She kissed his shoulders, the curve of his neck, anything she could reach. She had missed him so much. Always she’d missed this man who’d once been her husband, but even more since the emotional, passionate hours they’d shared three weeks earlier.
Tears stung her eyes.
Abe spoke against her ear, the rumble of his voice cascading a thousand memories over her. “I haven’t been with anyone else since that day in your kitchen.” He drew back, thrust impossibly deeper. “You’re in my blood, Sarah.”
Nails digging into his back, she locked her mouth to his. She couldn’t listen to his words, couldn’t start rebuilding dreams that had splintered forever. This was a night out of time. After it ended, she had to put herself back together and figure out how to get over Abe Bellamy all over again.
CHAPTER 14
SARAH FELT LIKE A FALLEN woman—a deliciously used fallen woman—when they drove through the gates of Fox and Molly’s home around four thirty in the morning. They’d planned to come back much earlier but had fallen asleep in each other’s arms in the aftermath of a pleasure that had melted her bones and twisted up her heart, would’ve probably slept through to dawn if Sarah’s phone hadn’t suddenly beeped with a low-battery warning that nudged them awake.
Thank goodness Abe had the code to let himself in, because aside from Sarah’s car, Gabriel and Charlotte’s rental was the only vehicle in the drive, the house quiet, lights all off.
The pavilion hadn’t yet been taken down, but it was closed up tight for the night.
“We are so busted,” she groaned. Someone would’ve noticed her car sitting out here pretty much all by its lonesome, would’ve looked for her, not found her. It wouldn’t take a genius to put together one and one to add up to a sinfully sexy two.
“Everyone will have been too buzzed to care,” Abe reassured her before coming around to help her down from her seat, his SUV high enough that it had a step built in. “They probably figured you crashed here.”
He tapped her ass once she had both feet firmly on the ground. “Go get into your car, drive home. I’ll follow.”
She knew that by “home” he meant his place, but the cold night air finally succeeded in slapping some sense into her. “I think I better go to my place.”
“Sarah,” Abe began, his eyebrows drawing together.
“I have a meeting in the morning.” She opened the driver’s door, threw her clutch onto the seat on the other side. “I need to be up and ready for it.” The meeting wasn’t until eleven, but Abe didn’t need to know that.
Her ex-husband slid his hand around the back of her neck, his hold warm and proprietary. “I’m not letting you go.” It was a whispered promise. “Not this time.”
Sarah shook her head, forced herself to speak. “I’m not yours to keep or let go.” A piercing sense of loss tore through her as she broke away from him to get into her car. She and this talented man, they were so good together when they worked, but when they crashed and burned… “I barely survived our last round together, Abe.”
Her door still open, she looked up from the driver’s seat, met his gaze. “I don’t know if I have the strength to go there again.”
Abe braced one hand against the edge of the car’s frame, bent down. “You’re the strongest woman I know.” His dark eyes held her captive, the look in them beyond passion.
Pure raw emotion.
“And,” he said, “I’m not that asshole, the one who hurt you. I won’t ever let myself become that man again.”
Sarah wanted to believe him. She’d loved Abe so desperately and the place in her heart where he’d lived remained a jagged wound, but she’d been through too much to believe in rainbows and puppies and happily-ever-afters for herself. For the girl who’d gotten off a bus all alone in this huge city, then found herself alone again less than two years after she fell into the arms of this man to whom she’d given all of herself.
Blinking rapidly in an effort to stave off the torrent of sorrow that wanted to pour out of her, she swallowed, managed to form words. “I better go.”
Abe let her shut her door and pull away, but when she looked in the rearview mirror, he was still there, watching as she drove off: a big, strong, and deeply talented man who still meant more to her than anyone else ever had… and who she couldn’t let back in, not if she was to survive.
No matter if it felt like she was making a terrible mistake.
CHAPTER 15
THREE DAYS AFTER A NIGHT that haunted her dreams, Sarah watched Flossie bound into the house. She’d just picked her pet up from a dog sitter—Flossie loved socializing with other dogs and Sarah didn’t like to leave her alone when she was going to be gone all day.