Chapter One

Vienna

Present

For the first time in my life, I was late for class.

It was just funny that it’d taken me so long to achieve such a thing.

Mature student status. At twenty-eight years old. Not exactly something I was proud of, or something I wanted to do, but unfortunately it was a necessity at this point. I’d tried everything I could to get around it, but seeing that there didn’t seem to be many jobs available in a small town like Garrison, and I didn’t exactly have the cash flow needed to be picky, I needed to take this six-week digital design course at the community college campus in Prendiville if I was going to accept the only job offer I’d had, which was conditional based on receiving a passing grade in this class.

In my head, I kept screaming, I’m a journalist, dang it!, but that didn’t matter much when I was now back in my hometown, my tail between my legs and my bank account dwindling. If I didn’t take this course to upgrade my skills and keep this job at the Garrison Gazette—granted, it was a journalism job, but the newspaper was small enough that one needed to know how to help in the publication department, too—I didn’t know what I was going to do.

Yeah, this is my life. Right on track.

I wasn’t sure how it could get much worse.

I pulled by BMW into the Prendiville campus parking lot, and already had the door open before the car was even completely stopped. Prendiville was only about a twenty-minute drive from Garrison, but somehow I’d managed to forget my notebook, making me have to turn the car back around so I could go get it after I’d already wasted time making coffee, and then get caught behind the school buses as they dropped kids back home from school, which only added extra time onto my commute.

I was scatterbrained, anxious, and absolutely disheveled as I scurried through the hallways in search of Classroom 204. The door was open, so I didn’t even bother to slow down as I rounded the corner to make a beeline for the nearest seat.

My arms, crossed in front of me to hold the purse, notebook, and thermos of coffee, hit him first, and the impact of running into his chest was like hitting a brick wall. He didn’t budge.

But he obviously had manners, and a deep, gritty voice said, “Whoa, hey, sorry!” just as an “Oh!” fell from my lips and my notebook fell to the floor.

A series of snickers came from the classroom, and for the first time I noticed the other fifteen or so faces that were staring at me in amusement.

Great, so it’s like being back in high school again.

The man had bent down to retrieve my notebook, and I took in his collared dress shirt, dress pants, and neatly styled hair.

Only here for three seconds and I’ve run headfirst into the teacher.

“I-I’m really sorry,” I stammered. “I know I’m late, but I—”

He’d stood back up, meeting my gaze for the first time, and my heart stopped.

I couldn’t say his name, not only because it was stuck in my throat along with the years of pent-up anger and hurt that had immediately bubbled up at the mere sight of him, but also because the shock of seeing him had rendered me speechless.

There was only one thought my mind seemed able to process.

My God, he’s even more gorgeous than I remember.

I just prayed that didn’t come out of my mouth.

“Vi?” Cohen Bradley whispered hesitantly, as though speaking might spook me and cause me to run.

Seeing as that was exactly what I was contemplating doing, I’d say he was right. It took a moment, but my brain caught up with my emotions and I was able to clear my throat, offering up a coherent statement. “It’s Vienna.”

I didn’t trust myself to try to say anything more. With the prying eyes on us from all angles of the room, I didn’t want to, either. So, I side-stepped around him, careful not to touch him again, and found a seat at the back of the room.

As far from him as I could get.

Guess what, genius? Things just got worse.

Cohen turned, and he was staring at me with an intensity that was making the other students turn toward the back of the room, too.

I offered him only a flicker of a glare before focusing my attention on nestling into the spot I’d chosen. Like ticking items off a list, I shed my jacket and hung it over the back of my chair, then opened my notebook to a blank page on the desk. Searched for a pen in my purse. Turned the ringer off on my phone. Anything to not have to meet those darkened hazel eyes I knew so well.

Thankfully, Cohen took the hint and made his way back up to the front of the room, clearing his throat as he went. He had a job to do, and there was an audience. Whatever he felt compelled to say to me, it would have to wait.

Or do. I wondered if he felt compelled to do, rather than just say, anything to me.

Because it had been ten years since I’d seen him—the man I’d once loved—and I couldn’t ignore the way my body was reminding me that there were a heck of a lot of things I’d love to do to him.

***

Everything was such an accurate rerun of high school that I was beginning to get a severe sense of déjà vu. Being the most studious one in the classroom as I took notes like a fiend, the loud clang of the bell announcing the end of the period…

And the way Cohen was at the center of my mind both during and after class.

I had to get out of there.

When the bell clanged, I couldn’t pack my stuff up fast enough. Everything seemed louder somehow, and I idly wondered how that could be when I could barely hear everyone else shuffling around me over the deafening pounding of my own heart.

The door was only fifteen feet away, but I may as well have had to cross the desert to get to it, especially at the sound of “Vienna, wait…” from behind me.

I didn’t want to stop, I really didn’t. But my body, so engrained to respond to him, had yet to realize that a decade now stood between us.

A decade, and his heartbreaking betrayal.

I turned around at the sound of his voice, letting the last remaining student pass by me. I saw her sideways glance, curious and intrigued, but she disappeared out the doorway.

“I didn’t know you taught this class when I enrolled,” I admitted, my tone sharp and to the point. “I’ll call the coordinator tomorrow to get transferred into another intake.”

To his credit, Cohen looked uncertain of himself. The Cohen I’d known ten years ago had rarely, if ever, worn such an expression. But that was before he’d killed every chance we’d ever had of a future together.

“Don’t transfer on my account, Vi,” he said, then wisely cleared his throat. “Or, Vienna. Besides, I can tell you right now, there is no other class to transfer to. The next intake is in the fall, and I’m teaching it, too.”

This was obviously not my day. I knew coming back to Garrison had been a bad idea, but this? Having to suffer through six weeks of having my ex teach me everything I needed to know so I could keep a job I didn’t really want?

I wasn’t a drinker, socially at best, but if there was ever a time to want to drown my sorrows away, this would be it.

“Fine,” I stated bluntly. “It’s only six weeks.”

“It’s so good to see you, Vienna.”

My eyes met his, and I immediately regretted it. “Don’t do that,” I snapped. “Don’t pretend this is a happy reunion.”

Once again, his patience surprised me. “It may not be for you, but it is for me. Maybe now I have the chance—”

“You’ve got no chance, Mr. Bradley.” I was being irrational, but it didn’t matter. “You’re the teacher, and I’m the student. That’s all this is. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

“I didn’t know you were back in Garrison,” he stated after I’d turned away, halting me again.

“And I didn’t know you were either, or I would’ve never come back.”