Best Of My Love: (Love in Emerald Creek)

by N. D. Jackson

  Erick had that feeling deep in his gut that his actions had been the final nail in the coffin of the woman she used to be. He wasn’t fully to blame but after this morning he knew a huge chunk of it belonged to him.

  “The kids missed you this weekend,” Shayna said, wearing her disapproving mom stare as soon she pulled open the door to greet Dre.

  Dre rolled her eyes, already feeling regret rise up in her at the visit. Her friend must have been feeling neglected or lonely or some shit because she wanted to fight. Well that was just too damn bad because Dre wasn’t in the mood especially after her early morning meeting with Erick. “No they didn’t because I told them I wouldn’t be around so why don’t you tell me why you’re really pissed.”

  “You haven’t been around much.” Her tone went soft and matter of fact. Shayna walked through the kitchen and stepped out onto the patio where sandwiches and tea waited.

  “You asked me to leave so you could work things out with your husband.” She’d respected her friend’s wishes instead of beating her over the head with her opinion as she normally did. Though the quick glimpse of the house told her he hadn’t move back in. Yet, anyway.

  She poured iced tea into two tall glasses and set one in front of Dre, giving her a long assessing look. “That means you don’t come around at all?”

  This. This was why she stayed in California and avoided Emerald Creek as much as possible. Who needed this kind of drama? Her life might be solitary most of the time but it was better than the constant drama. She blew out a breath and looked up at her friend. “I have a company to run Shayna. I came here to help and you said you didn’t need me around.” She wasn’t even pissed off about the lack of gratitude, hell she’d kind of expected it.

  “I never said that,” she gasped as though she was offended. “I just don’t need to hear you and JT arguing all the time. That’s all.”

  Dre shrugged letting her friend’s aggravation roll off her shoulders. “And you have exactly that but still you’re not happy. Why the hell not?” At home she had peace and quiet, none of these emotional landmines to deal with on a daily basis. She preferred her life straight up. No chaser required.

  “JT wants to come back,” she finally admitted and wrapped her arms around her midsection. She looked confused and vulnerable.

  “Do you want him to come back?” Why did people have to make relationships so complicated? Though she avoided them these days, Drew figured if you were upfront about things they would be easier to deal with.

  “I don’t know. He’s the father of my children Dre.”

  She was well aware of that fact. JT reminded her of it whenever she threatened to leave him. “That won’t change because of his address Shay.” And if it did then he wasn’t worth having around anyway, but she knew her friend wouldn’t appreciate hearing that so she kept her mouth shut. “Trust your instincts.”

  “Easy for you to say, it’s not your family.”

  “Because DNA is the only thing that can make you care about someone, right?”

  “That’s not what I’m saying.”

  It was but Dre didn’t see any point mentioning it. Instead she turned to stare at the backyard. It used to be filled with flowers and vibrant green grass but now it was mostly dirt with a few strands of yellow grass. It looked sad. She’d tried a few times to grow a small garden on the roof of her building, mostly herbs and vegetables, because she missed digging in the dirt with her mom. It had looked about as well as Shayna’s yard until she’d done a deep dive of gardening books and online forums.

  “Are you even listening?”

  “Do you need me to? Because it seems like you just want to disagree with everything I say.”

  “I just want you to understand.”

  “No, you don’t. You’re scared of being alone so you want to find a reason to let JT come back.” She sighed and stood, looking over the sorry backyard once more. “If you want him back do it. If not, tell him to get his shit together on his own.”

  “Everything is so black and white for you, Dre.”

  “That’s right, for me. I’m not telling you how to think or what to do.” She turned and caught the tortured look in her friend’s face, suppressing the desire to roll her eyes again.

  “That would be a first,” she shot back.

  “Exactly. It wasn’t working so I decided to stay out of it. Not my business anyway, right?” She’d been told that on plenty of occasions so she finally decided to listen.

