Page 22 of Still the One

“Jamie, um… last night was fun, but I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. This is not a thing.”

“No. Of course not. I wasn’t implying that it was. I just… would have loved to spend some more time with you. Is that so weird?” Jamie keeps her cool, which is rather attractive. “You’re such a wonderful person, Mac. And your tongue… Hm.” She arches up her eyebrows and nods slowly. “Top notch. No wonder I want some more of that.”

I admire her for keeping things light. I seem to have more difficulty doing that. “Seriously, though, Jamie.”

“If you don’t want to see me today, that’s fine. If you want to pretend last night never happened, that’s also fine. Anything’s fine with me, Mac. I’m just glad that…” Her voice trails off. Oh, there she goes again. She sucks part of her bottom lip between her teeth. It makes her look vulnerable and irresistible at the same time. “I don’t know. The sex was unbelievable, like mind-blowingly so. It was for me. And I know this isn’t a thing, whatever ‘a thing’ may be, but it sure as hell wasn’t nothing to me.”

“It wasn’t nothing for me either.” I can’t lie to Jamie about that, although maybe I should. But that would be impossible. “It was unbelievable, actually, but… well, I guess it could have gone either way. It could have been awkward and unfulfilling, but it went the other way. Maybe it was something we needed. Maybe it was the only way we could put some things behind us. I really don’t know.” I’m babbling now. I have no idea how to summarize last night, or this weekend. It doesn’t matter any longer whether ending up in bed with Jamie was a great or a horrible idea, because it already happened. And it was spectacular. But that doesn’t mean I want to—or should—do it again.

Jamie smiles softly at me. She looks angelic. She’s still as gorgeous as ever. “How about we order some breakfast and see where the day takes us? What are those sights you’re talking about that we must see?” Under the sheets, her hand snakes toward my belly. Her fingers slide across my skin until my breast rests in her palm. She was always so deliciously audacious—no wonder Cherry picked Jamie over me. Damn. That’s the first time since I opened my eyes that Cherry has entered my thoughts. It’s not ideal, but it is a reminder of why this is the way it is. “Did I tell you that your breasts are the most glorious sight I’ve seen thus far on this island?” Jamie moves in and I know I should stop this right here and now, but when she gets physical, when her magic hands are on my body, it’s impossible.

I can’t help but chuckle either, because Jamie’s so silly and sexy at the same time. Some things never change.

After another climax, Jamie and I have breakfast on the balcony, overlooking the shimmering blue of the Pacific Ocean.

“Alan will go nuts if neither one of us shows up for breakfast,” Jamie says.

“Or maybe he has his hands full nursing Charles’s hangover.” I take a sip of coffee.

“We probably shouldn’t tell them about, um, this. Alan won’t be able to process it and he’ll make a big deal out of it. You know what he’s like.”

“My thoughts exactly,” I agree.

“I might tell him when we get back, though. Is that all right?” Jamie asks.

“I guess.”

“He’s pretty keen to rekindle your old friendship.”

“Mainly so he can meet Isabel Adler, but yeah, I would like that, actually. Don’t worry, I can deal with Alan.”

“Isabel Adler’s not the only reason Alan would like to see more of you, Mac. You do know that, don’t you?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

Jamie rips pieces off her croissant and examines them closely before popping them into her mouth. We eat in silence for a few minutes. I can feel the lack of sleep catching up with me. “I think I may need a few more hours of sleep before seeing any sights.” I stifle a yawn. “You were relentless with my almost-fifty-year-old body.”

Something crosses over Jamie’s face. It can’t be the shadow of a cloud because the sky behind her is a pristine blue. “Do you think we could meet up when we’re back in New York? Maybe go for coffee?”

Yes. No. I don’t know. How can something be such a good and a bad idea at the same time?

“You don’t have to answer now, but maybe I can call you sometime when we’re back home?” Jamie arches up her eyebrows. She’s only wearing a robe and it’s sliding off one shoulder—making me want to say yes very much. “Do you still have the same number?”

“You know I don’t.” Because I never wanted to hear from her again, I changed my number not long after she left.

“My number hasn’t changed,” Jamie says. “How about you call me if and when you want to?”

“You think I still have your number?” It comes out a little harsher than I want it to.

“You don’t?”

I shake my head. After the first shock had subsided, I purged my life of all things Jamie. I got rid of all the stuff she left behind, including all the things we’d bought together, and I started fresh. I had to. And I could no longer stand the thought of having her number in my phone, as though it could hold only a limited amount of numbers and hers being part of that select group was taking up precious space—as though her name being in my phone contaminated it somehow. Why would I ever call her again, anyway?

“Can I give it to you?” Jamie asks.

“No need.” I chuckle. “Remember when we got our first mobile phones?” That’s how long ago Jamie and I met.

“Yeah. Crazy, right?”

---