Passionate Tides (6 page)

* * *

Stepping out of the shower, she threw Jake a towel before covering herself. She didn’t even take the time to dry off, she just headed down the hall to the spare room where she closed the door and sat on the bed. She was so confused. She thought she was in control of her desire for Jake and what they had would stay in the friend zone, but after what they had just done, there was no looking back.

She wasn’t sure how to handle it. Jake looked at her in a way that made her heart race and when they weren’t together, she ached for him to be near. The lovemaking was the best she had ever had, but she didn’t want to fall in love. She didn’t want to risk her heart again. She just wanted someone to hold her and make love to her without the fear of a broken heart. But somehow Jake had managed to steal her heart, and when she headed back to West Virginia in a few weeks, he would most likely keep it here in North Carolina.

What had she done?
She had fallen in love and her divorce had only been final for a few weeks. Resting her head in her hands she felt the hot sting of tears fill her eyes. “I’m such a freaking idiot!” she said out loud to herself. She lay back on the bed and ignored the sound of footsteps retreating down the hall. A door opened and closed on the first floor and she knew that Jake had left. She was alone again.

* * *

Jake didn’t know what to think, one moment she had been so wrapped up in him that it felt like they were one, and now she was running and locking herself in the guest room? He asked himself over and over again. What did I do? Why would she shut herself off from me again?

He took her escape to the guest room as just that, an escape from him, so he left. Maybe he should have confronted her, asked her what was wrong, but he couldn’t stand to be shunned again by a woman he loved. He knew he was taking a risk with her; their relationship had a stop date posted on it. Once the house was done, she would leave and head back to her old life. Against all of his past promises to never to do it again, he had fallen in love with her. Now his heart was tearing in two and the only person that could repair it was hiding from him behind a locked door.

* * *

Paisley sat on the deck overlooking the ocean, her laptop in front of her. No words came to mind as she stared at the blank pages on the screen. Her thoughts kept going back to Jake, and the way he had made her feel, and the way she had run from him, again. She knew she had messed up, but she couldn’t find the courage to make things right.

She zoned, watching the waves crest and fall over the sand. The wind was cold enough to make her want to retreat into the comfort of her temporary home. Lightning lit the sky over the horizon. A storm was brewing somewhere far off over the raging sea. Jake had spent the last few nights anywhere but in his apartment, and she feared that she may have scared him off for good. Claiming defeat, she gathered her notes before the wind took them and headed into the house. Stripping off her yoga pants, she climbed in bed, but sleep was far from her grasp. His scent still lingered in the sheets and the taste of his skin haunted her every thought. She wrapped them around herself and cried as the storm outside raged on.

Paisley watched the red numbers on her clock through blurry eyes. Hours had passed since the storm had forced her into hiding. Her rooms were depressing and quiet without Jake’s presence, the tiny reminders of their time together pressuring her to face the mistake she had made and the reality that she had to fix it. The moon appeared over the calm waters of the ocean as the sun made its decent behind the dunes, casting the sky in brilliant shades of gold, orange, and pink. She stood on the upstairs balcony, watching the brilliance of the painted sky, its beauty a reminder of the ugly decision she had made. Her shoulders slummed with defeat as she turned her back to the sound and took the short steps to the ocean front deck, resigned to her fate of eating chocolate and crying in her pillow.

Just as she turned the corner on the wrap around deck, she saw a form sitting on the beach, one lonely shape standing out in her view. It had to be Jake. She had gone to his apartment hoping to apologize and explain the reasons behind her odd behavior, but when she knocked, there was no answer. He hadn’t spoken to her since the night she left him standing in the shower alone. Her guilt over the way she had left him and the feelings of loss his distance provided was too much for her to handle, so she did the only thing she knew to do. She picked up the phone and called Tiffany and prayed that her best friend would give her the advice she needed and be the kind ear that had been there for her since she started wearing a training bra. The desperation was evident in her voice as her friend had answered the phone. “I need to talk, is it too late?”

“What has that son of a bitch done now?” Tiffany all but yelled through the phone.

“It’s not Vince…Tiffany; I have made a huge mistake.” She told Tiffany the whole story, everything that happened between her and Jake. The more she talked about him, the more her body craved to be near him. Silence filled the phone line and she wondered if her friend was still there. “Tiffany? I think I need to come home, I can’t do this anymore, I just need to come back home and get what’s left of my life in order.” Her best friend of nearly twenty years did something that she had never expected. She yelled at her.

“Paisley Ann, you get your cute little ass downstairs and apologize to Jake right now! He is a good man and you deserve someone like him in your life. What do you have to come home to? Nothing! Your home is on the market and your husband is on his whore. You are an incredible woman and I want nothing more for you than to be happy and Jake can make you happy.”

“I know Tif, but I really think I fucked this one up. I let the fear of being shit on again destroy what was starting between us. Tiffany, I left him standing there alone while I ran off and had a panic attack. How do you apologize for doing something like that?”

“Did you tell him about Vince?”

“No, I didn’t see any point in bringing up that piece of personal hell with someone I wasn’t planning on having a relationship with. He was supposed to be a fling, damn it! I didn’t plan for this to happen. I didn’t want to fall in love with him!”

