Reckless With Their Hearts (17 page)

“Are you going to be sick? Do I need to stop?”

“No. I’m not feeling sick. I just needed some air.” She didn’t even open her eyes as she spoke.

“Tell me what you need, Lexis. Please, baby…How can I help you?” There was such emotion in his voice that she had to open her eyes and look at him. His fingers had gone white they were clenching the steering wheel so hard. His shoulders where tense and his jaw clenched so hard she feared he would break his teeth. It bothered her that he was so upset. She wanted to cup his face until his jaw relaxed, message his shoulders and neck until they released some of their tension.

She did neither. “I took some of my pain medication. This headache will be gone soon.” She assured him.

At the next red light he released his death grip on the steering wheel and leaned his head back against the head rest. His face was pale under his naturally tan complexion. “It kills me that you are hurting and I can’t do anything to help you.”

“Why do you care so much?” She demanded, so confused by this man it was only making her head ache more.

His head snapped up. “How can you even ask me that? I have always told you what you mean to me, Lexis. Always! Even if you are angry with me, you should remember that at least!” His hand smacked the steering wheel and he turned his angry gaze back to the busy road in front of him.

Alexis just set there, to stunned to move. Oh…My…God! Her heart started racing.

Jared continued to drive in angry silence. She was too distraught to speak so just closed her eyes once more and prayed that the meds would soon kick in so that she could focus her full attention on the conversation that she had to have with the man sitting beside of her. There were so many questions running through her mind. So many things that she needed to know. But the biggest one was ripping her heart to shreds and she didn’t think she could handle asking it.

“I saw your stepmother and told her that you were having lunch with me.” He suddenly informed her and she felt guilty because she hadn’t even thought about Melissa. “I told her that I would take care of you and make sure that you got home safely. Where would you like to eat?”

“I’m not really hungry.” She told him and he shot her a glare.
“Really. My head is still throbbing, Jared. I couldn’t eat even if I wanted to.”

Concern once more darkened his face and she noticed that he was in need of a shave. That little bit of dark scruff on his jaw was deliciously sexy. After a moment he turned his attention back to the road. “Okay then.” At the next light he made a right turn and she closed her eyes.

Twenty minutes or more passed. The pain medication was starting to ease some of her pain, thankfully. Jared brought the car to a stop and she glanced around. “Wait…What? Where are we?” He had parked in a long driveway right in front of a three story house. The place was beautiful on the outside with its dark siding trimmed in a lighter brown. Floor to ceiling windows from every angle on each floor gave it an open look even from the outside.

“This is my West Coast house.” He informed her. “I prefer it to the penthouse back in New York, or the house in Connecticut. I think that my father even likes it better than his own house back in Rome.” He shrugged. “We need to talk, Lexis. And you said you weren’t hungry. So I thought we could have this conversation in private where I know we will not be disturbed.”

She didn’t answer. The conversation he needed to have was something that she was anxious to hear. Maybe it would answer some of her questions. Perhaps even make it easier to accept the truth about what her parents and the doctors had told her six months ago. He helped her out of his Lexus LFA and led her inside.

The inside of the house was just as beautiful as the outside. With the floor to ceiling windows she felt like she was still standing outside. All the natural light coming in made it bright enough inside that no lights had to be turned on. It was a wonderful way to save energy and she asked him if he was into the whole green thing, which she happened to be a freak about.

He gave her the oddest look. “Lexis…Are you trying to hurt me?”

She blushed and turned away, admiring a painting over his fireplace. The artist was superb with the use of colors adding to natural light that gave the room a warm feeling. “I like that.”

“I know.” He put his hand on her shoulder and turned her to face him. “Let’s sit down, baby. You must be tired.” He urged her over to a long sofa and helped her sit before leaving her crutches against the table beside of it. Once she was settled he sat beside of her. He turned to face her and his knee brushed against her bare thigh making her ache deep inside in a way she never had before. “How’s the headache?”

Alexis offered him a small smile. “It’s easing off now.”

Jared reached for her left hand and clasped it in both of his, his thumb caressing the back of it. “I can’t begin to tell you how much I have missed you, Lexis.”

She pulled her hand away, wishing she could just get up and pace. Her mind was racing, her heart hurtling away making her chest actually shake. But she couldn’t do that without her crutches. “Look Jared…” She began.

He captured her hands again, kissing the backs of them. “Please tell me you missed me too, Lexis. Tell me that you still feel something, even if it is more hatred than love.”

“Jared…” She swallowed hard, her palm tingling from the brush of his lips against her skin. “I…”

“These past seven months have been Hell, baby. I haven’t been able to eat, sleep eludes me. If Gabriella had told me that you were hurt I would have been back in a heartbeat.” He shook his head, anger and frustration pouring off of him.

She jerked away from him. “Gabriella?
My cousin Gabriella Moreitti?” She demanded in a whisper.

“Of course Gabriella Moreitti.”
He raked a hand through his hair, messing the short dark curls. “Who else would I be talking about…And why did you never tell me that Max Shepard is your father? I nearly fell over when you walked into his office yesterday.”

Gabriella. Jared knew Gabriella. She stood and used the furniture around her to get away from him as quickly as possible. She and Gabriella were as close as sisters, the very best of friends. Gabriella’s mother had died shortly after she was born, and then ten years ago her father had fallen from a horse and been stomped to death. Their grandfather had taken over as her guardian and Alexis’s mother had helped to raise the other girl.

