Hidden Fire: Fire, Book 2: Red Hot Weekend Read Free Page B

of tension flexed the muscles in her shoulders. “What do you need to tell me?”
    He didn’t want to do this. Didn’t want to bring this up. “I want to make love to you, so damn much it hurts. But I can’t, Jenn. Not while you’re seeing someone else. Not without you knowing … ”
    Her expression silenced him.
    She peered at him blankly before her eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped open. The color drained from her face. She slapped a hand over her mouth and gasped in horror.
    “Dear God,” she groaned. “ Sam .” She looked appalled. And disgusted. “I forgot all about him. Have to find him. Have to apologize.”
    “Jenn—”
    “No, don’t talk to me. Don’t even look at me. I shouldn’t be here. Shouldn’t have done this. Not while Sam’s sleeping in my bed.”
    Garreth’s fingers curled into a fist. He wanted to hit someone. Hard. Yeah, he needed to fess up, tell her the truth, but he could deal with just one crisis at a time. And right now, Jenna’s relationship with Sam took precedence over him telling her about Rachel. “You should be here. You should have been here all along. In my room. In my bed. In my life. Not his.”
    “M-maybe. But being here now is wrong. So terribly, terribly wrong.” Her body shook, guilt assailing her from the inside no doubt.
    She scrambled for her clothes, dressed hurriedly. Wouldn’t look him in the eye.
    “You’re going back to him?” Say no. Please say no.
    She nodded.
    Garreth couldn’t breath. “Forever?”
    “To apologize. To make things right.”
    “Forever?” he asked again, not wanting to know the answer.
    She hesitated, still wouldn’t meet his eyes. “To end things,” she said at last. “I want to come back. To you.”
    “Thank God.” Garreth closed his eyes, let the breath he’d been holding out in slow gasps.
    When he opened his eyes, Jenna was at the door, about to open it.
    “Wait!” Shit. He hadn’t told her everything.
    “There’s something else?” Her desperate look spoke a thousand words. What could he say that was more shocking than reminding her she had a boyfriend?
    He nodded. “It’s about last night.”
    Her breath caught. “Wh-what about last night.”
    How did he say this without breaking any trust Jenna might have in him? There was just no easy way. Perhaps give her the plain truth first, and then follow it up with the whole convoluted explanation of why he’d done it?
    “I slept with Rachel.”
    Jenna blinked. “Pardon?”
    “I slept with Rachel. Last night.”
    Her eyes went blank. “Huh?”
    Uh oh. He didn’t like her expression. He had to explain. Fast. Before he lost her. “I met her. Two nights ago. Before you arrived at the hotel.”
    She stared at him, blinked again. Didn’t speak.
    “We got talking. One thing led to another…”
    “And you slept with her?” Her voice sounded even enough. It gave him not a clue as to the way she was feeling. Not a hint. Her face was void of expression.
    Garreth nodded as his blood ran cold. Inside, his gut churned and his ribs constricted, making breathing close to impossible. Jenna had just cut him off. In less than a heartbeat, she’d erected a wall between them. A sky-high, impenetrable wall. The fiery, passionate woman of moments ago was gone. In her place stood an icy, stoic stranger.
    He recognized her though. This was Jenna at her most defended, her most emotionally aloof. She’d distanced herself from him and his words and adopted an I-don’t-care façade. And it was this emotional detachment that told Garreth he’d caused Jenna profound pain, hurt her more deeply than he’d ever imagined possible.
    “I see. Did you know who she was?” she asked in a voice as barren as a wasteland.
    Shattered by her lack of reaction, he nodded again. “I did.” How could he not have known? Rachel was Jenna’s best friend, and the love of his roommate’s life.
    “Does Jackson know?”
    Another nod. Of course Jackson knew. He was there, with them, the second