Valentine's Child (21 page)

“Hmm.” Summer looked thoughtful. “I always thought you really loved him.”

“I was a
teenager
,” she stressed.

“Do you know the things we find attractive in a person never change? I read this article about it. The reasons you’re drawn to someone are the same throughout your life. So, someone you loved in high school is someone you’re likely to love when you’re older.”

“High school romances don’t last.”

“Some do.”

“People mature. They change. It doesn’t last.”

“Who’re you trying to convince?”

“I know I was attracted to J.J. because he was such a big deal. Mr. Quarterback, Mr. Popularity, Mr. Everything. I was shallow, I admit it.”

Summer threw her head back and laughed. Eyes twinkling, she declared, “That wasn’t why you liked him. You liked him in
spite
of all that! This is Summer you’re talking to. I
know
you.”

Sherry was about to refute everything she’d said but the words shriveled in her throat when Caroline suddenly broke from her tight group of friends and approached Summer. Sherry stepped slightly away, but it was Sherry Caroline apparently had her in her line of sight because she ignored Summer completely, her clear blue eyes cautious but determined. Summer’s red brows lifted and she gave Sherry an “Uh-oh” look from behind Caroline’s right shoulder.

“I didn’t really get a chance to talk to you the other day,” Caroline began. “It’s been such a long time.”

“Years,” Sherry agreed.

“I think having you around has thrown Patrice for a loop,” Caroline said, smiling. “But she’s always overreacted where Jake’s concerned. I tried to assure her that this wasn’t high school, and there’s no need to worry so much. Jake’s a man now. He makes his own decisions.”

Sherry nodded, wondering where this was going.

“So, how is it, working at Crawfish Delish?” Caroline asked, apparently not as focused as Sherry had originally thought.

“Yesterday was my last day.”

“Oh?” She looked surprised. “Didn’t it work out?”

“It was fine. I’m just almost ready to leave Oceantides.” Sherry didn’t want to talk to her. Caroline’s comment about Patrice had turned up her stress level, reminding Sherry how tenuous her relationship with J.J. was — and how she foolishly wanted it to be stronger.

“You make it sound like you have an agenda.” Caroline lightly touched her lips with her fingertips. Did she know about Mandy now? Sherry wondered. Had Patrice told her? And how would Patrice have done it without throwing herself in a bad light?

“I’ve got to straighten some things out, then I’m history.”

“With Jake?” Caroline asked quickly.

“Umm… yeah,” she admitted, tired of all the deception.

Caroline’s expression changed to one of anxiety if not out-and-out fear. Sherry almost felt sorry for her.

Behind Caroline, Summer cleared her throat and started signaling Sherry frantically. But it was too late. From somewhere behind Sherry’s right shoulder, J.J.’s familiar voice drawled, “So, are you ready to go and get our cars?”

“Cars?” Caroline asked, thinking he was talking to her.

“Sherry and I each drove off the road trying to get here,” Jake explained. “Matt’s ready to take us before he goes to Roxanne’s parents’ house for the reception. Unless you wanted to go there first …?” he asked, turning to Sherry.

“No,” Sherry said instantly, as Caroline drew a sharp breath.

“Well, I’ll see you at the reception later, then,” Caroline told him in a voice that brooked no argument, but the look on J.J.’s face suggested she might not see him there at all.

In the front seat of the tow truck, the radio blasting away as the driver whistled tunelessly, Sherry glued her eyes to the companion tow truck leading the way, the one that had dragged J.J.’s car from the ditch and would be hauling it into town. Matt had driven her and J.J. to their vehicles to wait for the tow trucks, and now the two truck drivers were taking she and J.J. to his condo before hauling their cars to the auto body shop.

Through the truck’s window, Sherry could see J.J.’s shoulders and the back of his head. She knew without a doubt that neither one of them would make the reception. This was the time for her revelation.

As the two trucks and their sad-looking fender-mangled cargo headed toward J.J.’s beach condo, Sherry made another decision: no more kisses; no more fleeting dreams; no more nostalgia.

Just the truth. It was all she could afford to give.

But once she and J.J. were both unloaded and the twin trucks had headed away, she found that she was as tongue-tied as when he had confronted her at the wedding reception.

“You look like you could use a drink,” he said thoughtfully, leading the way inside.

She walked on legs that felt loose and unattached as she followed him through the front door and down a short, wood paneled hall to a room with thick cream carpet and a fir-beamed ceiling. A river-rock fireplace climbed up one wall and Japanese glass floats in shades of aquamarine and royal blue filled a wicker basket on the hearth. Treasures from J.J.’s youth, Sherry thought with a pang. She walked straight to them and cradled one between her palms.

Her heart beat heavily. She heard the clink of a bottle against glass and then J.J. was offering a goblet of dark red Burgundy that glinted seductively in the soft lamplight.

Sherry reluctantly accepted the drink, took a swallow, then held her breath for as long as she could. J.J. stood nearby, neither moving away nor coming any closer. With an effort, she lifted her chin.

“I’ve got some things to say. Some
thing
to say,” she corrected herself.

He wasn’t listening. He was gazing out the back windows toward the silvery stretch of beach and the ebony waves cresting against the sand, their frothy edges sliding forward, then slowly receding.

“I feel like I’m in a dream,” he said, his voice sounding as if he found the idea slightly confusing.

“How so?” she asked, sipping the wine.

