You Can't Go Home Again (14 page)

Dani laughed. “I’ve missed you. Why haven’t you called me
until now?”

“I miss you too. But I can’t call. It has to play out the
way it’s supposed to. In fact, I can’t even be on the phone now. You have
somewhere to go, don’t you? Okay, so I’m hanging up. But, whenever it
happens…enjoy it for me too! I really need to get a new boyfriend.”

With that Nina hung up, leaving Dani staring at the phone
bewildered. As she set the phone back on the nightstand, she laughed again.
Only Nina could call her, leave her more confused than she’d been before, and
still make her feel better.

She had just finished dressing when she heard the doorbell
ring, followed by “Knock knock” as Jenn walked in.

Dani headed down the steps, catching up to Jenn in the
kitchen, grabbing coffee.

“So, are you ready for today?”

Jenn laughed. “Ready or not, here we go.”

* * * * *

Jace woke up hard and aching. This dream had been worse than
the one last night. Or maybe it was better. Depended on how you look at it. He
had been having crazy hot dreams of Dani for the last week. This one had been
bad enough he woke up on the verge of coming.

Any dream would have been enough, but this one was vivid. So
vivid it felt real. He could recall every touch, every kiss…every steamy
detail.

She’d been behind him on his bike, pressed tight against
him. He had no idea why she was there, where they had come from, but he could
feel her body against his back, her arms around his waist.

When they pulled up in front of her house, she’d climbed off
the bike, facing away from him. When she turned to face him, her desire was
obvious. Her tight nipples were pressing against her T-shirt, her mouth parted
slightly. Her eyes were heavy lidded, a flush crawling up her cheeks.

He had tried to resist her, although he didn’t know why. It
was his dream; why should he resist? He’d lost the fight anyway, grabbing her
hair and pressing his lips to hers. It was all hard heat. They barely made it
inside the house before he ripped her clothes off and took her against the
wall.

Just the thought of pressing into her wet, waiting flesh had
his shaft pulsing, pressing against his boxers. He needed a cold shower.

He stepped into the water, the temperature as cold as he
could get it in the summer heat. The cold spray should have cooled his lust. It
didn’t. When he finally gave in, he wrapped his hand around his shaft, unable
to stop his hips from thrusting. In less than a minute he reached his release,
the dreamed feel of Dani’s legs around him fresh in his mind.

Once he was dressed, he debated again whether or not to go
see her. The same debate he’d had with himself every morning since Saturday. He
needed to talk to her and he knew it. When he wasn’t near her, when he could
think logically, he knew he’d been wrong. Whatever it was about his scars that
upset her, it wasn’t because she was repulsed by him.

On some level he’d known even Friday night. She’d been
crying too hard. She’d been crying like someone died. Dani wasn’t prone to
tears and never to drama. Not like that. It had seemed odd, since she’d been a
theater major, but she’d always been very in control of her emotions.

When her parents had died, he’d seen the pain lurking behind
the smile. He’d had no idea what to say when he went to see her, but he’d felt
her hurting. He’d gone back that day because he’d had to, not even
understanding why himself. He’d just known he couldn’t stand to see her like
that.

When he first got there, when she’d been crying, it had been
easy to be a friend. Later that night, while she’d slept, curled so sweetly
against him, it had been all he could do not to kiss her.

Somehow, he’d resisted. And the next year had been amazing.
And hell on earth. They’d gotten close, really close. Close enough that if it
had been anyone but her, he would have run as far and as fast as he could. He
knew that she’d trusted him, completely. And she’d never had any idea that he
spent ninety percent of the time fighting to keep his hands off her. Sometimes
he hadn’t been able to. He’d found himself touching her almost constantly
during that year. All little, innocuous, friendly touches. Because that’s what
he was. Her friend.

Until that night at the beach. The night his body, his
hormones, had gotten the best of him. He’d kissed her and she’d responded. He’d
been screwed.

Even as he’d been telling himself to stop, that he’d only
take one more kiss, one more touch, he’d known it was a losing battle. It had
been a year of intense desire, dreams finally realized.

