by Bette Ford
“He leaves tomorrow. Scott, I said don’t . . .”
“I heard you, but I’m not going away. I’m staying for the duration of your time in this place. And I’m not pretending there’s nothing going on between us.”
“It’s over. We agreed,” she insisted.
“That was before you almost died, damn it. I love you. That didn’t end because of your manipulative twin sister. Nor did it stop when I ordered you out of my house because I was hurting. It almost ended when you crashed your car into that lamppost.” He stood with his feet braced and his hands at his side. “Your accident really got my attention. It hammered into my thick scalp as nothing else could how much you mean to me. Thanks to God, we still have time to deal with our problems . . . but later.”
He placed a tender kiss on her bruised forehead, another on her nose. At the sight of tears pooling beneath her lashes, he sank down onto the bed and tenderly gathered Jenna against him.
“Don’t cry, sweet love. It’s okay. Whatever is wrong, it’s going to be okay. We’ll fix it together.”
Overcome by the wealth of her emotion, Jenna cried harder. She made a bit of a protest when he first cradled her against his chest. He still loved her. Would they ever get it right? They’d made so many mistakes.
“Please don’t cry. Talk to me, Jenna,” he urged softly.
She sniffed. “I’m crying because you said you still love me despite all that has gone wrong. I love you so much,” she confessed, using her good arm to wrap behind his neck and pull his head down to hers. They shared a long, tender kiss. “I didn’t know what to think when they told me you were here but you left just when I woke up.”
“Believe me, you didn’t want to see me then. After three days without sleep, I was an emotional wreck. Mostly, I was so darn thankful that you were alive and going to get better. Plus, I was still so angry with you for letting me down, letting me get close enough to realize that I’d never stopped loving you. Then you yanked the rug out from under me, babe, when you refused to believe in me . . . to believe I’d rather cut off a body part than betray your trust by going after your twin.”
He gave her a hard kiss. “When I first returned to the city, everywhere I went I thought of you and what we shared. I was miserable without you. I used alcohol to mask the pain. Then Taylor told me you’d moved back. Suddenly I had a reason to get my life back on track. When I ran into you on campus, I was a goner. I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from getting you back.”
He moved a caressing hand down her cheek. “You gave me hope when you agreed to let me go with you to find your family. When you made love with me, the first time, I knew we could make a go of it this time around. You gave me a slice of heaven that night.” He smiled. “I knew we had a future when you agreed to wear my ring close to your heart. I was devastated that morning, knowing you believed the worst and not being able to get you to even hear me out.”
“Scott, I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you that way, but I thought . . .” She stopped. “You know what I thought.”
He lifted her hand and placed a kiss in the soft center. “You had every right to be upset. You were also hurting. Neither one of us asked for Leah’s interference. But man, did we suffer because of it. I kept thinking this looks so bad, but we can get past it. I believed that until . . .”
“Until what? You started believing that I didn’t trust you because of the past?”
“Yeah,” he reluctantly admitted. “I was so angry, I couldn’t see past it.”
“You were wrong about me not trusting you,” she insisted softly, lacing her fingers with his. “It wasn’t only about you. I didn’t believe in myself. I was shattered when I saw you with her. I needed time to get past it . . . to think. But you weren’t backing down. You insisted I listen to you right then. I couldn’t! It hurt too much, like a nightmare that was never going away.”
He nodded, kissing the back of her hand. “Logically, I accepted that, but I also knew that if I didn’t reach you then, I’d lose you. I was right. Your sister really did a number on us. And for what?”
Scott swore bitterly. “Jenna, it was all about the money. It was never really about me. She didn’t even know me. She should have told us straight up what she wanted. Believe me, I would have made it clear that there was only one woman for me. And that was you. I didn’t want a look-alike, a poor imitation, or any kind of substitute for you, my sweet love. I want you . . . only you, Jenna Marie Gaines.
“When she realized she couldn’t have me”—he paused, his voice brimming with disgust—“she should have asked for cash. Leah wants the easy way. If I’d only realized that it meant so much to her that she was willing to destroy us to get it, I would have gladly dropped a million on her sneaky behind.” He snapped his fingers. “Just like that, she would have been gone. Problem solved.”
“No way,” Jenna hissed.
“Oh, yeah. I would have. And it would have been worth it, especially if it could have saved us the heartache. Look what she did to us! Just look how you are laid up in a hospital, all battered and bruised.” He gently kissed her swollen cheek. “I can’t stand that you’re suffering this way.”
Jenna smiled. “I know, my sweet man. But you can’t blame Leah for the accident. That had nothing to do with her. If I had anything to say about it, you would absolutely not be giving her a red nickel. She doesn’t deserve to be rewarded for bad behavior. At least now she finally gets it. She hasn’t been happy with the way things turned out.”
