He pointed to the half-empty minibar. Lots of little bottles missing. The soda shelf was mostly full.
She shook her head as she sank onto the empty chocolate brown sofa. For a moment, she was tempted to lose herself to whiskey oblivion, but she’d tried last week and endured the hangover from hell. “No thanks.” Ryan sat beside her. “Jesse has talked so much about you, I feel like I know you.
He always brags about how kind you are. How sweet.” Kimber frowned. She wasn’t a saint. Look at the things she’d done with Luc and Deke. And in retrospect, she hadn’t done them strictly to learn for Jesse. Or to see if she could handle a ménage. Once she’d identified her lack-of-experience problem and realized Deke was a solution, she’d jumped—hell, leaped, hopped, and skipped—at the chance to see him. To satisfy a dark fascination she’d had for the hard soldier since she was old enough to understand and too young to indulge.
“Jesse may have exaggerated my goodness.”
“Him? Nah. He’s as jaded as they come. He never gives praise unless it’s due.
Trust me.”
“I see.” But she didn’t. Not really.
The Jesse she’d connected with that special summer had been optimistic and eager for the future. True, in the last few years, he’d seemed…a little more skeptical about people. Less trusting. But didn’t that come with stardom? Having to protect your identity and privacy? All that crap would affect anyone’s outlook, she supposed.
“It’s great to meet one of Jesse’s friends. I know you two are pretty close,” she offered, fishing for information to discover exactly what role Ryan played in Jesse’s life.
“He probably told you; I’ve been a member of the band for the last three years.” He leaned in, gave her a direct stare. “We do everything together.” Including have sex. So he was the third in Jesse’s ménages. Ryan’s pale blue eyes communicated the gravity of the information without saying a word. As far as he and Jesse knew, Kimber had no notion about their kink, but she understood the other man’s message. And his stare made it clear that he expected to jump in on the action.
The thought was unsettling. Would Jesse want her to have sex with this person she barely knew and wasn’t sure she liked?
The thought made her grimace. Wasn’t she different to Jesse than other women?
More special? He’d always said so…
But that wasn’t her problem. Deke and Luc— they were the issue. They haunted her. Yes, spending time with them had shown her firsthand how arousing ménage could be. Kimber was sure that Jesse craved the excitement, the forbidden thrill.
Lord knew, after those few days with the cousins, she more than understood. But now, the thought of anyone else touching her made her queasy.
When Ryan looked her over, she recoiled and nearly lost her lunch. Run! a part of her screamed.
Ever practical, her mind pointed out that she had no future with Luc and Deke.
She had to move forward, and she’d planned for years to be with Jesse. She had to follow through, to see where their years-long rapport might lead. Maybe her first love could help her recover from her last mistake.
“I understand what you’re saying,” she murmured.
Ryan’s smile faded, removing the boyish quality. One brown brow quirked up.
“Do you?”
“Jesse may have last seen me as a seventeen-year-old girl, but while I’ve retained a certain amount of innocence, I can assure you I’ve grown up.”
“Beautifully so, I’d say,” boomed a voice from behind her.
Kimber whipped her gaze around. Jesse?
He looked so much the same from a distance. Tall, shaggy brown hair liberally laced with sun-streaked gold, olive complexion, dark eyes, and a smoking hot bod, as evidenced by his tight black T-shirt and jeans. Jesse.
She jumped up from the sofa at the same time he moved toward her. When he grabbed her in a big hug, wrapping lean, strong arms around her, she sank against him—just like she had that summer they spent together. Her head didn’t fit exactly under his chin anymore, but he kissed her lips tenderly, as he always had.
Kimber waited, but… Where was that shiver his kiss had always given her? The smile he flashed her didn’t look complete.
Maybe he was just tired. And distracted. Lord knew, she’d been completely preoccupied after leaving Deke and Luc. And it had been five years since she’d seen Jesse. Things changed. People changed. She’d learn his new ways. She and Jesse would reconnect.
Holding out hope that Deke would call and apologize and ask her to come back was plain stupid.
“Wow!” He stood back, holding her at arm’s length, and stared. “You look great.”