When they were the second-to-the-last couple remaining, Jamie took matters into her own hands.
“I’m tired. We should get some rest so we’re ready to leave in the morning.” She stood and waited for Wes to follow. It took a few seconds for him to respond. Wendy and Curt watched the scene, as Jamie worried Wes wouldn’t come with her.
Wes stood and followed. They didn’t speak as they followed the lighted path back to their cottage. Jamie couldn’t help but wonder if the twisting in her stomach was similar to what inmates felt on the way to their execution. Something bad was about to happen. It sizzled in the air around them.
Wes stopped walking where the sidewalk intersected with the boardwalk to the beach.
“I’m going to go for a walk. I’ll be back later,” he said as he headed in the other direction. For a long second she thought about going after him, but what would she say?
This wasn’t meant to happen. They were friends. He was the most important person in her life, aside from her father. She couldn’t afford to mess it up with sex and romance.
He of all people should know how badly she messed up those kinds of relationships. He should be thanking her for sparing him the horror that transpired when she tried to date someone.
After everything was packed, Jamie crawled into their empty bed. It was nearly eleven and Wes wasn’t back. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize he wasn’t coming. He’d found somewhere else to sleep.
She knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t have found someone else to sleep with. He didn’t have any condoms and he wouldn’t have sex with a stranger without one.
She tossed and turned for another hour before a lone tear ran down her face. The thing she had been hoping to avoid by putting a stop to their sexual relationship was coming to fruition anyway.
She’d lost her best friend.
More tears joined the first as her heart broke into a million pieces.
Chapter 19
Wes couldn’t force himself to go back to their cottage. He couldn’t be expected to lie next to her in their bed and not want more than friendship. It wasn’t just the matter of his dick wanting to continue what they’d started. His heart was raw with her casual disinterest in having something serious with him.
She was able to just step away and go back to being friends? He was in a completely different place. He’d wanted to see where it would lead if they actually gave this marriage a chance.
The stars above him blurred in anger, or maybe it was the moisture that had somehow accumulated in his eyes. He’d never cried over a woman in his life. Hell, he hadn’t even had tears at his father’s funeral. But he had lost more tonight than he could face.
For the first time since he’d known her, they hadn’t agreed on something. It figured it would be the most important thing ever.
The sound of bare feet on sand and the swish of fabric made him turn his head. Jamie stood over him with her hands on her hips.
“What are you doing out here?” she asked, her voice husky.
“The bed in the cottage is too small tonight.”
“You’re pissed at me.”
The thing was, he wasn’t really. How could he be? She’d been very clear about what this was from the beginning. He was the one who’d wanted more. He couldn’t be angry that she wasn’t willing to give it to him.
“No. I’m pissed at me, I guess.” Or the stars. He glared up at them again as Jamie sat next to him in the sand. Too close. “You should go back to the cottage. I’m not fit company at the moment.”
“I’m not going back to the cottage without you. I’m scared.”
“Of what? Did you see a spider?”
“No. I’m scared if we don’t talk about this, we’ll lose each other here, and I can’t handle it. I need you, Wes. I wouldn’t have wanted to come on this trip without you. You’re my best friend.”
He let out a sigh and then looked at her again, desperately trying to see her the way he once had. As just a friend. But it was impossible.
He saw everything when he looked at her. He saw the way they moved together. He heard the sounds she made when he satisfied her. He saw the look she gave him when she desired him. He felt her fingers twined in his hair.
He felt everything they could be and he wanted it.
He wanted her.
He wanted it all.
Without warning, he leaned closer and kissed her. As soon as their lips touched, the familiar fire ignited, and they were entwined on the sand. He rolled over her as she began tugging at his clothes.
She was wearing a thin nightgown with his dress shirt over it, so it was easy for him to push up her clothes and touch her warm skin.
“Jamie?” he said, out of breath. She had been adamant about the friends thing. If he was pushing her into something she didn’t want, he would hate himself.
“Yes.” She whispered the answer to his unasked question. “Please.”
This time when they joined he felt more than just sexual gratification and comfort. He felt a joy he’d never felt before. This was right. He didn’t care how wrong she thought it was.
He wouldn’t give it up. Not when he could have it all.
He watched her face, bathed in moonlight, as she cried out his name in ecstasy. Seeing how he’d pleasured her made his orgasm come quicker than he’d wanted.
Rolling off of her, he stared up at the stars again. They looked different now. Brighter and full of hope. It was at least two minutes before he managed to turn his head to look at his wife. If she regretted this or was about to go into the friend thing again, he would lose it.
But when he finally looked, he saw her watching him with a serene smile on her face. He couldn’t help but smile back.
They must have stared at each other with stupid grins on their faces for half an hour.
