The Best Thing Yet (12 page)

Shifting slightly so he didn’t wake her, he stared down at the woman whose head was on his shoulder. Her black lashes rested against her cheek as she continued to sleep, unaware of his racing thoughts. She was a gorgeous woman. How would she look pregnant with his child?

The thought didn’t bother him as much as he thought it might. Kids with Arissa seemed right. He glanced down to her belly. Hell, it could be happening even now. He grinned and brushed his lips over her forehead, loving how she snuggled closer.

He berated himself for not telling his friend her last name. If he had known sooner he could have taken the next few days off and spent them with her. In bed. Grabbing the edge of the blanket, he pulled it close around her and with another kiss to her forehead, he too, closed his eyes.

* * * *

They woke a few hours later and, after making love one more time, they righted their clothing and packed everything up. She spoke as they made their way leisurely back to his vehicle.

“Sorry for falling asleep like that.”

“No need to apologise. I’m the one who should have realised how tired you’d be from moving.”

She slid her arm around his waist for a brief squeeze. “How long are you in McKingley for? I know you said you had a job at the university, but is it a temp one?”

“Looks like it’s going to be a permanent job for me,” he said, watching her reaction from behind the safety of his sunglasses. Her eyes widened before a slight smile lifted the corners of her lips.

“So we’ll run into each other then, especially if you’re also friends with Tarak.”

He almost stumbled.
Run into each other?
Why did that sound suspiciously like he was being reverted to the same category as Tarak?

“What do you mean?” he asked, amazed his voice wasn’t more of a growl.

The look on her face alerted him. She was trying to act like what they’d just shared didn’t mean a damn thing. Her arms swung at her sides in time with her steps.

“Just that Tarak does a lot of things with the family, so I’m sure I’ll see you as well.” A brief pause. “On occasion.”

He bit back his growl as they passed a few more hikers on the trail, opting instead to smile and nod at them. Back at his vehicle, he stowed the pack and trapped her between the door and his body.

“Is that what this is to you, Arissa? Something that is done just to scratch an itch?”

Her eyes flashed with warning but he didn’t care. He wanted the passion, the emotions which came with her. Not this person who seemed content to have him in the ‘friend’ category.

“We’ve not seen each other for months, Deiter,” she said, an edge to her voice. “I just got home and need to get settled.”

“That your excuse to keep me at arm’s length? Job, just moving home?” He lowered his face to hers and rumbled, “Because if it is, Arissa Wright, it’s a shitty one and you damn well know it. I told you I wanted more than a fling and we just made love out here—numerous times—without protection.” Her eyes widened and he knew she’d not even realised that. “That isn’t something you do with a ‘fling’ partner.”

Then he opened the door for her. He tried to calm his raging emotions as he walked around to the other side but damn if it didn’t piss him off to hear her throw away what was between them so callously. Surely it meant more to her and she was just ignoring that?

“I need to go check Tarak’s leg,” she said as they were headed back.

“Fine,” he said. They’d stayed up there later than intended with the nap, but in his mind, it had been worth it.

He gave them some privacy once they reached Tarak’s house, knowing his friend didn’t want him hovering while Arissa checked him out. Then they went to dinner and despite every cell in his body demanding he bring her back to spend the night in his bed, he drove her to her place.

He could see the surprise in her expression but he didn’t say anything. Just got out and got her stuff from the back. Then he walked her up the walk to her door.

“Deiter?” she asked.

“Thank you for spending the day with me, Arissa. I had a wonderful time.” Leaning close, he brushed a chaste kiss over her lips then backed off before desire overrode his sense. He opened her door and placed her bag inside, before taking his hand and trailing it down the side of her face.

It was hard as hell to leave her there, but he did. Turned on his heels, walked back to his Durango, and drove away. Back at Tarak’s, he growled at his friend then headed off to work out, needing to do something to expend this excess energy. Even when he finally made it to bed, all he heard was his heartbeat pounding out
Aris-sa. Aris-sa.

