Too bad she couldn’t blame it on the hot temperature outside, but since the thermostat was set at a cool seventy-two degrees and she’d yet to step outside, she knew the weather wasn’t the issue. Zach Tanner was the problem. Last night he had awakened feelings and emotions she had successfully squelched for years. And now they were back and had apparently brought along some risqué friends. Never had she had such erotic dreams.
Sitting at the kitchen table, Savannah sipped her second cup of coffee and tried not to stare at the wall Zach had pressed her up against last night. She’d been two seconds away from climaxing when his cellphone rang. She didn’t blame him for answering the call and leaving. That was his job. No, she blamed herself for being in that position in the first place. How many times had she sworn that if she ever saw Zach Tanner again, she would tell him exactly what she thought of him? Instead she’d kissed him like there was no tomorrow and had almost gone to bed with him.
Savannah still remembered the bewilderment she had felt when he didn’t show up that morning. She’d known he was having breakfast with his family, but he had promised to stop by before he left town at noon. At eleven-fifteen, after getting no answer to the numerous voice-mail messages she’d left him, she had swallowed her pride and gone to his house. His mother had greeted her at the door but hadn’t invited her inside. She had said Zach had left early that morning. She’d told Savannah he wasn’t coming back and that she should forget about ever seeing him again.
In shocked denial, Savannah had stood on the tiny, worn porch of Zach’s house, shaking her head in disbelief. Only hours before, she had given him her heart and her body, and Zach had given her his promise. She had been wearing that promise on her finger. No way had the woman been telling the truth.
The hurt had been crushing but Savannah had refused to give up. One week went by and then another. Her grandfather had offered to contact him. Had even gone so far as obtaining the phone number where she would be able to leave a message for him. Savannah hadn’t wanted to use it. Though the hope faded with each passing week, pride and hurt prevented her from making the call. Then came the day when she’d had no choice. She had made the call. Five calls in three days. He hadn’t returned any of them.
On that last call, when she had hung up the phone, she had accepted it was over. Whatever had changed Zach’s mind about them no longer mattered. She had locked the promise ring away and her heart as well.
If only that had been the end. She soon learned that there were different degrees of pain and heartache and they could come in stages. Some were like the tide: they came and then drifted away, leaving residue but no real destruction. Others came and stayed, became a part of who you were—as much a part of you as muscle, blood, and bone. That kind of pain changed you, developed you … could almost destroy you if you let it. She had almost let it.
The doorbell rang. Even with all the visitors over the last few days, she already knew it was Zach. He would want to know how she was, apologize for having to walk away. He might even expect that they could start up where they’d left off.
There was no point in denying the truth. Something deep within her still felt a strong connection and bond with Zach. And judging by his demeanor since her return, he felt something, too. Lust and nothing more? Who knew.
Feeling much older than her twenty-eight years, Savannah made her way toward the front door. If she ignored him, he wouldn’t give up. Might as well face the tiger now.
She didn’t know what to expect when she opened the door to Zach, but it wasn’t a man holding a large bouquet of red roses and a tender look of apology that should melt any woman’s heart. She wished she could say she was immune.
“I just wanted to drop by before I headed off to work. I’m sorry about last night.”
Telling him it wouldn’t happen again was the sensible and rational thing to say. Unfortunately, when it came to Zach, sensible and rational weren’t part of her emotional vocabulary.
With