“What’s wrong with you?” he demanded. “You’re too small to hold me up. What did you think you were doing?”

He looked furious, which was oddly better than cold and sarcastic.

“I’m not weak,” she told him. “I could so kick your ass.”

“On what planet?”

“Zorgon.”

One corner of his mouth twitched. “Don’t, Skye. Don’t try to make this okay.”

Because it wasn’t or he didn’t want it to be? “I missed you, Mitch.”

The humor faded and the coldness returned. “You should have thought about that before you dumped me.”

“I didn’t have a choice.”

“Sure you did. Daddy asked you to jump and you got out the ruler to make sure it was high enough.”

She sat up. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“How much did I get wrong?”

Nothing and that’s what annoyed her most. “Mitch, please.”

“Please what?”

They were both sitting, facing each other. She could see all the colors that made up his irises, the individual hairs of his lashes. The scent of him was familiar, as was the heat rising inside of her.

He was so different, yet she recognized every part of him. It was as if the nearly nine years between them vanished and there was only this moment and the man she had once loved with a desperation that had left her weak.

“Mitch,” she said, then grabbed him by the front of his shirt, closed the space between them and kissed him.

For a moment, there was nothing. Just the feel of his lips against hers, but no reaction. She pressed harder, wanting him to want her, wanting him to respond. When he didn’t, she knew she’d made a mistake. That whatever she’d been longing for, it had been on her side alone. He hadn’t missed her at all.

She drew back.

Heat climbed her cheeks. She released him and started to get to her feet.

He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her down next to him. He leaned over her until she was forced to sink onto the ground.