Love

by Sherryl Woods

  Jason’s heart thudded. “What is it? Are you ill?”

  She shook her head, reaching over to squeeze his hand. “No, it’s nothing like that.”

  “Is it Dad, then? He’s okay, isn’t he?”

  She drew in a deep breath. “I’ve moved out,” she blurted finally. “Yesterday.”

  Jason felt as if she’d slammed a fist into his midsection. If she’d declared that she’d burned the place down, he would have been no more shocked. Even after that awful dinner with his father a few weeks earlier and the tension in his own dining room just two days earlier, he wasn’t prepared for this announcement.

  “What?” he said blankly, praying he’d misunderstood. “I don’t understand.”

  “I’ve moved out of the house. I just wanted you to know so you wouldn’t go over there looking for me. Not that you drop in unannounced,” she murmured. “Oh, who am I kidding? I was terrified you’d see it in some gossip column. I’m sure there are a few people who won’t be able to wait to share the news of a split in the Halloran clan.”

  The prospect of publicity was the least of Jason’s concerns. “Why did you move?” he asked weakly, thinking of all the signs he’d seen that things weren’t right between his parents. He’d blinded himself to them because he didn’t want to believe there was anything seriously wrong. “What did Dad do?”

  He tried to imagine his father having an affair and couldn’t. Kevin Halloran was not a philanderer. Jason would have staked his last dime on that. Kevin did spend too many hours at the office. Maybe that was it. His father had turned into a workaholic and his mother was lonely.

  Funny how he’d always thought his parents’ marriage so solid, so free from the kinds of problems and pressures that split other families apart. He could see now that they were only human and it shook him more than he could say.

  “Your father didn’t do anything, not really. It’s complicated,” she said.

  “That’s not good enough, Mom,” he snapped in frustration. At her startled, hurt look, he said, “I’m sorry, but there has to be a reason.”

  “I would explain it to you if I could, but I can’t. Not entirely.” She gazed at him apologetically. “I’m sorry to spring this on you now, when you’ve just met someone you really care about. This should be the happiest time in your life. I’m sorry for spoiling it. I would have waited until, I don’t know, after you were engaged, maybe even married, but there’s no telling just when that would happen. I decided postponing the move wouldn’t change anything. The longer it went on, the more I felt as if I were suffocating.”

  “I’ll talk to Dad,” he said, ignoring the denial she’d made too easily. “Whatever he’s done, he can fix it.”

  Lacey smiled sadly. “No. I’ve told you this is not his fault. Not entirely, anyway. At any rate, it’s between your father and me. Promise me you’ll let it be. This is the right thing for both of us.”

  “How can moving out be the right thing?” Jason exploded in frustration. “Isn’t that just running away? Or are you filing for divorce? Have things gone that far?”

  “Not yet.”

  It suddenly occurred to him that perhaps he’d been trying to cast blame in the wrong direction. What if his mother…? Dear Lord, it wasn’t possible that she had found someone to fill the lonely hours when her husband was at work. “Mom, is it…you haven’t…there’s not…”

  No matter how he tried to phrase it, he couldn’t get the words out. It was clear, though, that his mother understood. Suddenly she was reaching into her purse. “I really have to go.”

  Jason spotted the tears welling up in her eyes and felt more helpless than he’d ever felt in his entire life. “Mom?”

  She brushed a kiss against his cheek, then hurried from the restaurant. She hadn’t even told him how he could get in touch with her.

  He spent the afternoon closeted in his office with the door shut, trying to make sense of what had happened. It took everything in him to keep from going down the hall and slugging his father. Unfortunately he couldn’t seem to make up his mind whether or not he deserved it. His mother had never once said that his father was to blame for anything. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t imagine his mother walking away from the family that had always meant everything to her, unless his father had committed some terrible sin.

  He barely looked up at the tap on the door. He didn’t bother responding. Harriet would send whoever it was away. He’d told her he didn’t want to be disturbed.

  The door opened a crack. “Jason?” Dana said softly, then added more anxiously, “What are you doing sitting in here in the dark?”

  He glanced around and realized the room was filled with shadows. He hadn’t even noticed. “What time is it?” he asked wearily.

  “Past six. Are you okay?”

  “No,” he said. “I am definitely not okay.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I had lunch with my mother today. She’s moved out of the house.” He looked at Dana and astonishment filled his voice. “She’s actually left my father.”

  The startled expression on Dana’s face reflected his own feelings exactly.

  “I don’t understand,” she said.

  “Neither do I. She didn’t see fit to explain it.” He shook his head. “No. That’s not fair. I think she was too upset to talk about it.”

  “What does your father say?”

  “I haven’t talked to him. I was afraid I’d hit first and talk later.”

  “Maybe it’s not his fault.”

