He glanced over to find her sleepily watching him and he knew that he didn’t want to hurt her again. But a part of him was just selfish enough to want to stay.Why should he worry about Alysse and put her needs above his? He didn’t know why. He only knew that he did.
She twined their fingers together and leaned her head against his shoulder. They exited the vehicle and she led him to the front door of her cute bungalow. Her perfect normal life and he wasn’t strong enough to turn away.
Chapter Twelve
ALYSSEDIDN’TWANT to let go of Jay. The night had come alive for her. She’d let her emotions run instead of bottling them up, and she felt almost high from them. God, why hadn’t she realized before how good this felt?
As soon as they were in her house she went to him. She’d missed him last night and she was finally able to really admit it. She’d been worried he was going to see her to the door and then leave again.
Having him inside with her made her bold. She knew he was nearing the deadline to decide what he was doing and where he was going and she wanted to make damned sure he knew she wanted him to stay.
“Dance with me here.”
“Um, are you sure?” he asked.
She could tell he wanted to retreat and go back to his safe hotel room, but she wasn’t going to let him. If Jay left her this time it wasn’t going to be without knowing every detail of what he would be missing for the rest of his life.
“Yes. I really liked the way you felt next to me,” she said, leading him into her living room. She hit the light switch and the two side-table lamps came on.
The room was cast in a soft intimate glow and Jay stood in the center. He looked sexy and serious as he waited for her. She smiled at him, a soft sensual expression that he answered.
She went to the iPod dock that she kept in her living room hooked up to speakers. She had always liked music and hadn’t scrimped on the sound system when she’d purchased it. Now she was glad because she wanted every detail of this night to be perfect. It was the only way she was going to be able to convince him to stay.
She flipped through her playlists and found what she was looking for. The song she wanted to dance with him to had been playing in the lounge the first night they’d gone for a drink in Vegas. She only listened to it when she was feeling nostalgic and a bit melancholy, but she wanted that to change. She wanted to reclaim the song as she felt she’d reclaimed the man.
As Michael Bublé crooned the tune “For Once In My Life,” she moved slowly toward Jay.
“It’s our song,” he said.
“Yes,” she agreed. “I didn’t think you would remember.”
“I remember every detail of that week with you. I can’t have a steak without remembering eating a bite off the end of your fork. Or taste a strawberry without remembering the way you crushed them on your breast and invited me to lick them off.”
She shivered remembering how free she’d felt with him back then because she’d trusted him completely.
“I haven’t been that daring in a long time,” she admitted.
“That’s my fault,” he said.
He held his hand out to her and met her halfway, pullingher into his arms and swaying gently with the song. His hands moved up and down her back.
“Do you remember our wedding?” she asked.
“I do,” he admitted. “You wore the simplest white sheath dress that had a deep V in the front like this.”
He drew his finger along her collarbone and then pulled the fabric of her neckline down until it was between her breasts.
“The slopes of your breasts were visible and as soon as you walked into the chapel it was all I could look at.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I wanted to do this,” he said, lowering his head and dropping very soft kisses against the globes of her breasts. “But then I looked up at your neck and saw the line of your jaw and that mouth of yours. You have the most luscious mouth. All I can think about when we are together is kissing you.”
“Then do it,” she said.
He leaned in and rubbed his lips over hers. She sighed and felt the magic of the evening deepening for her.
“What do you remember? First impressions of me in the chapel?” he asked.
