before, she sat on the narrow ledge, one leg in, one out. Leaning back, she gulped in deep breaths of fresh lake air as she tried to control her erratic breathing. A week. That was all it was supposed to take. One week, and he should have been gone.
Once more she saw the way his eyes had taken in every inch of her. She wrapped her arms around herself, felt the bulky cotton sweatshirt beneath her hands. The extra layer of clothing should have made her feel safer.
She turned her face toward the dark lake, let the night air caress her skin, blow through her hair.
He wasn’t budging. Not without his money. It was the same realization she’d come to earlier today in her office. But somehow, in the shadowy darkness of her room, that reality became much clearer.
Her breasts began to tingle, almost as if he were still pressed against her. She hugged herself tighter, tried to force the sensation from her body.
The sound of the lake came to her. She closed her eyes, listened to the gentle lapping of the waves against the shore. Time became a blur. She grew numb from sitting on the hard wooden windowsill, but still she didn’t move.
For as long as she could remember, it had just been her and Steven. The two of them against the world. They’d met before they could talk. Became playmates before they could walk. Their love had been gradual, building slow and steady over time. Like the fortification of a strong foundation that would never give way.
Promise me, she’d say to him each time before he left. Promise me you’ll come home.
Baby, I’ll be back. We’ll have a lifetime together, you’ll see.
And he’d been right, he had come home. But he’d also been wrong.
He’d quit flying jets. Quit flying too fast, too high, too dangerously. And foolishly, she’d thought that after he’d stopped, she could stop worrying.
They were supposed to grow old together. Have babies and raise them here on the shores of Hidden Lake. Now he was gone, and every dream she’d ever had was buried along with him. She knew their type of love didn’t just disappear. That even though Steven wasn’t still with her, her heart would always be with him. Or so she’d thought. But after tonight . . . after the way she’d felt held between Jared’s arms . . .
Steven, tell me what to do?
But the only sound she heard was a night bird calling to its mate. This time, he wasn’t going to be her soft place to fall. This time, there was only her. And her heart that wasn’t as impenetrable as she’d thought.
THIRTEEN
Jenny woke to the smell of frying bacon.
She groaned. Not because of the tantalizing aroma wafting up from downstairs but because one look out her window told her she’d once again been woken up before the sun had even risen.
What was it with that man and his obsession with predawn hours?
She fluffed her pillows, burrowed under her comforter, and closed her eyes, determined to go back to sleep. But after ten minutes, she wiggled to a sit. Blast him. She knew Jared did it on purpose, made plenty of noise to wake her up. Any other time, he prowled around the house as silent as a panther. She thought back to the first time he ate her cooking and how worried she’d been that he’d choke on her eggs. Then, she’d charitably promised herself she’d save him. Now, letting him choke to death seemed like a much better solution.
Yawning, she stretched, wincing at the sting in her back. The hours of sitting on the windowsill had exacted a toll, but not nearly as big a one as the worries that had plagued her all night. She hadn’t been completely unaware of her reactions to Jared this past week. But up until last night, they’d been minor: a tiny flutter in her tummy, a little blip in her heartbeat. But last night, all that had changed. Her little blips and tiny flutters had gone to full-fledged longings.
It wasn’t him, she tried to tell herself. She would have reacted the same way to anyone she’d let get close. But even as the thought went through her mind, she knew it was a lie.
She flung her covers aside, got out of bed, and peered down the hallway. With the coast clear, she hurried to Cody’s bedroom. Last night hadn’t exactly gone as planned. She definitely wasn’t going to be