“Wow,” Sadie said.
“Yep. You guys being plain old lost wasn’t good enough for us,” Grace said.
“Well, it was plenty good for us,” Dylan said.
Sadie shot him a loaded look, and he could see the memories flicking across her mind’s eye. All of a sudden, he wished the rest of them to hell. He wanted to be lost with her again, just the two of them.
“Thank God, it’s all over,” Claudia said as they made their way back to the team’s camp. “I am never camping again. There’s something so wrong about not having access to running water.”
“And hair dryers,” Grace said, fingering her hair. “I feel like one of those troll things from Lord of the Rings.”
Dylan watched as Sadie fell into step with her friends, a frown pleating his forehead as she began to laugh and talk easily with them. After a few minutes of waiting in vain for some acknowledgment from her—a glance, the casual brush of her arm against his—he realized what was wrong. He was jealous. Immediately, he gave himself a mental kick in the pants. Was he so sexually obsessed with Sadie that he begrudged her spending time with her friends? Ridiculous. Ahead of him, Sadie laughed at something Grace had said and slipped her arm around her friend. His frown deepened. Yep, definitely jealousy. He was officially pathetic.
With Dan supervising, they made short work of packing up the campsite, and another hour’s walk led them back to the clearing by the lake where their cars were parked. As they approached the clearing, Dylan managed to edge Sadie away for a private word. It was the first time he’d got a word in edgewise since they’d rejoined the others, and he couldn’t resist the temptation to touch her. Sliding a hand along her hip, he hooked a finger inside the waistband of her jeans and rubbed the bare skin he found there.
“Ride back to the city with me on my bike,” he said quietly.
She looked surprised. “That’ll look pretty obvious, won’t it?” she suggested.
All of a sudden he wanted to tell her to forget about what everyone else thought. What did it matter if their work colleagues knew they were involved? But he knew that it mattered a lot to Sadie, particularly in light of her friendship with Claudia. He shrugged.
“I’ll say you lost a bet. Technically, you kind of did,” he said.
Her eyes flashed with laughter, and she hid a smile behind her hand. “Okay. Let me tell Claudia. She can take my pack for me.”
Another win. He patiently stood to one side as Sadie said farewell to her friends and the rest of the team, managing to bite back on the urge to remind her that she would be seeing them all again at nine the following morning. Finally she was strapping on his spare helmet, sliding onto the bike behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist.
“Hold on,” he said, starting the engine. The Ducati surged forward as he let out the throttle, and then they were bouncing their way long the dirt road. Twenty minutes later, they turned onto tarmac, and he opened up the throttle. Sadie gave a yelp of excitement and tightened her grip on his torso, and he grinned behind his visor. She might not recognize it yet, but Sadie Post had a thrill seeker inside her just waiting to get out.
They made short work of the trip home, despite stopping for snacks twice and sex once in a secluded strip of forest outside of the L.A. basin. He’d never been one for the great outdoors, but he was beginning to appreciate certain aspects, that was for sure.
Sadie began giving directions as they neared her condo in Santa Monica, and nearly three hours after leaving the campsite he parked the Ducati outside her building.
Tugging her helmet off, she slid from the bike and smoothed her hands down the front of her jeans nervously. Even with helmet hair she looked infinitely desirable.
“Do you want to come up?” she asked tentatively.
He cocked his head to one side, trying to read her. “Do you want me to come up?” he asked.
Her eyes slid off him for a second, then she nodded. “Yes. Is there such a thing as having too much sex?” she asked worriedly.
“I don’t know. But I think it’s a bold experiment we’re conducting,” he said as he pulled off his helmet. Stowing them both in the storage compartment beneath the seat, he followed her into the elevator. Her hair was deliciously mussed from a combination of the helmet and the wind, and he pushed her against the wall and nuzzled her neck.
“You smell like smoke from the campfire,” he said.
She smiled and murmured approvingly as he cupped her butt and pulled her closer for another kiss.
