Chapter 2

The steam from the bath clung to Sia’s skin, the scent of her lavender bath oil filling the air. She stood naked in front of the full-length mirror, but instead of the usual critical assessment of her reflection, her mind was a tangled mess of nerves and… excitement?

Jesus.

Her fingers traced the lines of her collarbone, her throat, a nervous habit she hadn’t realized she still had.

John had been meeting with Calvin? As in… actually meeting up? Her mind struggled to grasp it. Now dinner? The three of them? Had John lost his damn mind? Sure, she knew John had reconnected with their old college buddy Ryan, but Calvin… That was a different beast altogether.

It wasn’t that she’d never thought about him in all these years – his name, a ghost from a life less ordinary, had a habit of resurfacing at the oddest times. But to actually see him again…

She let herself sink back into the memory of those days. College. The parties, the endless nights studying (and not studying), the intoxicating freedom that crackled in the air. And Calvin, a **** of nature in their neatly ordered lives, upending everything with his easy charm and that smoldering gaze that seemed to see right through her. Her cheeks flushed as she remembered those nights, the three of them, the lines blurred between friendship and… and something else.

She touched a hand to her chest, feeling the rapid beat of her heart against her ribcage. Even after all these years, his name was enough to send a shiver of something dangerous down her spine.

Her body, damn it, responded in ways she hadn’t felt in… too long. The way his hands felt on her skin, those big, calloused hands that could be so gentle, so firm… and then there was the rest of him.

Her skin flushed, a wave of heat gathering low in her belly that had nothing to do with the hot water still clinging to her skin.

She found herself remembering his body - all sculpted muscle and smooth, dark skin. The way he moved with such effortless grace, his mere presence filling a room. And oh God, his… Her breath hitched, the memory flashing unbidden – the sheer size of him, the way he’d…

Sia shook her head, dispelling the images before they could consume her.

“Stop it, Sia,” she muttered, pressing the heels of her hands against her suddenly flushed cheeks. This was insane! She was a married woman, happily married… wasn’t she? She loved John. He was dependable, successful, amazing in bed.

And yet, here she was, body betraying her with every thought of a man she hadn’t seen in years. What was wrong with her?

But God, it had been so long since she’d felt this… alive. The years had settled around her, a comfortable, predictable routine of work, dinners with friends, comfortable silences in the evenings with John.

She finally tore herself away from the mirror, the unanswered questions swirling in her mind as heavy as the humid air clinging to her skin. She wandered into her walk-in closet, pushing aside the familiar silks, casual outfits and tailored pantsuits.

She tried on couple of outfits. But nothing felt right. Not for this… not for him.

Tonight called for… something else. Something that wouldn’t scream “boring,” but also wouldn’t… send the wrong message.

Her fingers danced over the fabric of her dresses, searching for… what? Confidence? A shield? A goddamn battle flag? This dinner, this unexpected trip down memory lane, was turning into a minefield, and she wasn’t sure she trusted her own two feet to navigate it.

She shoved aside the neatly ironed blouses and tailored pantsuits, frustration building.

A memory flickered – late-night study sessions, cheap beer, a dare whispered in the haze of a dorm room party. It propelled her towards the far end of her closet, to a section she hadn’t touched in years. Boxes labeled “College” sat stacked in a dusty corner.

They were a reminder of a time when life was simpler and when her biggest concern was making it to class on time.

Finally, her fingers brushed against the familiar fabric. The cami top was practically a relic – a delicate white silk dotted with tiny pink and purple flowers, the straps as thin as her willpower felt right now. It was scandalous, really, especially for her.

Could she even still fit into it?

A slow smile spread across her lips as memories flooded back – the way it felt against her skin, the way Calvin’s eyes lingered just a little too long when he saw her in it that one time… God, she hadn’t thought about that night in years.

“What am I doing?” she muttered to herself, but the thrill in her voice betrayed her.

The denim skirt, short enough to make her blush even now, was a no-brainer. It was almost as if this outfit had been waiting, preserved in mothballs and unspoken desires, for this very moment.

With a sigh, Sia decided to throw caution to the wind.

She caught her reflection in the mirror and a wave of dizziness hit her. It was too much, too young, too… everything. But as she adjusted the straps, a familiar surge of excitement pulsed through her, chasing away any lingering doubts. It was exhilarating and terrifying all at once.

