by Eason, Mary
Jason swerved then tried to keep the car from going off the busy road before turning to look at her with a kid in a candy store expression.
Clearly, Jason was torn between sex and doing the right thing. And Cara groaned. Jason was a good guy. He had patiently waited for her to make the decision. “Cara, are you sure. I don’t want to pressure you.”
Was this guy for real? What had she been waiting for? Aiden? Aiden hadn’t waited for her to decide he’d simply seduced her. Aiden probably knew all about her little crush on him. Suddenly it was so clear. And she had been such an idiot waiting for Aiden. Aiden couldn’t commit. Miranda had been the closest he would ever be able to come to committing to a woman and Miranda had dumped him. What chance did any other woman, especially one that was a non-model, have?
“I’m positive. I’ve never been more positive.”
“Really? Because you don’t really sound…”
Cara leaned over and kissed him on his lips. “Yes, I’m sure. I’m positive Jason. I don’t want to wait a second longer. Not even for dinner.”
Jason literally grinned from ear to ear, turned the car around, and headed back to Cara’s apartment, while Cara argued with herself. Was she just about to make the biggest mistake of her life, correction second biggest, by sleeping with Jason? Wasn’t she about to do exactly what she’d accused Aiden of doing? Just using Jason for sex. Or worse, she was using Jason to forget about Aiden. No, no, no. It wasn’t using, because Jason was all for it. And Jason was the perfect boyfriend.
Jason parked the ’Vette outside of Cara’s two-story apartment. Cara didn’t wait for him to do the gentlemanly thing. She got out of the car and unlocked the door. Jason followed at a slightly more hesitant pace.
Once inside, Cara gave him just enough time to close the door before reaching for his shirt.
Jason’s fingers closed over her wrists. “Wait. Cara, hold on. I think we should talk a little.”
Cara stopped just long enough to roll her eyes at the irony of that statement. Wasn’t that supposed to be her line?
“Talk? I don’t want to talk. We can talk anytime. Come here.”
Jason gave in for a minute until the last of his buttons were undone and the shirt hit the floor.
“Cara, wait, I’m sorry, I can’t. Not like this.” Jason reached for his shirt and turned away, re-buttoning it.
Cara became the one with regrets. “Why not? Don’t you want me?”
Jason’s frustrated sigh spoke volumes. He took his time facing her again. “Of course I want you, Cara. I’d have to be dead not to. But not like this. Not when your doing it out of anger or whatever reason that’s suddenly caused you to change your mind.” He studied her for a moment. “I can’t even begin to understand why you agreed to sleep with me tonight, but I can see your heart’s not really in it and I don’t want to be a mistake for you. I deserve better than that, Cara.”
“But I thought…” She couldn’t quite meet his gaze.
I know, and believe me, refusing you is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Look, Cara, let’s talk.
Cara tried not to cry. Tried not to show her disappointment. And somewhere through all of her regrets, Jason seemed to pick up on her inner turmoil. He took her hand. “Come on, I’ll make us some coffee or better yet, why don’t I fix us some dinner.”
Chapter Six
Aiden stood outside Cara’s apartment for what felt like hours before finally knocking. He held her locket in one hand and wondered what to say to her. He’d replayed this first face-to-face encounter in his head a dozen times. But reality had a way of not working in his favor where Cara was concerned.
He heard footsteps coming to the door followed by silence.
“Open the door, Cara. I know you’re there.” Impatience threaded through every syllable of his voice. Aiden wasn’t expecting this response.
Cara opened the door but didn’t invite him inside. Definitely not the reaction he’d imagined in all his imaginary conversations with her.
“Let me in, Cara,” Aiden told her, his impatience growing when his eyes swept over her. Cara wasn’t wearing anything but a pale yellow, terrycloth robe. Or at least that was what his imagination told him as he made his way slowly back to her face. She wasn’t dressed for work at seven in the morning. Even though he knew she was normally in the office by eight. She made no attempt to speak. Nor did she move to let him pass.
