Chapter 3

As a child, I was often left alone by my father. The useless and unattentive high school girls that he tried to rope into babysitting me always ditched me to head to some party, leaving me to become further withdrawn and socially hesitant.

But where Killian was concerned, he treated me differently.

He owned the house next door and was only ever home during the summers. The Killian Knox from my memories was just as handsome and severely off-limits. Although I could easily note that his shoulders were nowhere near as broad as the man’s who towered over me now.

Staring up at him, my voice came out shaky. “W-Who are you?”

Instead of giving me a real response, the man merely looked irritated.

Due to my earlier ministrations, his collar had loosened, causing his dress shirt to fall open—completely exposing his well-defined pectorals. My eyes were instantly drawn to a familiar tattoo that covered the entire left side of him.

My brief moment of doubt has instantly vanished.

My breathing staggered as the awful feeling of sobriety washed over me. The whites of my eyes grew wide in frightening disbelief. All traces of my previous doubt had dissolved into pure dust.

The stranger in front of me was, in fact, no stranger at all.

Oh my God! What in the world have I just done to my father’s friend, Killian?!

The level of my embarrassment had grown to be so overwhelming that I was nearly certain I was going to pass out.

How on earth could I have allowed myself to become so carried away? This wasn’t who I was—I wasn’t some easy, desperate girl who openly threw herself at random strangers.

“Killian, I can expl—”

“You shouldn’t be here,” he stated coldly. “This is no place for you. The drinks that they serve alone aren’t suitable for someone like you.”

Someone like me...

Another wave of fierce emotion slammed into me. First Brad and now Killian...How many more times was I going to be inflicted with those exact words??

Just what exactly was so wrong with me? Why did it feel like everyone was determined to make me feel so different and obscure?

For some reason, Killian was the one who made me feel all the more insecure. It was no surprise that he still saw me as a child. I clenched my jaw and glared back at him.

“In case you’ve failed to notice,” I said tightly. “I am an adult.”

His eyes studied my face with a frown, as if he didn't agree with what I'd said. Yet he stayed silent and let his gaze drop. It lingered for a fraction of a second over my chest before he looked away entirely.

In the next moment, before I could even process it, he shrugged out of his jacket and held it out to me in silence.

My brows furrowed in confusion until I glanced down at myself to discover that the front of my dress had become completely translucent from the water that had been dumped over my head earlier.

The material clung to my body, making both my bra and the hardened peaks of my nipples visible.