Chapter Four
“Good catch, Nick,” Axel praised as Nick gathered Jenna in his arms and Axel caught the gun, the cold metal biting into his palm.
“Hey, I'm young and fast, old man,” Nick chuckled.
“Put her on the couch,” Axel instructed.He was way too concerned about Jenna passing out than to pay attention to Nick’s joke.
“Never had a woman faint on me before,” Nick said after he gently lay Jenna on the couch.
Axel shot him a sharp look, unable to find the humor in any of this.His stomach dropped, a cold dread settling in his bones at her deathly pale face.
He quickly assessed her.
Her hair was damp, clinging to her neck and shoulders, and she wore nothing, but a large towel wrapped tightly around her body.
The sight of her, vulnerable, half-dressed, unaware, hit him like a punch.They shouldn’t have come in like this.Not like this.
He realized she must have just stepped out of the shower and hadn’t heard them knock or heard them enter.They’d used the spare house key Cyn had given them before she’d hurriedly driven off in her car.
Axel figured Cyn hadn’t wanted a confrontation with Jenna as per the prison conversation about Jenna possibly firing her when she found out what Cyn had done in getting them released and bringing them here.
He wanted to reach out and touch Jenna.To make sure she was real, but Nick beat him to it.
“She is out cold, and she feels really warm,” Nick commented as he lay a hand on her forehead.
“I’ll get some wet washcloths.”Axel said.
A sense of urgency had him rushing down the hallway.He passed one bedroom, then two others, and finally located the bathroom near the end of the hall.
Light blue washcloths and matching towels were folded on a shelf.
Blue.Her favorite colour.The memory slid in uninvited, softening him in a way he didn’t have time for.
He grabbed one of each.Drenched the towel and the face cloth in cold water, squeezed out the excess, then rushed back to find Nick fanning a newspaper close to her face.She was still out cold.
The sight of her still motionless made his throat tighten.He put a chilly cloth over her forehead and wrapped her wrists into the wet towel.
He stared at her chest.It moved up and down slowly.Okay she was breathing at a normal rate.
But why wasn't she waking up?
“So, this is the famous Jenna.She’s really pretty.Her pictures didn’t do her justice, man,” Nick said in a cool, controlled voice.
Why wasn’t Nick worried?Maybe Axel was overreacting?
Hell, he’d never seen Jenna faint before.She’d always been tough as nails.They must have really scared her.
“Yeah, this is Jenna,” Axel whispered.
She looked the same.Yet different.Her hair was a bit shorter now and dyed a striking red instead of its familiar auburn shade.His fingers twitched with the urge to trace the curve of her cheek, to relearn her by touch.Her perfectly shaped nose was the same and he remembered how he’d sometimes kiss the tip of it during foreplay.Her sweet mouth was in a pout, but oh those luscious dewy lips had him wanting to kiss her awake like he was the prince, and she was his Sleeping Beauty.
He noticed the freckles scattered across her shoulders, a detail he’d somehow forgotten.How could such a thing as her freckles have slipped away from him?He’d always loved those freckles.
Her face was a bit plumper, and she was even more attractive than he remembered.
Regret gnawed its way through him like a slithering snake.After he’d been incarcerated she had tried to visit him in prison on numerous occasions, but he’d refused to see her.He’d written her a scathing letter telling her he didn't love her anymore.That she had to go on with her life because he was out of the picture.Permanently.
Now as he gazed at her, his heart brutally clenched with pain at being so cruel to her.The guilt was pushed aside by the same love he’d always felt for her.
