Seaside Sunsets (27 page)

Thank God for Mark. He’d never doubt him again.

He went back to the car and grabbed his phone to call him. The message light was blinking. He’d forgotten to turn the volume on after the meeting. Probably Mark wanting to know if he’d opened the fucking envelope. He pressed the voicemail icon and listened to the messages.

The first one was from Mark.
Listen. I know you’re pissed, but after you read the docs, call me. I apologized to Amelia, and…sorry, man. The whole thing’s a pisser.

He lowered the phone for a beat.
Fuck
.

Then he lifted it to his ear again as the next message played.

Hi.
His pulse quickened at the sound of Jessica’s voice.
I miss you, and I’m sorry.
She sounded so sad, so sweet. He reached for the car as his throat thickened.
Oh God, Jamie. I miss you so darn much.

He turned at the sound of the heavy metal door opening, and beneath the haze of the bulb above the door, he made out two dark forms. A large man and a lithe woman appeared. The man was carrying a large instrument case. The woman carried nothing other than a purse over her shoulder, her arms crossed, shoulders rounded forward as they walked toward the front of the building.

Numb with anticipation, he pressed Jessica’s speed-dial number into the phone. He had to talk to her, regardless of his deal with the devil, or what the fucking papers said, or the Internet, or anything else in the entire universe. He had to speak directly to her and hear her tell him that she’d lied.

The phone rang once.

Twice.
Pick up. Pick up
.

He turned at the sound of a man’s voice behind him as the phone rang a third time.

JESSICA DUG HER phone from her purse and stumbled at the sight of Jamie’s name on her screen.

“Millicent, are you okay?” Charlie caught her by the arm. “Careful in those heels.”

It took her a second to remember to respond to her given name. “Mm-hm. I um…I have to answer this. Thank you for carrying my cello.” She took it from his hands.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to wait? Call you a cab?”

They had planned on sharing a cab, but Jessica could barely think. It probably wasn’t a good idea to be in a cab with her manager when she fell apart. She’d need time to recover from whatever Jamie had to say—good or bad.

“No, thank you. I’ll get one. Thanks again.” She waved as if everything was fine and turned back toward the rear of the building for privacy. The interaction took three seconds, but in those three seconds her legs had gone weak, and she felt like she was riding a roller coaster to an impossible height. Reaching for that shred of hope she allowed herself to dream of a hundred times over the last few days, she made it five steps before needing to lean against the railing next to the building as she answered the call.

“Jamie.” She sounded as breathless as she felt.

“Jessie.”

She heard the smile in his voice, the tenderness that she remembered, and it stole the rest of her strength. She crumpled to her knees, right there beside the building. The cello case banged against the pavement. She was riding that coaster down. Down, down, down from that impossibly high peak.

“Yes,” she whispered as tears streaked her cheeks.

“Jessie. I’m sorry. Please, don’t say a word and—”

“Jamie.” She swiped at the salty tears sliding between her lips. “I’m sorry I—”

“No, please, Jess. Listen to me.” His words tumbled urgently from his lips.

Jessica tried hard to concentrate through her anticipation.

“Jess, I don’t care that you lied to me. I don’t care who you work for or what you do. I just want to be with you. I don’t care if you’ve slept with a hundred guys, or…Jessie. I love you, and I’m sorry. Please give me another chance.”

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe
. 

“You…you think I lied to you?” Her entire body shook and shivered on the hard pavement. She covered her eyes with her hand. “Jamie?”

“I don’t care. That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Jess. I love you. I made a mistake. I…I…”

She heard his tethered emotions and knew he was holding back how much he wanted to see her. He sounded just as he had the night on the beach, when he’d wanted to make love to her, and the same way he sounded after they kissed that very first time in the quad, when the bonfire had burned down to embers and the fire between them had come to life.

“I need to see you. Please,” he pleaded. “Tell me where you are and I’ll come get you.”

You think I lied to you?
She couldn’t bring herself to say it aloud again. She didn’t want him to hang up. Couldn’t fathom another night apart. “I’m…” Her voice hitched.

“Baby, I’m so sorry. I’ll spend my life making this up to you. Please, tell me where you are, Jessie. I can’t go another day, another hour without seeing you.”