The neckline plunged deep, the fabric clinging to her curves in a way that left absolutely nothing to the imagination.

John had already left for work – for which Sia was strangely grateful. There was no way she could face him, not with the tornado of thoughts swirling in her brain. This, this unexpected dinner with a ghost from their past, was shifting the carefully arranged furniture of their lives. What had John gotten them into?

And what did she, Sia, the supposed responsible one, want out of all of this?

There were no easy answers, only the thrumming anticipation of the unknown as she tucked a stray curl behind her ear, her eyes meeting her own in the mirror, a silent dare passing between them.

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The office was buzzing with the usual chatter of keyboards, phones ringing, and coworkers discussing projects. But all Sia could focus on was the clock on the wall.

The day dragged by, every tick of the clock both excruciatingly slow and terrifyingly fast. She tried to focus, really she did, but spreadsheets and marketing reports seemed to blur into a meaningless haze.

She had worn the cami top, covering it with a long, oversized coat to hide her provocative attire from her colleagues. But the fabric against her skin was a constant reminder of the meeting to come.

The hours seemed to drag, each minute stretching out into an eternity. The usual tasks that filled her day seemed insurmountable. Typing an email took thrice as long, every word a struggle to string together.

She hadn’t realized how tightly wound she’d become until she knocked over Mark from accounting’s, splattering hot liquid all over the table. A thousand apologies and a fresh cup of lukewarm java later, she practically fled back to the sanctuary of her desk, her face burning with heat.

What am I even expecting?

Just as she was about to check the clock for the umpteenth time, she heard a familiar voice. She looked up to see John standing at the entrance of her cubicle.

“Is it time?” she blurted out, the moment he reached her desk. The words came out way too eager, a chirpy contrast to the storm raging inside her.

“Not yet. We still have some time.”

Sia’s heart sank a little. She could feel her nerves knotting up again. She quickly tried to cover up her disappointment with a smile.

“Okay,” she said, a little too brightly.

“What’s with the coat?” he asked, his gaze sweeping over her with a knowing glint.

“Just… cold,” she mumbled, immediately hating how unconvincing it sounded. Why am I lying?

“Right,” he drawled, clearly not buying it for a second. “Listen, about tonight…”

“Anyway, I came to tell you that my meeting with the client has been pushed to later in the evening.”

“Oh…okay,” she said, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice. “I guess we’ll have to cancel our plans then. We can reschedule, once things settle down at work—”

“You go on ahead,” John said, cutting her off.

She stared at him. “What?”

He leaned against her desk, crossing his arms. “You go. Meet Calvin.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, why not?” he said, shrugging. “I’m sure he’d love to see you.”

“John, that’s…” Insane? A terrible idea?

“Seriously,” he continued, as if she hadn’t spoken. “I’m going to be stuck here for hours anyway, and I don’t want you sitting around all night.”

“But…” Sia started, her mind racing. She had been looking forward to seeing Calvin, yes, but she hadn’t prepared herself to meet him alone. She wanted John to be there. She felt herself growing nervous, the excitement of the day giving way to a sudden apprehension.

“Sia, it’s okay. If you’re uncomfortable, we can reschedule. I just thought…”

“No, it’s fine,” she interrupted, forcing a smile onto her face. “I’ll go meet him.”

“Are you sure?”

Sia nodded, even though her stomach was doing flips. “Yes, I’m sure.”

With a final nod, John turned to leave. “I’ll be back late tonight,” he said over his shoulder.

“I’ll prepare dinner then.”

“Sounds good.”

As she watched John leave, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease. She was about to meet Calvin alone, after all these years. She wasn’t sure if she was ready for this. But it was too late to back out now. Taking a deep breath, she turned back to her work, trying to quell the nervous energy that coursed through her. She had a few more hours left in the day, a few more hours to prepare herself for what was to come.

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Finally, the workday ended. Sia quickly gathered her things and headed out.

The minute hand clicked past five, and with each passing second, Sia swore the office air grew two degrees hotter. By the time she made it to the ladies’ room, her palms were sweating. She’d spent years cultivating an image of effortless composure, but something about tonight, about Calvin… it chipped away at her control.

