HAZEL

"I hope I don’t see you again today," Ridge said, looking at me with his arms across his chest.

I didn’t even take offense at his words. "Agreed."

The day turned out to be one of the longest of my life. I’d only met Ridge a few times—all of them under poor conditions—but I learned quickly if you saw him more than once a day you were having a shittastic time.

He stared at me for another beat as if he had something more he ...