“Come with me, Mrs. Archer,” he said as he stood up, brushing sand from unpleasant places. “Let’s go skinny dipping.”
She peeled off her clothes and took off for the water with him chasing behind her.
This was the thing that was missing from all his past relationships. The playful, fun part. He was always so serious, he wouldn’t have thought it was an important element, but he realized he needed it. And Jamie made everything fun.
They splashed and played like kids until he caught her around the waist and pulled her against him. Things slowed down once again and he positioned her around him. Her gasp of surprise brushed his cheek as he kissed her neck and pushed inside her.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” she said as she moved with him to the same rhythm.
“Do you want to stop?” He hoped the answer was no.
“We’re having sex in paradise.”
“No. It’s paradise because we’re together,” he corrected.
“I think you might be right.”
* * * *
Jamie had never felt more open during sex.
In the past, physical relationships were the end goal. It was the way to determine whether the date was a success. But being with Wes wasn’t like that at all.
They were already in a successful relationship. The most important one she’d ever made with anyone not related to her. Being with Wes was more of an expression of that, or a celebration.
And it definitely didn’t feel like the end of anything.
In fact, if felt like the beginning of many other wonderful things.
When they got out of the water, Wes helped her dress and held her hand as they walked back to their cottage. They showered together, though it wasn’t a sexy shower like the one they’d shared earlier. This was slow and sweet.
She was exhausted by the time he crawled into bed next to her, but there were things to discuss. They still hadn’t come up with a plan for what happened when they returned to Boston.
Obv
iously her hands-off plan to go back to being friends wasn’t going to work, but they needed to come up with some way to ensure that their friendship was safe.
“Wes?”
“Yeah?”
“What do we do tomorrow?” Though it was technically already tomorrow.
“We get up and eat breakfast. I’m having that crab soufflé again because I know I won’t be able to get anything half as good back home.”
“No. I mean about us.”
“Right.” There was a long silence before he rolled over and propped his head on his hand to look down at her. “You don’t have a plan? This was all your idea.” He laughed as she slapped him in the arm.
“I don’t have a clue,” she admitted.
“We’ll figure it out. Let’s not worry about it right now. We’re both too tired to come up with a good answer.”
“Okay.” She nodded against his chest after snuggling up against him.
It was nice to not have to think or worry. Wes would be there when she woke, and they would come up with a plan.
Except he wasn’t there when she woke, and his suitcase was gone.
Chapter 20
Wes met Jamie on the path back to their cottage. She looked frantic, which was only amplified by the way her hair was sticking out everywhere. Something was definitely wrong.
“Jamie? What is it?”
She bent over slightly with her palm against her chest. She let out a long, slow breath and shook her head. “I’m okay. I thought you left me.”
“Left? We’re on the same flight. Where would I go?” He held out the tray of food. “I thought you might want to spend some time alone on our patio rather than deal with the group.”
She pressed her lips together and nodded. “I’m sorry. I panicked,” she said, her voice still breathy.
“I’m not like that Dylan guy who fled from the restaurant when you went to the bathroom.” Man, how he’d like to get his hands on that guy.
“No. I know that. It’s just your luggage was gone.”
“Oh. The porter stopped by. Mine was already packed, so I gave it to him. I figured you still needed yours.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
She appeared embarrassed by her erratic behavior, but he simply moved the tray to one hand so he could wrap the other one around her. “I’m not leaving you, Jamie.”
On the patio, she played with her food.
“What is it? And know that if you so much as suggest we go back to being friends again, I’m going to explode. That is not an option. I can’t put it back in a box.”
She tilted her head to the side, a mischievous smile on her face. “What exactly would you be putting in the box?”
“Oh, good. Fifth-grade-boy Jamie is here today,” he mocked, making them both laugh. He leaned across the small table to steal a kiss.
“What are we going to do?” she whispered.
He’d been thinking about it as he waited for their meals. He cleared his throat, ready to share the big plan. He only hoped it wouldn’t blow up in his face.
“You’ve been calling the shots since the beginning of this plan. I’m taking over now, because your idea is not working. At. All.”
“Okay. What do you suggest?”
He rubbed his forehead and looked out at the view. From here he could see the beach where they’d made love the night before. He hadn’t been prepared for her to give up so easily.
He swallowed and looked her in the eye, hoping she would agree to his insane idea. “When we get back to Boston, you’re going to move in with me. And we’re going to see where this goes.”
“That’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard.”
“Really? It’s worse than wanting to marry your friend to get a free vacation?” He called her on her stupidity, and his own for going along with it. “It’s too late to go back to being friends, James. We either forge ahead or we break it off and cut our losses. What will it be?”
