Pushing his empty plate aside, he took Sonia’s hand, hoping to finally convince her of the truth. “You know Dianna and I are friends, nothing more.”
The smile she offered was tight. “So you’ve said, over and over and over again.”
Sean let out a deep sigh and released his hold. “This wouldn’t be an issue if she were a man.”
“You’re right,” Sonia agreed without hesitation, “but Dianna isn’t a man. She is an attractive, sexy woman or haven’t you noticed?”
“Of course I can see she’s attractive. I have eyes, don’t I?”
“What about sexy?”
“I don’t see her that way.”
Sonia folded her hands on the table. “Never?”
Sean glanced over her head, out the window. Yeah, okay he had thought of Dianna that way, but that was just recently, so technically that shouldn’t count. Right?
“Look, we can go around in circles all day, but the facts remain the same.” Sean looked back to Sonia. “Dianna and I are friends. We have been since the cradle and will be until the day we die, and if I wanted to be with her, don’t you think we’d be together right now?”
She stared at him and he refused to look away. She’d see the truth if she looked long enough.
Slowly, her lips turned upward into a beaming smile.
Yes! Finally he had gotten through to her.
Sonia jumped up from her seat. Sean followed her lead and pulled her into his arms. His lips settled on hers and he kissed her slowly, sweetly.
Then the visions behind his closed eyes went haywire. He lost focus of the here and now, his mind changing the identity of the woman in his arms. The dark blue lace nightgown slowly slid to the floor. His brain drawing its own conclusions of the flesh his eyes had not seen. His kiss grew more intense. Passionate. As he slipped his tongue between her lips, his heart pounded in his ears, his need to devour her shocking him. “I want you, Dianna.”
Dude, you did not just say that!
Maybe she didn’t hear his slip.
Sean jerked away. His breathing strained now, not from the kiss, but from the look of murder on Sonia’s face.
Okay, I guess she did.
There was no way to recover from that. No way to backpedal or cover his tracks.
He stepped away, took his jacket from the back of his chair and said, “I’ll let myself out.”
He waited, knowing he owed her that much. The sharp slap to his cheek, although expected, stung more than he thought it would.
The best thing for her would be for him to leave and not come back. The fact that he truly did like her didn’t matter. His brain had betrayed him again.
Inside his car, Sean slammed his palm down on the steering wheel. Again and again his car took the brunt of his frustration.
When he’d kissed Sonia, he wanted to show her how much she meant to him. But those damn visions of Dianna stripping naked were clear. The more he tried to force the images away, the sharper they became. Like someone was painting the picture in his head.
But he did have control over the words he’d uttered. And that fucked him up more than him having to dive into the ocean to squelch the flame Dianna had ignited at the beach on Saturday.
He didn’t know what the hell was happening. But it was starting to scare the shit out of him.
***
“What. The hell?” Angie glared at Jack as Sean pulled away in his Porsche, so furious she could punch his nose and not even feel bad about it.
“What?” Her husband actually had the nerve to look confused.
“You made him think about Dianna while he was kissing another woman.”
“And that’s bad?”
“Of course it is!”
“Why?”
“I—I don’t know. But it doesn’t seem right.”
He waved away her concern and opened the car door for her. “Adriel said we could suggest, so I did.”
“Uh-huh.” She crossed her arms. “And for someone who’s supposedly closed his eyes when Dianna’s robe fell open the other day, you sure used a lot of detail in your suggestion.”
“And that turned out to be a good thing. I helped him remember. Look Angie, I know you don’t like this, but seriously he has got to see Dianna as a woman and not the girl he put up on that pedestal.”
She released a grunt of frustration. “It’s just that he looked upset and sometimes I wonder if we’re setting them up for heartache.”
Jack looked at her in surprise. “Do you really think Adriel and Jude would have sent us on this assignment if they didn’t think it would work?”
“There are no guarantees. They have the gift of free will. Jude said so himself.”
