AudreyI rubbed my eyes and yawned hugely, looking at my phone again. Still nothing from Annabelle. She was supposed to be here to pick me up at the Fayetteville airport. I couldn’t help the prickle of irritation that I felt at the fact that she was late. Granted, I hadn’t given her much warning that I would be coming back.That said, I had just finished up 23 hours of travel time, including two layovers, to get back here, and I was exhausted and cranky. Not to mention the fact that I was dying for a shower and a fresh change of clothes. Fortunately, my nausea hadn’t been too bad on the flight, although I had brought my own snacks rather than trying to eat what the airline dished out to me. I’d stuck to water as well. That seemed to help.Still, I couldn’t help feeling the complete opposite of a glamorous ballerina right now. Normally, I dressed semi-professional for flights, in slacks and a nice shirt. When I’d gone to put on my slacks, though, I found that they weren’t at all comfor
Audrey“Should we go straight over to his place? Or wait, he’s probably at the hardware store right now. That’s easy. Let’s swing by on the way back to the house. Mom is dying to see you too, but I’m sure she’ll understand if we have to make a stop on the way.” She smirked at me. “You’ll have to keep it to kissing for now, though.”I shook my head. I wasn’t ready for a confrontation with Jesse yet. I hadn’t told him that I was coming back, even though I knew it was only a matter of time before the rumor mill informed him. I should probably talk to him before he heard from someone else. I didn’t want him to think that I was avoiding him. Anyway, I wanted to see him.Not right away, though. I wanted to sleep before I saw him, at least. I was still worn out, and I didn’t want to say something that I would regret.I also didn’t want him to look at me, knowing that I was pregnant, and accuse me of not taking care of myself and, by proxy, our baby. I hadn’t realized how important that was t
Audrey“Have you at least given Jesse a heads-up already?” Annabelle asked. “It is his, right? Not some French dude’s? I mean, it’s okay if it’s some French dude’s, but Jesse’s going to be heartbroken.”I shook my head. “It’s his. But I haven’t told him yet. I wanted to tell him in person,” I said, even though I knew that part of my delay was just that I was having a hard time getting the courage to do it.“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Annabelle said. She paused. “You probably don’t want to tell him in the middle of his work day, huh?”“Nope,” I said, shaking my head. “To be honest, I really need a shower and a night of good sleep first.” I glanced over at her, wondering if she would argue with that. I knew that Jesse had a right to know. It wasn’t like I was going to try to keep this from him. I just wasn’t ready for that conversation yet. Surely, she would understand that.Fortunately, Annabelle was nodding. “Yeah, let’s get you home.” She started the car. Was it just my imag
JesseWe weren’t super busy on Saturday, and it was easy enough to manage the shop by myself while Joe was on his lunch break. The only trouble was, it gave me a little too much time to think. I was starting to dread that. I still couldn’t stop thinking about Audrey.That said, I was starting to finally feel like I had settled back into my old routine. All right, maybe I was still going to Gabby’s more than I used to, all for the sake of asking Annabelle about her sister. I was starting to get used to the silence around the house in the mornings and evenings, though, and that was what really mattered.I did miss the excitement of being with Audrey. Now, every day sort of felt the same. A colorless blur. Oh, there were certainly moments that were out of the ordinary, like when Chance actually clocked in on time that morning and Joe started cheering for him, confusing the heck out of the kid. That had brought a grin to my face.Most of the day was just the same as the day before: going
AudreyI had been nervous about how my reunion with Jesse would go. Would there still be that lingering anger that had driven us apart over my last few days in North Carolina? I knew that he had apologized for that, and I of course had forgiven him. Still, there might be an awkwardness that hadn’t been there before.He could have realized what I had been telling him all along, that dance was the most important thing to me and that he couldn’t factor into those decisions. He could have decided that he was better off with someone else. Because hell, he sure deserved someone else. He was a good guy, and he deserved someone who was going to put him first.He didn’t seem to be thinking along those lines, though, as he kissed me. The kiss was heated, his soft lips moving firmly against mine. He took control of the kiss, plunging his tongue into my mouth and tangling his fingers in the hair at the nape of my neck to guide me into a slightly different angle so that our noses weren’t mushed to
JesseAudrey giggled as she turned her leggings the right way around and pulled them on. I couldn’t help grinning over at her. She sounded happy, and I knew that it wasn’t just the orgasm making her feel that way. No, she looked happy to be back, and I knew it wasn’t Aberdeen in general that was making her feel that way. She had to miss Paris and her ballet, but she was happy to be here with me. That meant the world to me.“Just like teenagers,” she commented as she pulled her shirt on. I was there immediately to push my hands up under the fabric, touching her breasts through the lacy bra that she had just covered up. “We can barely keep our hands off one another.”I raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you complaining?”She sighed happily, leaning into me as I tugged one side of her bra out of the way and toyed with her nipple. “Not at all,” she promised me. She leaned up on her tiptoes for another soft kiss. “I know you’ve got to get back to work and all, but maybe I can see you later?”I
JesseI tried not to think about the inevitability of her return to France. She might be done with the Global Travelling Dance Academy of Performing Arts for now, but I knew her well enough to know that it wasn’t forever. She’d be back eventually. Sooner rather than later, probably.I pushed those thoughts aside, though, reminding myself of what she had said to me the last time she was here: Can’t we just enjoy the time that we have? That was what I wanted to do now. Although I also intended to have a serious conversation with her at some point about our future. There was no way in hell I was letting her go off back to France without me again. No way in hell.For now, though, we’d keep things light. “Have you had lunch yet?” I asked her as I slid into the driver’s seat of my truck.Audrey shook her head. “Nope, and I’m starving,” she admitted. “This whole jetlag thing is hell on my body, let me tell you.”“When did you get back?” I asked her. “Just today?”“Yesterday, actually,” Audre
AudreyI knew that I shouldn’t have eaten so much, but I really had been starving when Jesse asked if I had eaten lunch. I definitely shouldn’t have eaten so many fried, heavy foods, especially not when I had been so careful about my diet over the past couple of months in France. But I was hungry, and French fries had just sounded way too good to pass up.Now, though, I was feeling queasy again. The last thing I wanted was to bolt for the restroom to get sick. The lies about why I was really back here just kept coming, and although Jesse believed me for now, I didn’t think it would take much for him to put two and two together and realize why I was really here. He was a perceptive guy, and he knew me all too well.I tried to play it cool as he kept asking me questions about Paris and getting kicked out of the Academy. This, I hadn’t planned on. I had thought, somehow, that he would be so happy that I was back that he wouldn’t care so much about why. I’d known before I went to see him