An Unexpected Attraction (Love Unexpected Book 3)

by Diamond, Delaney

  Nick’s first marriage had lasted a little over two years before his wife filed for divorce, accusing him of mental anguish, among other damage. He’d been married two more times, and both marriages had also ended in divorce, though more amicably.

  “Then there’s Jenna,” Sophie said thoughtfully.

  “Her father’s the reason I’m the entertainment editor at the ER. He gave me an internship in college, and thanks to his connections, I landed the assistant editor job at the magazine in Chicago. None of that would have happened if Jenna hadn’t spoken to her father on my behalf.”

  “If you owe anyone it’s him, not her. But just like Nick doesn’t have dibs on your vagina, Jenna doesn’t get ownership of Jay’s penis for the rest of his life. I’ve told you that before.”

  “It’s not a good situation to be in, Sophie. If Jay and I get together, we could potentially hurt Nick and Jenna, and there’s no doubt in my mind I’d lose their friendships. If a relationship with Jay doesn’t work out, or if I tell him about me and Nick, I may lose him, too. And…” Her throat tightened. The nighttime darkness suddenly felt more oppressive. She’d already lost Jay to some degree but feared the finality that would come if he learned about her and Nick.

  “And, that’s the real issue, isn’t it?” Sophie asked quietly.

  Brenda didn’t answer, but Sophie was right. She was afraid that if Jay found out about her and Nick, he wouldn’t want to have anything to do with her.

  “This is like one of those TV shows where all the characters have slept together at one point or another. Like “Friends” or one of those medical shows. I don’t know the names, but I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.” Sophie didn’t have a television and thought it was a travesty to waste time watching shows which were, simply, time wasted in her opinion.

  “Gee, thanks.”

  “Sorry.” Sophie inhaled sharply. “Wait a minute, if I’d hooked up with Jay, being that you like him, that would have been awkward.”

  “Yes, it would have been.”

  “You would have hated me,” Sophie said.

  “Probably. Now you see my dilemma.”

  Sophie laughed at her candor. “Oh sweetie, I know this isn’t easy, but what are you gonna do? Not be happy because of some sense of loyalty toward Jenna? Or because of some sense of guilt toward Nick?”

  Brenda gnawed her lip. “I don’t know what to do, Sophie. Am I crazy? Am I overthinking this?”

  “You can’t always be the good guy. Sometimes you have to do the not-so-nice thing and think about yourself for a change. People do it every day.”

  “I’m not that person. I couldn’t face myself in the mirror.” Even now she felt numb and empty at the thought of hurting her friends.

  “Tell me something, was it good with Jay?”

  “Sophie!”

  “Not in a sick, give-me-all-the-details kind of way, although you could if you want to.” She snickered. “Let me rephrase. What I meant to say is, has anyone ever made you feel the way he does?”

  Even before their first kiss—more than a kiss, as he’d pointed out—there had always been something between them. Their unmentionable secret had never been mentioned, but on rare occasions, he would look at her in a way that suggested he remembered, like she did. She’d had boyfriends and lovers, and after a time the rolling boil of passion had decreased to a slow simmer. But having Jay as a constant in her life all these years had ensured she never forgot.

  “I’ve had good and bad relationships,” Brenda said, “and I’ve been very happy in a couple of them.”

  “But has anyone ever made you feel the way that Jay does?”

  There were plenty of eligible men in the world. Thousands. Millions. Surely she could find one as charismatic as Jay. The fact that she hadn’t yet didn’t mean he didn’t exist.

  Nonetheless, sadness filled her heart. She was torn, and she shook her head in answer even though Sophie couldn’t see her. “No. No one’s ever made me feel the way that Jay does.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Two other people received their vehicles before the valet arrived with Jay’s Mercedes. When the valet pulled up with the SUV, both he and Nick hopped in.

  “You okay, buddy?” Nick asked, putting on his seatbelt.

  “Why do you ask?”

