Chapter 2
Two
“Where are we going?” Juliana asked as she drove Jeremy’s Toyota SUV south from the airport and followed his directions past the exit for Jacksonville Beach where he lived in a small rented house with two of his co-workers from Baltimore. She usually stayed with him there when she came to visit.
“I have a surprise for you,” he said with a charming smile.
A rush of emotion reminded her of how much she loved him. “Really? Tell me!”
“No, you’ll have to wait.” He reached for her hand. “It’s good to see you, babe.”
“Is it?”
He looked over at her. “Of course it is. Why would you ask that?”
“You haven’t seemed all that happy to hear from me lately.”
“It’s been so crazy here. There’s a lot of pressure to meet the next deadline, and the install isn’t going well. We’ve had one setback after another. Everyone wants to get it done and get out of here.”
“Is that all it is?”
“What’s with you, Jule?” he asked, exasperated. “Where’s all this coming from?”
She focused on the road, annoyed that she’d had to do the driving. “Never mind. Let’s just have a good weekend.” These days, they were under so much pressure to make the most of the brief time they had together.
He let go of her hand to change the radio station.
They drove in silence for a while until he directed her to turn into the Sawgrass Marriott resort at Ponte Vedra Beach.
“What are we doing here?” The lush landscaping and manicured golf course were beautifully lit. A sign on the lawn pronounced the course to be the “Home of the PGA Players Championship.”
“I got a bonus last week and decided to splurge.”
She let out a squeal of excitement. “For real?”
Smiling, he glanced over at her. “Does that mean you approve?”
“Definitely.”
They checked in and were shown to a luxurious oceanfront room with a king-sized bed.
She nibbled on her thumbnail while he tipped the bellman. “This is going to cost a fortune, Jer,” she said when they were alone.
“Don’t sweat it, babe.” He pulled open the sliding door and stepped onto the balcony. “Come on out.”
The surf pounded in the darkness as she joined him.
He brought her closer to him and leaned in to kiss her.
They’d been lovers for so many years that he was home to her, no matter where they were. He ran his tongue along her bottom lip, and she wrapped her arms around him, wanting him desperately. She just wished he didn’t taste like stale beer and smell like cigarette smoke.
“I love you, Jule. I’ve missed you so much.”
“Me, too,” she whispered as his cell phone rang.
“Ignore it,” he said against her lips. When the phone rang again, Jeremy pulled away from her to turn it off. “Sorry about that.”
“What if it’s work?”
“They’re going to have to live without me tonight. I’ve got better things to do.”
“Do you mind if I take a quick shower?”
“As long as it’s quick, I’ll allow it,” he said with a smile.
She left him with one last kiss and took her bag into the bathroom.
After she showered, she stood in front of the mirror brushing her long dark hair until it fell in soft, shiny waves down her back.
The ivory silk nightgown she bought just for this weekend with Jeremy made for a striking contrast with her olive complexion.
As she brushed her hair one last time, Juliana suddenly thought of Michael and the strange look on his face when he greeted his fiancée at the airport.
She wondered how his weekend was going so far.
Emerging from the bathroom, her heart raced with anticipation and desire.
She couldn’t wait to make love with Jeremy after so many weeks apart.
But when she saw him sprawled out on the bed fast asleep, the disappointment hit like a fist to the belly.
He’d had enough beer to knock him out for the night, and she knew from experience that there was no point in trying to rouse him.
Juliana ventured onto the patio and curled up on one of the lounge chairs to listen to the pounding surf. Filled with frustration, she hoped Michael’s evening had gone better than hers.
The bright sunlight streaming into the room woke her early the next morning. Stretching out the stiffness from a night in a strange bed, she glanced over at Jeremy.
Before this interminable separation, they had lived together for four years.
People often asked her why they hadn’t gotten married, especially after they marked their tenth anniversary together.
The only answer Juliana could ever give was that he hadn’t asked her.
More than one friend recommended an ultimatum, but Juliana had never seen the need for threats.
What they had was special, and it always had been.
Jeremy transferred into her high school at the beginning of their junior year, and tugged her out from behind the dark clouds of life with a needy, alcoholic mother to life with him in the sunshine.
With his quick wit and talent on the football field, he fit in right away with kids who had been indifferent to Juliana for years.
Before she knew it, she’d been elevated from obscurity to half of a couple whose names were mentioned together so often that JeremyandJuliana took on the same easy cadence as peanut butter and jelly.
