Reed, Erika - Something Worth Waiting For (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (2 page)

Chapter 2

Five years later

Jenna Moore never intended to come home this way. She always avoided coming home on holidays. Her parents usually flew to California to visit her. Jenna had no intentions returning to her hometown if she had any say in the matter. Jenna avoided her hometown for two reasons, Nick Peterson and Tyler Warner.

Since her mother’s call two days ago about her father’s passing, she knew returning was no longer an option. Her mother needed her there for her father’s funeral. She would be there to show her respect to her father, who she dearly loved and would miss. After her father’s services, Jenna only planned on sticking around for a few days, a week tops. She was there to help her mom and nothing more. Jenna’s plane arrived just in time the day before her father’s funeral. She rented a car so her mom didn’t have to pick her up at the airport. When she arrived at her mother’s house, Jenna had enough time to visit with her mom before they had to go to the church.

The flowers were beautiful. Everyone that got up to speak each had something nice to say about her dad. Following the church services, they all proceeded to the cemetery. Jenna sat in the front row with her mom at her side. She didn’t have to look around to know that Nick and Tyler were there. She could feel their eyes on her. Nick and Tyler had called and left her messages about the time and place of the services and hoped to see her there. She knew they were still close to her parents and probably went over to the house to check on her mom. Still to this day, she couldn’t take their calls. It was hard enough to hear their voices.

After all of the guests had left her mom’s house, Jenna just sat on the patio overlooking the lake. The lake she had spent so many summers playing in with Nick and Tyler. Nick Peterson and Tyler Warner lived across the lake from her, and they both attended the same school and spent all their spare time together. Jenna’s parents swore she was a tomboy up until the age of sixteen when she started noticing boys, especially those two boys in particular.

It was in their senior year of high school she noticed they started going out on dates. Jenna then began going out with her friends more. She knew the boys needed to go out on dates, and even though she was jealous, she couldn’t let them know. She still spent time with them. It was nice when the guys got their own apartment after graduation. They let her stay the night on the couch on the weekends with them. Jenna told her parents that she was staying at her girlfriend’s house when she stayed there with them. Tyler, Nick and Jenna were the best of friends. As friends they always looked out for one another. The three of them would do anything for each other.

Jenna was brought out of her thought when her mother came out the back door “Hi, honey. I just wanted to tell you good night and I was going to bed now.” Her mother gave her a big hug and said, “I am so happy to have you here. It means a lot to have you home again.”

“I’m sorry for not visiting, Mom. I just needed to get away and get a new start in my life.”

“Well, your father and I were surprised at your note that you had left when you decided to leave five years ago, but we understood. Nick and Tyler weren’t as understanding, though. They were really upset that morning they came over to find you had just packed and moved to California suddenly with Jeff. That was the saddest I had ever seen those two young men. I don’t think they have been the same since you up and left that morning.” Jeff had come by that morning and packed her things in his car. Jenna had lived in California ever since and had never come home until today. Jenna woke up the next morning after she saw them with the blonde. Jenna called Jeff and asked if the offer still stood for her to go with him to California. Jeff was happy to hear that she wanted to go.

“I tried to explain to them, but I don’t think it helped coming from me. You should have talked to them yourself, sweetheart. They really loved and cared for you. It was hard on us all to see you leave. We soon understood. We only wanted you happy. How is Jeff by the way?”

“He is doing well. He has a new girlfriend now, and I think they are going to get married.”

“I see. That’s nice. I always liked Jeff. Well, I’m tired. It has been a long day, and I’m glad you’re home. I’ve missed you terribly, Jenna.”

“I’ve missed you, too, Mom. And, Mom…I’m sorry about not coming home sooner. I really did miss you and Dad. I’m glad we got to spend the holidays together.”

Jenna’s mom gave her a nod and said, “Good night, dear. Sleep well. I’ll see you in the morning.”

* * * *

Jenna loved to sit on the porch swing at night. It was so quiet, so peaceful along the lake. She had often spent her evenings with Nick and Tyler sitting there just looking at the lake and enjoying the night with them. Jenna sat there for what seemed like hours when she heard a noise coming from the lakefront. She saw two familiar figures walking toward her. She knew who it was before they revealed themselves under the porch light.

“Hello, Jenna, Nice to see you again. We are sorry about your dad.” Tyler then leaned over to place a soft kiss on her temple.

“We’ve missed you. We’re glad you’re finally home,” said Nick.

Jenna had caught a glimpse of them in the back of the church as they walked out. They hadn’t spoke to her at the cemetery and avoided her at her mother’s house for the gathering afterward. She thought they had no intention in ever talking to her. Why would they want to talk to her? In the five years she had been gone, she had never taken one of their phone calls. They always sent her text messages, cards at Christmastime, and flowers for her birthday. She never responded to them. She wanted to so badly. She missed them so much. It took a lot for Jenna to leave them the next morning after she saw them with Kim, without even a word to either of them.

“Nick…Tyler, thank you for coming to pay your respects to my dad. I saw you both earlier at the cemetery. My dad thought of you as his sons, you know? I looked for you at the house, you must have left early?”

“It’s been so long since we’ve seen you. Tyler and I didn’t think we could control our actions the first time we finally saw you. We wanted to be alone when we first spoke to you. Tyler and I knew we couldn’t stop ourselves from doing this in front of everyone,” Nick said.

“From doing what?” she said

Nick pulled her into his arms and kissed her softly on her lips. As soon as he released her, Tyler took her away from him, pulled her into his arms, stared into her eyes then said, “We’ve wanted to do that for years, Jenna, but you ran away from us. You never gave us a chance to kiss you.” Tyler pulled her against his chest and kissed her lips like a man in need of a kiss. They had always talked about what it would feel like to one day kiss her lips.