In the restroom, Sia freshened up her makeup, opting for a bold red lipstick that was a stark contrast to the soft pink she usually wore at work. She also put on her favorite pair of earrings, a delicate pair of silver hoops that she had saved for special occasions, and added a touch of mascara to her eyes. She looked at herself in the mirror, her heart pounding with anticipation.

As she was about to leave the restroom, one of her co-workers entered. “Wow, Sia! You look stunning! Got a hot date tonight?”

“John and I have plans,” she replied, hoping her friend didn’t notice her nervousness.

Why did she lie again? She wasn’t sure anymore.

The elevator ride down felt way too long. She thought about John, about how he’d encouraged her to come alone. She knew her husband.

The audacity of it, of both of them, to pretend that this dinner, that Calvin, didn’t represent something… dangerous.

Don’t overthink it, Sia.

But that was like telling the tide not to come in. By the time the elevator doors opened, a strange mix of apprehension and anticipation buzzed beneath her skin.

The parking garage was mostly deserted this late, the air thick with the smell of exhaust fumes and something vaguely unsettling.

And then she saw him.

He stood beside a sleek black SUV, a stark silhouette against the grey concrete. Even from this distance, she recognized the effortless strength in his stance, the way his shoulders filled out the expensive fabric of his dark-grey Henley shirt. Jeans, worn and perfectly fitted, hugged his lean hips… her gaze lingered there a moment too long, her memory filling in the details of what lay beneath. A shiver shot through her.

Slowly, as if approaching a wild animal, she made her way towards him, clutching her coat tighter around her body, a shield against… everything.

“Calvin?”

He turned, and for a moment, surprise flickered across his features. A moment later, a slow smile spread across his face, erasing years from his features.

“Sia,” he said, straightening up. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

“John didn’t tell you?”

“No, he didn’t mention anything.”

It was the last thing she expected.

An awkward silence fell between them, the surprise of their unexpected meeting lingering in the air. Sia found herself studying Calvin, taking in the changes the years had brought. He was still the same, yet different in a way she couldn’t quite place.

“John won’t be able to make it. He had a meeting that got pushed back.”

“I see,” Calvin said, his expression unreadable. After a moment, he smiled. “Well, we can still catch up. Just the two of us.”

She couldn’t. She shouldn’t. And yet, after taking a deep breath, she replied dry-mouthed.

“I’d like that.”

With a gentlemanly gesture, Calvin opened the passenger door for her. “After you.”

She hesitated only a moment. But the look on his face, that unguarded warmth in his eyes, tipped the scales. With a shaky breath, Sia slipped into the car, the reality of the situation sinking in.

She was alone with Calvin. The anticipation, the nerves, the excitement - it was all so overwhelming.

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Her fingers, as if with a mind of their own, kept fiddling with the buttons of her overcoat. Two unbuttoned, then one, back and forth in a nervous dance that perfectly mirrored the chaotic rhythm of her thoughts. Calvin seemed content to let the silence stretch between them, his attention focused on navigating the evening traffic.

His profile was just as she remembered, strong and commanding. She wanted to say something, to fill the silence, but her mind was a whirl of thoughts and emotions.

God, she felt like a teenager again - the butterflies in her stomach, the ridiculous amount of time she’d spent choosing an outfit… Did he notice? Will he remember?

That’s when she realized her gaze had lingered a little too long on the way his jeans hugged his thighs, the memory of those hands on her body… Stop it, Sia.

“So, this is weird,” she blurted out, hating the breathless tremor in her voice.

Calvin’s lips twitched into a smile. “You could say that again.”

“John really didn’t…” she started, then trailed off, unsure how to even finish the sentence.

“Fill me in on the master plan? Nope, not a word.”

Silence descended again, thicker this time, laced with a tension that had nothing to do with the traffic outside. Her mind, as always, raced ahead, analyzing John’s motives, his words, that knowing glint in his eye. A test? A dare? Or maybe…

She shook her head, pushing the thought away. It was all too much, too fast.

“No need to be so nervous, Sia.”

“I’m not nervous,” she denied a little too quickly, clutching her coat tighter.

Calvin’s lips twitched, his gaze still fixed on the road. “You’ve been playing pocket pool with your coat buttons for the past ten minutes.” He paused. “You always did that when you were anxious.”

Caught red-handed, Sia stilled her hands, her fingers freezing mid-button. She felt her cheeks heat up and she turned to look out the window, hoping to hide her embarrassment.

“I…I just…”

Before she could formulate a coherent response.