  “It has to be somebody’s fault,” he said, itching to cast blame and unwilling still to pin it on his gentle, sensitive mother. The fact that she hadn’t denied the suggestion that she was having an affair nagged at him like a hangnail. He toyed with the idea until the pain was nearly unbearable.

  “Maybe it really is no one’s fault,” Dana said, coming up behind his chair and beginning to massage away the tension in his shoulders.

  The brush of her fingers against his neck had his pulse bucking. Though he was certain she meant to relax him with the kneading strokes, the effect was anything but soothing. Every nerve in his body craved the magic of her touch.

  When he could stand the tantalizing, innocent caresses no longer, he swiveled his chair around and pulled her down onto his lap. Before it even registered what he intended, his mouth was covering hers with a desperation that might have frightened him if he’d recognized it. Instead he was just acting on his feelings, hungry for the taste of her.

  The kiss was bruising, needy and it wasn’t nearly enough. He shoved her sweater up until he unhooked her bra. Her breasts spilled into his hands. He took the rosy tip of one into his mouth, urging it into a hard bud, then did the same with the other. The silk of her skin burned hot beneath his touch.

  As if she sensed his need, Dana unbuttoned his shirt with matching urgency, her hands stroking and teasing with renewed purpose, this time to inflame. Her mouth found his masculine nipples and teased with the same desperate intensity. Jason had never before been aroused so fast. He felt as if he were going to explode if he couldn’t bury himself inside her.

  He gathered her into his arms and carried her to the sofa. With hands that shook with emotion, he stripped away her jeans, then his own slacks, until he was able to enter her with a quick, powerful thrust.

  With each desperate stroke some of his anger and confusion began to fade. With each caress he thought less and less about his parents’ failure and more about his own future, here in Dana’s arms. How could emotions this powerful ever die? Surely this kind of intensity couldn’t be lost.

  With one last shred of sanity, he slowed, only to have Dana quicken the pace again, luring him over the edge with an instinctive understanding of his need.

  When they were both spent, tangled in rumpled clothes and slick with perspiration, he cradled her in his arms. The peace he’d craved hadn’t come. If anything, he felt worse than before because he’d used a woman he loved without regard for
her feelings.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered, distraught by the uncaring way he’d treated her. He tried to find the words to explain, settling finally for the simple, raw truth. “I needed you so much.”

  “I know,” she said gently.

  “That’s no excuse for being so thoughtless, so rough.”

  “You weren’t rough. Just demanding.” She gave a little half smile, the kind which Mona Lisa had been enchanting people with for years. “You always are, you know. I think that’s what I love about you. You don’t hold anything back. I always know how much you want me.”

  “I gotta tell you, Dana, right now that scares the hell out of me.”

  “Because of what’s going on with your parents.”

  “Exactly. If they can’t make it after all these years, after so damned much history, nobody can. Nobody.”

  There was a bleak finality in his tone, a weariness. If his well-suited parents couldn’t hold on to their marriage, how could he possibly expect to have a future with someone so much his opposite? Perhaps in the end his first instincts had been right. The only future he and Dana were likely to have would be whatever days they could grab before their differences inevitably caught up with them.

  * * *

  After that evening in his office, Jason never even hinted about wanting to marry Dana. She had no doubts about his love for her, no doubts that he still wanted her. Each night in his bed proved the depth of his hunger for what they had found together. But it was as if a switch had been turned and he no longer saw marriage as an option.

  She had absolutely no idea what to do about it. Her sense of helplessness was all the worse because she had finally admitted to herself that she loved him, that she wanted a life with him. At least she was ready to take the risk, because for the first time she had realized that Jason needed her every bit as much as she needed him.

  That’s what love was all about, she had realized with astonishing clarity that evening in his office when he’d come to her with all of his insecurities and desperate yearnings on the line. That moment had solidified all the emotions she had recognized over the past days. There would always be times when one person needed and the other person gave, and times when they would reverse roles. Right now it was critical for her to find some way to make Jason see that what was happening to his parents was not an indictment of marriage, but proof that love wasn’t something ever to be taken for granted.

  Troubled, she found herself turning to Brandon Halloran for advice. “I think he’s going to walk away from what we have,” she told him, her expression bleak.

  “Because of this nonsense between Kevin and Lacey?”

  “It’s shaken his faith in love.”

  “But not in you,” Brandon reminded her. “You’re still sharing that house with him. You ready to make it permanent?”

  Dana smiled ruefully. “Yes. My timing’s lousy, isn’t it?”

  “I don’t think it could get much better actually. He needs you now. The fact that you haven’t abandoned him ought to tell him what he needs to hear.”

  “He’s not listening. I don’t think he’s comfortable with needing anything from me. He’s used to being the one needed.”

  “Seems to me the real test of love is surviving the crises.”

  “And this is one of those crises, right?”