“I’m at the Hall. Next to.” Her breath hitched. “The Hall.”

“Hall?” He sounded confused.

“Symphony Hall, where we play.” She didn’t recognize her own voice, could barely hear it.

“Where? Where are you next to it?” His voice grew louder, and she could tell he was walking—or running.

She grabbed hold of the railing and pulled herself up to her feet, clinging to the metal bar for dear life and looking out at the main road. Thankfully, Charlie was gone. He hadn’t seen her fall to pieces.

“Boston Symphony Hall. Are you in Boston?”

Silence.

Oh God. No!

“Jamie? Jamie?” Her lower lip trembled, followed by fresh tears as her voice escalated. “Jamie, oh God, Jamie, please be there. Ohgodohgodohgod.”

“Jessie.”

She spun around and her arm fell to her side. The phone landed on the pavement with a high-pitched crash. Goose bumps chased her rapid heartbeat as she drank him in. In that instant, she knew she must be dreaming. He was too close, and closing the gap between them fast. She was powerless to move a muscle. His strong arms circled her, his big hands pressed against her back, and his heart—his generous, loving, tender heart—beat at the same frantic pace as hers.

“Jessie. Forgive me, please.”

“Okay,” was all she could manage. She was too confused to think straight. He smelled so good, so familiar. Her throat swelled with emotion, threatening to silence her. She had to figure out what was going on. “What…What did I lie about?”

“I don’t know. I don’t care.” He took her face in his hands, and she saw a flash of the mood ring, still on his finger.

“You kept it.” She breathed heavily. “You…You’re wearing it.”

He smiled—
oh, how she’d missed that smile
—and she felt it all the way to her toes.

“You’re here.” She grabbed the lapels of his tuxedo and held on tight, with no plans of ever letting go. “And you’re beautiful.”

“No, Jessie. You’re beautiful.”

“Kiss me, Jamie. Please, don’t make me wait another seco—”

He sealed his lips over hers. His mouth was warm as their tongues met and found their familiar rhythm, as if they’d never been apart. His low moan told her he’d missed her as much as she’d missed him, and when he deepened the kiss, to a hungrier, rougher kiss, she pulled herself tighter against his hard body. His hands moved over her hips, down her ass, up her back, one hand tangled in her hair, the other gripping the curve of her ass. She was his. So very his.

“I’ve missed you,” he said against her lips and tugged her hair back a little, opening her mouth so he could take his fill.

She wrapped her arms around his neck as he slid his lips to her jaw and nipped, then dragged his tongue slowly over the tender spot, drawing a moan from deep inside her. His forehead touched her, and he looked deeply into her eyes. She nearly crashed to the ground again at the well of emotion that lay there. For her. For them.

“Come home with me, and I promise we’ll talk, but I need you with me, Jessie. I don’t want to let you go again.”

She nodded, still shaken to be near him again. He picked up her cello and phone, and wrapped a powerful arm around her waist, pulling her against him so hard that he was practically walking for her.

In the car, she needed to get the rest out of the way before they fell into each other’s arms again, because once they did, it might be a very long time before she remembered how to speak. But no words came.

He drove with one hand holding hers, the other on the steering wheel, bringing back memories of when they’d left Marconi Beach and pulled over on the dark side street. A rush of heat shot through her with the intimate memory.

“When you didn’t call back, I thought I’d lost you for good.” His voice was rough with desire, his eyes were dark and sensual, and as hopeful as she felt.

“I was a distraction and didn’t want to make it worse.” She glimpsed his reflection in the window. With the starched white collar against his tanned skin and his five-o’clock shadow, he was more handsome than any movie star, but it was his voice that shot to her heart. The love and desire, the hope and apology, all wrapped up in one, made her pulse quicken and her heart feel full.

“No. You were never a distraction. I love you, Jessie. I was stupid not to come right back to your apartment that night.”

She lowered her eyes, catching a glimpse of the stone on the mood ring. Pink and violet. She’d never seen one turn both of those colors at once.
Amorous. Heat. Sensual. Happy. Curious.
She’d memorized all of the meanings in the days they’d been apart.

