“I need to stop by the post office or a mailbox before we head back home.”
“Who are you mailing? That girl?”
I flinched. I didn’t want to talk about my mystery girl in front of Nora, but Drew didn’t know about my feelings for Nora. This cinched that thought that he may have had a clue about my true feelings. HE was clueless. “Yeah. I want to meet her while I’m home on vacation. Try to put a face and a name to her.”
My gaze slid back over to Nora, who was looking uncomfortable. “I didn’t realize you were seeing someone.” She cleared her throat and spoke up when she felt my gaze on her.
“I’m not. Not really. We just write letters. She lives here in Savannah.”
“I see. Well. I’m sad it took this girl to get you to come home, but I know Drew is happy to see you. And I know your dad will be happy, too. He’s very proud of you.”
Her voice was firmer than I had ever heard her speak to me before. She let her disapproval be known through the tone of her voice, and I couldn’t help but appreciate that. She sounded not only irritated, but jealous, and my dick swelled more, if that was possible.
Nora’s curves had gotten more generous and more beautiful over the past three years. She wasn’t skin and bones or trim and tight. She was soft, mailable, and all female. I could pound into the give of her soft flesh, and her body would yield beneath my touch.
“She was a factor,” I admitted. “But I was restless and homesick.”
Nora nodded, but didn’t respond. Her brows were drawn as if she was trying to figure out a puzzle.
“Come on, let’s get out of here.” Drew slapped my shoulder with a big grin on his face. I followed as he led the way through the crowded airport. Nora was in front of me, and I couldn’t help but watch the sway of her hips as she walked. Three years had changed nothing. My stepsister was still off limits, and she was still the only woman who could get my heart racing and my dick hard with no provocation.
This torture was the reason I’d stayed away for so damn long. Being around her was painful and left me in a constant state of arousal. Already, I was regretting my decision to come home, to see if she still packed a punch just by breathing. I was a fool to think anything had changed. I had hoped that the tentative relationship I had built with my Georgia Peach would temper the desires for Nora, but they didn’t.
It was time I accepted that there was no getting over the woman in front of me. She had my heart wrapped around her pinky and didn’t even know it. I would not get over Nora, but I could set someone free from their unfulfilled desires for me. I would never love the woman I had been talking with for the better part of a year the way I loved Nora.
I needed to meet her and let her know she would only ever have friendship from me. It wasn’t right to keep someone hanging on the hope for something more when you know it wasn’t going to happen. I never understood people who cheated on someone they loved or claimed to love. If you don’t love someone, simply tell them. It was better than leading them on or going behind their back.
Forcing my eyes away from the sway of her hips and her perfectly rounded ass in a pair of snug jeans, I gritted my teeth and watched the surrounding people. She had no clue men did a double-take. She was oblivious to all the male attention, but I wasn’t, and it took everything in me not to wrap my arm around her waist to show that she was mine.
CHAPTER7
NORA
Itried to remain calm and keep my breathing even, but inside I was a bundle of nerves that felt jittery and shaky.
He looked so good, and damn when he hugged me, I just wanted to stay snuggled against his chest forever. The feeling of his arms around me was heaven. I loved him so much and I wanted to tell him that. I wanted to beg him to come home, to come home to me each night, but I was scared. I hadn’t seen him in almost four years.
Our communication before the last year was sporadic at best, and in the last year the letters I’ve written to him were anonymous. Fear and turmoil churned in my belly as we left the airport. I offered Dean the front seat. which was perfect because it let me study him without being too obvious about it.
“Damn. It’s good to see you.” Drew grinned as he pulled out of the parking spot. “I was beginning to think you would never come home, brother.”
“I almost didn’t. I was supposed to be in Hawaii this week and next.”
“I know. What changed your mind?”
Dean hesitated. “I have some decisions to make, and I thought they would be better thought out here at home than on a tropical beach with a drink in my hand.”
“What decisions?” I leaned forward like I was interested and didn’t already know what he was talking about. I did know, though. He told Georgia Peach about his need to decide on whether he should re-enlist or not, but that was something I wouldn’t know.
“I need to make a decision if I’m going to re-up or not. If I do, I can likely have my choice of assignments. If I don’t, then I would need to figure out what is next.”
“Oh. Are you leaning one way or the other?” I was curious to know if he would answer or had any clue.
“I’m on the fence sadly. I’ve got a week left on my vacation. I have to head back to Korea Sunday night.”
“That soon.” I tried to hide the quiver in my voice, but I failed miserably. Every ounce of happiness I felt at seeing him again turned to deep sorrow. He was going to turn around and leave again, and who the hell knew when he would come back.
“Yeah. I spent a week in Hawaii instead of the full two weeks I was supposed to be there.”