“I don’t feel like I’m thirty-three and that it’s been almost fifteen years since graduation. I especially don’t feel that way now — because you’re here.”

“Okay,” she said cautiously.

“In a way. It just feels like everything stopped.”

“Stopped?”

“Maybe not for you, but well, look at me. I slid into the family business and I never wanted to. I didn’t
not
want to enough, I guess,” he admitted. “And I’ve resented the hell out of my mother and Caroline ever since. God, my mother… ” In a gesture of frustration, he ripped off his bow tie and tuxedo jacket, flinging them across a chair. The white shirt looked cool and seductive against his dark flesh, and unwillingly, Sherry’s eyes feasted on him.

“She’s been crazy since you got back to town. I always thought she was over the top on a few things, but now she’s way over.”

Sherry’s fingers clung tightly to the stem of her wine glass. “Really.”

“She’s been grilling me like I’m sixteen again.”

“About me.” She took a long swallow of wine.

“Well… yeah, as a matter fact,” he said, shaking his head. “I swear, it’s like a recitation. ‘Did you see her? What did you talk about? What did she say?’ It’s nuts.”

Patrice knew she was going to tell J.J. about Mandy and that meant revealing Patrice’s involvement. Sherry had half expected J.J.’s mom to beat her to the punch and direct all the blame to her somehow, but there was really no way to do that without revealing her own duplicity — something Patrice was undoubtedly loath to do.

“But that’s her problem. What’s my excuse? I’ve just stayed in the same rut, waiting for something to happen.” His gaze shifted to her face, making Sherry feel suddenly vulnerable and transparent.

“Well, something has.”

“What?” she asked her heart starting to pound.

He didn’t answer and Sherry was forced to look away first. Complications. The situation was rife with them. It felt good to see the yearning in his eyes, the same yearning she felt.

“Now, I know why Caroline didn’t want me to talk to you.”

“J.J., I have something to say,” Sherry began, but he cut her off.

“I always blamed you for throwing me off track. ‘It’s Sherry’s fault’. That way I didn’t have to do anything, so that I ended up here, wasting my life.”

“You haven’t wasted your life.”

“I chose the path of least resistance. Isn’t that wasting it? You were right, back in high school. I was a bastard.”

“I never said that,” Sherry muttered uncertainly.

“Something like it. And you were right. I always knew what you thought of me — deep down. All those sarcastic remarks. You wanted me to recognize what a shit I was. So full of myself. And all I wanted to do was…” He shook his head and finished, “All I wanted to do was sleep with you.”

Silence pooled in the warm room. Sherry stood speechless, weakened by those simple words. Unknowingly, she let every feeling she possessed flood her smooth features.

I want you,
she thought, her pulse beating hard and ever faster.
I love you.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he whispered. “I don’t have the strength to resist, and you didn’t come here for this.”

“I came to tell you something important,” Sherry responded, her gaze sliding to his mouth.

“Tell me.”

“When we were together …”

“In high school,” he prompted.

“Yes.” She swallowed. “I know it was high school, but I loved you very much, and it
does
count.”

“I loved you, too,” he answered.

That shocked her to silence. The words had come so naturally, so perfectly. Unrehearsed. From the soul and heart of him.

“I don’t know why it’s been so hard to say,” he admitted.

Her lips parted. Naked emotion filled her eyes. J.J. was powerless against her and with the muffled oath, he took two ground-devouring steps toward her and gathered her close, burying his face in the tangled glory of her hair.

“I always loved you,” he said tautly. “I still do.”

If there had ever been a time in Jake’s life when he needed self-control, this was it. All day. Hell, all week, month — whatever it’d been since Sherry had reentered his life — he’d denied and fought feelings that wouldn’t do him any good. And now she stood before him in beautiful splendor. Truth to tell, he’d been unable to look at any other woman at the church–even the bride!–and all he could think about was their kiss in the darkened back hallway.

I love you
had slipped past his lips as naturally as daybreak. He did love her. He always had. Her distraction only added to her mystique. Whatever mission she was on, whatever secrets and decisions she wanted to reveal, he didn’t give a damn. Recklessly, foolishly he only wanted to take her in his arms and kiss and caress her until the hot beat of desire was assuaged.

“J.J… .” she murmured, a soft protest.

And even that stoked the flame of his overheated senses. Memories. Lustful, passionate memories of a careless, reckless time. She was the only person who could get away with calling him J.J. and make them feel like more than a little boy.

Her uncertainty was an aphrodisiac. He could feel the beat of her heart and the uneven tenor of her breathing. Jake inwardly groaned, wanting, needing to passionately join himself to her. But she didn’t feel the same. Not while something hung on her mind and prevented her from giving in.

Carefully he released her from his urgent hug. She gazed at him, but her eyes had a faraway look, almost as if she were in a dream. He could relate. It
was
a dream. One he never wanted to wake up from.

Gently he took her drink away from her and set it on the mantel. Sherry’s lips quivered, as if she wanted to say something. Jake waited, watching her with eyes that devoured the side of her. Something in his expression must’ve registered with a kindred spirit within her, for she seemed to melt in front of him, all the armor falling away without a word spoken.

He reached for her, holding her at arm’s length for a moment as he studied her.

“Is this okay?” he muttered.

Her answer was a soft expellation of breath. Slowly, inexorably, he pulled her to him again. She didn’t quite resist, but she didn’t quite come willingly, either.