Oh God.

My name has never sounded like that. Not since…since him.

Jeremy Teague stands before me, looking so much like the boy I used to know. With several significant changes.

He’s always been tall enough to fit me underneath the crook of his arm, for my head to fall against his chest when we were snugged up on the couch. And now that height is all filled out with…muscle. Lots and lots of muscle. Big, broad shoulders. Brawny biceps with scrolling tattoos swirling around the sinewy muscles. Sexy-as-sin, corded forearms that look as if he could pick me up and toss me over his shoulder on a whim.

The boy I left had his golden-brown hair cut in an almost-buzz. But this man standing before me has his long locks pulled up into the sexiest man-bun I’ve ever seen.

I’m not even the kind of woman who likes man-buns!

And I’m for damn sure that underneath that tight gray T-shirt, there’s drool-worthy, washboard abs and rock-hard pecs just waiting to be stroked.

Closing my eyes, I curse, “Damn it straight to hell.”

When I open them again, Jeremy Teague is still standing there, now staring at me with a wide-eyed, shocked look. Ronin, who I met yesterday, stands beside him, watching the both of us with an amused grin.

Ronin is super handsome. Really, all the Night Eagle guys are.

But standing beside Jeremy now, Ronin’s chocolate brown hair curls and stunning green eyes don’t hold a candle to Jeremy.

Where Ronin’s eyes are clear, bright green, Jeremy’s carry depth of color like I’ve never seen. I remember staring into those eyes over and over again. They’re jade with golden and chocolate flecks swimming throughout, and they change color with his mood.

Right now, they’re the darkest hunter.

I turn accusing eyes on Ronin, because there’s nowhere else for my anger to go right now. I don’t dare meet Jeremy’s gaze. I might never be able to climb back out again.

“When you guys told me I’d meet ‘Jeremy’ today, I didn’t know you were talking about Jeremy Teague.”

Truthfully, the first name jarred me down to my soul. But what are the odds? I didn’t even allow myself to consider…

Unless…Olive! Could she have known that Jeremy worked here? Of course she could have. She told me she’s been around all of the Night Eagle guys before during group hangouts.

Ronin places both hands in the air, like he’s protecting himself from the raw venom in my tone. “Hey. How were we supposed to know you two—?” He glances at Jeremy. “What is the deal with you? Did you guys date or something?”

This is too much. A harsh laugh barks out of my mouth before I can stop it, and then I’m snatching my phone off my desk and storming for the door.

The door currently blocked by one big ol’ Jeremy Teague.

He guesses my intended target and jumps out of my way. I brush past them both and enter the code that opens the solid metal Night Eagle door. Then I’m out into the burning Wilmington sunshine, and sucking in gulps of fresh, salty air.

The first thing I do when I’m across the street and facing the boardwalk is collapse onto a sidewalk bench, placing my head between my knees. The buzzing in my ears turns to a roar, and I don’t recognize the sounds coming from me. Heaving, gasping sobs wrack my body.

Dammit! Shit! Fuck!

Why didn’t I prepare myself for this? I knew damn well that returning to my hometown meant returning to the place where Jeremy used to live. But I never thought, after all these years, I’d just run into him this way. I thought I’d have plenty of time to prepare myself for a potential meeting.

I’m not on Facebook or any other social media sites. When I left town all those years ago, I never looked back. I changed my name, taking my grandmother’s maiden name as soon as I settled in with her. In Phoenix, I was known as Rayne Matheson. Other than my sister, I kept in touch with no one, not even my parents. They retired in the mountains of Asheville, so I knew I wouldn’t have any unwanted reunions with the family who basically abandoned me so many years ago.

I never bothered to ask Olive, but I assumed Jeremy had left this town a long time ago. He was destined for football greatness. I never thought he’d still be living here.

But Olive did.

Sitting up so suddenly I see stars dancing across my vision, I stab Olive’s contact information and place the cell to my ear.

When she answers, I skip the pleasantries.

“Did you know?”

My sister must hear the utter pain staining my voice, because her tone is soft and empathetic when she responds.

“Oh, honey. You saw Jeremy?”

Laughing, a joyless sound if I ever heard one, I practically scream into my phone. “Answer the question! Did you know? And you put me in that situation?”

Olive is quiet for a moment before she answers. I spend the moment watching a seagull as it picks at a discarded paper cup on the sidewalk beside my bench. “That he worked at Night Eagle? Yes, I knew.”

The fight goes out of me then. I list to the side, my eyes closing in my agony. “Olive…how could you do this to me? Does he know?”

“Sweetie, he knows nothing. I swear. When I first ran into him, he didn’t even realize at first that I’m the same Olive he knew as his girlfriend’s little sister back in high school. I mean, he wouldn’t though, would he? I’m over a hundred pounds lighter.” She laughs, a nervous titter that lets me know she’s sorry. “But when he realized, he did corner me, ask about you. I refused to answer any of his questions, telling him that I no longer kept in contact with you since you’d left. And God, I’ve tried my damnedest to stay away from him since then. I haven’t talked to him about you or Decker, Rayne. I swear it. But I know that everything happens for a reason. You’re back in Wilmington. You’ve brought Decker home. Jeremy lives here now. You can’t just keep on going the way you have been. Things were bound to change. He’s not the same kid you left all those years ago.”

I remain stubbornly silent.

“And he’s kind of a badass now, if you haven’t noticed. He can protect you.”

Sitting up straight, my eyes fly open. “What makes you think I need protecting?”

I haven’t told Olive the reason for my quick departure from Phoenix. She’s my sister, so she was there for me when I told her I needed a place to stay. But I didn’t want to put her in danger by giving her any extra information. Had she been at her house in Wilmington when this all happened, I don’t know that I would have put her into the middle of all this.

Olive sighs. “You have your secrets, Rayne, but I’m your sister. I know you. Your voice, the night you called…you need help. I can’t be there right now, but Jeremy can. Don’t close yourself off to him.”

“You know what his grandparents did, Olive. What he did.”

Her weary sigh drifts across the line. “Yeah, I know. But you never really knew for sure how involved he was.”

“I gotta go, Olive.” I’m suddenly too tired and too angry to be having this conversation. My head is throbbing just behind my eyes, the beginnings of the mother of all migraines.

“I love you. Always. Call me when you’re ready to talk, Rayne.”

I end the call, staring out at the waves crashing against the sand in the distance. I promised Decker that today after work when I pick him up from Macy’s house, I would take him to the beach.

His very first beach visit.

And now I feel like I might be splitting apart.

Maybe coming back here was a mistake.