CHAPTER 2 #2
“How can you be so sure?”
“She has a new boyfriend. Let’s just say his portfolio is substantially girthier than mine.”
A tiny flame of hope lit within her. Maybe … “So, what brings you to Las Vegas?”
He smiled, a little conspiratorially, she thought. “Work.”
“You flew the route from Lauderdale?”
“As a passenger.”
“Jump seat?”
He set his glass down with a clink, his expression serious. “No, Jannie. I paid for my ticket.” A pause. “I turned in my resignation at JetBlue.”
Her jaw dropped.
She waited for his explanation. His lashes lowered as he looked down at his hands. God, how she used to love those hands on her.
She wrenched her gaze away. “You. Quitting JetBlue.”
He nodded, a corner of his mouth lifting in the crooked smile she knew so well.
“Wow.” Jannie sat there in shock.
“I guess we’re both full of surprises today.”
“I thought you were happy there.”
“I was. Until I wasn’t.” His eyes bore into her. “Isn’t that how it is, Jannie? You’re happy until you aren’t?”
This was no longer about his job at JetBlue. What did the man want?
“You still haven’t told me what you’re doing here.” She tried to keep her tone neutral.
“Vegas Aviation needs instructors.”
“You’re going to work for them?”
“Considering it. I’m interviewing with them but taking some time off first. There are some things I want to do.”
He homed in on her breasts, his gaze slowly heating.
Oh, God.
That look, that voice … that knowing smile. Damn him, he knew what he did to her and how easily he could seduce her. She licked her lips, trying to ignore the sudden surge of heat between her thighs. And as usual, Blake picked up on it.
Oh, yes, he did. Because he rose and moved toward her, sending her heart into the all-too-familiar flutters.
His scent crashed over her like a tidal wave. She gripped the armrests, her nails digging into the soft velvet. “Blake …”
“Right here.” He leaned down, trapping her in her chair.
Her heart began to beat even faster. “Blake …”
“Yeees?” He drew out the word and turned his head just a fraction, inhaling deeply, pressing his lips to her hair.
That slight contact alone sent shivers everywhere. She could feel the heat of his body, and need throbbed in her, hot and heavy.
“It’s been too long. I want you.” He cupped her cheek, his thumb gliding over her lower lip.
Jannie shuddered.
“You want me too.”
“I don’t.”
He chuckled darkly. “Liar.” He shoved his hand under her skirt.
She tried to close her legs.
Too late.
His fingers were already there, slipping easily on her soaked underwear.
He smirked. “Yeah, sure you don’t want me.”
Her eyelids drifted closed. Pregnancy enhanced the sensitivity there; his usual roughness bordered on uncomfortable, and Jannie stiffened.
“I know, I know,” he said, “I haven’t washed my hands. But I can work this needy pussy just like this.”
His filthy words rubbed her the wrong way, even as his fingers did the opposite. She hated it when he talked like that.
Why am I letting him do this again?
She clamped her knees together, but all that did was trap his hand there.
She pushed on his forearm. “Stop.”
He tilted his head. “Look at me.”
She did. His deprecating smile made her eyes narrow, and she held his gaze, hoping to convey just how much she resented this. He studied her for a moment, then, with a heavy sigh, removed his hand and straightened.
“I’ll never figure you out.”
One of our many problems.
Jannie closed her eyes. “We can’t keep doing this.”
“What do you mean?”
“These fly-by sessions. They’re confusing me, and they need to stop.”
His smile dripped with sarcasm. “Kind of late to put an end to our hookups, isn’t it?”
Hookups.
That’s all they were to him. That stung.
She raised her chin. “Don’t you think it’s time to stop?”
“Is that what you really want? Because, as I recall, last time you thoroughly enjoyed bouncing on my dick.” His jaw clenched and unclenched, his gaze homing in on her belly. “You’re carrying my children, Jannie.”
“And?”
“And I’m their father.”
A bitter laugh escaped her. “Do not pretend you’re invested. You made it clear you didn’t want kids.”
“I guess I have no choice now, do I?” he snapped.
Biting words flew to her lips. Somehow, she managed to hold them back.
To her horror, her eyes began to sting, and Jannie blinked, furious that she cared.
