Page 5 of Separate Lives

“Ex-husband.”

“You sure? Did you see my signatures next to yours on the dotted lines of the final papers? Or did you prefer to leave everything in the capable hands of your attorney, to run away from me instead?”

“I didn’t run away from you. I simply–”

Reece cut her short. “Where are your papers?”

“Back in Chicago.”

“With your attorney,” he concluded, further closing the distance between them, until he was towering above her and Jess had to angle her neck back in order to look at his face.

“I guess. I put my signature on all the dotted lines my attorney pointed out to me, and after he told me my presence wasn’t necessary when you signed your part of the divorce, I left his office and came up here.” God she hated having to explain herself to him, but hated even more the butterflies frantically batting their wings inside her chest at the view of his impressive physique, while her nose caught whiffs of his spicy fragrance. God, but he was a handsome devil.

“To avoid me.”

“Hmm?” Jess asked, still lost in her thoughts.

“I said you came up here to avoid me,” Reece impatiently accused, jarring Jess from her private musings, and back to him.

“As I was trying to explain before you interrupted me, I didn’t run away from you. It’s been months since I last saw you, so why would I do that now? I simply needed a break from everything, my job included. And since I was due a couple weeks’ vacation, I decided to come up here to relax,” Jess said, struggling to sit up against the back of the futon. With unsteady hands, she snuggled the multi-colored fleece blanket closer to her shivering body. A dizzy spell and the light piercing her half closed eyelids forced her to lay heavily back against one of the futon’s arms.

Her weak attempts to sit up made Reece aware something wasn’t quite right. For the first time since he’d entered the log cabin, he took a good look at his surroundings.

He was standing in a large room which functioned as both a bedroom and a living room. Another tiny space looked to be the cooking area –he couldn’t even call it a kitchen, with a small, round table and two chairs. On the wall next to the futon was a fireplace with an easy chair in front of it. Behind the futon stood what looked like a wardrobe, while a separate room hosted the bath. The whole space was just big enough for one person, two was a crowd. And it looked like a crowd of two-hundred people had stampeded through her cabin. The meager interior was in shambles. At least two entire boxes of tissues had been used and mindlessly thrown into the waste bin at the feet of the sofa-bed, quickly filling it. Some of the crumpled-up tissues had failed to hit their target, piling around it instead.

Several plastic bags with the logo of a local supermarket lay forgotten on both the kitchen table and floor. When Reece approached the cluttered space, he could all but ignore the sink filled up with days-old dirty dishes, and the foul smell they produced. A second look at the plastic bags on his way back to Jess, told Reece they contained what could be defined as an interesting variety of fat-filled, cholesterol-filled, salt-filled junk food. Potato and tortilla chips, caramel-flavored popcorn and chocolate bars, where all there for him to see. When his eyes came to rest on Jess, it fairly seemed the snowstorm that had left him stranded at the airport had joined the crowd of two-hundred inside Jess’s cabin sowing destruction, leaving his almost ex-wife disheveled in their wake.

For starters she looked dreadfully pale. Her always perfectly groomed raven-black hair was hopelessly tangled and dull. The bright light on her clear-blue eyes was bleary. Her small, cute nose was red and swollen from too many blows. Touching her forehead with one of his cold hands, though Jess tried to dodge it, Reece found she was burning up like a furnace.

“You silly woman, you. You belong to the ER.”

“I belong here,” she challenged, lifting her chin.

“How long have you had this fever?”

“None of your business,” she returned, not at all pleased to have Reece invading her privacy, rending himself necessary, making her giddy like a teenager on her first important date. He had to go. Yes, he had to go because…because she’d lied. Of course she’d come to Alaska to run away from him. She had to. For her peace of mind.

Since the day they’d met, he’d become like a drug to which she was totally addicted. Coming here to this cabin was, for Jess, a way of ousting him from her system and detoxing herself. Therefore he couldn’t, justcould notshow up unannounced, and topple her hard work. He had to go, because the sad truth was that every cell of her body was dancing a jig, and five months without seeing or hearing from him, wasn’t enough to purge Reece Hilton from her system. It would take more time.A wholelifetime,or maybe two, Jess dismally thought, while it had taken her a lot less time to get addicted to him. Three weeks together and look at the repercussions Reece had had on her life. Since that eventful evening at Johnny and LeeHanne’s party, she hadn’t been the same. Jess hardly recognized herself in the wanton creature who had shamelessly had a tryst in her best friend’s bathroom with a man she’d known less than fifteen minutes.

At work, she’d always been known as a serious, dedicated professional, but since Reece Hilton had walked into her life, Jess had lost all interest in what she did. Cutting, blow-drying, dyeing or styling somebody’s hair was second nature to her, and didn’t need to constantly think about what she was doing to satisfy a customer request. Only now, where she once would’ve offered suggestions to help a client really improve her or his look, she now kept her ideas to herself and didn’t begin conversations unless the customer encouraged it. Her mind was always on Reece, either anticipating what would happen on their next date, or mentally replaying what had gone on during the one before.

His presence lingered in her mind. His scent played havoc with her senses. His sheer masculinity made her body throb. He filled her every breath. And it scared the hell out of her so much so that when he’d told her they were married, Jess had felt it was time she drew the line and put her life back on track.

She’d been honest when she told Reece she loved him. She liked his competence and his dry humor, and her insides melted when he was around. For that same reason, though, she desperately wanted him out of her life. He held such a power over her, Jess intuitively knew that if she let him, Reece would step on her feelings again, taking charge of her life, making decisions for her. He didn’t know what went on inside her head. Didn’t know her heart. And didn’t seem interested in gaining that knowledge. All he wanted from her was her body. All there was on his side was a bad case of lust, not the will to spend time together learning what kind of person she was outside the bedroom. So yes, he simply had to go. Unquestionably. Without further delay.

“What are you doing?” Jess squealed when Reece placed and arm under her thighs, and another behind her back, taking her in his arms.

“Since you don’t want to go to the hospital, I’m going to take care of you.”

“Put me down. I don’t need your help,” she protested, shivering from both the contact with the solid wall of his body, and the sudden cold air hitting her back. “Leave me alone,” she ordered, trying to twist herself free from the circle of his arms, in a desperate attempt to stop her body from responding to him.

“Shut up,” Reece ordered sternly, dropping her unceremoniously on a nearby chair. “I’m not in the mood to argue with you. How can you be so irresponsible? You’re running a fever and refuse to go to the hospital where you belong. How long have you had it for? What’s your temperature?”

Crossing her arms and looking away, Jess refused to speak.

Reece took hold of her chin and forced her head towards him. “Answer me, Jess, or I swear to God I’ll never sign those papers, and to hell with the consequences.”

He was serious. She could tell from his set jaw and the resolve written in his eyes. Still, she stood her ground. “I don’t believe you.”

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