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She turned toward him, snuggling into his shoulder for a long time. She opened her doe eyes and looked up at him, tearing his heart in two with the trust she held in those eyes for him, and the objection she could see coming to the surface.
“One night,” he whispered, and dropped a kiss to her lips.
He felt her nod. Then he heard her take a deep breath and she sank into his arms to sleep.
Chapter 17
When Jennie woke, the other side of her bed was empty. She knew he’d probably gone for a run on the beach and she was glad to have the time to herself.
She didn’t regret last night, but she did hope it didn’t destroy the friendship they had. She wanted Chad in her life.
Her mind flashed back to the sight of Chad standing above her, heat burning in his eyes, need evident in every sculpted muscle of his body. She remembered the feel of his mouth and hands on her body.
Chad brought her body to places she had never dreamed of going. And, she couldn’t fight him. She couldn’t fight the pull he seemed to have on her.
She’d been in ecstasy last night when he took her from one orgasm to the next with ease. The feel of his hard, strong body over her, inside her, taking her over completely. It was primal and raw, and even the memory was enough to make her ache with need again.
But her body now warred with her heart and her mind and the memories of her husband. Jennie was still in love with a man who could never hold her again, never make love to again.
There wasn’t room in her heart for Chad when Kyle still held such a big place there. She’d had her one night with Chad. She needed to put him out of her mind now.
In a near daze, she pulled on her clothes and went out the sliding glass doors to the small patio off the bedroom. She sat in one of the chairs and pulled her knees to her chest, resting her head on her knees.
As she sat, she let memories of another trip to the beach wash over her. She and Kyle had been young when they married, so a trip to a tropical getaway like this hadn’t been possible. But their families rented them a little house in Hilton Head for the week. The road trip down had been one of the happiest times Jennie could remember.
At the time, she’d thought they had so much ahead of them. A whole lifetime. A lifetime that turned out to be not very long at all.
They were so carefree then. Before the doctors and the hospitals and the fear. Before the knowledge that Kyle wasn’t going to make it. That there’d be no miracle for him—for them.
She never told any of her friends how hard she and Kyle had tried to get pregnant after the diagnosis. She worried that people would think she was sick and twisted for wanting to have her dying husband’s baby. But, she didn’t care.
She’d wanted to have his baby so badly. But they hadn’t been lucky enough. His sperm had been frozen before his treatment, but when he didn’t survive, she’d been hurting too much to think of having a child without him by her side.
Jennie looked out onto the beach and remembered the sand castle she and Kyle had built on their honeymoon. They’d built bedrooms in their castle.
One for them and three others, one for each of the children they’d hoped to have someday. They were so young and hopeful then. So completely naive and clueless about what lay in store for them.
It had been so easy to believe they had a long life together ahead of them. So easy to believe nothing could touch them.
Chad stopped when he spotted Jennie on the patio. She hadn’t seen him yet so he watched her quietly. He knew instantly that he’d made a big mistake. A selfish, heartless mistake that Jennie was now paying for.
She might have said she wanted that to happen last night, but he could see the anguish and sadness that surrounded her right now. It was palpable, a creature in its own right.
Chad cursed and knew he had to make sure she understood he would never push for them to be together as lovers again. He wouldn’t put her through that even once more. He slowly walked toward her chair. As he approached the villa, the phone rang and he saw Jennie slip inside to answer it. He picked up his pace and jogged the last yards.
Jennie looked up when she saw him come in.
“Hey, Jack,” she said into the phone. “Chad just came in. Let me put you on speaker.”
“Morning Jack,” Chad said as he grabbed a bottle of water and sat on the couch opposite Jennie.
“Hey, guys. Kelly says hi and she’s not showing any signs of going into labor yet, so enjoy your last few days,” Jack said.
Jennie looked up and smiled at Chad, but there was a tentativeness to it, as though she wasn’t sure she should be happy about having a few more days.
His heart skipped a beat. He needed to find a way to forget the most amazing night of his life, but he hoped her smile meant that they would still be able to be friends after last night. That things wouldn’t be weird between them.
Hell, who was he kidding? Things would be weird. He just hoped they hadn’t completely killed their friendship.
