Deciding she had spent enough time staring at her ex, Jake ambled over to cut off her view. He didn’t have anything better to do after all.

As soon as he stepped into her field of vision, her head jerked up to meet his gaze and she scowled.

Even glaring, she was pretty. Although Jake normally liked lady-like women who tended to be feminine and frilly, soft-spoken, and elegant—basically, someone to help soften his own rough edges—there was something appealing about her feisty nature. That it was packed into a generously curved, petite body with long, silky black hair, big dark eyes, and lips that were straight out of his pubescent fantasies didn’t hurt. When she was quiet it was easy to forget he found her obnoxious, crass, and far too attention-needy.

Thankfully, she wasn’t quiet that often so he didn’t have that much trouble remembering.

“What do you want?” she asked, her tone already hostile.

Dammit, just what she needed—Grumpy Captain America.

Lexie’s brother was hot as fuck, muscled like the soldier he was, with short dark hair and piercing blue eyes that made her wish he had a better personality, but they did not get along. Whenever he was around he looked at her with judging, condemning eyes that reminded her far too much of her formative years. It had been fun to needle him for a while, but when his attitude never changed it started to prick at old wounds and she’d been doing her best to just avoid him for the past month or so.

Especially after Angel’s wedding. Apparently, she’d gotten super drunk and actually danced with him. Kate had teased her for days about how cozy they’d looked on the dance floor. Sharon couldn’t remember a bit of it, so she had no idea what she might have said to him and she was mortified to think of the things that might have come out of her mouth.

She went through life doing her best pretending she didn’t care what anyone thought, but the truth was she cared far too deeply. She just didn’t want to.

“Just wanted to see how you’re doing,” he said amiably, although the hard look in his eyes was just like what she remembered. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”

Her skin itched, like a cat with its fur rubbed the wrong way.

“Shouldn’t that be a relief to you?” she asked, wanting to sound sassy but mostly just feeling tired by it all.

It was too close after the Christmas holiday, too close to having had to deal with her parents and all the reminders of why she normally didn’t see them. She didn’t have the energy to deal with Grumpy Cap on top of that right now.

Jake shrugged, glancing over his shoulder. “Thinking about getting back together with your ex?”