Jenna pulled away when he ended the kiss and stared at these two men. What was going on? They never acted like this with her ever. “Why did you both kiss me just now?”

“We’ve missed you, baby. We’ve always known we wanted you, Jenna. You were always meant to be ours, but you ran away that night after you saw us with Kim and never let us explain. Instead, you ran off to California with Jeff and then married him out of the blue,” Tyler said

“I needed a change of scenery. Jeff told me I could go with him. It sounded like a good opportunity to do something exciting, so I went. I didn’t think I needed to run anything by you two. You guys were in college. You had a job in town and girls falling all over you. I didn’t think you would even know I was gone? You were having fun and doing what you wanted. What was so wrong with me doing something spontaneous? We were friends, nothing more. You should have been happy I wasn’t tagging along anymore. That way you could date more without me in the way.”

“What the hell’s wrong with you? Did you really believe that all those years we spent together you never meant anything more to us than friends?”

Jenna could tell Tyler was pissed when he told her that. She saw the fire in his eyes. Tyler was always the one who seemed to be the hard-ass of the two, and Nick was more of the patient one, the peacemaker. They were such gorgeous male specimens. They always attracted the attention of girls when she was around them. Tyler was six foot three, and he had black hair with these beautiful blue eyes. Nick was a few inches shorter with brown hair and brown eyes. They were still both gorgeous as ever. They had only grown more handsome in the past five years since she’d seen them. Nick and Tyler appeared manlier. They no longer had a boy’s physique.

“Jenna, why did you marry Jeff? We know you never had feelings for him in high school. What made you decide to marry him out of the blue?” Tyler asked with a pained look in his eyes.

“It’s none of your business why I married Jeff. I did it. It didn’t work out, and we got a divorce, end of story.” Jenna could never admit her feelings for them, not now. She was going home in less than a week, just as soon as she helped her mom get her things in order. She could go back to her empty apartment and boring job. God, she missed Nick and Tyler so much.

“Jenna, we need to talk. You need to know the reason why we couldn’t come clean about the way we felt about you before you left. We told you we were going to have a talk with you the morning you left. You didn’t even give us a chance.” Nick looked into her eyes and said, “Come back to our house with us so we can clear some things up between us all, Jenna. There’s so much we need to discuss, but not here. We need to be alone with you.”

Jenna looked into Nick’s eyes and said, “I can’t leave my mom alone. She needs me here. What if she wakes up and I’m not here?”

“We will leave her a note and tell her you’re with us so she won’t worry,” said Tyler.

“Please, Jenna, we need to clear things up between us and move on with the future. We’ve missed you so much, and all we want to do is talk to you.”

Jenna had never seen this side of them before. They were the same boys she had grown up with, but they were men who were staring at her like she was the last woman on earth and they needed her. “Okay. Let me get my keys, and I’ll follow you to your house.”

“No, you can ride with us, and we’ll bring you back later.”

“Nick will write your mom a note and grab your purse. We’ll go get in the truck.”

Tyler grabbed her hand and practically dragged her to the truck. He opened the door and helped her in the seat. He walked around the driver’s side as Nick came to the truck.

“All set. Let’s go home.”

Chapter 3

When they pulled up in front of their house, Jenna couldn’t believe how beautiful the outside of the house was. The front yard was immaculate. Their front yard had colorful flower beds out front, wood shutters on the windows, and a wooden porch swing that looked inviting. “Wow, this is your home? It’s beautiful!”

Nick looked at her and said, “Yes, Jenna, this is our home.”

She couldn’t help but detect the deep tone in his voice when he made that statement.

“Come inside, honey. We want to show you around, and then we will talk,” Tyler said as he followed her into the house.

Tyler and Nick led her into the front door and proceeded to show her the large living room with leather couches, double reclining chairs, and of course a big flat screen TV that hung on the wall. Along the mantel were pictures. They were pictures of them as kids in the lake and a few of them with their families. They then led her to the kitchen where there was stainless steel everything. It was a chef’s dream kitchen. The counters were natural granite, and the cabinets were a cherrywood color. There were hardwood floors throughout the downstairs. There was one room off the kitchen that they used as an office. She saw their drawing tables and sketches lying around and a bookcase along the far wall. It was the home she imagined. Not even when she and Jeff lived together had her home seemed like she belonged there. Her life never felt real there. She never gave it much effort…just like her marriage to Jeff.

Jenna was brought out of thought when she heard Tyler trying to get her attention.

“Honey, we want to show you the rest of the house. Come on.” She followed Tyler up the stairs. Nick was two steps behind her. There were three bedrooms on the second floor of the house. The first two rooms were the guys’ personal bedrooms, and the third was the master suite. It had a bed bigger than a king-size mattress that dominated the room. There was furniture surrounding the bed and a full-length mirror in the corner. The master bathroom was gorgeous. It had a shower big enough to fit three or more people and a long counter with two sinks. The tub was a Jacuzzi that dominated the bathroom. What she wouldn’t do to jump in that tub for a soak after the days she’d had.

“So what do you think?” Tyler said in her ear, looking at her in the mirror.

“You have a beautiful home. What woman wouldn’t love this house?”

“Well, that’s good to know. We wanted everything perfect for you.”

Jenna was shocked at Nick’s statement he’d made. He must have meant it differently, and it came out wrong. She hadn’t seen them in five years. She didn’t know anything about them. Sure, they kept her updated on their lives. However, they didn’t know her anymore. Why did they have such a big master bedroom if they didn’t use it?

Who was it intended for? Jenna was feeling a bit of jealousy at that moment and had to get out of here before she said or did something she regretted.

“Can we go outside? I need some fresh air.”