother of all fucks, what was I saying? I took a step forward without meaning to. She didn’t take a step back. Another calamity waiting to arise. “You called me a whore because you wanted me to give up on you like all those other motherfuckers, didn’t you?”

She dropped her gaze to her Keds. “I don’t trust men, Bane, but I guess you haven’t given me a reason not to trust you yet.” A truth. “Whatever your motives are about me, are they one hundred percent pure?”

“Yeah.” A lie.

I liked her. I did. That was good—I needed to like her, I had six months to spend with her—but I didn’t want to like her like her. I liked Jesse in the same way I used to like my ex-girlfriend, Edie. It was a long way from the L word, but it sat comfortably between caring about someone to wanting to fuck them so hard they couldn’t walk straight for three days after.

“So. You’ve met Mrs. B.” Jesse wiped her eyes quickly, breaking whatever spell we’d found ourselves entwined in. I tousled my hair to do something with my hands. “Yeah. I wouldn’t be surprised if she is calling the police right now, reporting the mammoth Viking stamped with tattoos who trudged into her hedge maze.”

Jesse laughed, bringing a lock of dark hair to her lips and chewing on it. “How did you find me?”

Your stepdad tells me where you are twenty-four-fucking-seven.

“You told me about this place right before you decided to take a shit on our newfound friendship. I figured you’d be here, and I was in El Dorado with one of my usual hookups.”

And the lies just keep on piling up like shitty food at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

She narrowed her eyes. “You’re not stalking me, right? Because I’ve had my fair share of crazy for this lifetime.”

I gave her a pitying look. “You barely leave your house and dress like a teenage nun. No offense, but you make a very unattractive stalkee.”

“Stalkee isn’t a word.”

“But you have to admit it’d make a good one.”

She could smile right now if she weren’t so broken. But she was. So she nodded instead. “I came here to gather courage. Shadow hasn’t been eating or drinking, for two days now. I need to take him to the vet.”