  “You’ve been acting strange since I arrived yesterday.”

  “I’m good. Perfetto.” Jay pulled out of the parking lot. Nick was staying at a hotel near the airport. Jay should have let Sophie drop him home to save himself the trip south.

  “You don’t sound good,” Nick said.

  “Well, I am.”

  They drove for several miles in complete silence. Nick fiddled with the air conditioner vent and moved around restlessly. Obviously he had something on his mind.

  “What is it, Nick?”

  “Am I that obvious?”

  “Yes.”

  Nick glanced at Jay. “I’m crazy about her.”

  Jay’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “I guess you’re talking about Brenda?”

  “Yes.”

  Even though he’d guessed, the declaration still surprised him. “Are you serious?” he asked, to make sure.

  Nick ran long fingers through his dark hair. “Yeah. I’m in love with her.” He spoke in a forlorn voice and his expression was downright pitiful.

  In love?

  Jay opened his mouth to speak and then closed it. The collar on his shirt felt restrictive all of a sudden, and he unfastened the top button. “I had no idea you felt this way. Does Brenda know?”

  Nick shook his head. Even in the darkness of the vehicle, Jay saw his face coloring in embarrassment. “She has no idea. If she knew, she’d probably cut all ties with me.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “You know Brenda. She’s got a big heart. She would feel guilty and want me to move past my stupid crush, and she’d cut me off to make sure I did.”

  Jay silently agreed that sounded like something she’d do. Hell, she’d cut him off because of the way he felt about her, although the situation was a little different. “Don’t you think you should maybe…do that, though? Get past it?”

  A bitter laugh came from Nick. “Easier said than done. While I was in Europe, she and I talked every now and again.”

  “You called her?”

  “To check on her, and to catch her up on what I was doing. To be honest, it was completely selfish. The sound of her voice always brightened my day.”

  “You never told me you were calling her.” Brenda had never told him either.

  “It’s no big deal, but it made having feelings for her harder to deal with. You have no idea how hard it’s been for me.”

  Not true. He did have some idea, actually.

  “She’s everything I want, and I wonder if I didn’t destroy any chance with her with all of my marriages.” He ran a hand down his face. “At least when she lived in Chicago we could hang out. We’d get together for lunch or dinner or catch a show or something. Now that she’s here, I’ll never see her anymore.”

  In all honesty, Jay didn’t know what to say to Nick’s confession. He ran a hand over his jaw and let out a puff of air. “Tell you what, I’ll come up to Chicago and we’ll have a guys’ night out. How’s that? We’ll party, get drunk, and screw a bunch of women.”

  That prescription had worked for him ten years ago after he and Jenna divorced. The more women he’d slept with, the better he’d felt about himself.

  Nick remained silent and stared straight ahead. “I’ve already screwed a bunch of women. It hasn’t helped.”

  “Listen—”

  “I haven’t been with as many women as you, of course, but lately, every time I’m with a woman, Brenda’s face is the one I see. I have to face reality. I won’t be happy until I can have her again. And I plan to convince her we should become a couple.” He looked at Jay, determination in his eyes. Jay thought he saw challenge there, too.

  “How are you
going to do that?” A vein throbbed in the left corner of his head, threatening a massive headache.

  “I don’t know, but I’m going to do it,” Nick said. “And I could use your help.”

  “My help? Whatever you have in mind, count me out.”

  “Don’t you want to hear what I have to say first? I don’t need you to do anything except keep an eye on her.”

  “Are you kidding me? No way,” Jay said with vehemence. “No way I’m keeping tabs on Brenda for you.”

  “I’m not asking you to bug her phone,” Nick said. He shifted to face Jay. “Just…let me know if she gets involved with anyone. If there’s any competition. I can’t keep an eye on her from Chicago.”

  Was Nick even listening to himself?

  “You’re out of your mind.” He was going to forget this ridiculous conversation.

  “Come on, man.”

