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“He finally realized there will never be a special place in your heart for him, because it has already been taken by me.” He stopped inches from her nose. His sharp eyes were busy cataloging each of her reactions even though Jess obstinately avoided his stare.
“That’s what happened, right?” he insisted, gently lifting her chin with his crooked forefinger, forcing her elusive eyes to meet his. Lowering his voice, he softly went on. “How did he play it off?”
His concern seemed genuine, and Jess struggled with all her might to fight back the balmy effect his soothing voice was having on her. She tried to convince herself that Reece was using it as a device to coax the truth out of her, so he could gloat at her misfortune. But he was touching her, if ever so lightly, and Jess, as usual, fell helplessly under his spell.
“When you got home from my place, your phone started ringing. You saw it was Robert, and felt that he deserved an explanation, so you answered the call. You barely had the time to say hallo before he began questioning you, wanting to know what you’d been doing with me during the three hours he’d spent trying to contact you.”
The quick, apprehensive look that crossed her aquamarine depths, told Reece he’d hit the nail right on the head.
“How did he take it? Like a man, and graciously stepped out of your life? Or did he call you names, made you feel like scum, cursing you to perdition for having purposely misled him into making a fool of himself over you?”
Jess closed her eyes, and tried to close her ears to his words, but to no avail. Hot tears of humiliation escaped from the corners of her tightly squeezed eyes.
Reece paused.
“Jess, look at me. Baby, open your eyes.” Gently, he cupped her head in his palms, and with the thumbs, lightly stoked away the salty, wet lines marking her cheeks.
Slowly, shyly, Jess did his bidding, and found herself lost in the depths of such caring concern she could almost swear his eyes had turned from pitch-black into rich, hot chocolate.
“I’m right, am I not ?”
“Yes, yes, yes,” she erupted, her voice cracking as she backed away from him, needing to put some distance between them. She didn’t want his pity. Not when he’d been the one to bring her misery about by dragging her away from a crowded restaurant forcing her to leave Rob high and dry near the exit, all because his jealousy and libido were doing the thinking for him.
“Are you happy now? Does this satisfy your ego? Are you proud of yourself? Ending my relationship with Rob is what you’ve wanted all along. Well, now you’ve got it. Congratulations.” Scorn dripped from every word. Fresh tears ran along her cheeks, but her eyes were clear, and held about the same warmth of an iceberg.
“The only thing you got wrong with your story was that Rob didn’t call me. He washere,waiting for me outside my front door when I came back. And there, for everybody to hear, he called me a slut. He accused me of having sexually misled him. He said that I liked gloating at his anguish while playing hard-to-get. Does all this sound familiar to you Reece? Isn’t this almost verbatim what you told me in the elevator?”
His body tensed. “Because I was jealous.”
“And he was angry.”
“Did he hurt you?”
Jess tried to avoid his inquisitive stare. Bracketing her shoulders, Reece forced her eyes on him.
“He slapped me once with the back of his hand,” she confessed at last.
Reece let go of her.
“The bastard. I’m going to beat him to pulp,” he snapped as fierce emotions crossed his face.
“You’re doing nothing,” Jess angrily replayed. “Your manhandling makes you no better than him. But this doesn’t change a thing. Does it?”
“What do you mean?”
“In a matter of hours, I’ve been called a slut by two different people, and the number would’ve increased to three if, today at lunch, I had told LeeHanne how it really is between us. I hope you’re glad now. My life cannot be more wrecked than this,” Jess said, trying to stem a new bout of tears. “Now, Reece, please go away. I’ve had all I can stomach of you for one day.” With that, she walked back to her bedroom, hoping he would take the hint, and for once do the sensible thing leaving her alone to nurse her misery.
The lights in the living room went off. The apartment was once again dark. Jess heard the latch in the front door being locked, but was too distraught by the events that occurred in the last twenty-four hours, to realize that that could happen only in one of two ways. By possessing a key, which Reece no longer had because he had just returned it to her or by securing the locks from inside. Jess discovered Reece had adopted the second option, when, with a jolt, she felt the mattress beneath her give away under his weight.
“What are you doing?” she squealed. Had he not gotten it by now that she wasn’t in the mood for sex? That was a first. When Reece was near, Jess wasalwaysin the mood for sex.
“I’m going to help you relax by keeping you company. You shouldn’t be alone at a time like this,” he explained in a rich, caressing voice from behind her. She’d crawled into the fetal position, and now Reece was readjusting her body so he could slip one arm under her head, cushioning it against his shoulder, while the other arm was free to circle her waist and nestle her body closer to his front. One of his legs squeezed between her thighs, and with a sigh Reece asked Jess if she was comfy.
“Mmhmm.”
“Good. Now close your eyes and go to sleep.”
“Don’t I get to hear a bedtime story?”