Jamie pulled down a residential street. The houses sat far back from the road, each different from the next, and, she realized as they drove slowly past them, these were no houses. They were mansions. Sprawling homes with several wings and stories, set on several acres of perfectly manicured lawn. Vera’s cottage at the Cape was modest, small even. She hadn’t pictured Jamie in anything as lavish as a mansion. She glanced at him again, in his perfectly pressed tux, driving the expensive vehicle that she had somehow overlooked.
How did I miss this?
She must have been so taken with him that everything else fell away. Another trick of love, she assumed.

Jamie turned off the residential road onto a dark, tree-lined street. With the umbrella of trees blocking the moonlight, the road was pitch-dark, save for the beams of the headlights.

“Is this your street?”

“This is my driveway. It’s a little long.”

They’d been driving on the same dark road for at least three minutes already. No wonder Mark was ridiculously protective of Jamie. Probably every single woman within a hundred miles who knew anything about the Internet was after him.

They rounded a bend and in-ground lights spilled onto the pavement. Aboveground lights illuminated the night like magical fountains, and just beyond the circular drive was a beautiful and unique stone cottage. A round stone tower with a conical roof anchored the home on one side, with various-sized peaked roofs over nooks and bay windows in the recessed center of the home, and a three-car garage rooted on the far side. The ornate variations in size and shape of stone, evident even from the driveway, gave the home a warm, aged appearance.

Jamie parked in the driveway, and before getting out of the car, he took Jessica’s hand and, for a minute, gazed into her eyes.

“Jess.” His voice was soft as his eyes rolled over her face, neck, and shoulders like a caress.  “The way I see it, we have two options. I can carry you up to my bedroom and make love to you until neither of us can remember anything about the last few days, or we can go inside, open a bottle of wine, and clear the air before going any further.”  

His voice was tender and patient, his words carefully chosen. He didn’t move to get out of the car or try to rush her to make a decision. He was just as patient with her as he’d always been, which made the decision even more difficult.

“What if…?” She closed her mouth tight, debating if the question was worth asking. Maybe she should choose making love. She wanted that connection. To be that much closer and lose herself in him the way she had days earlier. But somewhere deep inside her, even though she didn’t have experience with this type of thing, she knew that was a bad idea.

“What if we talk, and then something one of us says changes everything?” She didn’t want to believe it could happen, but after the last few days, she realized that she didn’t know squat about how quickly relationships could go awry.

He slid his hand beneath her hair and stroked the nape of her neck with his thumb. “Then maybe it’s better if we do clear the air first, so you have no regrets later. Jess, I love you, and I’m ready to commit regardless of what happens when we talk. Nothing you could say, short of telling me you’re a child-abusing heroin addict, will change that.”

She laughed at the quirky smile on his beautiful lips as he spoke.

“I would rather know that you’re just as committed to me—to our relationship—before making love to you, so maybe it’s better if we talk and then decide where we go next.”

A nod brought his arms around her in a warm embrace that her body took as an invitation to go soft against him. Talking was not going to be easy.

Jamie held her hand as he guided her through the wide hardwood foyer, over inlaid mosaic tiles in a spacious living room, past a fireplace and several sets of French doors.

“Your home is gorgeous.” There were so many textures, she wanted to reach out and touch them all, from what looked like reclaimed wooden planks on the wall, which jutted out at different angles and depths, to the rough stone surrounding the fireplace.

“Thank you. Let’s talk in here.” He held her hand as she stepped down two deep wooden stairs into a cozy nook furnished with upholstered antique armchairs in rich fall colors, a deep chocolate sofa, and dark wood bookshelves against two-story stone walls. Sconces were placed on either side of two arched windows, making the room even more inviting. But when Jamie turned her in his arms and touched his forehead to hers, she no longer wanted to talk, no matter how inviting the deep sofa and intimate setting was.

“In case you decide that you no longer want to be with me after we talk, I want you to know that I adore you. I know it happened fast, and we only know about a tenth of what we should about each other, but I have never missed anyone as much as I’ve missed you these last few days, and if anyone knows about missing people, it’s me.” He pressed his lips to her forehead.