Page 57 of The House on Blueberry Lane

Her gaze swept over him, and she saw how aroused he was and liked the thought that she’d done that. She was the cause of his huge erection and she intended to take care of him like she knew he would do for her.

And then he was back on the bed with her, pulling her into his arms and giving her a long intense kiss that left her panting. He whispered the words, “I want you, Velvet,” as he moved into position over her. She was about to tell him she wanted him, too, but he kissed the words from her lips at the same time she felt him, his hard manhood meeting her womanly folds. She needed him, she wanted him, and this time, nothing was going to stop her from having him.

That one-and-done time hadn’t been enough. How could she have thought it would be? Anticipation was clawing at her, and she felt he wasn’t moving fast enough. She needed the feel of him sliding inside her and her inner muscles clenching him. She wanted him now.

Velvet’s eyes flew open when her clock alarm went off, dousing her with the reality she was in bed alone and she’d only had yet another dream.

“I’M SO CONFUSED, RUTHIE,” Velvet said as she turned over in bed and looked at the alarm clock that had gone off a short while ago. The only reason she’d called Ruthie so early in the morning was because Velvet knew Todd was still out of town and that Ruthie was an early riser.

After Jaye had left and she’d cleaned up the kitchen, she’d taken a shower and gone to bed with thoughts of the meal with Jaye dominating her mind and that parting kiss ruling her body parts. Specifically, those body parts had kept her awake most of the night. And when she’d finally dozed off to sleep, she’d had that dream...

“You’re confused because he kissed you?”

“I’m confused by everything. I told you what he said before we kissed. That he would renege on his position on a sex-only relationship if I wanted him to do so. He would do it for me but not for any other woman. Only for me.”

“What is there to be confused about? Sounds pretty clear to me. You’re the only woman he wants to sleep with. He reneged on that position when the two of you made love a couple of weeks ago, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he were to do it again.”

“Yes, but that time was different.”

“How so? Because you were in a bad way? Ready to jump his bones? Admit it, Velvet, you’re in a bad way now, girlfriend.”

“But that’s just it, Ruthie. I shouldn’t be. That one time with him should have been enough.”

“Evidently it wasn’t.”

Ruthie had said the words Velvet did not want to fess up to. Yes, she wanted him again, but she should not want him. Considering the number of orgasms she’d had that night with Jaye, he should be well out of her system. But every time she saw him, she would remember how it felt to be held by him, to be in his arms in and out of bed, to be kissed all over by him, share orgasms with him. All those memories only intensified her desire for him.

“I told you what I think,” Ruthie said, interrupting her thoughts.

Yes, but Ruthie didn’t know Jaye like she did. “And I told you I don’t agree with your assessment of the situation.”

“Regardless, it’s something you should consider as a possibility, Vel. It’s not helping matters for you to do this, pushing yourself to the edge when you have a perfectly capable man as your neighbor who is willing to take that edge off. But since you’re determined not to go anymore sexual rounds with him, I think you’re doing the right thing by not going jogging with him this morning.”

Velvet lifted her brow. “Why?”

“Because maybe you need to take a step back for a few days and think about everything that has been going on with you since Jaye came to town. I bet that after you do, you’ll reach the same conclusion that I have.”

“What? That for some reason Jaye is changing for me?”

“That, and the fact that you’re falling back in love with him. If you ask me, you never stopped loving him.”

Velvet quickly sat up in bed. “Ruthie, how could you even think that? You know how much I loved Jaye before. You know how much I wanted him to love me back. And you of all people know why I left Phoenix.”

“Yes, I know. I also know how hard Jaye took your leaving. I told you he visited me a few times, trying to get me to tell him where you’d gone. He looked crushed and defeated.”

Crushed and defeated... She did recall Ruthie telling her that. “And I will tell you the same thing now that I told you then. What was crushed and defeated wasn’t his heart, but the fact he’d lost a bed partner. He would have been satisfied with us staying together for another three years with nothing but great sex keeping us satisfied. I deserved more.”

“Yes, and maybe he’s finally realized that you deserved more, Velvet. Think about it for a minute. Jaye coming to Catalina Cove and discovering you were there had to have been a real shocker for him. Maybe it shocked him into realizing what he’d lost, and he feels that he’s been given a second chance. Then for the two of you to become neighbors was nothing short of a miracle for him to get it right this time.”

“If what you say is true, then why is he putting limitations on us?”

“He’s not, Velvet. You are. You’re the one who set the rules. He’s merely giving you what you want. Even you said how agreeable he’s become. Maybe there’s a reason for it.”

Velvet heard what Ruthie was saying, but as far as she was concerned, the only thing Jaye had been shocked about was realizing he had lost a good thing when she’d left. However, that still didn’t equate to love. All she’d ever wanted was Jaye’s love. “None of that means anything, Ruthie, without his love.”

“And you know why it isn’t easy for him to love. It has to do with his mother.”

A subject he’d brought up once, the morning after they’d made love. The same morning he’d told her his position on sex-only relationships. She’d hoped that he would bring up the topic of his mother again, but so far he hadn’t. She then told Ruthie as much.

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