“How do you figure? She wanted us to break up. She won!”
“She didn’t win. She didn’t want me to hate her. She didn’t plan to get thrown out of the house. In fact, she didn’t plan any of it. From what she told me, it was an impulse that she quickly regretted. You should have seen her at Christmas. She was as miserable as I was.”
“That makes three of us. I don’t want her anywhere near me. You better believe that I was watching her when she sat with you while you were unconscious. Leah caused this, and I can’t see myself forgiving or forgetting that. When I saw her in the waiting room, I really wanted to tell her a few things. We should have left her in Vegas. Hell no, I’m not interested in how she suffered,” he snarled.
Jenna pressed closer to him, smoothing her cheek against his cashmere-covered chest. “I know.”
“When I think of all you did to welcome her into your home, to help her in every way to build a better life for herself. . . . You used your savings just to find her and then spent your hard-earned money to bring her here so that your family could be together for the holidays. You could easily have left her dancing topless in that club and living with a man who steals from her. You were willing to help her get a college education. And she didn’t thank you for any of it.” Scott scowled. “She had the nerve to go after what was yours for no good reason. No, I’m not likely . . .” He stopped talking abruptly.
He raised her hand to place a kiss in her soft palm. “Enough about Leah. The more I talk about it, the angrier I get. Tonight is about you and me finally finding our way back to each other.”
“Finally . . .” she repeated around a yawn. “I’m sorry.”
Scott smiled down at her, smoothing her cottony-soft hair away from her face. He kissed each of her eyelids. “I can take a hint. You need your rest. When are they letting you out of here?”
“I have no idea, but it can’t be soon enough to please me.” When he shifted, she begged, “Don’t go. The nurses will let you stay. The females on staff are already half in love with you,” she teased.
“What made you say that?”
Jenna giggled. ”Laura told me how often they came in here to get a good look at you, my brother. Then when Lincoln showed up, you told them I was your fiancée.” She kissed the side of his dark throat. “Please stay. I want you here with me until they put you out. Promise to stay?”
He smiled. “I promise. So you heard about the fiancée thing, hmm?”
“Oh yeah, I heard. There are no secrets, especially with ‘eagle-eyes’ Sherri Ann and ‘nose-to-the-ground’ Laura around,” she giggled.
“And you’re not upset because of it?” he quizzed.
“No, why would I be?”
“You’ve forgotten the way you threw that ring at me? Babe, you tried to take my eye out.”
“I did,” Jenna readily agreed, jutting her chin out proudly. “I’d do worse if I ever caught you near a bed with any female. Got it?”
“Got it,” he echoed. He moved until he could look into her beautiful hazel eyes. “I want to put this behind us. I want us to make that final commitment to each other so there will be no doubt in anyone’s mind about how we feel about each other and that we belong together.” He hesitated, and then said, “. . . including your own.”
She nearly shook her aching head but stopped just in time. “Yes, including me. I had so many doubts about my ability to hold on to your love that it was downright easy for me to assume that you were attracted to my vivacious, prettier twin.”
“Prettier? No way!”
She smiled. “My lack of trust wasn’t all about you. I lacked faith in me.”
Scott said firmly, “When I look at you, I see all I want or need in a woman. It’s more than your physical appearance.” He placed his palm over her heart. “It’s the beauty on the inside that shows through. I love who you are, how you think and feel. Your unconditional loyalty to those you care about. In short, I love everything about you that makes you you, Jenna. There’s no one like you.”
Jenna blinked away sudden tears. “That’s so sweet. Unfortunately, because of my doubts, it wasn’t hard for me to believe that you picked Leah over me.”
“But why? I don’t get it.” His brow creased. “You’re a beautiful, well-educated, classy lady.”
“Thank you, but it goes deeper than how I present myself to the world. You have to remember a lot has changed in the years we were apart. You weren’t the same nineteen-year-old jock that fell in love with a twenty-year-old studious college student. We have both changed in countless ways. While I gained confidence in my intellectual abilities in the financial and academic arenas, I also knew I wasn’t like the worldly, glamorous women you dated. Scott, you have traveled the globe, and have dealt with all kinds of challenges over the years.”
“For those women, the attraction was the sport and the glamour of being in the spotlight—it wasn’t me.”
“You, gorgeous man, are a huge part of the attraction. I accepted that. Things were cool until you asked me to marry you. It forced me to face the fact that we were not the two people who fell in love years earlier. I wondered if I could hold on to you, especially considering my very ordinary, mundane life. I’m a college professor, for heaven’s sake.”
“But sweet—”
She pressed her fingertips against his lips to stop him and said, “Let me say this. It’s important.” When he nodded, she said, “I’d reached many of my personal goals. After we broke up, I concentrated on school. Emotionally, I was empty. I didn’t feel as if I had anything to offer a man beyond friendship. I would pull back the instant things got even remotely serious, forget about being intimate with a man.” She kissed his cheek while inhaling his scent. “The first time we made love again I didn’t want you to know that I hadn’t been with another man.”