  “When did you become to touchy?”

  Dre laughed but it was dry. “I’m not touchy. I just assume you mean the words you say.” They were locked in a standoff, neither of them willing to back down. For Dre, backing down was impossible.

  “Like when you said you would never come back here?” Her brows rose with skepticism.

  “Yeah, well you should have known I would come back and help out with the munchkins, especially given the situation. Trust me I would rather have never set foot back in this place if it meant you never had to go through that.”

  Her expression sobered. “Me too. But you’re still here.”

  She shrugged. “I made plans with the kids for the summer and I don’t want them to have to get used to people breaking promises to them. I can get work done and hang out with them.” Her own father had broken plenty before and after her mom died. “Don’t give me that creepy smile,” she warned pointing a finger at her smiling friend.

  “You’re just a big ol’ softie. Everyone thinks you’re some ice cold hacker bitch but you’re a marshmallow,” she prodded.

  “I’m exactly what people think,” she replied using her haughtiest tone. They both burst into a fit of giggles. “I’m not gonna tell you what to do Shay but he is a grown man so he’s the last person you should be thinking about to help you make this decision.” She sighed, debating if she should speak her peace or just let it go. In the end, she had to try. “It serves his needs for you to let him move back in. The only way to make a change is to actually make the damn change.”

  She gave a thoughtful nod. “You hung out with Kira this weekend?” Abrupt topic change but Dre didn’t mind. They’d exhausted the topic of her marriage anyway.

  Dre took her seat and told Shayna about her weekend with her sister and the French soccer players. “We went shopping, watched the game and had dinner. It was a good time.”

  “That’s a big step for you, considering.”

  Dre knew what she meant. “Yeah well after Annie cornered me at the diner I realized that it wasn’t fair to put my hate on her daughter. Just because she’s a dirty whore doesn’t mean Kira is. And she caught me on a good day so I invited her to go with me.”

  “You were going anyway?”

  She smiled. “Uh, yeah. Those guys were hot. Really fucking hot.”

  Shayna rolled her eyes. “You are still completely insane.”

  “What? They invited me and I wanted to go. You know I have a weakness for French guys. And soccer.”

  She scoffed. “Soccer, since when?”

  “Since I found myself chatting with a table full of sexy soccer players,” she laughed, fanning her face at the memory of their collective hotness.

  “I heard Mayor Weston roped you into a Chamber of Commerce project.” Her face looked sympathetic but her tone held nothing but amusement.

  “Let’s not talk about it. The job is easy so I’ll just get it done.” After her talk with Erick she really didn’t want to think about it.

  “And are you handling Erick?”

  “Nothing to handle. We’ll communicate by email until its done.” Once she realized he planned to use this as an excuse to spend time together she knew she had to finish the job as soon as possible.

  “You sure? I mean this could be a second chance for you guys. If you wanted it to.”

  “Yep. If I wanted it to, which I don’t. I already have one man in my life I don’t trust and that’s my limit.”

  “Your dad? You’re still upset with him?”r />
  Dre shook her head. She knew someone like Shayna wouldn’t get it. She was halfway to forgiving a man who’d beat her. “It’s not something that just goes away. At least not for me.”

  “Dre,” she started but her fried cut her off.

  “No Shay. You don’t get to set a limit on this because you don’t know!”

  “He’s your father.”

  “Yeah well when I needed him he wasn’t there so yeah I’m still pissed at him.” She glared at her friend. “You think I don’t understand your problems because I don’t have kids well I don’t think you get this because you still have a mother and father you get to spend holidays and summers with.”

  “So do you if you would just forgive him.”

  “Well that’s not happening so don’t waste your breath.”

  “You have to deal with it sometime.”

  Dre thought about that for a moment. “I have dealt with it. I went through years of therapy and I’ve accepted Mom’s death. The aneurysm wasn’t his fault. Not being there was, so yeah I think I’ve dealt with it perfectly.”

