Meant to Be: Southern Heat Series Read Online Free PDF Page B

might have melted to the floor if his arm wasn’t still around her. It was both thrilling and annoying that he still had that effect on her.
    “Y’all go have fun.” Lexie’s voice came from up the hall. “Unless you want to stay for a late supper.”
    Mitch dropped his arm. Sydney stepped away, missing the contact.
    “We ain’t eating here. I know what’s been on your table.”
    “I don’t care if you carry a gun, Mitchell Cornelius McKenna, I’ll lay you flat.”
    Sydney’s brows knitted as she looked down the hall toward Lexie. Cornelius? And what had been on the table?
    “We should go. She really can lay me flat.”

    M itch used the drive to fortify himself against Sydney and his own memories of what they’d had. When he had touched her in Lexie’s home, his intention was simply to stop her from leaving before finding out why she was there. It had been a mistake because to feel her against him, to have her exotic, sweet scent envelop him, erased everything but the longing. Not just a sexual hunger, but an ache to have the love they’d had before. During the drive, he focused on the pain and bitterness she’d brought to his life, effectively, he hoped, squelching the yearning.
    Sydney pulled her sleek, elegant Audi to park next to his old, beat-up Chevy truck. It was a metaphor and a reminder about why they broke up. The difference in their upbringing and background wasn’t as noticeable in college, but as they neared graduation and planned for a future that included marriage, the discrepancy was glaring. Or maybe the difference was always there, but at eighteen, he hadn’t cared. The young woman sitting alone at the college party captivated him the instant he saw her.
    “She’s out of your league, man.”
    His roommate was right, but it didn’t stop Mitch from grabbing the two beers from his roommate’s hand and taking them to her. She wasn’t like any other Princeton student he’d met; there was a regalness about her. But she wasn’t an ice queen. In fact, she looked relieved when he handed her the beer.
    “Someone did tell you this was a party, right?”
    She smiled. “Yes.”
    He got the sense she was shy, which made her seem standoffish to the other students. “I’m Mitch McKenna.”
    “Sydney Preston.”
    Her name sounded rich.
    She sipped her beer and wrinkled her nose.
    “Don’t like beer?”
    “Not so much. I’m told it’s an acquired taste, but so far, I’ve yet to acquire it.”
    She talked rich.
    He took her drink. “Well, in that case, we can’t let a good beer go to waste.”
    He stood and her expression fell.
    “No, it’s okay.” She reached for the drink.
    He downed her beer, tossed the plastic cup aside, and then held his hand out to her. “Tell me what you like, Sydney Preston, and I’ll get it for you.”
    Relief shone again as she took his hand and stood. “I like Moscato.”
    Mitch’d had no idea what that was, but no matter. He was smart and resourceful, which was what had gotten him into Princeton. He found an upperclassman willing to buy him Moscato, which turned out to be really sweet wine. He and Sydney spent the evening drinking her wine and talking as if they’d known each other forever. From that day on they were inseparable, planning a future that would ensure they’d be together forever, until she broke off the engagement and he’d gone to boot camp.
    “I don’t know if they have Moscato here.” Mitch wasn’t even sure Charlie’s Place, a dive sports restaurant and bar on the outskirts of town, had wine. What he did know was it was the place to go if you wanted people to stay out of your business.
    “Coffee would be fine.”
    He followed her and made his way past the bar to a back corner.
    “Mitch?”
    Mitch turned to the man calling him. “Jagger. Hey, man.” Mitch shook Jagger’s hand.
    “Syd?”
    Mitch stopped.
    “Jagger, how are you?” Sydney’s voice echoed Mitch’s surprise.
    “You two know each other?” Mitch couldn’t