Aiden placed his hand against her stomach and pushed her gently back inside, following her.
“What’s up with you?” Aiden demanded before remembering his promise not to lose his cool with her.
“Nothing. I just wasn’t expecting you. What are you doing here anyway?” Cara looked nervous. Was that all because of him or was something else up.
He took a second to really look at her. Cara looked as if she’d just gotten out of bed, or hadn’t been there at all. He crushed that thought. He couldn’t think about that without wanting to demand to know things that were none of his business.
“I should have called. I’m sorry, but it occurred to me that you might be missing this.” Aiden held the locket up for her to see and watched as some of her nervousness disappeared.
“Where did you find this?”
Aiden was just ready to pull her close, unable to stand this distance between them when he became aware that they were not alone.
Jason walked out of Cara’s bedroom, fresh from the shower.
“Oh, hey there, Aiden. I thought I heard someone at the door. Didn’t know you were back in town.” Jason came over to where Cara stood, her eyes locked with Aiden’s, pleading with him not to say anything. Jason placed a familiar arm around her waist, pulling her body back against his in an intimate gesture that spoke the truth. Jason was very familiar with her body.
For a moment, Aiden couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. He felt as if someone had just kicked him in the stomach hard. It took all of his willpower to actually attempt something in the lines of a coherent response to Jason’s hello.
“Hi, Jason. Sorry, I didn’t realize you had company, Cara.”
Aiden’s eyes never left hers. He handed her the locket. Their hands touched for just a moment. Aiden could feel her trembling. She was afraid he would give something away to Jason. She didn’t want Jason to know about their secret.
“Hey, there’s your locket. You know I was going to ask you what happened to it. Where did you find it?” Jason said before kissing her temple.
“At my place.” Aiden said and saw Cara’s mortified reaction. “You must have lost it during the party you threw for my promotion.”
He watched her relax a little. “Thank you,” she told him.
“I should go.” Aiden turned and walked to the door. Cara followed. Aiden turned to face her aware that Jason stood watching their exchange. Aiden leaned over and hugged her whispering in her ear. “I think we need to talk. I’ll call you later.” While Cara was still too shocked to do anything more than look at him with those amazingly sultry eyes, Aiden kissed her. Jason could just read whatever he wanted into that. After a moment, he felt her kiss him back. He smiled against her lips when he felt her surrender. Maybe she’d spent the night with Jason, but Cara wasn’t over him any more than he was over her. In fact, if Jason weren’t there, it would be interesting to see where this kiss would lead.
“I’ll call you later,” he told her, meeting her shocked expression with a smile. “Jason, it was good to see you again.” With a slight wave of his hand, Aiden turned and left the two of them standing there watching him walk away, whistling a tune under his breath. He would give just about anything to be a fly on the wall in that apartment once the door shut.
* * * *
“What the hell was that about?” Jason was angry. She couldn’t blame him. She was angry too. She couldn’t believe Aiden had kissed her in front of him. Aiden had been angry as well. And shocked. Aiden clearly wasn’t expecting Jason to be there and he’d obviously jumped to the wrong conclusion bec
ause of it. Cara had never felt more like a cheat, even when she’d slept with Aiden.
She’d hurt Jason by not being completely honest with him. He’d given her the right opening; she just couldn’t walk through that door. They’d spent the night talking about where their relationship was heading, or rather, Jason had talked. She’d mostly pretended to listen. When they finally realized the time, it was almost five in the morning. Unfortunately she hadn’t expected Aiden to show up at her door today of all days.
“I don’t know what you mean.” Yeah, that was the mature way of handling things. Deny their existence.
Jason stepped in front of her blocking her escape to the bathroom. “Like hell you don’t. Since when do ‘friends’ kiss like that?” When she didn’t answer, Jason got angrier. “What’s going on between you? Cara, I want to know. What about the things you and I talked about last night? Our future? What was last night about?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing. That’s all it was to you.”