  “He lost her too,” she said softly, placing a hand on top of her friend’s.

  “Yeah and he was off fucking his mistress when she died and couldn’t be bothered to come when I called, so his loss isn’t really my concern.” Not to mention it took less than a year for him to marry Annie.

  “Okay fine, Dre. You win.” She held up her hands in defeat. “Stay angry at him forever. He’s the only family you have.”

  She grinned across the table. “With family like that who needs enemies.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “What are you doing here?” Dre’s indifferent glare was worse than the anger and disdain she’d worn since she came back to town.

  “Nice to see you too Dre.” When she didn’t budge he stepped closer but this version of Dre didn’t scare easily. Didn’t get intimidated despite her small stature. “I have a few notes for you. And a job.”

  “I have a job,” she said but she stepped back and turned around, leaving Erick unsure if he should follow or go the hell away.

  “I know that but you don’t turn away clients right?” He hoped she didn’t because that would just be embarrassing.

  “Depends. What is this job?”

  Erick found her leaning against the kitchen counter with a mug in her hands and a blank look on her face. He was sick of that damn look. “I need my website redone, or done for the first time. It’s pretty basic and I know this is well beneath your skill set but I’d like an interactive menu, online ordering and some other fancy shit that will draw people in.”

  “Isn’t this part of the whole town initiative Mayor Weston roped me into?”

  “Not really, no. That’s just a face lift for the business on the Chamber’s website. I need a complete overhaul. Interested?”

  She sighed and stared into her mug for a long time. “I don’t know. Email me what you need and if I have the time to take it on I’ll let you know.”

  “I’m already here,” he told her, stating the obvious.

  “So you have notes for the other pages?”

  “Yeah,” he sighed, dejected at her change of subject.

  “If you want coffee help yourself, I’m set up on the porch.”

  He tried not to look at her golden brown thighs, so toned and muscular in loose cotton shorts and a Call of Duty t-shirt. Sexy and casual as always. “Thanks,” he muttered seconds after the screen door smacked shut. He found her in the middle of the yard at an umbrella covered table, focus on one of the two screens in front of her. “What happens when you need to charge your gadgets?”

  “Solar charger,” she said absently, barely sparing a glance for him.

  He took a seat beside her and began to explain the notes everyone had about the main page and their respective business pages. “That’s about it, I guess. I hear you took Kira with you to Chicago.”

  “Yep.”

  Like pulling teeth. “How was that?”

  “Fine. She’s a good kid.”

  “You don’t even want to talk to me now?” He felt frustrated that she shot him down every time he tried to get her to open up.

  Turning a furious glare onto him she practically growled her words. “Don’t act like we’re friends Erick. You fucked someone else. You betrayed me and our friendship so don’t sit there and act like I’m the bad guy because I won’t do the chitchat that will make you feel better about everything.”

  Damn. She’d shocked the hell out of him with that little outburst. “That’s the most emotion I’ve seen from you since you came back to Emerald Creek.” The emotions were there, just buried deep. Very, very deep. “I thought the real you might be gone.”

  She stood and picked up a bottle of water from a nearby cooler. “Yeah well you made sure of that, didn’t you?”

  “Dre,” he started but she took her bottle of water and stomped up the steps and back inside the house. Well she wouldn’t get away that easy this time. He wouldn’t let her run away or avoid him because she still had unresolved anger towards him. “Dre, talk to me.”

  “I don’t want to.”

  “Too bad.” He stood behind her, close enough to touch her but nothing more than his breath grazed her skin. The heat of their bodies mixed and mingled in that sliver of space between them, crackling and hissing as it grew. “Aren’t you tired of running? Of being angry all the time?” It exhausted him and she had only been back for a few weeks.

  “I’m not angry,” she insisted and tried to sidestep Erick. He moved with her to block her. “Move.”