The elevator chimed as it reached her floor, and they pulled apart reluctantly.
“Hold that thought,” she advised him as she extracted her house key from her pocket.
He followed her hungrily as she lead the way to her door, casting a saucy look over her shoulder as she let him inside.
“The bathroom is to the left, if you want to freshen up,” she said, then she stopped dead in her tracks as a tall, good-looking blond guy stood up from the couch where he’d obviously been waiting.
The color drained out of Sadie’s face and she rested a hand on the hall table as though she needed support.
“Greg,” she said.
Dylan’s eyes narrowed as every muscle in his body tensed. The ex.
Perfect timing. Not.
9
SADIE DIDN’T KNOW where to put herself. Horribly aware of Dylan standing behind her, she stared at her ex-fiancé.
“What are you doing here?” she asked for lack of anything else to say.
“I had to see you,” Greg said, his blue eyes wide and sincere.
She shook her head. “What if I didn’t want to see you?”
“I know I don’t deserve a second of your time after what I did, but please, hear me out,” Greg said. She’d never heard the note of entreaty in his voice before. He was a successful man, an investment banker, and she’d never once seen him second-guess himself or sound anything less than supremely confident. Until now.
“I can’t believe you let yourself in,” she said, falling back on the mundane because she didn’t know what else to do.
Should she talk to him, allow him the chance to state his case? Seeing him in the flesh again, she felt oddly detached. She assessed him objectively. He was a handsome man, by anyone’s standards—a young Robert Redford, only a little taller and a little broader in the chest. He had a deep voice, he dressed well, he was well educated, usually kind, often funny. A little over a month ago, she’d been confident she loved him and wanted to build a life with him.
Now he looked about as familiar to her as a generically attractive model from a men’s clothing catalog.
“I’m sorry, Sadie. Just give me a chance to explain, and if you don’t want me hanging around, I’ll be gone,” Greg said.
The heavy, warm weight of Dylan’s hand landed on her shoulder as he stepped forward.
“Or I can make him be gone a hell of lot sooner,” he said. She didn’t have to look at him to know what expression he was wearing—his tough-guy look, the one that had served him so well for all those years at Grovedale High.
“Who the hell are you?” Greg asked, the tendons in his neck standing out as he scanned Dylan from head to toe.
“It’s all right,” she said, holding up a hand.
The attitude radiating off Dylan was palpable. She had the horrible feeling that this scene was going to become even more fraught if she didn’t keep these two bristling alpha males away from one another. One of them had to go, and Dylan was the natural choice. Apart from the fact that she’d never been engaged to him, he was also closest to the door.
“I think you should go,” she said, turning to face him.
“Me?” His voice rose with incredulity. “You’re kidding.”
“The sooner I hear him out, the sooner he’s gone from my life,” she said, not bothering to modulate her tone for Greg’s benefit. He didn’t deserve consideration for his feelings.
Placing her hand on the small of Dylan’s back, she encoura
ged him toward the door.
“I’ll see you at work tomorrow,” she said.
For a moment he resisted the pressure of her hand, then he strode toward the door. The look he gave her was fierce as she opened the door for him.
“Call me tonight,” he said.
She nodded absently, too blown away by Greg’s sudden appearance to think straight. She was also too slow on the uptake to avoid the kiss Dylan dropped on her mouth. Even in the most awkward situation imaginable, her knees still went weak. For a dazed moment she watched his tall, rangy frame walk down the hall.
“You’re seeing that guy?” Greg asked.
When she turned to face him, his expression was stricken.
“Do you really think you have the right to ask that?” she asked.
Greg’s jaw jutted mulishly. “Yes, I do.”
Her hands found her hips.
“Pretty rich coming from the guy who ditched me at the altar. How do I know you haven’t been off screwing some bimbo for the past few weeks?”
“I’m not seeing anyone else. I love you, Sadie.”
“Forgive me if I’m a little unconvinced on that one, being of the actions-speak-louder-than-words school of thought,” she said.
