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Chapter One
AJ gazed at the delicious figure of Drew. She’d loved Drew for longer than she cared to admit, but the fickle man flitted from partner to partner, never seeming to notice her as more than a casual friend. However, to be fair, he’d been with Kristien for a while now—way longer than she could recall him staying with anyone ever before.
She sighed. Kristien was sex on a stick too, but Drew was bisexual and Kristien gay. While she could continue to hope Drew would feel the connection with her and come into her arms and her bed, no such thing was possible with Kristien. Besides, Drew was her soul mate. Kristien was just a complication. An extremely sexy complication, but a complication nonetheless.
The party they were all at was dead boring. If it wasn’t for Drew being here as well, she wouldn’t have stayed even this long.
In two weeks’ time, AJ, her best friend, Mavis, Mavis’s baby son, John, Mavis’s brother, Edmund, and his partner, Utah, were all going to Rocky Point Beach for a vacation. They had rented a large house only five minutes’ walk from the beach and were planning to rest, relax, soak up the sun and sand, and do nothing for a whole week. It sounded heavenly. AJ’s work had been beyond hectic lately, and a vacation looked more enticing every minute. Of course Drew was pretty enticing too. If only….
AJ shrugged. Her grandmother had been psychic, and some of her intuition had passed down to AJ. There were things AJ just knew, things that could never be explained logically, and one of them was that Drew was her soul mate. But it was very hard having to watch him move casually from relationship to relationship, never seeing the ties that bound them together.
Harder still was to see the look in Kristien’s eyes as he watched Drew. Kristien loved him. That was very clear. Yet AJ and Drew were soul mates. So for AJ to achieve her heart’s desire, Kristien’s heart would have to be broken. I hope Kristien finds his own Mr. Right soon, she wished, focusing her gaze on Kristien and willing it to be so.
But what if Drew is Kristien’s Mr. Right? What if my thoughts about Drew are quite wrong?
I can’t be wrong. I’ve loved him for so long. I can feel the connection even though he doesn’t acknowledge it.
AJ fingered the emerald paperweight in her jeans pocket. She found herself carrying the rock with her almost all the time now. She wasn’t even sure it was a real emerald, but the way the light flashed from the paperweight called to her and told her she would achieve her heart’s desire as long as she was patient. Besides, Drew’s eyes were the same flashing green as the stone, and her instincts told her this was important—another link between them.
With one hand still stroking the paperweight, AJ focused her gaze on Kristien. He was a truly good-looking man, an even six feet tall, with a runner’s long, lean body, soft brown hair, and hazel eyes. She also had to admit he was a genuinely nice person, caring and concerned, always interested in people and willing to help them. How could she steal Drew away from him?
Steal. That was a joke. Drew changed partners as the spirit moved him! No, that wasn’t fair. He and Kristien had been an item now for—oh, it must be almost a year. She stopped to do the math. Yep, as near as she could tell, their one-year anniversary would be any time now.
A shaft of pain seared into her heart. Drew was hers, her soul mate, the only person who could make her feel whole and complete. One glance from those flashing green eyes and her insides melted with love for him. The most casual touch from him was something she cherished and brought out to remember over and over again.
Oh God! I sound like a witless teenager! AJ stopped touching her paperweight and tried to marshal her thoughts. How do I know we belong together? Where’s the evidence?
I knew the first time I saw him, at MaryAnne’s twenty-first birthday party. Everyone seemed so much younger than me, and I wanted to leave until he came into the room. I knew instantly it wasn’t just lust but that he was The One.
They’d talked a little during the evening, exchanged numbers, and met up from time to time over the next few years at parties of mutual friends. And every single time, the conviction remained deep inside her, as strong as ever, that they were soul mates.
When Mavis’s husband had been tragically killed by a hit-and-run driver, AJ had known Mavis needed a special aquamarine to find peace. But she’d also known only lovers could retrieve it. Edmund and Utah had brought the stone back to Mavis, but they’d also brought both Mavis and AJ paperweights —Mavis’s an aquamarine, AJ’s an emerald.
Edmund had said the paperweights “called” to him. That was something AJ understood. Things called to her too. And the emerald signified Drew. Why else would it be the color of his eyes, an unusual color, rarely seen?
