Part 2 (1/2)

”Look, you've done enough waiting and wondering,” Jazz admonished. ”The last thing you need is knowing he's around and waiting for him to show up at any moment. This needs to be on your terms, not his. You need to go see him, ask him what his deal is, and then get on with your life.”

The thought that I should be the one to seek him out surprised me for a moment. But she was absolutely spot on.

I remembered back to the week after Devon showed up on my birthday telling me about Jack, intimating he thought Jack was coming and then the pity on everyone's faces as the days went by and there was still no sign of him. Not that I'd said anything to anyone, but they a.s.sumed. As did I, like the stupid, nave girl I kept proving to be. I a.s.sumed he would at least come back and apologize for the way he left. I shuddered at the memory of that time. I needed to face him and get closure as soon as possible, not sit around with his presence like a ticking-time bomb.

”Right?” Jazz asked.

”Yes,” I said firmly. ”Right. So call me back when you wake up, I want to know how it's going with 'choco-eyes.' You're good right?”

”Yes, Miss Butler, I'm fine. And we'll be back in time for your art opening at the hotel. Or sooner. Have you found a dress yet?”

”Ugh. No.” I grimaced. I decided to slide the sash window up and let the night air flow in through the screen. It slid up with a screech. ”I'm supposed to go have lunch with Colt tomorrow, guess I'll deal with finding a c.o.c.ktail dress tomorrow, too.”

Just then another movement caught my eye. There was definitely someone standing under ... my stomach dropped, right as my heart lurched up into my mouth. Jack stepped out into the moonlight.

”Uh, Jazz. I gotta go, talk to you tomorrow.” I let my hand with the phone slip away from my ear, hopefully hitting ”end” with my thumb, and stared out the window down to the lone figure. He was standing with his hands in his pockets, his face tilted up at me.

I sat uncertainly for a few minutes, my pulse skittering, and tried to get a handle on this new development. The soft night breeze wafted in over my bare arms, bringing with it the scent of newly-flowered jasmine.

He wasn't wearing his ball cap, and the breeze ruffled his darker, longer hair.

It seemed laughable now, that I would have waited until tomorrow morning. I c.o.c.ked my head. ”You realize this qualifies as seriously creepy.”

I thought I saw his mouth lift slightly on one side.

”I couldn't sleep and thought walking would help. And well, I ended up here.” Jack shrugged, his hands still wedged in his jeans. His soft, deep voice that I knew so well, that the world knew so well, was a smooth melody over the jagged rasping of the cicadas. ”I didn't know you'd be awake.”

You just showed back up in my life, how could I be sleeping? I bit down, holding my teeth together to keep from inviting him in. ”Why couldn't you sleep?” I asked eventually.

”Why couldn't you?” he returned.

My skin got warm. ”I was sleeping.” Barely. I imagined I saw his eyes narrow. ”But Jazz texted and woke me,” I added. Not technically a lie.

Jack nodded, pursing his lips and rocked back on his heels. I could see more details now that my eyes were accustomed to the night and the clouds continued clearing the sky. He was wearing dark jeans and a snug dark t-s.h.i.+rt. His eyes hadn't left me. I reached up and smoothed my hair, tucking an errant strand back in the direction of my messy braid, wondering what on earth I looked like after tossing and turning for the last few hours.

”Stop.”

I paused.

”You're beautiful.”

Wasn't that just great? My blood pressure rose. I clamped my jaw tight again. My upbringing dictated I thank him, but a wave of anger, no ... make that pure and utter p.i.s.sed-off-ness, almost choked me. ”You can't even see me,” I snorted. ”Nice try. What do you want anyway?”

”I don't need to see you to know you're beautiful.”

Well, didn't that knock an oyster out of its sh.e.l.l? What was he playing at? ”Seriously, what do you want, Jack? You need someone to buy your groceries or something?” My acidic tone left no doubt about how I felt.

His shoulders moved almost imperceptibly, and I had the thought he'd either let out a long sigh or he was at a loss as to what to say, and was about to give up and turn around. ”Can I come in?” he asked so quietly, I almost didn't hear him. ”I'd like to talk to you.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him to get lost. But these days I didn't run from uncomfortable situations quite so much. I was fairly certain I wouldn't be sleeping anymore tonight, thinking about the coming conversation I needed to have with him. We may as well get it over with. I shrugged, as nonchalantly as possible, and sighed. ”Sure.” I stood and slid the window shut, hoping he couldn't see the tremor in my hands from where he was.

I pulled on a lightweight cardigan, and swapped my sleep shorts for some khaki cargo ones that were draped over the chair in my room. I pit-stopped in the bathroom and pulled my hair out of its braid, letting it drape over one shoulder. Then I glared at myself with disgust and hastily sc.r.a.ped it back into an ugly, messy bun. What was wrong with me? I stomped downstairs and went to the entry hall. Taking a deep calming breath and flicking the hall light on, I opened the front door.