She was surprised at how calm she sounded. In the days following their wedding, she’d been angry with him, hurt and confused. But now when she reached inside herself to the dark place where she’d stuffed all her feelings, all the heat was gone.
Very deliberately, she moved into the living room and took the seat opposite him as he, too, sat. Folding her hands into her lap, she checked the clock on her mantelpiece.
“You’ve got five minutes—ten if it’s really interesting,” she said coolly.
Greg leaned forward, the picture of earnestness.
“Sadie, I’m a jerk. I regretted what happened the second it was too late to turn up at the church. You are the best thing in my life, and I was a fool for not realizing that,” he said urgently.
“The reception went for four hours, Greg. You could have turned up at any time and put me out of my misery. The least you could have done was turn up at the church to tell our friends and family—let alone me—in person that you’d changed your mind. I haven’t been dumped via a note since I was in the fourth grade.”
Greg ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it out of its usual smooth perfection. She registered for the first time that he was wearing his best suit and favorite tie—dressed to impress. She hardened her heart. Too little, too late.
“I found out something recently, something that freaked me out,” he said. His blue eyes were tortured as he gazed across at her. “My dad’s having an affair.”
Sadie shook her head. Greg’s parents were pinups for conjugal bliss—still happily married after more than forty years together, devoted, interested in each other and the world. They traveled regularly, worked for the community despite being retired, and by the sparkle in their eyes still enjoyed a regular sex life.
“That can’t be right,” she said.
“I saw them out together. She used to live up the street from us when we were kids. I confronted Dad and he admitted they’ve been seeing each off and on for years.” Greg looked devastated, and despite all that had gone wrong between them, she felt for him. He idolized his parents, his father in particular. She’d lost count of the times he’d held his father up as the image of the man he wanted to be—faithful husband, successful businessman, devoted family man. She’d thought it was the image of what she wanted in a man, too.
“I’m sorry. I take it your mom doesn’t know?” she asked.
“No. This has been going on for years, Sadie. You know what he said when I told him I’d seen him? That he loved Mom, but she wasn’t enough. That no woman was enough to satisfy a man for a lifetime.”
The disgust in his tone gave a fair indication of how he’d responded to his father’s comments. Greg ran his hand through his hair again, leaving it sticking up in an endearing spike.
“I was furious with him. I wanted to beat him to a pulp. But then I started thinking. All my life, he’s been the best man I know—and he couldn’t stick his marriage out and play by the rules. What hope did that leave for us?”
She stared at him, everything slotting into place.
“You didn’t turn up because you didn’t think we could make it work?” she asked.
“I didn’t think I could make it work. Everyone says I’m a chip off the old block—it’s a goddamned family joke. I love you too much to do that to you, Sadie. I freaked. I thought I could do it, but on the day of the wedding I took one look at my father and knew I couldn’t risk it.”
It made sense. She could see how upset he was now, could imagine how wounded and confused he must have been to discover his much-idolized father had feet of clay.
“What’s changed? Why are you here?” she asked.
“I have to know you’re okay. That’s the most important thing. And…and I want to know if you can forgive me. I’m not my father. It’s taken a few weeks for me to work that one out.” Greg gave a self-deprecating grunt of disgust. “I love you. I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you. But I understand that I may have forfeited my chance at that when I screwed up at the wedding.”
Sadie stared at him. She had never imagined, even in her wildest dreams, that Greg would someday present her with an excuse that she would be prepared to accept. But staring at him now, seeing the pain and suffering and anger in his face, she understood that he’d been through the wringer recently. His perception of the world had been shattered. He’d lost his rock, his true north. And he’d panicked. Intellectually, she could understand what had happened.
“You should have told me, talked to me,” she said.
“As ridiculous as it seems, I didn’t want you to think badly of Dad.” Greg shook his head at his own poor judgment. “If you look me in the eye and tell me it’s over, that you feel nothing for me at all, I’ll walk away and never bother you again. But if you’re willing to give me a second chance—” Greg broke off, his eyes pleading with her.