“No, I was talking about Aiden and me. There’s nothing going on between us.”
“You’re lying, Cara. Last night, well I just thought it was because you were disappointed that I wanted to wait it was our first time together, but now… You weren’t there. Oh, you said all the right things,” he added when she was about to protest that point. “But emotionally you weren’t even close. Have you slept with him?”
“Jason, I’m not having this conversation with you?” Cara tried to hang onto her anger, but looking into Jason’s eyes made the magnitude of what she’d done to him seem terrible.
“Yes you are,” he told her, reaching for her arm, preventing her escape. “You owe me that much. Since the beginning, you’ve talked about waiting until you were in a position to commit emotionally. I thought it was because of a past boyfriend. I never suspected it was your friend’s boyfriend.”
“Jason, please. I don’t want to talk about this.”
He released her as if she were contaminated as the truth set in. “You don’t have to.” Jason turned away, gathered the rest of his clothes, and headed for the door. “You just confirmed it. I can’t believe you did that to me. You’ll understand when I tell you I don’t ever want to hear from you again.” Jason slammed the door leaving pictures rattling against the wall in the wake of his anger.
* * * *
When Cara walked into two hours late, she was expecting questions from her assistant. What she hadn’t been expecting was Shelby’s anger.
It took a full hour for Cara to work up the nerve to call Jason and apologize. She’d never felt more like a man before in her life. What exactly had she expected the outcome of her actions to be? That she could lie Aiden out of her system?
What had she been expecting?
She wasn’t sure if Jason would even return her call. Cara wasn’t really sure that she wanted him to.
Midway through leaving a very detailed and very repentant apology, Jason picked up.
“I hope you don’t expect me to forgive you Cara, because frankly I don’t see that happening. I’m still in shock. I can’t believe you’d do that to me. I’m beginning to think I don’t know you at all.”
“Jason, I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say. I can’t take it back now. I know it was wrong.”
“Wrong? Cara, it was way beyond wrong. It was unforgivable. I cared for you. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. Why do you think I was so patient, waiting for the right moment before we made love? I wanted it to be special with you.
“Jason…”
“Don’t bother denying it. We both know it’s true. Forget about the fact that he is—was—your friend and roommate’s boyfriend. I mean, I can excuse that, knowing Miranda, but you said yourself Aiden isn’t the type of guy to want more from a woman than sex. Is that all you want? How could you sleep with him feeling the way you do about that type of thing?”
“Jason…”
“You know what, forget about it. Just do me a favor and lose my number.”
It took another hour for her to come to grips with the truth. She’d treated Jason miserably.
The second she walked into the store, Shelby hit her with the question and the anger and round two began. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“I’m not going to tell you anything,” Cara countered, dropping her things behind the counter.
“Oh, God, you did. Cara, you idiot!”
“Shelby, I don’t want to talk about this with you. I don’t want to talk about it with anyone.”
“That bad? Well, what did you expect after Aiden Wilder?”
“No…Shelby, that’s not it. I didn’t sleep with Jason. He did spend the night, but only because we ended up talking for most of it. No, I’m upset because of Aiden.”
“Well, no kidding. You’re crazy about the guy after all.”
“No, that’s not what I meant. Aiden’s back in town. He stopped by this morning. It was horrible.”
“Oh no.” Shelby forgot all about her anger at that point. She poured two cups of coffee and handed Cara one. “What happened?”
“He was so angry.”
“Who? Jason or Aiden.”
“Both, actually both. I doubt that either is speaking to me right now. Jason certainly isn’t. He told me to lose his number. He never wants to see me again.” Cara let go of her breath in a sigh. “Come to think of it, I’m surprised you’re still talking to me.”
“Are you kidding? I haven’t had this much excitement…well, ever. I don’t want to miss a thing. So start talking.”
“Oh Shelby, I don’t want to talk about it. I want to forget it ever happened. All of it.”
