Page 96 of Second Time Around

“I’m not letting you do this to us again,” he said.

“Oh. So it’s all my fault. That’s rich!”

“You’re acting the same way you did twelve years ago!”

“I’m not acting,” she spat.

“Cassie came here without my knowledge. I was working in the kitchen when she knocked on the front door.”

She lifted her head and snarled, “Liar! I walked right into the restaurant. The door was unlocked.”

“That’s right, because I forgot to lock it after she came in.”

“Yeah, because you were too much in a hurry to get your hands on her.”

She noticed the vein twitching on the side of his neck and realized she’d finally gotten to him. Good! It served him right for putting her through this again.

“I was as shocked to see her as you were. We haven’t talked once since I left Chicago. Not once.”

Jenna shook her head, wondering if she could believe anything he said. “I heard her say she loved you, Beck.”

“Yes, she did. But you didn’t hear my response, did you? You ran away so fast you didn’t hear the rest.”

“Why should I have stayed?”

“Because you trust me and we love each other,” he said slowly and firmly as if he were speaking to a child.

Instead of responding, she averted her gaze again.

“If you’d stayed, you would have heard me tell her that I love someone else—the same woman I’ve loved since high school. The woman I’m going to ask to marry me.”

“It’s true,” came a woman’s voice.

Jenna whipped her head up and came face to face with Cassie. She was even prettier up close, and she had great hair—dammit! Cassie seemed to be studying her with the same interest.

Beck shifted uncomfortably, but he stepped back and let the women square off.

“He had no idea I was coming here tonight,” Cassie continued. “I wanted to surprise him.”

“That makes two of us,” Jenna grumbled.

“So you’re Jenna,” Cassie said evenly.

“Yes.”

“You’re a lucky woman.”

“Debatable,” Jenna muttered.

Beck scowled at her, but he kept quiet.

Then Cassie turned to him and said, “I’m sorry for coming here.”

“I wish you would have called instead. I could have saved you the trip.”

“It’s okay. Chicago’s not that far away, and don’t worry, I won’t bother you again.” With that, she turned and strode across the parking lot.

Jenna watched her slide into a sleek red sports car and drive away without so much as a backward glance. Then she peered up at Beck, who looked like he’d just run a race and lost.