She stared at him, moved despite herself by the wounded hurt she could see in his face. For the first time since her wedding day, she allowed herself to remember what it had felt like to wake in his arms, reliving for just a second the warm sense of protection and peace he’d offered her. As if she’d opened the floodgates, a thousand other memories swamped her: the smell of his freshly starched shirts, the neat way he had of folding the paper to make it easier to read, his secret love of reality television shows, the deep bass of his laughter when she surprised him with a joke, the tender light in his eyes as he kissed her good night….
She’d been ready to hitch her star to his and set off on the adventure of a lifetime. She’d imagined bearing his children, growing old with him…. She’d built a whole future around her relationship with him. And he was sitting here telling her that she didn’t have to abandon her dream—if only she could forgive him and learn to trust him again.
As if sensing her ambivalence, Greg eased forward on the couch until he could drop his weight down onto one knee. It should have looked ridiculous, pathetic—a grown man literally begging her to take him back. But his back was straight, his eyes clear and honest, his expression intent. All the old feelings hammered at the door to her heart. She’d felt safe with this man—adored, loved, admired.
Without her consciously willing it, her mind flipped to the man who’d just walked out of her apartment with long-limbed grace. Dylan was the antithesis of Greg, an almost perfect polar opposite. Dark where Greg was blond, impulsive and rebellious and messy where Greg was safe, measured and neat. He was a walking disaster area compared to Greg, even when Greg’s altar-abandonment was included in the deal. Dylan had openly admitted he was not looking for a relationship. He’d made it clear that while he liked and respected her, what they had going was based on sex and nothing more. In short, he offered her nothing—and Greg was offering her eve
rything.
Again.
But there was one thing that Dylan had brought into her world that Greg never had—she’d never felt as sexy in her life as she’d felt in Dylan’s arms. And she’d never been as bold or as driven or as daring, either. He’d branded her body with his touch, and she craved the feel of him inside her from the moment he pulled away until the second she had him again.
It had never been like that with Greg. With anyone, for that matter.
But great sex did not a great relationship make. In fact, great sex did not an anything make, according to Dylan I’m-not-looking-for-commitment Anderson.
“Don’t give me an answer now,” Greg said, reaching for her hand.
She didn’t pull away. Why was she thinking about Dylan when Greg was laying himself out in front of her?
“Think about it, please? Then come out for dinner with me Friday night,” he said.
“I’m sleeping with someone else,” she blurted suddenly, almost as though she was hoping the decision would be taken out of her hands if she revealed what had happened with Dylan.
Greg’s face hardened momentarily, but then he swallowed hard and nodded tightly.
“I kind of figured that,” he said. “And you’re right, I don’t have the right to be jealous or hurt or angry, even though I am.”
His hand was warm and firm on hers, his touch familiar. She swallowed a sudden rush of tears.
“Okay. Dinner Friday night,” she slowly agreed.
He smiled for the first time since she’d opened the door, a tentative expression of hope.
“Thank you.” Lifting her hand, he pressed a brief kiss to the back of it before pushing himself to his feet.
“I’ll pick you up at eight, okay?” he said.
She didn’t watch him leave, and it wasn’t until he’d been gone for five minutes that she realized that she hadn’t asked him for his key back. Her thoughts in turmoil, she stripped off her clothes. Under the steamy warmth of the shower, she at last let go of the ironlike grip she’d kept on her emotions since she’d seen her uncle Gus waving her limo on in the front of the church all those weeks ago. Like a fist unclenching inside her chest, the emotions came tumbling out. Tears slid down her face, sobs racked her body, her hands clutched at her torso as she let it all go—the hurt, the anger, the confusion, the fear. She cried until the water ran cold, then toweled herself dry and dressed in her comfiest pair of flannelette pajamas.
Take on Me Page 18