“Jenna.” He cupped her face lovingly, then said in a throaty whisper, “I knew or suspected. Your body told your secret. I was just as overwhelmed from being with you again. I realized I was in danger of falling in love with you, all over again. Even though you wouldn’t talk about it, knowing you’d held back gave me hope that you might still have feelings for me. I was desperate for any little crumbs I could get.”
Jenna confessed, “I did have feelings for you, but I held them inside. I used our past as a shield to keep my feelings at bay. I was scared. I kept remembering the promise you broke when you left school and me. I was afraid you’d walk away again. Only weeks later, when I realized you wanted to get married, I thought of all the rumors and stories I’d heard about you and those beautiful women. Scott, you dated Darah Michelle for months. I saw the pictures of the two of you at one of her Hollywood premieres, for heaven’s sake. You took her to one of those big awards shows. Then there was that Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover model.”
“But sweetheart—”
She interrupted, “If you can leave someone as gorgeous as Darah Michelle, how was I supposed to hang on to you? So when I saw you with my sexy, outgoing twin, naturally I believed you preferred her.”
“I got it, baby. You couldn’t help what you felt any more than I could help my body’s reaction to waking up with what I thought was you in my arms. Both responses were inevitable. We have to accept that so we can put this whole incident behind us.”
He brushed her soft lips with his tongue. “Yeah, I’ve dated famous women. I also dated several businesswomen, as well as an attorney and a doctor. At the time, I was busy living my life. I didn’t love any of them. They didn’t make me feel what you make me feel, Jenna, my sweet love. I gave my heart to you a long time ago. I may have tried to get it back a time or two, but it never worked. No matter how angry or hurt I was, it didn’t stop me from loving you.” His gaze locked with hers when he said, “Even as I told you it was over, if you think back, I never said I’d stopped loving you.”
“Oh, honey.” Jenna sighed with happiness.
He whispered into her ear, “I gave my heart to you a long time ago. Maybe the first moment I looked into your eyes that day at the computer lab. I’d just left basketball practice, so I was hot, sweaty, hungry, and broke. I’d stopped in to borrow a couple of bucks from my sister. I forgot all of that when I looked at you.
“Do you remember, babe? You were working on one of the computers, so engrossed in what you were doing that you didn’t even look at me.” He chuckled huskily. “I thought you were the most gorgeous female I’d ever seen. I couldn’t take my eyes off you. And when you walked over to where Taylor was working at the desk, I was hooked. You had it all—shapely, long legs and dangerous feminine curves. No way was I leaving that room without finding out your name and digits.”
She laughed, her heart filled with love.
“Let’s get it right this time, Jenna. Let’s not leave room for mistakes, doubts, misunderstandings, or outside interferences. We’ve proven that time and distance can’t stop our love. Let’s prove we aren’t about to let anyone or anything keep us apart. Please, be my wife, so I can be your husband. I can’t get enough of you, my love. I want to see you grow round with my babies.”
“I want that, too,” she whispered.
“Marry me?”
“Absolutely!” Jenna beamed.
“Absolutely,” he echoed. “How soon? We’ve already wasted enough time.”
“As soon as the cast is off my arm and the bruises are gone. I plan to be a beautiful bride.”
“You will be.” He kissed her. “Now close your beautiful eyes and get some sleep so you can go about the business of healing. Not to worry, I’ll take care of all the arrangements while you recover.”
“You?”
“That’s right. All you have to do is pick your dress and tell me when, where, and how you want it. I’ll get it all done. I promise that from this moment on, I will never give you reason to doubt my love and devotion to you. There won’t be any regrets for either one of us. I’ve always been yours, just as you’ve always been mine. We’ve got a lifetime to look forward to . . . together.”
“Together . . . always,” she confirmed softly, closing her eyes.
Jenna quickly slipped into a deep, restorative sleep, wrapped in Scott’s protective, loving arms.
About the Author
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BETTE FORD grew up in Saginaw, Michigan, where she continues to live. She obtained her bachelor’s degree from Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. Bette began her teaching career in Detroit and completed her master’s degree at Wayne State University. She has retired from teaching and is writing full-time.
She has received several awards for writing, including the Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Multicultural for When a Man Loves a Woman and the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award.
She is the author of eleven books, including Can’t Say No and An Everlasting Love. She enjoys hearing from readers. Write her in care of HarperCollins Publishers or at PO Box 944, Saginaw, MI 48606.
Also by Bette Ford
Can’t Get Enough of You
Can’t Say No
An Everlasting Love
Unforgettable
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF YOU. Copyright © 2010 by Bette Ford. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition July 2010 ISBN: 9780062000095