“If you had the chance to find true love, would you risk it?” Jack asked with a very rare solemn expression. “Wouldn’t you want everyone in Heaven and Earth to help you find it?”
Angie was silent for a moment, not because she was pondering the thought but because of its profound inference. “Yes, I would.” She placed her hand on the top of the car door, and stared out into space. “It just seems wrong. Like we’re toying with his emotions.”
“I just put the thought of her in his head. The reaction was his own.” He walked around to the driver’s side. “And I bet he’s freaking out right about now.”
“And you think that’s good?”
“How would you have him face his feelings? Oh, don’t tell me.” He stared at her over the hood, his arms resting on the top of the car. “They should figure it out for themselves, right?”
“That’s better than planting thoughts and suggestions in their heads.”
“You psychiatrists are all alike. By the time they realize they’re destined to be together they’ll be—”
“Dead.”
Stunned into silence, Angie just stared at Jack staring back at her. Why had she blurted that out?
“I was going to say married to other people. Which, in my opinion, is worse.”
“How do you know?” Angie asked.
“I don’t know how I know.” His brow furrowed in confusion. “I just do.”
“How do you know?”
The intensity of Jack’s look as he focused on her made it almost impossible for her to look at him. “I think because I’ve been in that situation.”
“Maybe one of the women you dated dumped you to marry someone else?”
The confusion on his face deepened. “I don’t remember, but I don’t think so.”
“Then who?” She didn’t know why his answer was so important, but part of her wanted to run around the car and shake him until the memory broke free from whatever chain held it in place.
Jack stared over her head looking into space; his eyes squinted in pain. He shook his head.
“It’s okay.” She offered what she hoped was a comforting smile. “It’ll come back to you.”
Angie hopped into the passenger seat. She grabbed the seatbelt wishing either she or Jack could remember more about their past together. His memories didn’t seem to be as scattered as hers, but they sure weren’t clear either.
She had this awful feeling, if they didn’t remember soon, they’d lose their chance of fixing whatever was broken.
And something was broken. She could feel it.
***
Dianna burst into Sean’s house, gasping for air. Man, she was out of shape. With her YouTube channel and cake business exploding, she didn’t have the time for physical activity anymore. What on earth possessed her to jog the short distance to his home when a car worked just as well? Probably the same thing that left doors ajar and knocked over her possessions.
She headed for the powder room, noting the house was unusually quiet. Sean almost always had on either the TV or radio.
“It’s me! Can you pour me a glass of iced tea, please?” Dianna called as she entered the powder room. She splashed some water on her face and hair, studying her reflection in the mirror over the sink as she pressed the hand towel against he
r cheek. Pink face, hair flying in all directions, still gasping for air. Yeah, she looked gorgeous.
Tossing the towel aside, she went to the kitchen.
“Sean, I—” Dianna stopped when she walked into the empty room. “Sean?”
She searched the house, but found it empty. Strange. Maybe he was still at lunch with Sonia. She doubted it though. His car was in the driveway and he had to get ready for work soon.
Dianna opened the back door and walked out onto his deck. It wasn’t until she heard the muffled chorus of Billy Joel’s “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” that she headed to the shed on the side of the house.
Sean knelt in front of his rose bush, pulling weeds from the ground and humming along to his iPod. God, if she could hear the music that well, what was he doing to his hearing?
She stepped closer, concentrating on the way he ripped the unwanted foliage from the earth. Like they had somehow angered him. The muscles under his gray T-shirt contracted and rippled with every pull. He really was built very nicely. Some might even say hot. Okay, friggin hot. Funny how she never noticed how much before.
She tapped his shoulder. “Preparing them for winter or trying to get something off your mind?”
Sean pulled the buds from his ears and shut off the music, but he didn’t look at her. He returned to his task. “Sonia and I broke up.”
