One in a Million by Jill Shalvis

her, head cocked, like maybe she was a fascinating and ridiculous reality show.
    Terrific.
    She tried to look normal. Like nothing to see here…
    “Callie. It is you.”
    This came from right behind her, and she nearly jumped out of her skin. Whipping around, she came face to face with—oh, perfect—Eric and Blondie. How had that happened?
    “Hey there,” Eric said with an easy smile. And not a single flicker of guilt or regret or yearning or desperation.
    Damn him.
    “It’s great to see you,” he said, standing very close to the woman next to him. “Tina, this is Callie. I’ve told you about her.”
    “Lovely to meet you,” Tina said, smiling with freakishly straight, white teeth.
    But her smile was genuine and Callie tried to act normal. “Nice to meet you too.”
    “I didn’t know you were back in town,” Eric said.
    “Just for a bit,” she heard herself say. “Checking in on my grandma.”
    He gave a fond smile. “Lucille. As insane as usual, I’m guessing?”
    “She has reasons for her ways,” she said in quick defense. Apparently Callie could be irritated by her grandmother, but no one else—especially an ex—was allowed.
    And speaking of her ex, he had the nerve to look pretty damn fantastic.
    He also had a hand on the small of Tina’s back. A casual, affectionate gesture that insinuated intimacy and ease. Except he’d never been into PDA before, and certainly not with Callie.
    And suddenly she didn’t want a doughnut.
    No. She wanted an entire baker’s dozen.
      
    Tanner had watched with some amusement as Callie had bolted into the bakery, plastered herself to the wall, and stared out the window as if the hounds of hell had been on her heels.
    When she’d relaxed and gotten in line, he’d still been watching. So he’d had eyes on her when the couple had gotten in line behind her.
    Ah, he thought, watching as he drank his coffee. Stiff posture. Fake smile. Quick hand over the hair.
    Either an archenemy or an ex, he guessed. And since this was real life and not a comic book, he crossed archenemy off the list. An ex then. The guy had his arm around the blond woman next to him and Tanner winced in sympathy for a pale-faced Callie. Her lips were curved but she wasn’t showing any teeth, and she also looked like she’d just swallowed something really sour.
    That, or the ex was stinky.
    Then the woman said something and the ex leaned in close to catch every word before tossing his head back and laughing.
    Callie looked like she wished she had powers and could vanish.
    Or maybe she was plotting the man’s murder.
    She said something and started to leave the line without coffee or a doughnut, which told Tanner more than anything else how off axis she was, but it was her turn at the front of the line and Leah called out to her.
    Callie stared blankly at Leah as if she couldn’t remember why she was there.
    Leah’s smile faded a little bit and she reached over the counter to squeeze Callie’s hand. Then she quickly brought her a coffee and a box of doughnuts.
    A box.
    Tanner had to smile. Leah was good people. Really good.
    Arms loaded, Callie turned to go but the guy reached out and stopped her with a hand on her arm.
    Why didn’t the asshole back off? It was pretty obvious to Tanner that’s what Callie wanted, so why wasn’t he getting out of her face?
    Instead, the guy said something to her, smiled, and then leaned in even closer, looking like he planned on kissing her cheek.
    Callie instantly recoiled, her body language screaming “go away.” Jesus. How was the asshole missing the fact that she didn’t want him to touch her, much less kiss her?
    Then it went fubar.
    As Callie pulled back, she tripped over the blonde’s foot and stumbled. Her coffee went flying one way, her box of doughnuts the other way. Luckily neither hit anyone, just the floor, but the mess was pretty spectacular.
    People scattered, including the ex and the blonde. They walked out together arm in arm, holding