  “Looks like it to me.”

  Dana gave him a swift hug on her way out. “I’ll let you know how it turns out.”

  “Just tell me when to show up at the church. What this family needs all the way around is a good wedding.”

  “You’re an old romantic.”

  “Damn right, I am. I want some great-grand-children before I’m too old to enjoy ‘em, too.”

  Dana groaned. “Let’s take this one step at a time, okay?”

  She could think of only one sure way to snap Jason out of his mood, a way that would only work if he loved her as much as she thought he did. That night she sent Sammy to a movie with Mrs. Willis, set the table with the finest china and candles, and wore the slinky black dress Jason had given her.

  He glanced around, took in the seductive setting and regarded her warily. “What’s this all about?”

  “I need to talk to you about something.”

  “If you’re serving prime rib, I’m really going to start worrying.”

  Dana carried two plates of medium-rare prime rib in from the kitchen.

  “Okay. Spill it,” he said. “What’s going on?”

  “Actually, I’ve been thinking about getting my own place.”

  Jason’s fork clattered to the table. “You’ve what?” His voice rose ominously.

  “It’s clear I’m just in the way here. You can’t be expected to put up with Sammy and me indefinitely. I’ve picked out a couple of apartments. I was hoping you’d agree to go with me tomorrow to take a look at them. I could use your advice.”

  “No. Absolutely not.”

  “Why not? Don’t you have the time?”

  “This has nothing to do with time.” His gaze narrowed. “I thought you were happy here. I thought we had something.”

  Dana shrugged. “I thought so, too, but lately…” She allowed her voice to trail off.

  “Lately I haven’t been paying enough attention to you.”

  “That’s not it.”

  “What then?”

  She studied him regretfully. “If you can’t figure it out, then I’m not going to explain it. Look, if you don’t want to go with me to look at apartments, it’s okay. Sammy and I will go in the morning. We should be able to move in a week or two.”

  Jason threw his napkin on the table and stormed from the room. A minute later the front door slammed. Fortunately he left before he caught the smile of satisfaction on Dana’s lips.

  She cleaned up the dishes, then went into the living room. She sat in the window seat, her legs tucked under her and watched for Jason to come home. It was nearly an hour later before she saw him coming up the front walk. When he caught sight of her in the window, he paused and squared his shoulders. His step became even more determined.

  The front door shook on its hinges, when he closed it behind him. He strode into the living room and straight over to her. Hands on hips, he faced her with a familiar stubborn spark in his eyes.

  “You are not moving out of here tomorrow or any other time and that’s final.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You may think you’ll be better off someplace else, but I’m not letting you out of my sight. I love you. If you’re not ready to marry me, that’s fine. I’ll wait. But I will not let you run off.”

  He was still ranting when Dana rose from the window seat and shut him up by covering his mouth with her own. After one startled instant, his arms circled her waist. He leaned back with an unexpected glint of amused understanding in his eyes.

  “Who won that battle?” he inquired.

  “We did,” she said. “I finally got you to admit that you still loved me.”

  “There’s never been any doubt in my mind about that.”

  Dana shook her head. “Oh, I think you’ve been questioning a lot lately. I just wanted you to see that the most important thing in loving someone is not ever taking them for granted.”

  Jason chuckled. “How could I ever take a woman like you for granted? There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t realize how lucky I am to have found you.”

  “It’s possible then that given time your parents will remember they once felt that way, too. We’ll just have to help them.”

  “So, now that you’ve brought me into line, you’re ready to take on my parents. I suspect Granddad will want to have a hand in that, too.”

  “Last time I saw him he was more worried about having great-grandchildren.”

  A slow smile spread across Jason’s face. “I think we can accommodate him on that score, don’t you?”

  Dana took his hand and led him toward the stairs. “Frankly, I thought you’d never ask.”
/>   * * * * *

  #1 New York Times bestselling author

  Sherryl Woods

  draws readers back into the world of strong friendships and heartfelt emotions in Serenity, South Carolina

  Determined to build a new life for her family after her divorce, Adelia Hernandez has bought a home in the historic Swan Point neighborhood of Serenity. Promoted to manager of Main Street’s most fashionable boutique, she feels revitalized and ready for a fresh start as a single mom. But barely into this new independent phase, she crosses paths with the sexiest man to hit Serenity in years.

  Gabe Franklin, back in town to make amends for past mistakes, has no intention of settling down, but Adelia’s proving irresistible. Cheered on by their friends, “the Sweet Magnolias,” Gabe is bringing long-absent passion and laughter into Adelia’s life. To his surprise—and hers—sometimes a rolling stone is just what it takes to build the rock-solid foundation of a family.

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  ISBN: 978-1-4603-1773-0

  Love

  Copyright © 2014 Sherryl Woods

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  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.