As if on cue, the familiar feeling, like a rock sinking in her stomach, engulfed her like an old friend. Or enemy. She was never able to determine which. She always felt like this whenever Sean uttered those words. Was it sadness for him or joy for her? It was like her insides wrestled with her own guilty conscience.
One thing she was sure of. They broke up because of her.
“I’m so sorry, Sean.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Maybe not directly, but you did break up because of me, didn’t you?”
Even though he was attacking the weeds, she saw him physically stiffen, his forearms and biceps bulge. “Doesn’t matter.”
“How about I go get us both a drink and then we can play cards or something.”
“Nah, I’m good.”
He still hadn’t looked at her and it didn’t take a therapist to know why. No matter how much he denied it, he did blame her. Just like he did the night of Trisha and Josh’s party.
Normally, when Sean broke up with a girlfriend, she would listen to him vent, offer pity, and a beer. They’d end the evening in a battle of cards and eating Death by Chocolate from Creamy Goodness, their favorite ice cream parlor in town.
Now she just wanted to leave. Somehow knowing she didn’t want to hear whatever he had to say.
With an offhanded farewell, she turned to go.
“Princess?”
Her heart fluttered as she stopped and faced him. “Yeah?”
“You’re usually working right now, so I’m guessing you came over for a reason?”
She did. She’d wanted to talk to him about her date with Dean, thinking it might do her some good to get the male perspective.
And maybe a small part of her was hoping he’d offer his blessing. It wasn’t likely since Sean had reacted to Dean the same as all her other boyfriends. He didn’t like him.
“I just needed to get out of the house for a while. I’ve been working all day and needed a break.”
He nodded, but he still hadn’t looked her in the eye. “You coming to the pub later?”
“Dunno,” she said as she backed toward the exit. “Maybe. I gotta go.”
Dianna fled his yard seconds before tears stung her eyes.
It was finally happening and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
She was losing her best friend.
Chapter Eight
“DAMMIT!” SEAN THREW down the rag he’d been cleaning the counter with and stared at the mess of lemon wedges he’d just knocked to the floor.
He couldn’t focus on work tonight. Too much shit running through his head. His breakup with Sonia. The reason she broke up with him. The way Dianna acted earlier. Something was up with her, and if he’d been in a better state of mind, he would’ve bugged her until she spilled.
Squatting, he picked up the lemons, slamming them into the garbage bin one by one with more force than necessary. “Stupid fruit… succumbing to gravity…”
“You’re not a man to be trifled with today, are you?”
Sean closed his eyes for a second before opening them again to glare up at his brother. “What?”
Tucker settled into one of the stools at the bar and grinned that annoying one-sided grin. “Usually when you’re working, you’re disgustingly sweet and charming. Not damning the laws of physics.”
Sean didn’t respond, just finished cleaning up the mess, hoping none of his customers picked up on his foul mood like Tucker had.
“Wow, no snappy comeback?” Tucker’s brow furrowed as he reached across the bar and snatched a glass before filling it with Killian’s from the tap across from him. “What’s the matter with you today?”
Sean rose to his feet and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I have a lot on my mind.”
“Like what?” His brother placed his elbows on the counter and cupped his chin in his hand.
Tucker looked ridiculous, but Sean couldn’t bring himself to throw a jab at him. “Sonia dumped me.”
His brother’s mouth twisted in annoyance as he shook his head. “What’s her problem now?”
“It wasn’t her this time, it was all me.”
“So what’d you do?”
Bracing his hands on the granite counter, he let out a long slow breath, glad for the loud music and hum of conversation. “While I was kissing her, I called her another woman’s name.”
“Oh, dude. This is why I stick with calling them honey or baby.”
“I know! But it just popped out. Like I had no control over it.”
“Whose name did you say?”
He grimaced, hoping his decision to confide in his brother didn’t come back to bite him in the ass. “Dianna’s.”
Tucker’s brow shot up and he let out a laugh. “Are you serious? She got upset over that? Dude, you might as well have said my name.”
