Ever After (10 page)

“I don't think that's a good idea.” His tone went back to being stern.

Hallie pushed away from him. “Okay. I'll move downstairs. But, no, that couch down there is too small to sleep on. I know. I'll call Jared and see if I can stay in his house for a few nights. I know it's empty. You'll be all right here by yourself, won't you?” She batted her lashes at him in innocence.

Jamie looked like he was torn between anger and helplessness. “All right, I'll move upstairs.” His teeth were clenched together.

“That's great!” Hallie said. “I'll help you pack your things, and tonight I want to do some breathing exercises with you.” She headed toward his room.

“Look only in the bathroom and the closet!” Jamie called after her. “I'll take care of the desk.” He glared at the locked door that led into the tea room. “Whatever you've got hidden away in there, Henry Bell, I'm going to expose it, 'cause look what you've done to
me
.”

He moved as fast as he could to get to the living room and dragged his duffel bag from under the bed. While Hallie was gathering toiletries from the bathroom, he slipped eight bottles of medication into the side pocket and zipped it.

J
amie was lying on his back on the floor of his new bedroom, his hands clasped and raised above his head. Hallie was seated beside him, leaning over his midsection, her hand just below his navel. Not that she could
see
his belly button, but she could guess at it. “I want to feel your breath coming from here,” she said. “Now deeper and slower.”

“Are you sure this is going to do anything?”

“Shhhh,” she said. “Don't talk. Just breathe.” She watched him slowly raise and lower his hands and take long, deep breaths. He was such a contradiction! she thought. On the surface he seemed to not have a serious thought in his mind, always teasing and laughing, but his body felt like a tightly coiled spring. If she could just get him to fully relax, maybe he wouldn't need pills to help him sleep.

She couldn't help wondering what had made him so tense.
Was there a recent tragedy in his life? A brush with death for him? But she knew better than to flat out ask him. He'd change the subject.

They spent an hour together doing exercises. Jamie called them “girly” and frowned, but she could tell that the breathing movements were helping him. At one point she saw his eyes flicker as though he were sleepy. The thought that she'd helped enough that he might not need pills for sleep made her feel good.

When she finished with him, he lay on the thick rug, his eyes closed, and smiling. “Feel better?” she asked.

“I do, actually.” He sounded surprised.

She stood up and looked down at him. He'd said that he was truly beginning to
like
her and she felt the same way about him. She'd never before felt so comfortable with a man. Sometimes they even seemed to have the same thoughts at the same time.

With the few boyfriends she'd had in the past, she usually couldn't wait to get away from them. Growing up, her neighbor Mrs. Westbrook, Braden's mother, had been a best friend to her. She used to say that Hallie's problem was that she chose men like the people she knew. Hallie asked what she meant. “Larry was slow and easy like your grandfather, and Kyle was never available, just like your father. And Craig sat in a chair and let you wait on him. He was a male Shelly.” At the time, she'd laughed at the very accurate description of her past relationships, but she knew she didn't want to repeat herself.

Of course there was one man they hadn't spoken of: Braden. They both wanted the same thing, for her and Braden to get together, but that didn't look like it was going to happen.

As Hallie looked at Jamie Taggert, still lying on the floor, she wondered if it was possible that they could have a future together.

Slowly, Jamie opened his eyes and looked up at her. Some of what she was thinking must have been showing because his expression
changed from sleepy to an invitation. He held up his hand for her to join him on the floor—and Hallie knew where that would lead. A quickie with him in his big sweatsuit. It would probably be wonderful, but in the morning she'd be angry at herself for mixing business with pleasure.

She had to turn away or she'd let the pleasure side win. “Can you get up by yourself?” Her back was to him.

“Sure,” he said, his voice flat. He sounded like a man who'd just been rejected—which, in a way, he was.

She heard him as he held on to the bedpost and got up. When he was standing, she looked back at him and gave a smile as though nothing had happened. “I'll see you in the morning.”

“All right,” Jamie said, his voice cool and distant. But then his head came up. “How do
you
work out?”

“The usual way,” she said. The truth was that between taking care of Shelly, multiple jobs, going to school, and, well, taking care of Shelly, gym time had been left out. She'd told herself that the practice sessions where she'd learned the proper form for rehabilitation had been enough.

The wary expression left Jamie's handsome face and the tension between them was gone. “Tomorrow morning you're going to work out with me.”