She held up her hand and stepped away to the edge of the water. It only took her a moment to come back, her eyes fierce. “I can’t just walk away from you. I can’t and I won’t.”
“So . . .”
“So we’re forging ahead.” The corner of her mouth pulled up at her admission while a satisfied grin took over his face.
“How bad could it be?”
* * * *
Ben was certain he would be in one of the stages of regret by now. It had been four days since he’d had sex with his assistant on his desk. He hadn’t even remembered to lock the door. Anyone could have walked in on them.
He was a cliché, but he couldn’t help the smile that lifted his lips at the thought of her.
While they both agreed they wouldn’t sneak around at work anymore, they’d been together every night. Tonight he was looking forward to watching her play with her band, as Bellz, before he took her home to spend the night with his Annabelle.
Filling in for Richard was not as difficult as he’d expected. It turned out Annabelle was right when she’d told him he already handled the biggest parts of the business.
He hadn’t realized it until it was all officially on his plate.
However, there was one part he wasn’t qualified to handle. Ben held a degree in business, not architecture, engineering, or art design. It meant he was useless when it came to deciding which projects to assign to which team.
He didn’t know who was better suited for a job, because he couldn’t tell what the job would entail. This was where his brother would come in handy.
Looking at his phone, he realized his brother should be home from his trip.
He called, ready to force Wes into a decision, despite him still having until the early April deadline they’d agreed upon.
“Hello?”
“Hello. How’s married life?”
“Why does everyone ask that? I don’t get it. It’s the same as regular life, but now I live with my wife.”
Ben sighed and shook his head. It sounded like a pretty big step to him. Maybe Wes didn’t notice anything different because he’d been with Jamie for so long.
Would things eventually get that way with Annabelle? Would they form a bond because they spent so much time together? He had insinuated they would be together for the rest of their lives.
“I need your help,” he asked, making it sound casual.
“Sure. What do you need?”
“I need you to come work here.”
Wes laughed. “I haven’t decided. I still have a week.”
“Uncle Rich had a heart attack—”
“When? Why didn’t you call me?”
“Relax. He’s fine. It was mild, but he has to take off of a few months until the doc releases him back to work. My guess is, he won’t be coming back. He’s going to use this to step back and move into retirement. I don’t know who to assign what project to.”
“I can help you from here. Send them to me. I’ll look them over and give you my advice.”
“That would be great, but we need to come up with a long-term plan.”
“I’m not ready yet. I need the week. I promise, I’ll give you my answer.”
“Why did you leave?” Ben had asked many times, but Wes refused to give him any details. He simply said it was personal.
He gave the same response. “It’s personal.”
“Yeah, I get that. But you know what? I’m your brother. Maybe I’m personal too. Maybe we could share personal stuff with one another. Maybe before we are days from walking down the aisle to get married.”
“Our family has never been close.”
“No. We were never close to Mother and Dad. But you and I, we were tight once upon a time. We were close. We’re brothers, Wes. Share something brotherly, goddamn it.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t have anything to share.”
>
“Fine. You suck.”
“Do you have anything to share?”
He gave it a few seconds, deciding how he might explain what he had with Annabelle without making it sound like he was a sleazy exec taking advantage of his assistant.
He couldn’t come up with anything so he simply said, “Nothing.”
“Send me the files. I’ll take a look and give you my thoughts.”
“Thanks.”
He hung up with his brother and Annabelle cut in immediately.
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry but—” His mother marched into his office with a flourish and a scowl. “Your mother was waiting for you to get off the phone. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. Thank you.”
He was in too good a mood for his mother to bring him down. No matter what she said, he could handle it.
“Why are you smiling?” she started. “Do you have any idea how badly you’ve messed up this company in the few days you’ve been running it?”
He let out a sigh and considered a retreat. He’d been wrong. He wasn’t up for this. Since his father died, their mother had embroiled herself in the family company. It was all about prestige and success. As the person running the business he also cared about success, but it wasn’t an obsession like it had become with their mother.
He kept the smile on his face, folded his arms across his chest, and made a split-second decision on how best to deal with her.
“Weston got married.”
* * * *
“I thought I would be tired of looking at you by now, but I still can’t keep my eyes off of you,” Wes said in their office the next week.
Jamie laughed at his announcement. She’d been laughing a lot lately. Since they’d been back, she’d moved in with him, sublet her apartment, and spent every night in their bed. So far, Wes’s plan had been the perfect amendment to her plan.
“Are you upset by this?” she asked.
“Not exactly.” He stood and walked over to lean against her desk. “I think it’s a good thing.” He bent to kiss her. “A very good thing.”
The kiss—which started out innocently enough—was moving into something hotter. When he slid his hand to her ass, she knew it wasn’t going to be easy to stop if they didn’t end it soon.
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