Page 19 of The House on Blueberry Lane

But she didn’t.

VELVET PRACTICALLY HELD her breath until she had rounded the corner of the house where Jaye could no longer see her. Sitting across from him while eating had stirred up a lot of memories that should be dead and buried.

Just seeing him eat—nibbling on a rib bone—and drinking beer from the bottle had been a total turn-on. She’d always loved the shape of his full lips and thought they were inviting and sensually hot. More than once, her gaze had moved from one corner of his mouth to the other and lingered in the center, the very place her tongue would enter whenever they kissed.

Feeling her breathing was getting out of control, she drew in a deep breath as she entered her house. She needed a drink and it needed to be stronger than the beer she’d had. If she didn’t know better, she would think the grilling and the food had been premeditated on his part, but there was no way that it could have been. He’d had no idea when she would be returning home today. For all he knew, she might have made plans to be gone most of the day. Besides, why would he deliberately plan anything to include her?

She placed her cross-body purse on the end table and carried the plate of leftovers to the kitchen to put in the refrigerator. She returned to the living room and sat on the sofa, thinking of how she had studied Jaye when he hadn’t realized she’d been doing so. This was the closest she had been in his presence in the daytime, and more than anything she wanted to see what, if anything, about him was different. He had aged two years but had done so well. His features were still striking, from his dark eyes to his enticing lips and dimpled cheeks.

His outfit that she’d first observed through her bedroom window was even more compelling up close. During the day, he usually wore his tailor-made suits. However, today he was dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt. He was still built, with muscles in all the right places. She had seen those muscles up close. Had touched them. In fact, she had tasted every inch of his body.

And he had tasted every inch of hers.

The one thought she couldn’t dismiss from her mind was their ability to satisfy each other in bed. She was feeling a throbbing sensation between her legs just thinking about it. So why was she? Mainly because seeing him in the flesh couldn’t be helped. She had been a virgin at twenty-five when they’d made love together for the first time. Her body knew him as the man who’d introduced her to sexual pleasures and, at that moment, it was reminding her of that.

More than once over the last two years, she had awakened in the middle of the night after dreaming of one of their lovemaking sessions. Now, with him here in the flesh, it was even more challenging for her. Today, she not only saw him, but she smelled him, too. No man had a more sensuous scent. She would admit she had been turned on by it. Today.

Stretching her legs in front of her, she was about to grab her e-reader off the coffee table when her cell phone rang. Recognizing the ringtone, she reached into her purse and pulled it out. “Sierra?”

“Yes, I just wanted to thank everyone personally for coming to the meeting today, and also for agreeing to be in my wedding.”

Velvet smiled. “I feel honored that you asked me. Are you getting excited?”

“Yes, I am. Granted this will be my second wedding, but for Vaughn it’s his first and he wants to go all out. So I’m treating it as my first as well, since my marriage to Nathan was a huge mistake.”

Velvet had met Sierra’s ex-husband one time when he’d come to town to make trouble. Luckily, his plan had backfired. “And I am happy for the both of you.”

“Thanks. And there’s another reason I called.”

“Oh?”

“To make sure that you’re okay. We’d barely finished eating desserts and you rushed out rather quickly.”

Velvet didn’t say anything for a moment and figured, of all the people who’d attended Sierra’s meeting today, she would be the one to home in on her emotions. Deciding to be honest with her friend, Velvet said, “I needed to rush off for a pity party of one. I guess being around so many happy people in love got the best of me.”

“Not everybody at the meeting is happy and in love, Velvet. I told you about Zara and how she and her boyfriend broke up a couple of years ago. Probably around the same time as you and Jaye.”

Velvet leaned back on the sofa. “Okay, that’s two out of the eight women who were there. Whoop-de-do.”

“Sounds like your pity party is still in full swing, girlfriend. Should I come over with some more of these brownies? I could also bring a bottle of wine.”

That made Velvet chuckle. “Okay, I get your point. Besides, I can’t eat a single thing more. I just finished off a big plate of barbeque spareribs.”

“Barbeque ribs? From where?”

She hesitated, nibbling on her bottom lip. She might as well tell Sierra since there was no reason for her not to. “Jaye. When I got home, he was outside grilling and invited me to join him. I saw no reason for me not to, especially since I knew they weren’t just any spareribs, but Colfax ribs.”

Sierra chuckled. “There’s a difference?”

“Trust me, there is. Jaye’s paternal great-grandmother had her own special sauce. It’s been passed down through generations and it is so delicious.”

“That was kind of him to invite you to join him. How was it?”

“Like I said, the ribs were great.”

“That’s not what I’m asking, and you know it.”

Yes, Velvet knew it. “I thanked him for being neighborly. Nothing has changed, Sierra.”

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