Page 61 of Memories By the Shore
My stomach twists with a pang of regret. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”
He shakes his head sympathetically. “Don’t be.”
“I wasn’t around for Helen either,” I reply, hanging my head low. “I know it was hard on her.”
Jasper’s firm touch finds my chin. Pinching it, he lifts my face, capturing my eyes. “You needed to do what was important to you.”
My lips tingle with the memory of having his mouth on them. And the flashback of the first night we came here together. “Thank you.” Jasper breaks contact, dropping his focus to the floor. A sly smirk crawls across his face. I catch it, and it forces me to blush. He’s thinking about something, and I’m dying to know what. “What?”
He shrugs, straightening his posture. “Nothing.”
“What are you thinking?” I press, arching a brow.
He gestures toward the set of chairs by the window. “This room.”
My cheeks redden. The corners of my mouth quirked up. “Oh, I remember that night.”
“I remember that night too.” He turns away, but I can tell he’s grinning with how tight his voice is.
“I was so nervous,” I admit. The night I gave myself to him. Having him for the first time is a vivid experience. And now, reliving that night here with him years later is surreal.
“So was I.”
“How? You had been with other women,” I quip. My words sound more annoyed than I’d like them to be.
“That didn’t matter. You were …” He pauses. “You.”
Thick tension fills the air, creating an apron around us. For a brief moment, I’m taken back to that night when nothing mattered except for Jasper and me. The emotions come rushing back, slapping me like an unexpected wave. I panic and quickly stand.
“I should go,” I whisper, but I don’t want to go.
“You’re probably right.”
Running my hands along my dress to straighten out thewrinkles, I catch Jasper staring at me with a look in his eyes that I can never forget. It makes my insides clench. “Are you checking me out?”
“You’re still my wife. Can’t I appreciate you before you aren’t anymore?” he replies, discreetly licking his bottom lip.
That subtle action and his words—wetness pools in my panties. My fucking body is betraying me. When he speaks to me like that, I fall right back into the same safe place of knowing I’m his.
“Is that why you won’t sign my papers?” I snap, taking a hard exit out of the heat of our conversation. I can’t get caught up in his charm.
“Maybe.” His expression turns from playful to firm. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Nineteen
Now
Jasper
Waking up this morning, I was still reeling from my conversation with Avery yesterday. It’s always been so easy with her, and we have slipped back into the comfort of what used to be. I haven’t felt that in a long time. But something else has kept me up. It hadn’t dawned on me that she could be here asking for a divorce because she’s engaged.
I should have expected it, but it didn’t shield the literal gut punch when Easton called me yesterday afternoon to tell me she’d been into his café for breakfast that morning, and thelittleplanet-sized rock on her finger clearly indicated her true intentions.How could I have missed that when she showed up in my office that day?
A light knock on the door.
“Be out in a minute,” I call out.
“The new Chamber of Commerce CEO is looking for you.” Gail’s voice is a loud whisper through the wooden door.
