Remember When (Teach Me, Book 3) Sneak Peek

*unedited/unrevised
Copyright 2016 RC Boldt

“Can you, please, pass the parmesan, Miles?” Tate asked sweetly. She ignored the weight of everyone’s gaze at the dinner table.

“Tate,” Momma K. quietly hissed.

Crap. She loved Laney and Foster’s mother more than anything but she couldn’t restrain the barb that slipped from her lips. It was Miller Vaughn, after all. The asshole who had professed to love her forever and then ditched her, leaving her to find out the hard way that he had moved on, didn’t want anything to do with her.

That fucker.

Looking down at her plate, she mumbled, “Sorry, Momma K.” She did regret being disrespectful at the older woman’s table. She wasn’t sorry, however, for the stinging words she had slung at Miller. He deserved them.

“Here you go, Donnelly.” The deep voice jerked her from her thoughts and she was sure to avoid locking gazes with him. Accepting the dish containing the grated parmesan cheese, she used the spoon to sprinkle some over the pasta Momma K. had made. That woman was like Van Gogh in the kitchen, coming out with works of art.

Minus the whole creepy no-ear thing, of course.

“You’re welcome.” She heard his mumbled words, the snark in them. Keeping her head down as she ate, she rolled her eyes.

“Hey, Miles—wait, I mean Miller.” Lawson smiled widely. “I get so confused by Tate’s cute little nickname for you.” Pausing to tap his index finger to his lips as if in thought, he asked innocently, “Remind me, again, how you two know each other?”

Tate shot Lawson a dirty look. Her coworker and friend merely looked at her expectantly. She knew everyone wanted to know the story between herself and Miller but she hadn’t yet given in to divulging the details. As pathetic as it was, even though a decade had passed, it still hurt to talk about it.

Like, really hurt.

Hell, it hurt just being near the guy. In the same room. And the bastard had chosen to sit beside her tonight. Just to piss her off.

Well, congratulations, Vaughn. It worked, she thought. He’d probably give himself a pat on the back later. She’d like to give him a pat on his head. With a frying pan, maybe. Oh, yes. The mere thought made her lips curve into a smile. That would be so satisfying, just swinging it at him.

Whoa. Maybe she should take some more yoga classes to try and rid herself of that aggressive violence she felt. Of course, her Zen wasn’t exactly prevalent these days, since Miller had come out of nowhere, knocking her world off its axis.

Tate couldn’t blame Foster for it, though, as she was sure that Miller was a good employee at his security consulting firm. But the thought that maybe he wasn’t good enough at his job, that maybe he’d screw up and get fired, to never be heard from again? Oooh, that thought suddenly had merit.

“Hey, Foster?” His head shot up from where he was spinning pasta with his fork on the large spoon.

Eyes on her, his tone was cautious when he answered. “Yeah?”

“You hiring anyone new? Like, are you happy with your staff?”

Foster exchanged glances with Miller and Kane, two of his three employees. Roman ‘Doc’ Watts had been the designated ‘on call’ person and was overseeing some issues at one of their contract sites in the area.

“My staff’s great,” Foster answered carefully. “I’m lucky to have these guys on board.” He shot her a look as if to say, I know what you’re up to and it won’t work.

Damn Special Ops guys and their code of brotherhood. Bleh.

“Speaking of your staff, when are you going to have that sweet Noelle join us for dinner?” Momma K. asked Foster.

Foster snorted. “Sweet? That woman is nothing close to being sweet.” He looked back down at his plate, resuming spinning his pasta, muttering, “More like a pain in my ass.”

“Foster Bryant,” Momma K. warned with a stern look.

“Well, she is!” Foster complained. “She’s the mouthiest person I’ve ever been around.” He tossed his thumb toward his sister who was two chairs down from him. “Aside from this one, here.”

“Wow. That was eerily similar to a petulant child,” Laney remarked drily.

“Watch it, squirt.” At Foster’s warning, she stuck out her tongue.

“Children! Stop with the tongue action at the table!” Lawson admonished.

“Speaking of tongue action …” Zach’s words were cut off when Laney’s hand immediately covered his mouth, her cheeks turning red.

“Not in front of my mother,” she hissed.

“Not in front of the children!” Lawson said in a loud whisper, tipping his head in Tate and Miller’s direction.

“Would anyone like another roll?” Raine piped up, attempting to ease the tension.

“Yes, please,” Tate answered, reaching out to receive the basket of rolls being handed down the table to her.

“Save some food for the rest of us,” came the mumbled response from beside her. Her back stiffened at the jibe. It wasn’t her fault she always had an appetite and still maintained her petite size.

Hand clenched over the knife as she buttered the roll, she shot back, out the corner of her mouth, “We can’t all be pumped full of steroids, now, can we?” She purposely stuck out her pinky finger, wiggling it suggestively.

Tate swore she heard a low growl and hid her gratified smile. Oh, yeah. Her implication had hit home: Miller was on steroids and had a tiny penis.

Just when she was in the midst of mentally high-fiving herself, he leaned over to whisper quietly in her ear so as not to be overhead by the others. His hot breath sent shivers down her spine, his closeness sending her entire body into a sensory overload, as his words pushed that over the edge.

“You never had complaints about my cock before.”

And, just like that, he got the last word. Because those words of his elicited memories she’d managed to lock away for years. And it all went down the tubes with one sentence.

Damn Miller Vaughn and his freaking cock talk.