Calvin let out a chuckle. “I’m just messing with you, Sia.”

Right. Messing with you. Because that’s exactly what John had in mind when he orchestrated this little meet-cute.

“Hey, I’ve been working on this joke,” Calvin said, breaking through her increasingly paranoid thoughts. “Tell me how it is, okay?”

Sia blinked, thrown by the sudden change in subject. “Sure.”

“Why did the scarecrow win an award?”

She drew a blank. “Why?”

He groaned dramatically. “Because he was outstanding in his field!”

It was such a terrible, cheesy joke, and yet, she couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her. The tension that had been coiling tighter in her chest unfurled a little, replaced by a rush of something… familiar. This was Calvin, the Calvin she remembered – the one who could always make her laugh, even when the world felt like it was tilting on its axis.

Seeing her softened expression, he took the opportunity to steer the conversation in a more relaxed direction.

“Remember Professor Collins? That man had the driest sense of humor.”

“Oh my God, yes!” Sia laughed, the image of their stoic history professor vividly returning to her. “And he always wore that same tweed jacket! I swear the man had a closet full of them.”

“And how about that time he caught you passing notes with Jenny during his lecture?”

Sia’s eyes widened, “I can’t believe you remember that! I was mortified.”

“But you had the best response. You stood up and read the note out loud. ‘Jenny, remind me to buy more coffee. This lecture is putting me to sleep.’ I thought he was going to explode!”

They both dissolved into laughter, the car filling with the kind of easy banter they hadn’t shared in years. It was ridiculous, really, how effortlessly they fell back into step, like no time had passed at all.

“I still can’t believe I did that,” Sia said, shaking her head.

“Oh, I can.” He replied, his eyes on road. “You had this fire in you, Sia. You were never afraid to speak your mind or stand up for yourself. I always admired that about you.”

The compliment hung in the air. Sia felt a warmth spread through her, but she quickly brushed it off, “Well, you were no saint yourself, Calvin. Remember that time you showed up to our final presentation in your boxers? After you overslept…again?”

He threw his head back and laughed, the sound rich and resonant. “Hey, a guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do for a passing grade, right?” He winked, his gaze lingering on her for a beat too long. “Those were the days, Sia. Good times.”

And it was true. For a few glorious, messy, exhilarating years, it had just been the three of them, a tangle of late-night study sessions, drunken escapades, and a forbidden intimacy that had shifted the tectonic plates of their lives.

The car sped on, the city lights blurring past the window as they fell into a comfortable rhythm of shared stories and knowing glances. They were old friends, catching up after years apart, or at least… that’s what Sia told herself as she tried to ignore the dangerous flutter of anticipation building in her chest, the memory of their old times a phantom heat against her skin.

“Remember that time we tried to cook a Thanksgiving dinner in our dorm room?”

“Oh my god, yes! You almost set the whole place on fire trying to deep-fry a turkey!”

“I swear, it’s not my fault! Those YouTube videos made it look so easy.”

Sia giggled, “And when the fire alarm went off, everyone had to evacuate the building in the middle of the night. And poor Jenny almost froze to ****! It was freezing outside!”

Their laughter filled the car, erasing years and the unspoken tension that had hung between them earlier. They reminisced about those crazy, glorious days - the disastrous attempts at cooking, the time they snuck into the campus theater after hours, the road trip to New Orleans that ended with a flat tire and way too much tequila. Each shared memory, each inside joke resurrected, reminded Sia of a part of herself she’d thought was long forgotten: the one who could be reckless, impulsive, unconcerned with consequences.

It felt… liberating.

And the funny thing was, she forgot how much she liked this version of herself.

There was a certain freedom in being with Calvin, a sense of liberation from the structured decorum of her everyday life.

His rough edges, his straightforwardness, it was all refreshingly different from.

As the cityscape blurred outside the window, she realized they were headed toward a part of town she rarely ventured to. Good. Being in a place where it was highly unlikely to run into anyone they knew was comforting. It gave her a sense of anonymity she didn’t know she needed.

“Where are we going?” she asked, her curiosity piqued.

“Just someplace fun. Have you eaten?”

“I could have a snack. Nothing fancy, okay?”

“Fancy isn’t exactly my style, remember?” He winked. “Besides, I have a feeling we’ll have more important things to discuss over dinner.”