Quiet and imaginative, Derek O'Reilly spends a lot of time watching a movie in his head. His fiancé Nathan wonders why Derek hasn't taken any interest in their wedding planning, and Aunt Fran -- his spiritual guru -- would like to know when her guilt-tripping nephew became a kept boy. When she drops Derek's childhood journal on his lap, he's forced to remember the name he's been trying to forget since he was twelve years old. Nicolai Lund. Nick was Derek's neighbor ... and first love. Weeks before Derek's engagement party, a chance meeting with Nick catapults Derek into the past. But Nick isn't that seventeen-year-old rebel anymore. He's a man hardened by invisible scars. A man struggling with grief. As Derek reads through his childhood diary, he realizes what Nick was to him, still is today, and yet might be ... NOTE: This edition has been expanded and substantially edited.

Split

His hand released my butt cheek. “Been working out, I see.”


I remembered it like one remembered the sounds a lover made. I slowly lowered my arms but didn’t turn around. “Boone? Boone Lund?”


“I told you. It’s Maverick, you little shit.”


I spun around. Heated blood rushed through my every limb. “You asshole!” I shoved him hard with both hands. “I almost ha—had an asthma attack!”


He pulled his shades off and winked. “Derek O’Reilly, Mr. Gullible himself.”


Before I could return a clever reply, Boone had wrapped his arms around me and was squeezing me, liftingme an inch off the ground. “How you been? Jesus. How long has it been?” He released his powerful grip on me and cracked a smile.


I raked an unsteady hand through my hair. “Seventeen years.”


Chapter 34