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
AudreyFirst, though, I had to get to the point where I had the baby. Right now, my visions of the future were dashed as my stomach roiled uncomfortably. I bolted from the table, barely managing to gasp out a quick, “Be right back!” Fortunately, there was no one in the bathroom as I hunched over the toilet and threw up everything that had tasted so good just minutes ago.I was pale and shaking by the time I was through, and I gave myself a grim look in the mirror as I washed my hands. Behavior like this wasn’t going to help me keep my secret, I knew that. Jesse was bound to worry about me. The last thing I needed was for him to insist on taking me to a doctor or something. Which was just the kind of thing that he might do.Food poisoning. That would probably cover it for now. I’d say it was something on the flight, maybe. That it had been bugging me the whole time that I was in transit. That would buy me time until I was ready to tell him about the pregnancy. Maybe the morning sicknes
JesseThere was a smile on my face when I woke up on Sunday morning, and it only grew as I rolled over and found Audrey still in bed beside me. It was the first time that I could remember waking up happy in the two months since she had left. Audrey was still asleep, and her beauty took my breath away. She looked relaxed and peaceful, comfortable. She had the blanket pulled up under her cheek, her arm curled around the pillow.She looked just as perfect as I remembered her. I never wanted to let her go again; I wanted her there next to me every morning when I woke up.I forced myself not to think that far ahead into the future. That was a recipe for disappointment. Eventually, she was probably going to want to head back to Paris and try to get herself back into the Academy. Or into some other dance troupe; there had to be more out there who would leap at the opportunity to have her. She was incredible, and I didn’t believe that some gaffe, even if it had been on stage, was enough to kn
Jesse“Audrey?” I asked, worried about her. “Are you all right?”She shook her head and rushed off to the bathroom, just like she had the previous day at lunch. This time, though, I was there to hold back her hair as she heaved over the toilet. There wasn’t much to come up, and I winced in sympathy as she dry-retched a few times. Finally, she drew a ragged breath and wiped at her mouth, sitting back. I held her against my chest.“Are you sure this is just food poisoning?” I asked her. “Maybe you should see a doctor.”Audrey shook her head. “I’ll be all right,” she said. “I’m sure I’m just making it worse each time I try to eat something. I just need to let it pass and then I’ll be fine.”I frowned, wanting to argue with that, but I didn’t know what to say. Of course she knew her body better than I could. Anyway, it seemed like the nausea was her only symptom. Maybe it was just food poisoning. I felt sorry for her either way.She pulled out of my arms and pushed herself to her feet, lo