“You didn’t just bury it,” I say. “You brought it back to life the second you got here.”
“I didn’t plan to,” he says. “But when Brett told me, it was like this door opened in me. One I didn’t even know was still there.”
“What now?” I ask. “You kiss him. You ruin things with me. Do you just vanish again?”
He shakes his head. “No. I’m done running. I don’t know what that means yet. But I’m here. And I needed you to know it wasn’t about you. It wasn’t to replace you. It wasn’t even about love.”
“Then what the hell was it?”
He hesitates a moment. “Closure, maybe? Or a goodbye we never got?”
Damn. I hate how much I understand that. I didn’t get closure with Leroy until days ago.
Still—
“I don’t care.”
Jake nods. “I’d take it back if I could.”
I pierce his gaze with mine. “No, you wouldn’t.”
A moment.
Then—
“You’re right. I wouldn’t.”
He takes a step closer. Then another.
I don’t move.
“You’re beautiful,” he says, his voice low and broken. “And sweet. It’s not difficult to see how Brett fell for you.”
I breathe in and let it out slowly. “You don’t even knowme. Hell, neither does Brett. I can’t compete with someone he’s been mourning for twenty years, Jake.”
“You shouldn’t have to.”
“Damned right I shouldn’t have to. So I’m not going to. Have at him. He’s yours. I’m no stranger to a broken heart. I’ve gotten over it before, and I can do it again. Besides, Sebastian is still available.”
“Sienna…please.”
I look away.
But he tips my chin and pulls me back to meet his gaze.
And something hot and unexpected glimmers low in my belly.
He touches my face.
Softly. Reverently. Like he knows he has no right.
I should stop him.
But I don’t.
Because in this one horrible, aching moment, I want to know what it feels like to be wanted by the man Brett wants.
So when he kisses me, I let him.
