Chapter Twenty-Eight
Still half asleep, Jamie didn’t want to open his eyes. What if it had all been some wishful, longing-induced lustful dream? It had to have been. It was dark now, and the dream had been in daylight. Lovely, sunny daylight, lighting Zee’s incredible eyes, gilding her gorgeous body as they came together time after time. That incredible, never matched feeling of sliding into her, that combination of knowing and instinct that intensified every touch, every move, and—
A movement beside him. The slide of a long, sleek leg over his.
Zee.
It was real.
He snapped awake with a jolt. She was watching him. He could see the faint glint of moonlight in her eyes. Those amazing eyes that had gone all hot and soft for him.
“Not sure how to take that you’re so surprised,” she said. “Not used to waking up with who you went to bed with?” He winced, but before he could speak, she shook her head. “Sorry. That was…reflex. If I really believed that, I wouldn’t be here.”
“I know that. And for the record, what I’m not used to is waking up with anyone.”
“And I know that. Because you told me, and you’ve never lied to me.”
Except lies of omission?
He shoved away the thought. It was getting harder to do each time. And the effort made him seize on another truth, one he could give her. “I was surprised because…I thought it had been a dream. Again.”
She went very still. “Again?”
He reached out, brushed a strand of dark hair with his fingers. “Again. And again and again and again.”
She stared at him. She wasn’t frowning, but she looked…almost confused, which was a rare enough state for Zee Mahan that it put him on alert.
“But you didn’t come home,” she said softly, and he could tell she was speaking carefully by the way there was not an ounce of her old accusation in her voice.
“I should have. Screw the momentum, the shows every night. I should have come back. At least to see you.” He took a deep breath. “And I should have realized when you told me to go you didn’t really—”
He stopped when she put a finger to his lips. “That’s the crazy part. I did mean it. Your talent, you couldn’t just ignore it. I knew you could make it, and I wanted you to. I wanted the world to know your music. It wasn’t your fault I couldn’t let go of…how I felt about you.”
“Does that mean…you still feel it?” He couldn’t help how hopeful…or maybe wistful, he sounded.
“It’s not…the same,” she said, sounding as if she were still choosing her words carefully.
“We’re not kids anymore.”
She arched a dark brow at him then. “Oh? You seem to have the same…stamina.”
She caught him off guard with the humor, and the sound he made was somewhere between a laugh and a cough. “Thanks,” he finally managed to get out. “Although I think you may have worn me out.”
“I’m not so all fired sure of that,” she said, exaggerating the Texas in her voice. “I think it’s going to require further testing.”
She moved then, running her hands over him in that way that made him suck in a breath so sharply it sounded like a gasp. Maybe it was. She replaced her hands with her mouth, until he thought every muscle in his body was rippling under her luscious kisses.
And then she slid a hand down his belly and found flesh that had been hardened since the moment he’d realized she was really here, that it hadn’t been a dream, and he swore under his breath as she curled her fingers around him and stroked.
She kept going until he couldn’t stop himself from reaching for her, needing her as hungrily as if it had been the first time. But she pushed him back, gently but with determination, and when she moved to straddle him he gave up the fight happily. And when she guided him into her, until she was holding all of him in that sweet, hot, slick grasp, he gasped out her name. Looking up at her like this again made him feel things he had no name for.
“Have you dreamed of this?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
It was all he could do to speak coherently. “You, riding me? More times than I can count.”
“Me, too.”
His entire body seemed to knot up at her quiet words. But then she started to move and coherency fled, along with any thought except what this felt like, the rightness of it, the feeling of a long-torn soul mended again. He was burning inside, and there was only one way to save himself. And when he felt it begin for her, felt the clenching of her body around him, he let go and poured himself into her until the fire eased.
Zee had saved him again.