“You love him? Then you have to go to him, if not to explain what happened, then to get closure and tell him goodbye. Jake is one of the good ones, honey, and he doesn’t deserve to thrown away the way Vince did that to you.”

Hanging up the phone, she ran her friend’s words over and over in her mind. Tiffany was right about one thing; actually she was right about everything. Jake wasn’t Vince and he deserved better.  Love was like playing a game of high stakes poker, everyone at the table held a chance at the pot; just some players were more willing than others to bet everything for the prize. She had been dealt a shitty hand in the past, but this time she was going all in, and even though the stakes were high, she had nothing to lose, except her heart, and she was willing to give that to Jake for free.

* * *

Paisley headed toward the beach. The sun had long set and the moon was casting its light across the waves. As she neared the beautiful man sitting on the beach, her fear caused her throat to close up. Unable to speak, she quietly took a seat beside him. Jake stared out at the ocean, not even a muscle twitched to acknowledge her arrival. She felt like an interloper, disturbing his peace. She sat there for several moments and was ready to leave him to his coastal sanctuary when the first tear crested her cheek. Digging deep, she found the courage to speak, and in a small and broken voice she all but croaked, “I’m sorry, I know you don’t understand, and why would you, it’s not like I had shared my past with you. I wouldn’t blame you if you asked me to leave, but please, just give me this chance to talk. If you want me to go, I will.”

He didn’t tell her to leave or shut up, so she continued, pouring her shattered heart out to tell him the reason she ran. “I was married, ten years to my high school sweetheart. A few months ago, he served me with divorce papers and told me he was leaving me for his secretary, Elise. I lost everything and I just couldn’t take the chance of it happening again. If this is really possible…if we can make this work and you can promise never to break my heart...” The tears that were threatening broke free and her voice came out on a shuddered breath. “If you can forgive me, I promise I won’t ever run from you again.”

* * *

When he looked at her tear stained face, he knew he never wanted her to leave his side. Her reasons for running were valid and he agreed with everything she had said. He had had a few days since she had shut him out to think of all of the reasons he should pack up and leave Topsail, but his heart had demanded he stay until he found the courage to knock on her door.

He had needed confirmation that what they had was nothing more than a fling to her. He knew that he was more than just a romp between the sheets. Their time spent together was more than great sex, it was laughing at old movies and having pillow fights over the remote, taking long walks on the beach searching for shells, and sharing their dreams with each other.

He had fallen in love with his reluctant writer and he wasn’t prepared to let her go without a fight. They could work through their past together, no matter how scarred their hearts were. He wanted to take her in his arms and make her pain go away, the feeling so strong he didn’t even realize he had grabbed her and pulled her closer to his side, tucking her into his larger frame.

Now feeling how her curves fit so nicely against him, all of his fears and reasons washed away like the sand in the tide. He leaned down and captured her lips, stopping only to stare into her eyes and whisper the three little words he was anything but scared to say “I love you,” and when she deepened his kiss, she whispered back, “I love you too.”

Epilogue

Jake stood on the beach, looking toward the house. There was no sign of Paisley yet and his heart beats were growing increasingly faster with anticipation. He could hear the sounds of the waves crashing and children playing, but all of his attention was on the door to the three storied home.

The breeze began to pick up and it was a nice break from the August heat, even with the sun setting over the water, he could feel the heat from the baked sand penetrate his flip flops. He looked down and ran his hands through his hair to keep it from blowing in his eyes, and when he looked up to focus on the house, he saw something that took his breath away.

Coming down the stairs to the deck was a dream dressed in white, Paisley wore a long flowing sundress that showed off her beautiful curves. In her hands she was carrying a bouquet of brightly colored flowers, her long red hair caught in the breeze, flowing behind her like a veil. Their eyes met over the crowd of friends and family who had gathered on the beach to see them recite their vows and he said a silent thank you for whoever had sent this angel to him.

She had stayed in Topsail Beach to be with him. That night on the dark sand was the healing point they both needed to put the past behind them and start looking at their futures. They had spent the last year getting to know each other and falling deeper in love. Neither one had expected to find a second chance on Topsail, but it was a fate they happily accepted as they permanently joined their lives together.

Not only was he marrying the woman that he loved, but she had been inspired to finish her writing, her first book was to be published next month. Together, they were destined to get their Happily Ever After…

About the Author:

Growing up in her hometown of Charleston WV, JN spends her days wrangling her two beautiful daughters and super dog Bo and is married to her high school sweetheart, who she considers the rock that keeps her grounded to reality when she would rather be lost in the paranormal. If a book contained something supernatural there is a good chance that she has read it. Whether its vamps, shifters, elves or fairies it is most likely setting on her shelf waiting to be re-read.

Looking for a new genre she found the world of romance and fell in love. The drama and conflict are different but still enough to get the adrenaline pumping and the heart thumping to keep her coming back for more. It wasn’t long until the need to write came knocking at the door and by the grace of her husband’s patience and her children’s bed times she got that chance. Her twisted mind found a new outlet on paper and now her story has found a way onto your shelf or reader and she hopes that you enjoy reading it as much as she enjoyed writing.