Her response had clinched it. She’d kissed him back,
touching, tasting. When he’d pulled her suit aside, she’d been wet and ready.
And the minute he touched her she’d exploded, coming in his hand.

When he’d finally buried himself inside her she had reveled
in it, matching his hectic pace thrust for thrust, until they both shattered.

And the next morning, she’d been gone. No good-bye, no phone
call. Not even “Be safe in Afghanistan.” Nothing. It had been the worst mistake
of his life. The only thing that came close was the way he’d treated her since
she’d come home.

He knew it was himself he was really angry at, not her. But
every time he saw her rational thought flew out the window. He wanted to kiss
her or kill her. The two desires warred within him, struggling for dominance.
Usually lust won out. Until she pushed him away; then the anger took over.

Jace stood up, shoving away from the table with enough force
to knock over the chair he’d been sitting in. He wanted to go see her. Talk to
her. Touch her. But this morning, like the last four, he knew he wouldn’t. He
grabbed his cell and called Zack. He didn’t want to talk; for that he’d call
Bri. He wanted to fight, and he knew Zack was off this morning.

“Hey, meet me at the gym?”

“Sure, weights or what?”

“Nah, I was thinking the ring?”

“Okay, sounds good. Be there in twenty.”

Jace hung up the phone. Zack was a good guy. He and Jace had
hit it off in college freshman year. They had both dated frequently, a new girl
every few weeks. Where Jace had been loyal, never cheating on one girl with
another, Zack had been a true player. He’d never had a girlfriend longer than
two weeks. Still hadn’t, to the best of Jace’s knowledge. He hadn’t even been
able to stay faithful to most of them for that long.

He’d also been very different from Bri. Brian was quieter,
deeper. He had always seen through Jace’s line of bullshit. So when Jace hadn’t
wanted to talk about something, he’d hung with Zack. Apparently not much had
changed.

* * * * *

Unfortunately, Zack picked today to be observant. After a
few minutes in the ring, and a few solid hits from Jace, he stepped back,
raising his hands to stop.

“Okay, I’m all for a good fight, but did you want to tell me
what you’re actually fighting? Just so I know how hard to expect the hits to
be.”

“No. You ready?”

Zack grabbed some water before turning back. “So, you’re
thinking that beating the piss out of me might make you feel better.”

“Don’t want to talk about it. You ready?”

Zack nodded. “Heard you and Nicole broke up.” He was
guessing, trying to figure out what had Jace so riled up this morning. Jace said
nothing, just got this baffled expression on his face. Okay, strike one.

“You in a fight with your family? Your brother or
something?”

“No, I really don’t want to talk about it. Let’s go.”

Okay, strike two. No resentment there…that meant it was a
woman. Which would also explain the Nicole situation. “So, then this is about
Dani.”

Jace’s face turned hard, his mouth set into a grim line.
Home run.

“Are we gonna fight or sit around and gossip like two old
women?” Jace was not going to talk about this.

“Okay, let’s fight. At least now I know how hard you’re
gonna hit.” He shook out his arms, bent his neck from one side to the other,
then stepped toward Jace. “Bring it, bro.”

Jace brought it.

Dani took her own car to the rehearsal. She was riding in a
limo with the rest of the wedding party to the dinner itself, but they were all
meeting at Jenn’s parents’ house for the actual rehearsal. Dani wanted to make
sure she had an escape route should she need it.

She saw the cars out front and knew most people were already
there. She stopped just outside the side gate to take a deep breath to steady
herself—until she heard Jenn scream.

“Oh my God! Are you kidding me?”

Dani came running in, expecting some major destruction; the
tent was destroyed, the archway had fallen apart. Instead she saw Jenn standing
in front of Jace and Zack, hands on her hips and a glare in her eyes. She could
only see the back of their heads, so she couldn’t read their expressions, but
their posture looked very much like children being chastised. Head down, hands
clasped behind their back, shoulders hunched.

She ran over, trying to figure out why Jenn would be so
upset. As soon as she saw their faces, she knew.

“You got into a bar fight?”

They all looked up at the sound of Dani’s voice. Jace looked
pissed, like it was somehow her fault, but Zack was smirking.