  “You come on!” Jay ran shaky fingers through his hair. He was getting worked up, but he couldn’t help himself. “I’m not your errand boy. We’re friends, but I’m not comfortable keeping tabs on Brenda.” Even if he didn’t have feelings for her, spying on her—or whatever Nick wanted him to do—felt like a betrayal. Despite their frayed relationship, she was his friend, too.

  “Great. You’re the one person I thought I could trust with this.” Nick crossed his arms and stared out the side window.

  “I’m not going to tell her what you told me, if that’s what you think.”

  “Fine. Forget I asked. It was stupid.”

  “We agree on something,” Jay muttered. He heaved a heavy sigh.

  They both fell quiet for a while. Jay pressed heavier on the accelerator. The sooner he dropped Nick at the hotel, the better, and they were almost there.

  “Look, I was desperate when I asked you for that favor,” Nick said, an edge to his voice, “but you’re being a real prick right now. Don’t tell me you didn’t see the way she was touching me all night and laughing at my jokes. A good friend would help me out. A real friend.”

  “Or maybe you misread the signals,” Jay said.

  “You would say that,” Nick mumbled.

  Jay tossed a sidelong glance in his friend’s direction. A definite sourness filled his tone. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “You think you’re the only one who women find attractive? The Italian Stallion, screwing everything that moves. You couldn’t have Brenda, though, could you?”

  Jay didn’t like the direction the conversation had veered off in. “That would suggest that I wanted her.” He pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and cruised to a stop outside the sliding glass doors.

  “Don’t pretend you didn’t. Or that you still don’t. It’s so goddamn obvious a blind man could see it.”

  “What is so obvious?” Jay demanded. He slammed the truck in park and twisted to face Nick.

  “You. You’re obvious. The way you look at her. The way you drool. The way you undress her with your eyes. You were pissed tonight because she paid me more attention than you. You couldn’t stand it. You couldn’t be happy for me.”

  “Your feelings for Brenda are clouding your judgment,” Jay said quietly, between tight lips.

  “I’m thinking quite clearly,” Nick snapped. “You, on the other—it’s not enough that you had Jenna, a woman who adored you. Or that Sophie finds you attractive. Or that every time we walk into a goddamn restaurant, the waitresses want to sit in your lap. You have to have the only woman that I’ve ever loved. Well, you can’t have her, Jay. She’s mine.”

  “Is she? Does Brenda know that?” Jay asked mockingly.

  “Oh, she knows that very well. And she liked it.”

  What did that mean?

  Suddenly, something Nick said earlier came back to Jay. At the time, it had sounded odd, but he hadn’t paid close enough attention to break down why it didn’t make sense at the time. Now the words came back in full force.

  I won’t be happy until I can have her again.

  Again?

  Jay stopped breathing, and one look at Nick’s smug face told him everything he needed to know. But he still asked. “What did she like?”

  “Let’s just say she likes a man who can satisfy her. All. Night. Long.”

  “Are you telling me that you and Brenda…?” He couldn’t bring himself to complete the thought, much less finish the sentence. The passage to his windpipe had narrowed.

  “Fucked,” Nick supplied.

  Jay winced at the crude descriptor and the sheer pleasure Nick seemed to take in telling him. “How long has—has this been going on?” The headache attacked. It wasn’t just his head that hurt, his entire being did.

  “It happened a long time ago, but after tonight, I think there could very well be a repeat. Don’t feel too bad. You can’t win them all.”

  Jay fastened his hands on the steering wheel so he wouldn’t put them around Nick’s neck. He stared out the windshield. One of the bellhops was helping a couple load their bags onto a luggage carrier. Simple, orderly actions, while complete chaos expanded inside his head.

  Brenda had slept with Nick. His Brenda had slept with Nick.

  “Get out of my car.”

  “Don’t be mad at her. She knows what she likes, that’s all.”

  “Get out. Of my car.”

  “I’m sorry we kept it a secret from you,” Nick said, not sounding sorry at all. “Brenda thought it best not to tell anyone, and I wanted to respect her wishes.”