Chapter Eight

Arissa fumed. Damn him. Damn him.
Damn him!
She’d seen neither hide nor hair of Deiter since their date. But all she could do was remember in vivid detail how it had been to be back in his arms. She started work tomorrow and she felt even more exhausted than she had after the drive out here.

“Hey, you okay?” Tim’s voice snapped her from her well of wallowing self-pity.

She breathed deep and nodded. “Yes.”

He chuckled. “Liar. Come give me a hug.”

Sighing, she did as he said. He and Jorge were heading back to Chicago today and while she was sad to see him go, part of her was ready for things to settle down. She’d been running nonstop since she got back, visiting old friends and seeing family. The only sibling she’d not seen yet was the youngest, Lis. Not that it surprised her. Eventually, she’d just swing by her house and say hi.

This week had been full of fun and laughter. With the exception of not seeing Deiter. She knew everyone had been watching her and they’d asked why he wasn’t coming around. She just shrugged.
Makes me miss my place in Chicago. Not so many damn people in my business.
She’d not seen Tarak either, though.

Waving goodbye to Tim and Jorge, she watched until she could no longer see the SUV, then she turned and walked with Jackson back inside to her apartment. Once the heavy door shut, she made her way up the stairs with a sigh, rubbing at her eyes. Barely eight in the morning and she felt like taking a nap.

“Everything okay, sweets?” he asked.

Making her way to a chair, she then flopped down in it. “I’m just beat.”

He sat across from her. “Things will be quieter now. It’s just us and we’ve got opposite shifts. With Tim and Jorge gone you don’t have to worry about entertaining. Deyon is busy with her upcoming projects so she won’t be bugging you on your days off trying to drag you places. You’ll catch up on your sleep.”

She hoped he was right, although she wasn’t entirely sure. “So what are you doing for your last day of freedom?”

“I thought I’d go car shopping. Care to come with?”

“Sure, why not. I could use one as well.” She got to her feet and followed him to the door. Hopefully spending time with Jackson would keep her mind off Deiter.

He left you again,
her brain taunted. The part of her that felt anger fed on that and grew. The rational part tried to offset it but didn’t succeed.

Hissing in disgust, both at herself and Deiter for making her feel like this, she grabbed her purse and locked the door behind them. She waited as Jackson headed up to his own apartment. She was thankful that they each had their own space. The thought of living together would have been out of the question—she liked her own space and so did Jackson. Once he came back down to join her they got in the rental and headed off to a dealership.

* * * *

It was after noon when the two of them drove up to the house, each in their new vehicle. New being a relative term in her case, for she’d purchased a used one. Jackson had bought a new one though, but he’d always been flashier than she had. She smiled at her older model Honda Civic and parked it in the drive. He parked beside her and they went inside then shared a nice lunch in his apartment.

“Are you going to tell me about Deiter and why I’ve not seen his mug around here for the past week?” Jackson asked as he plunked a big bowl of double chocolate dream ice cream before her.

“Can’t you just leave it alone?”

He snorted and took a bite. “I suppose I could, but we both know I won’t. So you may as well just get it over with and tell me.”

She grunted and glared at him. He held her gaze and she knew she was out of luck. Taking her sweet time, she ate a bite of ice cream and smiled as the chocolate slid down her throat.

“I fucked him.”

Jackson stopped with his spoon on the way to his mouth. “Christ, Arissa, give a guy some warning first, would you. I could have choked if I’d had this in my mouth.”

“Serves you right for demanding I talk about this,” she sassed.

“I figured you two would be sleeping together.”

She shook her head. “No. Not like after dinner or anything like that. Outside, on the walk and…get this…no condom. Not any of the times.”

This time he dropped his spoon. It missed the bowl and fell with a clang to the countertop. She got up and got a rag to clean it up. He was still shaking his head when she sat back down.

“You didn’t… Christ, Arissa, are you telling me you love him?”

“I don’t know what I’m saying, Jackson. I’m just telling you what happened.”

“You’re…well, you know”—he waved his hand—“on some form of protection.”