“No, I'm not,” Hallie said quickly. She'd seen him in the gym. He'd probably hand her fifty-pound dumbbells and say, “Now, let's see what you can do with them.”

“I'll see you at six
A.M.
Goodnight.”

“I don't think that would be a good idea.”

With an almost menacing look, he came toward her on one crutch and Hallie backed up. She didn't realize she was in the hall until he closed the door in her face.

She started to open the door and protest, but she didn't. Instead, yawning, she went into her own room and got into bed. She'd deal with that in the morning.

Hours later, when the groans woke Hallie, she came alert
instantly, and in seconds she was in Jamie's bedroom. It was very dark, with no nightlight, and she had to use her memory to get to the bed. He was thrashing about, rolling from one side to the other, and when Hallie touched his shoulder he grabbed her to him. Her feet were still on the floor and she was so twisted that she was close to breaking.

She threw a leg up onto the bed. He'd tossed the covers off so her body was next to his. She wore only a big T-shirt and underpants, but even at night he was covered by sweatpants and a long-sleeved cotton shirt.

He pulled her to him, snuggling them so her legs were held between his. As soon as her hips were pressed to his she knew he was ready for her.

“Jamie?” she whispered, but there was no answer.

His hand slowly moved over her body, down to her nearly bare backside, caressing her flesh all the way down.

Hallie's eyes closed. He was such a beautiful man and his hard body against hers was making her heart beat quickly. “I can't—We can't—” she began, but he bent his head and kissed her.

It wasn't like the other two kisses. This one was full of passion and desire. When his tongue touched hers, Hallie forgot about the forbidden aspect and kissed him back. She'd wanted him from the moment she'd first seen him and days of being near him had intensified that desire.

She kissed him back as though she were desperate, needed him past desire. With her knee nudging his maleness, when her foot touched the mattress, she dug in so that he turned onto his back. A groan came from him. It wasn't his usual nighttime sound of fear, but raw, unbridled passion.

Hallie straddled him, feeling his hard desire between her legs. The room was so dark she couldn't see his face, but when she kissed his eyes they were closed.

Sitting back, she flung her T-shirt to the floor and leaned
over him, her naked breasts in his face. There was another sound from him, this one almost of pain. There was deep yearning in his voice.

In one quick, strong movement, he flipped her onto her back. She felt him pulling the drawstring on his pants and lowering them. Her arms were around him, feeling the muscles in his body, the deep curves of them, the ridges and valleys. Naked, he must be a sight to behold, she thought.

She still had on her underpants, so when he started to enter her, there was a barrier. “Wait,” she whispered as she reached down to remove them.

“I will wait for you forever, Valery,” he said, his lips on her ear.

Hallie froze beneath him. In an instant her mind went from being blind with lust to crystal clear. She was about to have sex with a man who was in a drug-induced sleep! Was she
crazy
?! Not only would he not remember it in the morning but he'd think he'd dreamed of making love with another woman.

For a moment, the feel of his magnificent body, his breath on her cheek, and his sheer masculinity made her think, Who cares?

But she had more pride than that. It wasn't easy, but she rolled out from under him and stood up. Her heart was still pounding, her breath coming fast and loud, and it took minutes to get herself under control.

The darkness of the room had annoyed her, but now she was glad for it because she was nearly nude.

When she heard Jamie moving his arms, she knew he was searching for her.

She felt her way around to the far side of the bed, found her T-shirt, and put it on. The noise he was making had stopped and for a moment she thought maybe he'd awakened, but she heard the soft sound of his breathing and she knew he was still asleep.

She made her way to the door and through to her own bed. As she lay there—alone—part of her regretted her decision to leave him. Sex with a sleeping man. When you thought about it, it wasn't such a bad idea.

But Hallie knew herself well enough to realize that it wouldn't have stopped there—not for her, anyway. She wasn't the type of person who could sue her stepsister when she tried to steal from her, and she wasn't one to have sex without feelings attached. Like Jamie had said, she was growing to like him more every day. Would they have easy, pleasant companionship during the day and sex at night? Sex that he didn't remember?

“So what happens when Valery shows up?” she whispered aloud. Would Hallie just step aside and think it was fun while it lasted? Smile at the two of them as they walked around the garden and kissed and snuggled?

No, she knew she wouldn't be able to do that. Before she finally went back to sleep, she renewed her vow to keep the relationship between them professional.