Her Heart's Divide Read Free Page B

you two yelling?”
    Jack and I turned to see Ryan in the doorway. He was wearing nothing but a pair of jeans, and he was rubbing his thick black curls with a towel.
    “I’m out of my head, man. I’m sorry. Both of you, I’m sorry,” Jack said. “I’m tired and confused and taking it out on you guys. I’m glad you’re both still two of my best friends in this world, but I don’t understand why this world isn’t my world.”
    Whatever was wrong with Jack, the friendship between the men was the same, and Ryan was fast on the uptake. “Why don’t we take a walk, buddy?” Ryan asked. He punched Jack in the arm and grinned. “I’ve got some questions, anyway.”
    “I’ll just bet you do, but I don’t kiss and tell.”
    Ryan’s laugh filled the room. “Let me grab a shirt and we’ll bail.” He left.
    Jack turned to me. “Li, be patient with me. Two hours ago I thought you were my wife, and I was the happiest man in the world. Now I’m seeing that someone else is the happiest man in the world. And you’re telling me we’ve never even kissed.”
    “We haven’t, Jack,” I whispered. “I’m sorry.”
    He looked straight at me. “If you feel bad now, think about how you’d feel if you knew how good our kisses are.”
    His husky voice made my lips tingle, but there was nothing I could say.

Chapter Three
    Ryan emerged from our bedroom and kissed me goodbye. I watched the two men disappear down the path along the water, talking animatedly. I shivered. I hadn’t thought about Jack in a sexual way since that Christmas party. He’d shut me down pretty thoroughly and yet with so much kindness that I hadn’t felt hurt for very long. I’d assumed he wasn’t interested. And Ryan…Ryan was very interested and started showing it soon after that party.
    But the look in Jack’s eyes as he told me about our first kiss wasn’t the look of a man who’d turned down a young, tipsy receptionist. Instead, his expression had been hot and knowing, like he remembered exactly what it was like to make love to me.
    I couldn’t stand it. I grabbed my terry robe from the bedroom. I went out on the wraparound deck and shoved the cover off the hot tub, because if anyone needed to relax on their stupid freaking day off, it was me.
    Before long I was up to my neck in warm, bubbling water, watching the last of the sunlight reflect off the river. My body was relaxed, but my mind kept replaying the afternoon. Had I responded in any small way to Jack’s touch? I’d definitely responded to his description of my favorite sexual fantasy, so much so that I’d been more than ready for Ryan. And the memory of the Christmas party. So embarrassing, unless it had ended…differently.
    I could still feel his hands on my waist from seven years ago. What if, instead of resting there, he’d continued the slide down my body until those hands had been cupping my ass? What if instead of looking at my face to see if I was drunk, he’d closed his eyes and opened his lips? Would I have continued to hold him close, or would I have had my own second thoughts?
    My second thought wouldn’t have been to stop. It would have been to let his tongue into my mouth and to press my body against his.
    I shifted a little in the hot tub and closed my eyes. I hadn’t had a new fantasy in ages, and this one was hot. My hands traced the sides of my breasts as I imagined Jack’s hands running over the front of my silver party dress. I would have encouraged him and leaned into his palms. He would have found that I wasn’t wearing a bra, that my small breasts didn’t need one.
    My nipples rose up under my teasing touch, and I pulled them gently, flicking the tips with a fingernail. My lips parted and I ran my tongue over them, thinking of how his kiss might have gained urgency with his hands on my breasts.
    I felt a short spasm lower down at the thought. My thighs clenched and I took a deep breath. I moved my hands slowly from my breasts to my legs and ran my