Page 58 of Stolen Kiss

She fell asleep worrying, and it was still there when her alarm scared her into wakefulness. She was still in the same position with Jason’s arms wrapped around her.

“Morning,” he said.

“Morning,” she replied with a croaky voice.

“You mumble in your sleep.”

She froze hoping she hadn’t blurted out she didn’t trust him. “Do I? What did I say?”

“Just one word. Why. You kept mumbling words but the word why was repeated.”

“Oh.”

“Do you know why you were mumbling the word why?”

Jason was using his no nonsense voice and seemed more awake than she was. When she tilted her head up, she could see he was fresh as a daisy, eyes on her waiting for an answer.

“There’s been something on my mind for a few days. It must be coming out in my sleep.”

“What’s on your mind, sweetheart?”

Heidi moved to lie on her side of the bed but Jason tightened his arms so she couldn’t move away.

“Let me sit up,” Heidi said.

Jason let her go. She took enough of the blankets to cover her body and sit cross-legged facing him.

“Promise you won’t get angry if I tell you?”

Jason sat up straighter, eyes narrowing, jaw set. He already looked grumpy, and she wondered if she could switch her question but she couldn’t think of another question.

“I’m not promising anything, sweetheart. I have a hundred things going around my head that might make me angry.”

“Okay, well, here goes. I’m muttering why, because I need to know why you didn’t fight for me. Why didn’t you come and see me rather than take my brother’s word for it. Didn’t you want to face me and let me tell you directly I didn’t want to see you anymore?”

Jason’s face went blank. He threw back the covers and walked out of the room. Heidi didn’t have time to admire his naked backside because her vision blurred. The first time he rocked her world the previous night was on her stairs. He came back into her bedroom wearing just his jeans, his bare chest a thing to be admired if his face wasn’t murderous.

“Your brother was clear with his message. You didn’t want anything to do with a Turner and I wasn’t welcome anywhere near you, or him. He cut me off from our friendship. He was my best fucking friend, and he cut me out like I never existed. I then had to do my initiation on the rigs for three months without a break. The message came through on my way to Scotland. What the fuck did you expect me to do?”

“I don’t know because I was heartbroken thinking you never meant what you said to me over the summer. I can’t remember what Keith said and its driving me mad. He gave me a reason I believed at the time but I remember hoping it wasn’t true and you’d come back to the island and tell me you’d changed your mind.”

Heidi was crying through her words, her head bowed as she tried to control her sobbing.

“Your brother has a lot to answer for,” Jason barked as he snatched up his t-shirt from the floor and yanked it over his head.

“Don’t blame my brother,” Heidi shouted back.

“Well who the fuck else should I blame?”

“I don’t know,” she said letting her head fall into her hands.

“I’ve gotta go. There’s an early delivery at Edward Hall I need to check on for the wedding.”

He walked out of her bedroom, ran down her stairs and a moment later the front door slammed. It made her jump, and she fell to the side and bawled into her pillow. When she took a deep breath in, she could smell his aftershave and it made her cry harder.

Heidi regretted asking the question after such a perfect night but she needed to know. His answer was plausible but he could’ve come back to the island on his first leave. She was fool enough at the time that she’d wait forever for him.

Turned out forever was too long.

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