AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I think a lot of people probably reminisce about their first love.”
She looked back at him and held his gaze. “If you say so.”
On the thirty-minute drive from the airport to their hotel in Rejinevik, Amelie stared out the window, mesmerized by the land around her. It was like nothing she had ever seen. There was dreariness to it, but hopefulness, as well. It was full of life, and it spoke to her, as though it made her feel every feeling she had welled up within. There was a paradox between its beauty and a sadness she couldn’t put her finger on, something she couldn’t yet touch. Shifting in her seat, she closed her eyes as she let it wash over her. Suddenly, everything hit her at once. The shock of seeing Jack again, of learning that he was getting married, and the gravity of what this trip meant. Jack seemed to sense her unease and placed his hand on her thigh. The heat of his touch, the weight of it practically burned a hole right through her. She decided then and there she needed to figure something out and quick.
Once they checked into their hotel where Jack made sure, asking the clerk three times, that they be placed in separate rooms, they’d agreed to freshen up, unpack, and then meet in the restaurant downstairs. Amelie stepped out of the shower and was surprised to hear someone knocking at her door. Dripping wet, she wrapped the hotel robe around her, went to the door, and peered out through the peephole. On the other side stood Jack, looking off down the hall, his hands shoved into his pockets. Amelie opened the door and stepped aside.
“I can’t do this!” he belted out.
Amelie didn’t say anything in response.
“I don’t know how to pretend we’re just friends. It’s been a long time since we were just fucking friends.”
She laughed against her better judgment. “Fucking friends… that’s a good one.”
“Amelie. This isn’t a goddamned joke.” He raised his voice as she watched the chiseled muscles in his jaw tighten, and then release. Finally, he threw up his hands. “We’re here for three days, right?”
She narrowed her gaze, confused. “Three days, yes.”
He nodded. “Then I have a proposal…”
Amelie rolled her eyes. “Proposing is what landed you in this mess in the first place, don’t you think…” she said, cutting him off.
“Are you finished yet?” Jack asked, his voice stern and direct.
She shrugged.
He waited, and when she didn’t retort, he added, “Good. Then I want to suggest that, for the next three days, we’re just… us. No pretenses. Whatever happens, happens.”
She wrung out her hair. “Ok.”
The corners of his mouth turned up slowly. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”
“What is it you want me to say?”
Jack inhaled sharply. “I want to know that you’re going to be ok. That we’ll spend this time together, and then go back to our lives…”
“Like nothing happened,” she said, cutting him off.
“Well, when you put it like that…”
Amelie crossed the room and stood directly in front of him. She took his chin in her hand and forced him to look at her. “Oh, Jack. There isn’t any other way to put it. This is what it is. And if you’re worried about me… well, don’t be. I’m a big girl. I can handle myself.”
Jack slipped his hands underneath her robe, his hands running along her breasts, finally cupping them. He squeezed gently as she watched his facial expression change, a mixture of relief and something else written across it. He let go, removed his hands, untied her robe, and watched it fall to the floor. Amelie took his hand and led him to the bed where they would stay for the next six hours.
When they finally did make it down to the restaurant where they ate dinner instead of lunch, Amelie accused Jack of wasting her shower. “I reek of sex and… something else.”
He laughed. “Whatever it is, it suits you.”
“I’m starving,” she said, glancing at her plate.
His eyes followed. “Clearly.”
Amelie took another bite, chewed, and swallowed. “How’s your sex life?”
He seemed surprised, to say the least. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