After graduation, she pursued a career in cosmetology while he studied electrical engineering at Johns Hopkins.
When all the couples they knew in high school either edged into marriage and families in the suburbs or broke up during college, they continued on with just an occasional discussion about marriage.
Until he had been transferred to Florida for this endless year, they hadn’t spent a night apart in four years.
And even though they had never actually taken the vows, Juliana considered them married in all the ways that mattered most.
They had also discovered there was a lot more to making love than what they’d done as fumbling teenagers overwhelmed by a love they were too young to fully understand and hormones they were powerless against. Back then Jeremy lived with a single mother who worked second shift as a nurse, so they took full advantage of the ample opportunity to work on getting it right.
Juliana ran a finger down his chest, and he gathered her closer. She kissed his shoulder and snuggled up to him.
When he finally opened one blue eye, he winced at the bright light and seemed to realize all at once that he was still dressed in yesterday’s clothes. “Oh my God,” he groaned. “I totally conked out on you.”
“Yep.”
“I’m sorry, babe. Are you pissed?”
“No.”
He ran his hand up and down her silk-covered back. “Disappointed?” he asked with a cajoling smile.
“A little.”
Nuzzling her neck, he said, “Let me hit the bathroom, and then I’ll make it up to you.”
Having shed his clothes in the bathroom, he came back a minute later, slid into bed, and reached for her. “I’m sorry I fell asleep.” He brushed the hair back from her face. “All I thought about all week was being with you.”
“I know. Me, too.”
“I’m sorry I blew it,” he said, capturing her mouth in a long, slow kiss flavored by toothpaste.
“I forgive you,” she said, already breathless. “I’ve missed being able to touch you.”
He tugged at the sheet to uncover her and cast an appreciative glance at the ivory nightgown. “Wow, look at you.”
Juliana buried her face in his soft chest hair. She remembered that chest before the light dusting of golden blond hair took up residence.
He tilted her chin up and brought his lips down on hers.
His kiss was among the most familiar things in her life—the way his tongue sought out hers to tease and entice until she was drowning in him. He hooked his thumbs under the nightgown’s spaghetti straps to ease them down and filled his hands with her breasts. “So, so beautiful.”
Juliana wrapped her arms around him, trying to move him to where she wanted him most.
“Mmm, not yet,” he whispered.
“Jer… I want you.”
He teased her until her nipples were hard and pulsing. “Don’t you miss this, babe? Don’t you miss being able to do this any time we want?”
“Yes,” she sighed. “I miss it so much.”
He sucked hard on her nipple, and Juliana cried out.
“Mmm, so hot. So sexy.” He kissed his way to her belly and beyond. With his hands on her knees, he urged her to spread her legs and settled between them.
Juliana quivered with desire.
Trailing a finger through her dampness, he avoided the spot that throbbed for him.
“Jeremy…”
“What?” he asked in a teasing tone.
“Come on!”
“Are you in a rush?”
She moaned.
He replied by pushing two fingers into her.
Gasping, she raised her hips to take him deeper as her climax began to build.
He dipped his head and added his tongue. After all the years they’d spent together, he knew just how to please her.
Her legs falling open in surrender to his skillful tongue and fingers, the orgasm ripped through her with shattering speed.
“I love that,” he whispered, shifting over her. “I love the way you let go.”
Her body was still pulsating when he buried himself in her. “Only for you.” She wrapped her arms around him and brought him in for a kiss.
As their eyes met, she was filled with contentment. Looking up to find him there, where he had been for so long, was like coming home. But she saw sadness mixed with the desire and love in his eyes. The sadness was new. Before she could process the discovery, he began to move faster.
“Come with me, Jule,” he whispered in her ear. “Come with me.”
Juliana closed her eyes and soared.
“I’m starving,” he muttered against her chest a few minutes later. He gave her a quick kiss and rolled over to get up. “Join me in the shower?”
She stretched and took in the glorious sight of him prowling naked around the big room. “In a minute.”
“Don’t be long.”
Juliana heard the shower go on just as Jeremy’s cell phone rang. Wondering why he had bothered to turn it back on and who would be calling him so early on a Saturday, she reached for the phone on the bedside table. “Hello?”
Silence.
“Hello?” Juliana said again.
When there was still no answer, she closed the phone to check the caller ID.
“Jule! Come on.”
Juliana walked into the bathroom. “Jer?”
His hair full of shampoo, he pulled the curtain aside. “What?”
“Who’s Sherrie?”