Page 18 of Sweet Escape at Bayside
Violet mumbled, “Oh crap,” as the guy climbed off his bike and pulled off his helmet.
“Oh my gosh!” Emery pushed to her feet. “That’s him! That’s Vi’s naked man!Six-pack Jack!He’s the guy from her kitchen!”
Dean grabbed the back of her shirt, pulling her down to her seat as he rose to his feet and the others gawked at the big dude walking up from the parking lot. “Justin Wicked?He’sthe guy you saw naked?”
“You banged Justin?” Chloe asked Violet. “Where haveIbeen?”
Andre ground his teeth together.No guy in your life, huh?
Violet pushed to her feet as Justin walked through the gate and said, “What are you doing here?”
“Hey, babe. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” Justin glanced at the table.
Andre stood up beside Violet, holding Justin’s gaze. He was a muscular guy, and the way he was looking at Andre told him he was possessive of Violet. Who wouldn’t be? He was a fool to think she wouldn’t have replaced him after so long. He strode past Violet and said, “It was nice catching up.”
Violet grabbed his arm. She pointed at Justin and said, “You. Sit down and eat breakfast. I’ll be back in a minute.” She dragged Andre out of the gate and away from the inn.
“You don’t owe me any further explanation,” he said.
“Shut up.” She let go of his arm and said, “That’s the guy I told you about when we were together. The one I’ve known since I wastwelve.”
“Great. And he’s in your life in a bigger way now. Just own up to it, Violet. Emery seeingsix-pack Jackin your kitchen is a dead giveaway that I’ve been played.”
Her nostrils flared. “I never played you. Yes, he’s in my life in a bigger way, but not the way you think. He’s been part of my life longer than almost anyone. He was consistently there for me as a kid, and we reconnected when Lizza tricked me into coming back. Andyes, we slept together a hundred years ago as teenagers—and again that first night I came back to town, when I tried tobangyou out of my system. But you know what? It didn’t freaking work.Nothingworked.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” he seethed between clenched teeth. “That you slept with him to forget me andfailed?”
“Does it matter? So, Justin and I have history together. If you can’t deal with that, then that’s on you, because I can’t change it. I get that you don’t trust me to be honest with you, and I don’t blame you because I was the jerk who left without a word. But I didn’t lie last night, and there’s no way I’ll let you think I’m lying now when I’m not. Justin and I arefriends.”
“It took you three months to make love to me, but you came back and jumped right in the sack with that guy?”
“I trust Justin. What would you rather I did? Sleep with a stranger?”
“Hardly. I was a fool. All that time we were together, and I thought you trustedme.”
“It’s different! I trusted Justin to protect me frommyself. I trustedyouwith myheart. I haven’t had sex with Justin since then, and yeah, Emery saw him in my kitchen naked. Big freaking deal. You of all people know I don’t have hang-ups about naked bodies. They”—she waved toward her friends and lowered her voice—“don’t even know I can sketch a naked body, much less sculpt one. They sure don’t understand the idea of sleeping next to someone naked without having sex with them. The night before Emery saw him, I was having an especially hard time and he ended up sleeping over.Sleeping, notbanging. Don’t you get it, Andre? Sex has never meantanythingto me beyond…I don’t even know what. It’s been a means to try to feelsomething, or maybe to feelnothing. I don’t know.”
“Then why did it take you so long to open yourself up that way to me?”
“Because being with you, sharing everything that has ever meant anything to me—things I’ve never confessed to anyone about my family, aboutme—and justkissingyou, holding your hand, sleeping wrapped up in your arms without even having sex, turned me inside out. If that makes me a loser, then it does. When we finally made love, it was more than I could handle. The emotions were too big. It scared me. I didn’t even know who I was, melting at your touch.Literallyturning to mush inside like a weak, ridiculous girl.That’show much I love you!”
Fire flamed in her eyes. She threw her shoulders back as she jammed a finger into his shoulder and said, “And who are you to judge me? How aboutBrindle? Is she the reason you havefaith in lovetattooed on your shoulder?” She poked him again. “You professed your feelings for me last night, pretended you’d never gotten over me, and meanwhile you weredoingsome chick in Paris? How does that make you any better than me?”
“I didn’t sleep with Brindle,” he said sharply. “She’s a friend going through a hard time. She’s the one who convinced me to take Lizza up on her offer to come here, and an hour ago I was thanking her for doing just that.”
“And now…?” She lifted her chin, but that foot was turned in, diminishing the fight left in him and drawing out the truth.
“Now I’m wondering what else we should lay out between us so we can stop fighting and put all this hurt behind us.” He was breathing too heavily to regain control of his emotions, so he went with it and laid it all on the line. “I tried being with other women to forget you, butno onecould replace you. It’s been a long time since I even tried. And I have a tattoo that saysfaith in lovebecause ofyou. It was supposed to be a reminder every time I look in the mirror not to let what happened between us turn me into an acidic, virulent man who doesn’t believe in love or happiness. But all it did was remind me ofyouand how much I wanted to be with you andonlyyou.”
He exhaled loudly, feeling like a balloon that had lost all its air. “Darn it, Violet.” There was no more anger to spew, no more hurt burning inside him. He swept his arm around her waist, pulling her closer, and said, “You love me, too.”
Her eyes widened a fraction, as if she couldn’t believe he knew the truth, and just as quickly, acceptance settled in the beautiful green eyes he’d seen in his dreams for so long.
“You said it twice,” he reminded her. “Once last night and again just now. You said, ‘That’s how much I love you.’Love, notloved.”
She swallowed hard, looking so soft and vulnerable he wanted to protect her. “We never fought when we were together. I don’t know if this is some sort of sign that we need to walk away from each other, or if it’s years of hurt and anger that needed to be expunged. I don’t freakingcarewhich it is. I’mnotwalking away, because you, Violet Vancroft, own my heart, and like it or not, I think I own yours, too.”
Violet looked over at Justin heading their way and sighed, taking a step back.