  “You’re angry with me. Don’t be.” She opened her mouth to protest, to yell at him but he cut it off with a scorching kiss he knew would shut her up. Cupping her face as he’d longed to do for years, he tilted her and slanted his mouth over hers, deepening the kiss. It felt so fucking right he didn’t want to do anything but stand here in her kitchen and kiss her until they were better. Until everything played out how it should have all along. He pulled back and looked into watery hazel eyes that tugged at his heart. “I’m so sorry Dre. I wish I could go back in time and change it but I can’t.”

  “I know,” she sighed, resigned to the fact that this was their reality. “And I can’t change how I feel,” she grumbled as her fingers made quick work of the button and zipper on his jeans, her hands worked quickly to push his jeans and underwear to the floor.

  “Dre,” he growled, frantic with the heat of desire, of having the woman he thought he’d never have again. He wanted her to be sure then he wondered what in the hell he was thinking. Why stop when they both wanted this? He wanted her more than anything and if this was how it happened, he would take it. For now. He pulled back and tugged on her shorts and pulled them slowly down, her smooth legs as the scent of her arousal wafted over him. She tasted the way he remembered. Sweet with just a hint of feminine musk. Intoxicating.

  “Erick,” she groaned and tugged his hair, twining it through her fingers as she moved against him.

  He smiled against her skin and kissed his way up her body. She’d finally said his name and it wasn’t filled with disgust or hate, just pure unadulterated need. He took her mouth in another frenzied kiss, just because he could, taking them both higher and higher until they were so crazy with lust they couldn’t stand it. Could only claw at each other in an effort to get closer.

  “Yes.” She moaned as he thrust deep, her words vibrated through him and he relished her scent, got lost in the feeling of being with her again. Inhaling her sweet aroma and shivering at her aroused words right in his ear. This felt like nothing had changed, not in a decade.

  It felt better than it ever had. Maybe it had to do with the fact they were both older, more experienced. At least one of them, since he’d only been with Calista and even that hadn’t happened all that often. Since she’d abandoned them he’d put himself on a dating hiatus, which meant no sex at all. Until now. He savored every moment inside her, the feel of her clenching around him,
the feel of her nails scraping down his back, her teeth scraping against his shoulder. Warm breath on his neck in uneven pants sent shivers through him as he pounded deep. The way she panted his name, all breathless and full of desire on made him harder, hungrier for her.

  His hips thrust faster, deeper until they merged together moments before flying apart. Her legs stayed wrapped around him while they both fought for breath as they came down from their pleasure, both of them smiling but unwilling to do more for fear of ruining the moment. “Dre,” he moaned pressing small kisses along her neck. Behind her ear. She had fallen silent and Erick knew that couldn’t be a good thing. Pulling back, he looked into the eyes that had haunted his dreams, and saw them filled with tears. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  Based on the look on her face, Erick would say everything.

  Chapter Twelve

  I must be the world’s biggest fool. Maybe she was King of Fools, that at least made it sound better than being just plain stupid. Having sex with Erick had to be the worst possible decision, as well as the least likely she could have ever made. But damn did it have to be so good? So electric she craved more mere seconds after the first round. Maybe the orgasm could have been less than explosive. Why hadn’t the chemistry between them died after a decade of distance? It really should have.

  Shouldn’t it?

  It didn’t matter. She’d done it and she’d had her fill of obsessing over it. Two showers hadn’t washed away his scent and she feared this time it burrowed deeper than ever before. It had taken years before she could inhale without smelling him all around her, that earthy ocean scent mixed with something purely Erick. Now she would have to start forgetting all over again. Damn you Erick!

  Sleep hadn’t come easy or at all, not even hours later so she had to decide if she wanted to lie in bed not sleeping or go downstairs, put on a pot of coffee and get to work. It had piled up over the past few weeks that she’d been playing the role of Soccer Aunt and being here in town. Now she could get to work with a fresh orgasm to fuel her through the night.