Jack was leaning against a pillar at the top of the porch stairs watching me. His arms were folded across his chest, one booted denim-clad ankle crossed over the other, and he made no move to come in. Light spilled out from behind me, casting a warm glow. Dammit, why did he have to be so attractive? I caught his green eyes for a second, which felt like about all I could stand, and then I stepped back to the side looking anywhere but back at him. I waved my arm in a single sweeping gesture into the house and tried to sound bored. ”Come on then.”

Jack pushed off the pillar and started toward me. My pulse increased in tempo with every step he took, and I swallowed hard over my nerves. I could do this. I really could. I just had to hang on to my anger. It was suddenly very clear how d.a.m.n weak I was. I grit my teeth.

He paused as he got to the closest possible s.p.a.ce in front of me. I made the mistake of glancing at him before resolutely looking at the wall across from me. He was breathtaking. Consequently, I didn't. Breathe. His hair really was darker and longer and curled around his ear. He seemed much less the boyish but intense Jack I knew from before. Now he seemed simply ... intense.

A few elongated and excruciating seconds ticked by, and then he stepped past me and into the house.

Jack Eversea was in my house again. He paused in the hallway and did a slow three sixty turn, his eyes taking everything in and ending on the K A Butler original light fixture above him. His face broke into a small grin, and he nodded as I closed the front door.

By his reaction, I expected him to say something, but he continued appraising the freshly painted walls in pale grey, white moldings, and slip covered furniture I'd sewn from canvas drop cloths. Coupled with the antique pieces that belonged to Nana, it looked amazing, and I'd worked hard to get it there. His eyes dropped to the beautiful warm dark wooden floor beneath our feet. The floor he had tried to pay for me to have refinished. That I still owed him for. Irritation surged through me.

I figured it was safe to look at him since he was staring at the floor. It didn't help. Jack Eversea still flipped my insides over and made me feel like a star struck fan who desperately wanted to know him, but couldn't. In fact, it seemed he was more of a stranger to me right at that moment, than he'd been before I'd actually met him.

It had been seven months since I'd seen him in person. Seven months. ”Shouldn't you be having a baby any day now?” I asked before I could stop myself. Wow. I needed to engage my mind with my mouth, and quickly.

His head snapped up, green eyes locking with mine.

”I'm sorry, that was a totally insensitive thing to say.” I looked away. Gah, I'd already put myself at a disadvantage in this conversation, and everyone knows your rational mind takes a vacation between two and four in the morning. This idea to talk now, rather than later, was looking dumber by the second. And I couldn't even hold eye contact with him. The weight of his gaze was just too much for me.

”It's fine. I deserved that.”

”No. n.o.body deserves a thoughtless comment like that. Especially when I have no idea what ... happened. I'm sorry.” I turned and headed for the entrance to the kitchen. We'd stood in this very hallway the night we almost kissed. The night that started it all, and I realized there was the potential for far more than friends.h.i.+p going on between Jack and me. That night, I'd shocked us both by asking him not to kiss me. For what good it did me.

If we stayed in this foyer any longer we would both be reminded, and I didn't need that. He was here to do the overdue it's not you, it's me and my pregnant girlfriend talk that he'd been too cowardly to do properly last time. ”Let's get this over with.”

Jack followed me into the kitchen. ”Let's get what over with?”

Seriously? Hmmm. Where to start? ”I get that you're sorry about the way things ended between us, how you handled it or whatever, or that you even got together with me in the first place.”

He folded his arms back across his chest again, tilting his head to the side.

I swallowed nervously and busied myself getting us some water. ”And I get that you want to spend time here in Butler Cove, and you don't want it to be awkward, having some ex ...” I paused. Lay? Notch? Groupie? I flipped my hand in the air. ”Conquest, or whatever, around. But I can promise you I'll stay out of your way. As long as you stay out of mine. We can just agree to be ... friends, or acquaintances that need never interact ever again.”

”Are you done?” he asked.

”Actually? No. While you're listening, you should know I'm not pregnant, but thank you for checking on that, by the way.” I looked over at him.

Jack went pale, his eyes widening.

It was satisfying.

”What?” There was a protracted silence, and he slumped back against the wall right inside the kitchen door. ”But I, we-”

”Used protection? Yeah, I've heard that's always one hundred percent guaranteed.” My sarcasm and bitterness was becoming an almost physical thing. I needed to rein that in. It wasn't a comfortable outfit.

Jack unfolded one crossed arm long enough to scrub his hand down his face and blew out a harsh breath. He looked weary. Granted it was the dead of night, but Jack wore a deeper weariness.