Gabriella Moreitti had always been a prodigy when it came to music and especially string instruments. She had gone to Julliard and was top of her class. Her favorite instrument was the electric violin and people raved about her. But three years ago Alexis’s cousin had found that simply classical music was not working for her. She now had her own band and a small orchestra that she toured with. For the last eight months she had been on tour across Europe and Australia with two of the most popular rock groups on the charts. As far as Alexis knew Gabriella had no idea about the accident that had nearly taken her cousin’s life. Her mother had thought it best not to upset the other girl with it all.

“Lexis…” He was standing, coming toward her and she raised a hand to stop him, still unable to form words. Jared frowned. “Baby what is it? You are starting to scare me here.”

She sucked in a deep breath. “I don’t know you.” She told him. “I don’t remember you.”

His head snapped back as if she had slapped him. “You…” He cleared his throat. “Look I know that you are still upset. I understand that. But don’t play games with me, Lexis.”

She shook her head. “I’m not. I swear. The accident…I fractured my skull.” She lifted a trembling hand and touched the small scar now hidden under her short hair. “I damaged my Deep Limpic System. I lost all memory of the months leading up to the accident.”

Jared froze at her words. His knees threatened to give out on him at the very thought of her hurt so badly. Shaking he reached for the edge of the sofa and held on.

All day yesterday he had been angry that she hadn’t even acknowledged the fact that she so much as knew him. Treating him like a stranger the entire time they had had lunch with her father and stepmother. Then today she had said such off hand things that had wounded him. Like the fact that they had met at a charity for GreenPlanet that her cousin had been giving a free concert for.

She didn’t remember him!

To Alexis Moreitti he was a complete stranger to her. Since her accident she hadn’t even known that he existed. Their time together was wiped from her mind…Permanently? He swallowed hard. “Are…is the damage permanent?”

“Yes.” She said. “The doctors are sure that I will never get those months back.”

He nodded, thoughts racing through his head. This wasn’t her fault, he assured himself. She couldn’t help that she didn’t remember him or what they had been to each other. So…Maybe this was a way for them to start over. He didn’t have tell her—hurt her with the reasons why she had felt the need to kick him out of her life. Instead he could give her new memories. A completely fresh start.

A plan began to form in his mind and he gave her a reassuring smile. “Okay. We can work with this.” He told her, approaching her carefully so as not to scare her. “Let’s sit down baby. I want to tell you all about us.”

--

After only a slight hesitation Alexis let Jared help her sit back down on the sofa. This time he sat closer, his thigh right up against hers, making her whole body feel like it was against a live flame. She didn’t know why she let him, why she didn’t protest and make him scoot over. All she knew was that she liked it, and that she felt way too comfortable with him.

His arm was around her shoulders, his fingers caressing the base of her neck making her shiver deliciously. His warm, sweet smelling breath was hot against her cheek as he brushed his lips across it. His nose nuzzled her ear and he inhaled deeply. “God, I’ve missed the smell of your skin.” He breathed.

“J…Jared…” She turned her head and met his molasses colored eyes. “Tell me about us.” She commanded in a voice that quivered ever so slightly.

“We met at one of Gabriella’s concerts. She was doing a free show for GreenPlanet.” He said after a moment more of nuzzling her ear. “I saw you backstage and had to stop and catch my breath. In that moment you captivated me and I knew that you were going to change my life. The chemistry between us was crazy. Never in my life have I ever experienced such magic as when we touched for the first time.” He raised his hand and skimmed it down her check. “Even now, I can feel the sensation all the way to my toes from simply brushing of my fingers against your soft skin.”

The way he painted the picture of their first meeting was magical. She was captivated by the way he explained her reaction to him. The peach color her skin had turned as she had blushed as their gazes locked. The way her eyes had gone from amber to chocolate as he had kissed her for the first time that
same night. And she believed every word of it. She could picture doing everything he described because her reaction was the exact same now.

His lips brushed across hers, a soft whisper of contact that made her dizzy with desire for him. “I want to tell you that we took things slow.
That I was patient with you, my love. But I cannot. I spent the next three days tempting you into my bed and when I finally got you there I kept you there for days.”

The sound of that deep, caressing voice and his gentle touch to the sensitive skin on her neck was putting a spell on her and she found herself leaning closer, letting her lips meet his. A picture of them tangled together on a massive bed while her moans filled the air filled her mind and she let her tongue skim across his bottom lip. His groan gave her courage and she did it again, loving the taste of him.

“Lexis…” He kissed her once more before reluctantly pulling away. “I promised to tell you about us.” Jared’s smile was full of even more promises. “After we came up for air, which was quite a while later we settled into a routine. We spent the rest of the summer in New York City. Gabriella went with us to parties. Weekends were spent having picnics in central park or just being lazy around my apartment. We actually tried to go a full day without seeing each other. But that ended with me feeling as if I was going to climb the walls if I didn’t have you in my arms. I took you to Rome for a week…but we mostly spent it in bed. Sorry, I will have to take you back again and actually show you my favorite places.”

It was sounding as if their relationship had been full of romance and love making…But it was sounding like a dream, not reality. Alexis pulled away. Everything that she had been told when she had awakened in the hospital filtered back into her brain and she stood up once more. She couldn’t think clearly with him so close; with his drug inducing breath on her lips and his taste on her tongue.

She moved so that she had the full length of the sofa between them and held on to the back for support. “That all sounds so…wonderful.” She told him. “So what happened once I had to go back to Connecticut?”

“We moved into my house. You had school and I had to work, but nothing had changed between us. If anything, my feelings were only growing more intense. You…” He closed his eyes and smiled. “You told me you loved me half way through September.”

Her accident had been five weeks later. So what had happened between her telling him she loved him and… “Why did we break up?” She demanded, needing to know.