*
Zee couldn’t stop smiling. It didn’t even matter to her that everybody in town was smiling back in that very knowing way she would normally find annoying. She didn’t care. She was deliriously happy, and didn’t care who knew it. She supposed there were some who thought her a fool for picking up again with the man who’d left her behind, but they didn’t know the whole story so she ignored them. To those who asked, with obvious concern, if she knew what she was doing, she simply smiled even wider and said, “Yes.”
True never asked. The closest he’d come was the first night she hadn’t come home and he’d texted her.
OK?
Very
Then, after a pause, Jamie?
Perfect.
He’d sent an emoji with its tongue hanging out, and never said another word about it, just accepted. She loved her brother more than ever.
It had been the most glorious week of her life, she thought as she pulled off the highway toward the Whiskey River rescue facility. Kelsey was there, working with Shadow, the latest arrival. Only Kelsey, she thought, would be here two days before her wedding.
The little black gelding had filled out, his coat now sleek and shining in the sun, but that wasn’t the biggest difference. The biggest change was his attitude; the spooky, terrified, abused horse he’d been was long gone, and he was the sweet-natured creature he’d been meant to be.
When Kelsey walked the horse over, Zee held out the envelope holding the finalized details of the schedule for Saturday. She knew Kelsey’s mom was flying in this afternoon, and Deck’s agent and attorney, who had told her when she’d made the arrangements that they were delighted to stand in for the family Deck didn’t have.
“Somebody’s going to snap him up,” Zee said with a grin as she leaned on the corral fence.
“If I can let him go,” Kelsey answered as she took it. The horse, who once would have shied at the big tan thing that made a scary rustling sound, merely looked at it, sniffed, decided it wasn’t of interest and nudged Kelsey for a pat. “He’s so good with the outreach kids, we may just have to keep him.”
“Any excuse in a storm,” Zee teased.
“Absolutely,” Kelsey grinned back. “So how’s Jamie?”
Perfect. “Fine.”
“I’m really glad about you two.”
“My brother been chatting?”
Kelsey laughed. “You know he wouldn’t. And he didn’t have to. It’s written all over your face.”
“So you don’t think I’m crazy?”
Kelsey leaned back a little, still smiling, and arched a brow at her. “Girlfriend, I’ve seen the man. I think you’d be crazy not to.”
“Can’t argue that,” Zee said, “but…” Her voice trailed off. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to say, wasn’t even sure what she was feeling.
“It’s more than that,” Kelsey said. “There’s a connection between you. True says it’s been that way since you were kids.”
Zee nodded. “It started when our folks were killed, but…even then it was more than that.”
Kelsey nodded in turn. “He’s a good guy, Zee. And I’m not just saying that because he and Deck hit it off, which is no small thing.” She gestured over her shoulder at the horse behind her. “Shadow likes him, and he’s a pretty darn good judge of people. He’s had to be.”
Zee blinked. “Jamie’s been here?”
“A couple of times, since he’s been back. He’s good with all of the horses, but Shadow really took to him.” Kelsey grinned again. “And Jamie never blinked when I put him to work.”
“I’m amazed he still had the energy, with all he’s been doing at the house. But he was never afraid of hard work.”
“He hasn’t been here for about a week, though.” That grin again. “I think he found something better to do.”
It suddenly hit her. Kelsey’s grin. True’s grin. And Deck, and Hope. That expression of utter happiness that she was so glad to see and yet that had sparked a near-painful emptiness in her.
She’d been looking at that grin in the mirror for days and hadn’t even realized it.
“The difference is obvious in both of you. It’s amazing. Whatever problems there were or are,” Kelsey said, her voice and expression serious now, “it’s worth working out.”
“I’ll take that as advice from an expert in doing just that,” Zee said. And she meant it; the walls Kelsey had had to batter down to reach Deck had been beyond formidable.
“Do. You make each other so clearly happy.”
“I hope we’re half as happy as you guys are.”
And when she got back in her car, she couldn’t resist looking in the rearview mirror.
Yep, it was the same grin.