her face.
“I wasn’t going to let you do that,” he murmured.
“I know. You mad?”
“Not at you.”
At himself? Because he’d betrayed his promise to Hunter? Meri started to tell him it didn’t matter when it suddenly occurred to her that maybe it did. To him, at least. That maybe he regretted letting his friend down and that this had been the last promise he’d been able to keep.
Only he hadn’t.
“Jack…” she began.
He shook his head. “Don’t go there. Wherever you’re going, don’t.”
She opened her mouth, then closed it. She didn’t want to apologize. Not exactly. But she felt as if she should say something.
“I should go,” she murmured
“You don’t have to.”
She stared into his dark eyes and knew she wanted to stay. Even if it was just one night, she wanted to spend the time with him.
“I went to a psychic once,” she told him. “She told me that one day I would be in bed with the devil. I always knew she meant you. It’s not your fault you gave in. It was destiny.”
He smiled faintly. “You believe in psychics?”
“I believe in a lot of things. I’m very interesting.”
“Yes, you are.”
She sighed and snuggled close. “Are we going to make love again tonight?”
“Yes.”
“You can be on top this time if you want.”
He chuckled. “You’re not in charge.”
“Of course I am. I’m also totally irresistible. Right now you’re wondering how you resisted me for so long.”
“It’s like you can read my mind.”
She closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of him. Everything about this moment felt right, she thought. As if this was what she’d been waiting for. As if-
Wait a minute. She wasn’t supposed to like having sex with Jack. She was supposed to be getting her revenge and moving on. They weren’t supposed to connect.
They weren’t, she told herself. She was just emotionally gooey from the afterglow. It was a biological response. Her body’s attempt to bond with a man who was genetically desirable. Come morning, she would be totally over him and this and be ready to walk away. Her plan would go on as scheduled and she would be free to move forward with her life.
“I’m healed,” Meri told Betina the next morning as she poured milk over her cereal. “Seriously, if I had a limp, it would be gone.”
Betina looked her over. “Based on the smirk and the glow, I’m going to guess you and Jack did the wild thing last night.”
Meri sighed with contentment. “We did. It was fabulous. Better than I imagined, which is hard to believe. I feel like a new woman. A new woman with really, really clear skin!”
Betina laughed. “Okay. Good for you.”
“Any progress with Colin?”
“No. I watched a movie and he spent the evening on his computer. Then we went to bed separately.”
Meri felt her fabulous mood fade a little. “That sucks. You need to talk to him.”
“I’m not taking advice from you.”
“Why not? My plan is working perfectly. Jack has had me and now he wants more. But he’s not going to get any more. I’m walking away.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely.”
“And you don’t feel a thing?”
“I’m a little sore,” Meri said with a grin.
Betina slowly shook her head. “Okay. Then I was wrong. I guess you don’t have any feelings for him. If you’re not thinking about being with him again or wanting to hang out with him, then you are healed. Yay you.”
Her friend poured coffee and walked out of the kitchen. Meri stared after her.
She didn’t have feelings for Jack. Okay, sure, he was a friend and, as such, she would always have a soft spot for him. She was also willing to admit that not sleeping with him again might be difficult, but only because it had been so darned good. Not because she felt any kind of emotional connection.
But as she thought the words, she felt a little ping in her heart. One that warned her something might not be right.
“I don’t care about him,” she told herself. “I don’t.”
Which was a good thing, because falling for him would totally ruin her attempts at revenge.
She finished her cereal, rinsed the bowl and put it in the dishwasher. Then she walked into the dining room.
Someone rang the bell at the front door. She frowned. It was too early for the rest of the team, not to mention a delivery. So who on earth…?
She walked to the front of the house and opened the door. Her mind went blank as she stared at the man standing there. The man who swept her into his arms and kissed her.
“Hey, babe,” he said.
She swallowed. “Andrew. This is a surprise.”
Seven
When Jack finished getting dressed after his shower, he debated going downstairs for coffee or heading up to the loft to check in with his office.
Coffee won, mostly because he hadn’t gotten much sleep the previous night. Sharing a bed with Meri had been anything but restful.
He walked out of his bedroom, then paused at the landing to look at the picture he’d mostly avoided since arriving at the house. It showed him and his friends during college. When everything had been easy and they’d called themselves the Seven Samurai.
Hunter laughed into the camera, because he’d always enjoyed whatever he was doing. Luke and Matt-twins who couldn’t be more different-held Ryan in a headlock, while he and Devlin poured beer over the group. He knew that just outside the view of the camera sat a teenage girl on a blanket, her head buried in a book. Because Meri had never quite fit in.
Hunter had worried about her, especially after he’d found out he was dying. That’s when he’d asked Jack to take care of her.
“Hell of a job,” Jack muttered to himself as he turned away from the picture. Sure, Meri was all grown up now, a woman who made her own choices. That was her excuse for what had happened the previous night. What was his?
He’d wanted her. Who wouldn’t? She was smart and funny and pretty as hell. She challenged him the way no one else dared. She was sexy and irreverent and so filled with life and ideas. Hunter would have been proud of her. Then he would have turned on Jack like a rabid dog and beaten the crap out of him. Or at least he would have tried. Knowing it was all his fault, Jack knew he just might have let him.
So now what? Meri had claimed she wanted to seduce him, which she probably thought she had. Did they just move on now? Pretend it hadn’t happened? Because it shouldn’t have, no matter how good it had been. If he could turn back time…
