Her Heart's Divide Read Free Page A

and I would have hit the ground face-first if Jack hadn’t caught me. His arms were so strong and his skin was warm. His cologne was as rich as the expensive shirt he was wearing. I’d snuggled into his broad, muscular chest. Under his cologne, I could smell him, a delicious mix of soap and something like cinnamon. His steadying grip had turned into an embrace, and then his hands had started moving down my back.
    But then he’d paused, with the big strong hands of a former wide receiver snug against my waist. “How much have you had to drink, Lila?”
    “Oh, a bit.”
    “I think more than a bit, actually. Come on, you. Let’s go get some water. Uh…actually, I still need to hit the bathroom. Hit the lights, will you?”
    By the time he’d come out of the bathroom, I’d found the light switch, and in the bright overhead lights I was sobering up rapidly. “Jack, I, uh…”
    “Never happened, Lila.”
    And we’d gone back to the party. He’d never mentioned it again or been awkward about it, so I assumed it really had been forgotten by Jack, if not by me.
     
    Now I stood in my living room in front of him, and he had clearly not forgotten. “So tell me what happened at the party, Lila.”
    I took a few steps closer to him. “I was a little drunk, I blurted out something about your ass in your office, and then I fell on you.”
    “And?”
    “And nothing. You caught me, commented on my drinking and took me downstairs for some water. And you said it never happened, and until now you never brought it up again,” I said with a meaningful look.
    “Wow,” he said.
    “Wow? Is that all you can say?”
    “That’s not how the evening ended, as I remember it.” He stopped and I glared at him.
    “And?”
    “You gave me that…compliment, and you immediately started apologizing. I managed to not blurt out that I’d been admiring you for weeks.”
    I felt myself blushing again. “You had?”
    “Good god, yes. You were and are one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen. And at the Christmas party, you were stunning. The way your dress sparkled and clung to your body had me dying to talk to you alone all night.”
    “Jack, I had no idea—”
    “Seeing you in the moonlight almost killed me. You were everything I ever wanted.” His voice was raspy, and it dropped to a whisper. “When you fell into my arms, it was like a sign. I held you, and you snuggled right in. It seemed like you wanted to be there.”
    “I did. But you stopped everything!” I burst out.
    “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I didn’t.” He stood up. “I thought for a second you were more drunk than you’d seemed, the way you’d fallen like that—”
    “My heel caught on your office rug.”
    “Yeah, that’s what you said in the morning when I asked.”
    I froze. “The morning?”
    He gave me a slow smile that made me shiver. “Lila, after that kiss in my office, there was no way, no way in hell I was going to let you go home alone.”
    “Jack,” I said weakly, “I promise you that we did not kiss that night or ever.”
    “And I’m telling you we did. It was fantastic too.” He leaned forward a little. “Long and slow, just the way you love first kisses. You told me that too.”
    He was so close that I could feel the warmth of his skin. A thick lock of hair had fallen forward near his eyes, and almost against my will, I lifted my hand to brush it away. My heart was pounding. His eyes were dark with longing.
    We both heard the shower stop and we jumped.
    “God, Jack.” I tried to laugh. “You really had me going there for a second. I almost believed that evening ended totally differently.”
    “Damn it, Lila, I’m trying to tell you it did end differently. I’m a lot of things, but I’m not an idiot, and only an idiot would have let you go that night.”
    “You didn’t let me go. You walked me downstairs and didn’t leave my side until I’d eaten a plateful of food!”
    “Why do I keep coming in to see