Sean shot him a look, horrified.
“Okay, that came out a little creepier than I thought, but it’s Dianna! She’s your pal and has been since…forever. One of the guys. I can’t believe Sonia freaked out about it.”
Sean turned away, feeling guilty that he hadn’t given Tucker all the details. But how could he tell his brother he actually uttered the words, I want you, Dianna. Just the thought of it made his head swim.
“What else is going on? You liked Sonia, I get that, but usually when a relationship ends you suck it up and move on.” He sipped from his glass, his eyes studying Sean too friggin closely, over its edge.
Confiding in Tucker or not, this was where he had to draw the line. It’d taken him years to convince everyone in town that he and Dianna were nothing more than friends. If he told Tucker the whole truth, he’d undo all that hard work. “I was thinking I might’ve actually gone the distance with Sonia. I’m going to be thirty in a few weeks. Maybe it’s time to consider getting serious. Settling down.”
Tucker nearly choked on his beer. “Are you on crack?” He pulled in gulps of air while reaching into his jacket to yank out a brown paper bag. Sean learned a long time ago how to deal with Tucker’s mini panic attacks. Leave him alone with his bag and in a few minutes he’d be fine.
Several patrons turned curious glances their way as Tucker brought the bag to his mouth and breathed in deep and heaved in and out.
Okay, this was getting a bit ridiculous. Time to get his mind off whatever was taking his air away. Sean swatted his brother upside the head. “Do you mind? Put away your hyperventilating bag and calm down.”
“Look Sean, you and me…we love women. All of them. We have fun. We move on.” He pulled in another breath then he lowered his head and folded the paper bag, replacing i
t in his jacket pocket. “Guys like us don’t think about settling down.”
Okay, he had a point, but for some reason, hearing those words irritated him. “Well, maybe it’s time I did.”
“Why? Because Mom wants grandchildren? Because Dad keeps telling us to grow up? You wouldn’t be doing a would-be wife any favors by forcing yourself to conform to what society thinks you should do.”
He hated when Tucker made sense. Sean had never once thought about asking a woman to marry him. With every new relationship came the hope that this would be the gal who would capture his heart and vanquish the fear that one day he would lose interest and look elsewhere.
He was a lot of things, but a cheater wasn’t one of them.
“You’re right.” He reached out and shook his brother’s hand. “Thanks for talking some sense into me.”
“Us players got to stick together.”
Sean laughed, but deep down he was really beginning to hate that label.
***
The sky grew dark and threatening as the sun set over Long Island Thursday evening, but the weather didn’t distract Dianna as she drove with purpose. She was going to go home and pig out on the best homemade ice cream Suffolk County had to offer.
This morning’s appointment with Susan had gone smoother than she’d expected. After Dianna explained her need for birth control pills, her doctor hadn’t judged or questioned. She simply nodded, spoke to her for a few minutes about side effects and proper usage and that was that.
The only bummer was she needed another form of protection for the first ten days. Not that it mattered. She was going to insist on using a condom anyway. Until she knew for sure he was clean, the glove was staying on.
Maybe she’d gone too far with asking for pills, when other safer options were available. But what did she know? An unexpected pregnancy was not in her plans right now. There was so much to think about, it’s a wonder anyone had sex. She should ask Sean and see—
A lump the size of Manhattan settled in her throat at the thought of her best friend, but she swallowed it away. She wasn’t going to think about him and the jerky way he’d been treating her lately.
A distant rumble caused her to gulp again. Then the skies opened up. Large droplets of rain hit the hood of her car, forcing her to slow her speed. The impending thunderstorm didn’t help her mood much. What she needed was a cozy bed, a bowl of ice cream in her hand, and a spoon in her mouth. Just the thought of it made her taste buds cry out for the Death by Chocolate that she and Sean—
Angels in Seashore Cove (Love and Laugh in Seashore Cove Book 2) Page 9