Page 33 of Amethyst

“My God, Jen.”

“Please don’t turn me away. Don’t tell me I have to leave. I need this.”

“Anyone can give you this, Jen.”

“No, you misunderstood. It’syouI need, Max. You. Someone who I trust. Someone who I find attractive.”

She’s told me how handsome I’ve grown. And she trusts me. But I’m far from the only trustworthy attractive man in town.

Jenna is beautiful. She could have anyone she wants. And she wants me.

Not because she loves me—at least not in the way I love her—but because she trusts me.

And I’m not being that person, not when I tell her I’m so turned on and she’d better stop me now.

I draw in a deep breath, hold it for a moment, and then exhale.

“I’m sorry, Jen. I shouldn’t have said anyone could do this for you. I will never make you do anything you don’t want to do. All you have to say is no. I can control myself. Iwillcontrol myself.”

“I don’t want to tell you no, Max.”

“Damn, Jen. Do you have any idea how much your words affect me? How much your very presence affects me?”

“I think I do.” She glances at my crotch. “Because I’m feeling something very powerful. Something I never imagined was even inside me.”

“Jenna,” I say. “Are you attracted to me? I mean, sexually?”

“I am. More than I thought I would be, Max.”

Though her words strike a nerve, I’m not insulted by them. She still thinks of me as her best friend, but perhaps she’s finding something more.

I can only hope.

Because this woman… Jenna Holland…

She sure as hell comes with a lot of baggage now, but I still want her.

She’s still the only woman in the world for me.

All those years ago, I was right. I was right when I had those feelings. They didn’t disintegrate. They didn’t fall away.

Yes, I had to let her go for my own mental health. I had to learn to exist in a world without Jenna Holland. So I did. I learned to be content. I found my way.

But now she’s back, and I have the chance—the chance that I longed for all those years ago.

I can’t blow it.

“Good. I’m attracted you too, Jenna. You’re so beautiful.”

She blushes then—a gorgeous rosy pink that permeates her cheeks.

“I’ve always thought you were beautiful.”

I stop speaking because I was about to mention her eyes. The striking blue eyes that gave her the island name.

I cannot mention her eyes. At least not tonight.

“For so many years I never felt beautiful,” she says. “There was no beauty on that island, Max. Nothing but ugliness.”

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