  Jay turned to Nick, whose phony concern and insensitive remarks might result in bodily harm. “Get out. Of my fucking. Car.”

  Nick sneered at him. “I guess you’re the one who misread the signals.” With that parting shot, he climbed out and slammed the door.

  Jay peeled out of the parking lot, his blood pumping fire through his veins. He ran a hand down his face, unable to fully comprehend what he’d just learned. She let Nick kiss, suck, and lick her, but she wouldn’t let him touch her. His fist pounded the dashboard.

  This bullshit couldn’t be true. He wouldn’t believe a word until he talked to her.

  Jay pressed harder on the gas, tearing up the highway toward Brenda’s apartment.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Brenda’s apartment and the one above it were dark. When Jay pulled in the driveway behind her car, the exterior lights came on and flooded the area.

  He hopped out of the SUV and marched to the front door, rang the doorbell and waited. There was no movement inside the house, so he rang again, holding his thumb against the button for a long time. If she was asleep, goddammit, she better wake up.

  A light came on somewhere inside. Within a few moments, the curtain over the window in the door was dragged aside and Brenda peered out at him. Her face asked the question, What are you doing here?

  He braced his hands on the doorjambs on either side. “Open the door.”

  She opened it slowly, as if she wanted to keep him from entering. “I don’t know why you’re here at this hour, but it’s late. I was already in bed.” She pulled a lightweight robe tighter around her body. It was short, landing right above her knees. The impression of her full breasts was clear and obvious. He could even see her nipples. Nipples Nick had allegedly sucked.

  He pushed past her and she closed the door, but they remained at the front of the house, the light from down the hall providing faint illumination.

  His gaze drifted down to her breasts again. The little discs of her nipples protruded more prominently than before. Did she feel the tension between them, too? His groin ached and his fingers tingled with the need to touch her. He almost forgot the reason he’d driven over here in the middle of the night.

  “Stop it,” she whispered.

  He lifted his eyes to hers. “You don’t like it when I look at you?” he asked in a raw tone.

  “It’s inappropriate when you look at me like that.”

  “Is it inappropriate when Nick looks at you like that? Or do you like it when he does?”


  She frowned, thrown because he’d mentioned Nick. “Why would you ask me—”

  “Did you sleep with Nick?”

  Her eyes widened with guilt. “What?’

  “Did you sleep with Nick a long time ago?”

  “How did you…how did you find out?”

  “I give you credit for not bothering to lie.” Jay took a few steps away from her and ran his fingers through his hair. “You won’t even let me touch you. I hug you and you pull away like I have the plague. But you slept with Nick?”

  “It just happened,” she said in a small voice.

  He rotated to face her again. “It just happened? When did this just happen?”

  She licked her lips. “Didn’t Nick tell you?”

  “Oh yes, he told me. He took great pleasure in telling me, but he didn’t say when.” His neck drew taut under the strain of the unpalatable conversation.

  “When doesn’t matter.”

  His hands turned into frustrated fists at his sides. “It matters to me.”

  She stared down at the wooden floor. He heard the difficulty she had breathing. “The night you and Jenna got married.”

  The words cut through him. “In Naples?” He had no right to be upset, yet he felt she’d somehow betrayed him. He hadn’t touched Jenna until they were on their honeymoon in Paris.

  Brenda lifted her head. “You chose to get married there—in Naples,” she said in a low, accusatory voice.

  A tight pain seized his belly. Jenna had chosen the location, but true enough he’d gone along with the decision even though he hadn’t really wanted to. Just like he’d asked her to marry him, when deep down he hadn’t wanted to. A mistake he’d made in his early twenties in an effort to “do the right thing.” And why not, when the woman he really wanted had told him to forget they’d even touched. As if that was possible.

  The trip to Naples should have been under different circumstances. He should have been showing Brenda the city, allowing her to experience his culture, introducing her to family as his bride.