Seduced By Second Chances. Reese Ryan

was so young. Did you have to be so cruel? All I ever really wanted was you.”

      He rubbed his jaw.

      Was the song about their encounter that day?

      Maybe it made him arrogant to speculate whether the incident between him and Jessie had been the inspiration for the song. But it’d been fifteen years, and he hadn’t been able to get that day out of his mind. Was it really so implausible that it’d had a lasting impact on her, too?

      Gideon massaged the base of his skull, where tension always gathered.

      The Humphrey sisters.

      Painful memories of both Geneva and Jessie were inextricable parts of his past. As were the happy memories of them that he’d always treasure. So he could never regret the rainy Saturday afternoon he’d first encountered the pair at a local movie theater. Or the ways in which that encounter had shaped his life.

      As painful as it’d been, the dissolution of his relationship with Geneva had been the best thing for both of them. He wouldn’t be the man he was today if not for his drive to prove Geneva and her snobby, elitist parents wrong.

      It had taken a while for him to get over the sting of her rejection, but Gideon harbored no regrets about Geneva. But Jessie... He groaned.

      Jessie was another matter altogether.

      He’d considered contacting her, if for no other reason than to apologize for handling the situation so badly. But he’d decided against it.

      He would welcome the chance to make peace with Jessie. But he wouldn’t reopen an old wound just to absolve himself of guilt.

      There was no point in revisiting old hurts. What was done was done.

      So despite his desire to make it up to Jessie for hurting her, some relationships were better left in the past.