Just The Way You Are(68)

"People change." Jimmy paused. "Frankly, not to burst your little bubble, sweetheart, but I don't see Sam selling out. He has deep roots in this community. And he's got a wife and a daughter here. Okay, forget the wife," he said immediately as she opened her mouth to protest. "He still has a kid, and I think he's the kind of guy who probably wants to stick around and watch his kid grow up."

She let out a sigh. "You're probably right. But it's so unfair the way things turned out. Don't you think there is a way Sam could keep his ties with Megan but have a chance at a life of his own?"

"A life with you, don't you mean?" He tilted her chin up with his hand. "What are you going to do, babe? Retire? Settle here in Tucker's Landing? Be a housewife?"

"It could be a home base," she said, shaking his hand away from her face. "I can live anywhere, Jimmy. Most of my assignments take me away from the home I have now. What's to say I couldn't change my address? What's to say we couldn't live in Portland or somewhere nearby, not exactly here, but close enough for Sam to get down to see Megan?"

"You've done some thinking about this, haven't you?"

"I've done little else."

"You're crazy, you know that? You're a supermodel, Tessa—a big-city girl with big dreams and a big bank account. Do you really believe you're going to be happy living here or even in Portland? Open your eyes. This isn't your life, as you told me so definitely the first day I got here. It still isn't."

She knew he was both right and wrong. She'd fled Tucker's Landing because of the pain, the betrayal, but being back home had reminded her that there was a part of her that was still small town. Of course, there was another part of her that liked to go to the theater and out to dinner and shopping. But those things could be had every now and then, enough to keep her satisfied.

Jimmy smiled at her as if she were a young child dreaming of flying to the moon. "Have you even looked at a newspaper since you've been here, Tessa?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" she asked with annoyance.

"Being here is like escaping to a remote island. And it's nice. I'm enjoying it myself. But forever? I don't think so."

"When you're with the right person, it doesn't matter where you live."

"Yeah, and Santa Claus still comes down chimneys. Of course it matters. Part of marriage is being compatible, being able to share a life that makes both people happy. If one compromises too much, in the end they'll both suffer."

"Sam did it. He compromised. Why shouldn't I?"

"I don't get why you suddenly want this guy so much. If you were so hot for him, why didn't you come back sooner and try to reclaim him?"

"Because I didn't know that he wasn't happy," she cried, "that his marriage wasn't all right. I never figured them to be totally in love, but I guess staying together as long as they have made me feel like their bond was too strong to break, and I wasn't interested in being a home wrecker. But with Sam about to be free—don't you see, Jimmy? I suddenly have the chance to have what I lost all those years ago."#p#分页标题#e#

"So you think," he said. "But let me give you something else to think about."

"Wha—?"

He didn't let her finish, simply leaned over and kissed her full on the mouth. It was so unexpected, so shockingly hot and tingling. He tasted like vodka. He smelled like fire. He felt like a warm, desirable male and her body responded in kind. Her head told her to stop, to pull away, that he was making a mockery of what she'd just told him. But her body seemed unwilling to move, her lips opening instead of closing, her tongue dancing with his instead of lying dormant. Oh, God, what was she doing?

Jimmy stopped before she did, making her feel even worse.

"Why did you do that?" she demanded, when she could finally put words to feelings.

"I thought you needed something else to think about."

"We're just friends, Jimmy."

"Of course we are."

"I don't want you to kiss me."

"Of course you don't," he said, getting to his feet. "I think I'll head back to the hotel."

It was the right thing to do. He'd crossed the line of their friendship. But still, she didn't like to see him taking the glasses into the kitchen, reaching for his coat, leaving her alone…

"You're going—just like that?" she asked, scrambling to her feet.

He met her gaze head-on. "Yes, because you just gave me something to think about, too."

"It's the fire and the martinis and the rain, that's all," she said helplessly. "We can forget it happened."