It was Zack who answered. “Not exactly. We got into a fight.
With each other. But we were wearing pads.”

Dani looked closer. Zack had a black eye. It still looked
fresh, which meant it was shaping up to be a doozy. Jace had a split lip, not
too bad, but he had another cut just above his right eye. It looked like it
needed stitches.

Dani turned to Jenn, saw the anger pooling into panic as she
mumbled something about the wedding photos. “Jenn, it’ll be fine. We’re going
to do this rehearsal, and the dinner. Then Jace is going with me to the ER to
get stitches in that damn fool head of his. Zack’s black eye will be easy. I’ll
just cover it all with makeup before the wedding. They won’t ruin your
pictures, okay? I promise.” She put her arms around Jenn’s shoulders, steering
her over toward Bri and the minister waiting by the back door of the house.

Once Jenn was safely on her way, Dani headed back out to
Zack. He was the safer of the two choices. “Okay, do I want to know why you two
had a brawl?”

Zack smirked again, throwing an arm around her shoulder.
“No, probably not. But I’ll tell you anyway, if you ask.”

Dani looked at him; the smirk had a slightly evil twinge to
it. She debated for all of thirty seconds before deciding she was better off
not knowing. “Nope. Doesn’t matter. You will both do exactly what I say, and we
will make up your eye before the wedding. And the idiot over there,” she
vaguely waved toward Jace, “will go get stitched after this dinner. So, are you
taking him or am I?”

Zack smiled again; this time, it was definitely wicked. “Why
don’t we ask him?”

Dani squinched her eyes at him, giving him a sideways glare.
Zack’s response was to lean in, give her a quick kiss on the cheek and laugh.
“Come on. I think they’re waiting on us.”

* * * * *

The rehearsal went off without a hitch, and by the time they
all piled into the limo, Jenn was in much better spirits. Dani, on the other
hand, was getting more and more stressed. She hadn’t actually spoken to Jace
all night. It hadn’t been that hard to avoid doing so, since they had
essentially been silent as they ran through the wedding three times.

Unfortunately, she was now seated next to him. Somehow, out of
six other choices, she had ended up between Jace and the door.

Conversation flowed around them, laughter and teasing, a
group of people obviously comfortable with each other. Dani couldn’t even enjoy
it. She was too aware of Jace sitting next to her, his leg pressed full length
against her own. She was wishing she’d worn jeans instead of a dress, anything
to act as a barrier between them.

She was officially in hell. She was being tortured, punished
for past sins. Maybe this was his way of getting even with her for not being
there when he’d needed her. She was pretty sure that if he kept this up she
would spontaneously combust. A choked giggle escaped as she thought about how
Jenn would react to that. That would definitely screw up her wedding.

At the sound of her giggle, Jace looked over. Since this
brought out yet another giggle, she wasn’t surprised when he leaned in toward
her, whispering , “Let me in on the joke.”

She turned to whisper back to him, something they’d done a
thousand times before, and found herself staring straight into his eyes. As she
lost herself in a sea of green, everything around them fell away. She forgot
where they were, forgot the people in the car with them. She forgot that he was
mad at her, forgot that she was ignoring him.

* * * * *

Jace’s hands physically itched with the urge to touch her.
He’d been fighting with himself since she’d come in, yelling at him and calling
him an idiot. Her summer dress, some mix of purples in a form-fitting shape,
left her arms, and way too much of her legs, bare. It had been hard enough to
pull his eyes from her while the minister was talking. Now, sitting next to
her, he longed to reach out and run his hands up her exposed thigh.

Instead he gripped his hands into fists, clenching them
together in his lap until his knuckles were white with the effort. When she
leaned toward the door, crossing her legs in the process, he barely contained
his groan. His shaft pulsed, going rock hard with desire. He shifted in his
seat, unwittingly brushing his hip against hers.

After another minute, another leg shift from Dani, Jace gave
up, his hand reaching over, needing to touch her skin.

He ran his thumb down her cheek, watching as she sucked in a
breath and held it. He wanted to kiss her. As he leaned forward, a fraction of
an inch, the group around them burst out laughing.