She couldn’t deliberately break Kristien’s heart, but she was so tired of waiting for Drew to really see her as a person. Could she invite them both to visit Rocky Point Beach for a day or two? They could come down one day, stay overnight, and return the next day. That would give them extended time in a relaxed atmosphere in each other’s company. Surely that wouldn’t hurt Kristien, and it might help Drew to realize her connection to him. They all knew each other, and there didn’t seem to be any personality clashes. It should work.
I’ll do it!
****
AJ hesitantly explained her plan to invite Drew and Kristien to the beach and was relieved when Mavis, Edmund, and Utah all seemed to think it was a good idea.
“The house has four bedrooms. We may as well use them all,” said Edmund casually.
“If they want to stay longer than a single night, that would be fine too,” added Mavis.
AJ was even more hesitant about asking Drew and Kristien. She wanted Drew, wanted him desperately, but right now he belonged to Kristien. And although she hoped Drew would look at her in a different, fresh way, that he would begin to see her as more than a very casual friend, right now he still was in a relationship with Kristien. So explaining her offer meant treading very carefully.
Finally she decided to visit their apartment after work and speak to them together. After all, the invitation was to both of them, and that way they’d both hear her at the same time and make up their own minds.
When Kristien opened the door and looked so welcoming and pleased to see her, AJ nearly panicked, but she got a grip on herself and followed him into the living room.
Drew brought them a bottle of beer each, and as they sipped, AJ said, “Mavis, Edmund, Utah, and I have rented a house right by Rocky Point Beach for a week. It’s got four bedrooms, and we wondered if you both wanted to come down and visit with us for a day or two.”
“When will you be there?”
“We’re going down not this Friday, but the one after. We’ll each just travel down when we’re ready. But Edmund and Utah are keen to get an early start, so they’ll likely be there before lunchtime.”
“A couple days at the beach would be good. I sure wouldn’t mind lying on the sand, soaking up some sun,” said Kristien.
“Me either. Sun, sand, surf. Sounds mighty fine to me. What do you think, Kris? Go down Saturday afternoon, come home Sunday night?”
“Yes, that’d work. Should we bring food to share or something?”
“We’re planning on making it a real vacation, without much in the way of cooking or laundry or housework. Likely we’ll live on take-out and salads. But if you want to bring some fruit or something, that’d be fine,” said AJ, her heart beating faster with the knowledge that they were so willing to come.
They tossed ideas around for a few more minutes, and then AJ gave them the exact address. “I’m glad you can come. It’ll be fun.”
“Oh, yes. It’ll be a lot more than just fun,” said Drew, taking her hand as he walked her to the door.
All the way home, AJ tried to remember the exact look on his face so she could decipher what he’d meant. Was he hinting he was interested in her? But how could that be? He’d never tried to invite her out, and right now it was very obvious he and Kristien were happy together. Did he just mean he and Kristien would have a hot time at the beach? But then, why speak to her like that?
The man was an enigma. She couldn’t understand him at all. Oh, well, at least she’d have two days in his company, even if she did have to share him with Kristien. Besides, they’d be seminaked on the beach, and it would be absolutely no hardship to look at either of them!
Chapter Two
“Mavis and Edmund have both told us the woman is psychic, yet she still hasn’t worked it out.” Kristien sighed as the door closed behind AJ.
Drew smiled at the man he loved. For so long he’d never thought he’d ever meet the one man who could fulfill him and satisfy him—until he’d met Kristien. And
then he’d spent months agonizing over how to explain to he still hungered after a woman from time to time, only to have sweet, gentle, considerate Kristien say he was happy to share, as long as he was included in the party.
During this time, Drew knew AJ wanted him, and he was attracted to her. But now, when he’d finally found out Kristien was okay with that plan, AJ still didn’t seem to understand this was going to be a ménage. She appeared to think she had to wait until he and Kris parted. And even with her psychic powers, as Kristien had just pointed out.
“Maybe her powers don’t work on herself?” Drew suggested.
“No, that can’t be right, because she always carries that paperweight with the emerald in it, and that clearly signifies you.”
“Well, maybe we should buy her another paperweight. One that points to you as well.”
“Hey, that’s a good idea. Edmund and Utah bought her the emerald paperweight when they were at Rocky Point Beach, so we can do it while we’re there. But how will we know which paperweight signifies me? Assuming the store still sells them even. That was what? Six? Nine months ago now?”