“Well, you can’t because I need details. So, shoot.” Shelby took her usual spot across from Cara on one of the two chairs in the waiting area.
Cara sighed once more and gave in. What was the use in fighting it? Shelby was her friend. She’d been with her through it all. She deserved details. At least one of them could get some entertainment from her mistakes. “What can I say that you can’t guess already? Aiden stopped by to return my aunt’s locket. He found Jason there. Aiden was angry. He kissed me. Which made Jason angry enough to figure out the truth. Jason stormed out. I called him, but he told me he never wanted to see me again. And that, my friend, is the whole sordid story.”
“Wow.” Shelby sounded impressed. “I’m almost in awe of you. I never would have figured you for the heartbreaker type.”
Cara rolled her eyes. “Sorry to disappoint you, kiddo, but I’m not. I’ve just made a really big mess out of my life and I’ve lost two friends in the process. And Jason was a nice guy. How many chances do you get to date a truly nice guy?”
“Hum, I can’t say that I didn’t tell you this would happen, but not to worry. I’m actually kind of thrilled that you got rid of old Jason. He was only holding you back. Now you can focus on Aiden.”
“No—I can’t. If, and I mean if Aiden can forgive me for…everything, I plan on working on repairing our friendship. Nothing more. Aiden’s friendship is important to me, Shelby. And we both know that as lovers there isn’t a future for us. Aiden’s not that type of guy. He’d get tired of me in nothing flat. I’m not his type. Not exciting enough. Not five-foot-eleven, ninety pounds, blond and big breasted enough.”
“Or maybe you’re just enough. Maybe you’re what he’s been looking for. You never know. I say go for it.”
Cara leveled a look Shelby’s way that made it clear she thought her friend had lost her mind. “Have you been reading those romance books again? You know that stuff isn’t real, don’t you? Aiden and I are friends. Nothing more. And I don’t want to wreck our friendship for sex.”
“Cara, what if he’s the one?”
“Oh, for crying out loud. Aiden isn’t the one. For me, or for any other woman. Aiden is good as a friend, lousy as a future. It’s not happening. So can we just drop it for the moment? I have to get started on the cake orders. And I’m way behind already. And don�
��t you have a delivery to make?”
“Okay, but I’m not going to let you give up on Aiden. I think you’re selling him short.”
“Goodbye!” Cara walked into the kitchen area. She stood in front of the oven listening to Shelby gather her deliveries. It was best not to go down that road again. She knew the truth. If Aiden was being honest, so did he. She just wanted what he couldn’t have.
* * * *
Aiden was halfway back to Cara’s apartment when he forced himself to stop. He turned the Rover around and headed back to his own neighborhood.
As much as he would like to demand certain answers from her, he couldn’t. Cara would never allow that. The truth was, his reaction to learning she wasn’t nearly as obsessed with him as he was with her had hit hard; harder than Aiden had ever allowed a woman to effect him before. She’d gotten way under his skin. She had become important to him and to be honest, he wasn’t sure when that had happened. It just seemed that he’d always cared about Cara.
Not that he was a bit surprised by her actions, only that she’d taken them this far. Cara was always throwing obstacles in his way whenever she thought he was getting too close.
Miranda was a prime example. A few days before he’d met Miranda at that damn party and Cara had practically shoved her in his face, he’d come too close and she’d gotten scared.
Aiden had found himself alone at her apartment with no intrusions, none of the friends she was constantly in the company of whenever he was around. That night there had just been the two of them and Cara had let down her guard a little.
It had all happened quite innocently. He’d taken her home from a party she’d invited him to. She’d been acting strangely all night long. Aiden believed she hadn’t really wanted to be alone. Over coffee, they’d talked while pretending to watch a movie. He couldn’t even remember the name of it because it hadn’t mattered. Cara told him about her family. That was his first real glimpse into her past beyond a few joking remarks and of course the usual teasing that was always there between them.