“Jannie …” Muttering a curse, he reached for her.
She jerked away.
“That was an asshole thing to say. I’m sorry.”
“You think?” She blinked again, cursing the hormones that made it harder to control her emotions.
“I know. And should know better.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Fuck,” he muttered. “I promised myself I wouldn’t do this shit.”
“It’s what we do, Blake.”
“But we don’t have to.”
“Are you serious right now?” How many times had they attempted to get along?
“Have dinner with me.”
“Why?”
“So we can talk. I have things I need to tell you.” He looked pointedly at her belly. “And now it looks as if we have even more to discuss.”
“There’s nothing to discuss about the babies.”
“On the contrary. There’s a lot.”
“I need to go downstairs and get a key.”
“Now?” He glanced at the bed.
She stood. “Before you ask, I’m going to answer. No.”
He didn’t move back an inch, deploying that smile he always used to penetrate her defenses.
How could it be that, despite everything, she still desired him? She was the insane person who kept doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.
But now she was carrying his children. Maybe they could work it out over a nice meal. Maybe …
A knock came at the door.
Blake’s eyes narrowed. He glanced at his watch, which Jannie noticed was the TAG Heuer she’d given him for Christmas four years ago.
He frowned. “Give me a sec.”
Jannie nodded, watching him walk to the door, his irritation evident as he yanked it open.
“You aren’t supposed to be here.”
“We know,” a loud male voice replied. “We came to get you.”
Glancing back at Jannie, Blake stepped into the hallway and closed the door behind him. It didn’t latch, so she could still hear the conversation.
“Get me? What for?”
“Round two!”
“Round two?”
“They said we were such fun clients last night that tonight would be half price, if we wanted.” A loud guffaw. “We wanted! Come on, they’re already upstairs.”
“I’m busy.”
“Oh!” A chuckle. “Sorry, man. We thought you were alone.”
“Damn, he has his own party tonight. Way to go, Blake!”
“Who do you have in there? Bring her up to join the girls. The more, the merrier.”
Party? Girls?
What kind of partying had Blake been doing? This was Las Vegas, after all. God only knew what he’d done last night, and now he wanted to do her.
In the same room.
In the same bed.
Her stomach turned.
The door clicked shut. Blake breezed back in, a strained smile on his face. “Sorry about that.”
“Friends of yours?”
“Of a sort.” He grabbed her hand to hold it trapped against his chest. “So, dinner?” Slowly, he brought her fingers to his lips. “Please, Jannica?”
Oh, no, not the nickname.
He was the only one who called her that. He pressed a soft kiss to her knuckles.
“I promise I’ll be bad,” he said, repeating an old private joke.
She pulled her hand from his grasp and motioned toward the door. “What was that about?”
“Nothing,” he muttered.
“Nothing?” She tried to look into his eyes, but he averted his gaze. After so many years, she could easily read him. “That guy sounded very enthusiastic about nothing.”
Blake shrugged.
She tried, and failed, to catch his gaze. “I think you hired call girls, Blake.”
A long pause. “I was going to spend tonight with you. I miss you, and I … I need inside you so bad. There’s no one like you, Jannie.”
Of course, he’d say that. Her heart began a low thud in her rib cage as dread spread through her chest. She should have put a stop to this many months ago. She should have—
“Please spend the night.” Blake lowered his voice. “You know we’re good together. We wouldn’t even need to be careful because you’re already—”
“No.” She clenched her teeth.
Jannie couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
It was crystal clear: he didn’t really want her, except for occasional sex, and he certainly didn’t want the babies.
He only saw them as a convenience to forgo birth control.
She’d been a damn fool to think anything had changed, and now she knew it never would.
“Are you sure?” His hungry eyes dipped to her cleavage.
“I’m sure.”
His mouth twisted in a way that made her stomach drop, and not in a good way. “Guess I won’t be getting any tonight.”
“Not from me.”
Ever again.
A muscle at his jaw ticked.
She studied her husband’s familiar face, now flushed with frustration. Her throat constricted.
“Jannie—”
She held a hand up to silence him.
He’d hammered the final nail into the pathetic coffin of their former marriage, and there was only one thing left to say.
She raised her chin and squared her shoulders. “Goodbye, Blake.”