Despite the gravity of what she was about to say, she had to laugh. Here Jackson Carlyle was a doctor and looked positively green about talking about her being on birth control.

“That’s the thing, Jackson, I’m not.” His eyes widened. “Don’t ask, I’ll tell you. You know I’d been using the implant but lately it has been making feel off so I decided to have it removed. Then with the move coming up I just figured I’d get on something after I got settled in. I had no intentions of sleeping with anyone.” She dropped her head in her hands and moaned.

“So you could be pregnant.”

The words hung there heavy and she was unable to ignore them. She ran a hand through her hair and stared at her friend, hoping he could say something to make her feel a bit more confident.

“Did you take the morning after pill?”

Arissa sighed. “No. I can’t kill a person because of my carelessness, Jackson. You know that.”

“You need to tell him.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that.”

His gaze grew serious. “I mean it, Arissa. Don’t wait. Go tell him now so it’s not a surprise if it turns out you are.”

“I know, I know. This is
sooo
not the way I expected my homecoming to McKingley to be.”

Jackson reached across the island and chucked her under the chin. “You left in a blaze of glory, sweets, makes sense you’d come back the same way.”

She ate some more ice cream. Eventually Jackson’s laughter grew so great she stopped and looked at him. “Everything okay over there?”

“I’m just trying to imagine you first out hiking then…to actually have sex out there…” He gasped for some air and she arched a brow as she calmly lifted her middle finger. “So not nice,” he said around more laughter.

She snapped her teeth at him, ignored his continued laugh, and focused on her ice cream. Once she’d finished, she rinsed out her bowl and made her way to the door. “Good luck, sweets,” he hollered down the steps after her.

I’m going to need more than luck to get through this.
With a fortifying breath, she grabbed her keys and purse from the table by the door then slipped out of the apartment. With quick steps, she crossed the area then out the front door of the house. The bright afternoon sun made her squint and search for her sunglasses.

The ride to Tarak’s didn’t take all that long and she parked along the street and sat in the hot car for a few moments, trying to make sense of how she was going to do this.
Get moving you wuss!
Her brain chided.

She breathed deep and got out. Moving up the walk, she reached out to press the doorbell. A few moments later, Tarak opened the door.

“Hey,” she said.

“He’s not here,” Tarak said by way of a greeting.

“Where is he?”

“Where he’s been all week. On campus teaching.”

Of course
. Why wouldn’t he have been working? Just because she wasn’t didn’t mean the world stopped for everyone else.

“When’s he coming home?”

Tarak shrugged. “I rarely hear him come in before nine at night. Then he’s gone again before six in the morning.”

“Where’s his office?”

Tarak raised an eyebrow and she crossed her arms and did the same. “Why?” he asked.

“Is it any of your business?” she snapped, a bit put out by the fact he was protecting Deiter.

“Yes. I warned him about hurting you, but he’s my friend and I don’t want him hurt either.” Tarak’s words were straightforward and she knew he meant them.

“He’s the one who left me on the cruise without so much as a word, I’m the one here trying to talk to him.”

“I’m the reason he left, Arissa. He wasn’t allowed to get in touch with you. And he’ll never be able to tell you what he did after he left.” Tarak shifted his weight. “He wanted to tell you, I wouldn’t let him. You need to let that go.”

She stared at him in disbelief. “What do you mean, you wouldn’t let him?”

Tarak barely blinked. “Orders are orders.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a card. Handing it to her, he said, “Take care you don’t hurt him.”

Then the door shut in her face.

Standing before his door, she blinked a few times before she looked down at the paper in her hand. It had Deiter’s name and numbers on it, along with his office building and number.

After pivoting around, she headed back to her car and drove to the university. She was lucky to find a spot and rolled her eyes at the continual lack of decent parking at a college. Smoothing down her skirt, she shouldered her purse and struck off towards the language building.

Walking across the campus brought back memories of her own time in college. She’d not gone here but there was something fun about being back on this one. With a smile on her face, she wove through the student body and made her way up to his office.