Chapter 151

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“Why now?”

Because it took forever to get to you. “I couldn’t stay away, one more day.” With the album’s release he had tons of one offs and publicity to do. Instead of trying to fit a trip to Long Beach Island into the mix of concerts, he’d decided to get work out of the way—well for the most part. He still had a few responsibilities, but this way he had a good week alone with her.

It felt way too good to hold her again. Her hair around his fingers and the warm skin under his palm was enough to lure him into taking more. He wanted to crush her against him and hold on tight. He wanted to force her to taste him, to feel him, to love him again.

Instead, he took a step back, his fingers tightening reflexively just before he let go. There were streaks of sunshine in the hair that flowed past her shoulders now. The bruises were gone from under her eyes, but the wariness was still there. He reached out, only to snatch his hand away when she flinched. “I’m not here to hurt you, Tessa.”

“Too late.” She stepped around him, pounding up the stairs.

“Son of a—“ he ran after her, grabbing the back of her hoodie before she could reach the porch. “Would you just wait and talk to me for a second?”

“We’ve talked our way into the ground and back out of it again.” She jerked away from him, zipping up the sweatshirt to her neck. The little flash of a bikini top now swallowed in the bulky material.

“Actually I’ve been the one to talk things into the ground. You haven’t said a word. Not since—“ He watched her face close off and instead of shying away from it this time, he lifted his chin. “You haven’t talked to me since you lost the baby. Since we lost the baby,” he amended.

She twirled away from him, heading to the sliding glass doors. “Dammit, Tessa.”

“I’m not talking about this again.”

“We haven’t talked in the first place,” he shouted after her.

She whirled around, her gaze bouncing around from him to the shore, to the stairs. She fumbled behind herself for the handle, tears dotting her eyelashes. “Why can’t you leave this alone?”

He wavered once before sprinting up the last few steps. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he wasn’t going anywhere until they at least talked. She opened the door enough to get inside, bracing himself for impact, his hand shot out. He ground his teeth together with a curse when the back of his hand smashed into the door frame with the momentum. “Stop shutting me out,” he growled through the glass.

Instead of stopping, she pushed the door tighter. He curled his fingers around the white metal until it cut into his palm. Brute strength won out, but she didn’t back down. “The He-Man tactics were never your style, Jon.”

He invaded her space. Pears and sunshine made his mouth water, but he didn’t say another word, just backed her into the house.

She took a few steps back, her eyes blazing. “This isn’t your property. I can have you arrested.”

He smiled, closing the door behind him. “Call the cops.”

Her eyebrows climbed into her windblown hair then snapped together. “Goddamn, Mary.”

He leaned back against the pane of glass, the coolness from the shadowed porch felt good. “Mary and I had a lovely conversation.” He lifted a wooden keychain with a little silver key. He’d had to work like hell to get that key. “I made myself comfortable in the guest room.” She reached for the key, but he lifted it over her head. “Now, now.”

Her face was free of makeup, but her cheeks were flushed as she gnawed on her lower lip. He could read her clever eyes trying to come up with a plan, so he dropped the key into his shirt pocket. “We can peacefully cohabitate, can’t we?”

Her jaw clenched and her lips thinned as she mashed them together. Then, just as suddenly they were smooth again. What was she up to?

Her eyes drifted over his lips, his jawline then to his neck. She took a step closer to him and he swallowed. He forced himself to meet her eyes even though his skin was quickly warming under her gaze. Shit. It had been way too long since he’d touched anyone, let alone the one woman that had the power to shred him.

Her intent was hidden under thick, blonde tipped lashes. God, did she feel it too? It was such a long time to be alone, for either one of them. She was alone, wasn’t she? He’d have heard if she’d moved on with someone else.

Anger flared hot and bright in his gut before he could stop it. Tessa touching someone else. Tessa loving someone else. Her smile—a gift to someone else.

He hissed as the flat of her palm pressed against his belly. Disorientated that she’d actually touched him first, he froze. His fingers spread across the cool glass to stop himself from reaching for her.

Stupid—don’t fuck this up.

She stepped closer, her fingers tangling into the thicker hair at his chest. She coasted over the wide layer of muscle that stretched across his pecs, her pinkie finding his nipple just as she stood on her tiptoes. “Tessa,” he breathed as his cock hardened immediately.

“Shh…” she said against his mouth. “Just let me…” She slid her other hand under his arm to brace against the door. God, she was so close. He could smell chocolate on her breath as she angled her mouth until it was closet to touching, than not.

She finally looked at him…licking her lips with the tip of her pink little tongue. “Don’t move.”

As if he could. Just the thought of that mouth, that tongue and the taste of her was enough to make him stand perfectly still. If he could have pierced the glass with his fingertips, he would have. He wanted to take. Wanted to bury himself inside of her until the pain went away. Until he found the easy answer that was Tessa and himself.

The answers they’d always been to each other.

He felt the air on his back a beat too late and then he was falling. The key dangling from her fingers as she stared down at him on the porch.

Her eyes were that distant green again. The Tessa from his house. The Tessa he wanted to banish. “No we can’t cohabitate. Go home, Jon.” She slammed the door shut and snicked the lock.

He stood up, slapping his hand against the glass. “You are my home, dammit!”

For a brief moment, pain and something else flickered in her eyes, then she straightened her shoulders. “Not anymore.” And she was gone.

He slammed the side of his hand against the shatterproof glass. “Tessa!” He stalked around the house to the front door, but that was locked as well. He headed up the stairs to the second level’s porch, but that door was just as locked. He saw her climb those stairs, but she ignored him, heading down a hallway to the bedrooms. “Fuck.”

He reared back to kick the Adirondack chair on the deck, but remembered his bare feet and dropped into it instead. He swiped his hand over his chest and belly where she’d touched him and cursed the hard on that tented his fucking shorts. She’d played him. His Tessa, completely and utterly played him, to get the fucking key.

He didn’t know if he should be pissed off, or proud. Standing up, he decided on pissed as he went back down the stairs. Pissed flipped to irate as his leather duffle sat on the front stoop with his wallet and keys on top. “Tessa,” he growled.

Well tough shit, he wasn’t going anywhere. He shouldered his bag, jamming his wallet and keys into the side pocket. He climbed the stairs and then up another level to the widow’s peak he’d spotted on his first look at the house. Another Adirondack chair and matching bench sat looking out at the ocean.

The view was beyond spectacular—Ocean, sky, and a horizon that was miles away—the perfect place to wait her out. He dropped his bag and sat down to do just that.