“And what’s between us?” Rogen softly commanded. “Because the second I saw you, Jewel, it was like a jump start to a dead battery—and I had no idea my heart was the dead battery.”
Her eyelids fluttered closed. “Rogen.”
“Come on, Jewel,” he urged as he cupped her elbow and coaxed her toward him. “Don’t fuck around here. You feel it, too, right?”
Her eyes flew open. “Of course,” she said with conviction. Tears crested the rims. “It’s the very reason I’ve avoided River Cross all this time. The very reason I rarely ever come home. When I do,” she told him with unmistakable agony in her tone as fat drops tumbled down her cheeks, “I always, always look the other way as we pass the distillery and this estate. I can’t stand to think about what exists beyond those huge wrought-iron gates that’s so far out of my reach. You, Rogen.” She stared hard, didn’t blink. “And Vin.”
THREE
This evening was taking all kinds of wayward turns.
Jewel’s heart felt constricted, as though a big fist squeezed it tight. Her breathing had yet to return to normal. From the moment she’d walked into the mansion and almost straight into Rogen’s arms, she’d been on the roller-coaster ride of her life—and couldn’t get her emotions, her physical responses, or her pulse under control.
Breaking their intense gaze, she took a long sip of cognac. Then another. Her hand shook.
“Jewel,” he ground out in apparent frustration over her slight retreat. The reprieve she needed from the razors slicing through her, bringing back past pains that suddenly felt fresh and raw.
Rogen whisked away some of her tears from one cheek. Then he palmed the side of her face and his thumb swept away more from the other.
His head dipped and his lips grazed her temple as he said, “You’re killing me here, sweetheart.”
A small cry wrenched from somewhere deep within her.
“I know it got difficult among the three of us,” he murmured. “I’m sorry it hurt so much when I left for Trinity.”
“And every day thereafter,” she told him. “Vin helped me through it. For a little while. Then he just … disappeared.”
“I remember he went off the grid at the end of senior year. I didn’t hear from him for months. He never told me what that was all about. Just said he had something to work through in his mind, and left it at that.”
Jewel gnawed her bottom lip a moment. Stepped away. Put a little space between them so that she could think straight, not get lost in Rogen’s vibrant blue eyes and ruggedly handsome face. The feel of his lips and fingertips on her skin. The
intimate moments drawing out between them. The electric current humming through her veins.
“I don’t want to talk about it, either,” she said. “I should go.”
“Slow down,” he insisted. “Not so fast. You haven’t been here that long. And, Christ…” He shoved a hand through his hair. “When am I going to see you again?”
Jewel set aside her snifter and the crumpled napkin that was now soaked, since the ice had melted. Her palm still smarted, but that was the least of her worries.
The least of her torment.
She hadn’t crashed the Angelinis’ gala as a means to start something up with Rogen. Certainly not Vin. She was here for business, not romance.
Yet Rogen was a powerful undertow. He took her tenderly by the hand she hadn’t used to slap Vin and turned to leave the terrace. She willingly went with him.
Over one impossibly broad shoulder, he said, “I’m going to take you someplace that will instantly cheer you up.” His roguish grin stole her breath. So, no chance of getting it back while she was still in his presence.
They took the short flight of steps down to the manicured event lawn and along the west wing of the mansion, toward the service entrance. Rogen directed her to a Rhino parked outside the building and helped her into the passenger seat. Her gaze followed him as he rounded the front of the all-terrain vehicle. She admired his confident strides, his virility.
He climbed in next to her and cranked the key in the ignition. Jewel wasn’t quite sure what he was up to or whether it was wise to play along. Really, the more time she spent here—and with him—the more difficult it would be to reconcile her feelings when she returned to San Francisco and tried to erase from her mind the sight of Rogen. And Vin.
Not to mention the yearning and heartache they both sparked.
Jesus, why’d they have to be so devilishly handsome? So damn tempting?
They each possessed significantly different qualities that called to Jewel. Rogen was the rough-and-tumble type. Tough as nails, steely nerved, masculine, solid as oak physically and emotionally. He was also gentle, soft-spoken at just the right moments, heartwarmingly amiable, sensitive when the situation warranted. She’d cried on his shoulder plenty of times, and he’d never seemed to mind. Had never gotten antsy or appeared the least bit uncomfortable with her family drama, her girly feelings.
By contrast, Vin was dark and broody. Even as a kid. More so after his parents had died in a horrific plane crash when he, Rogen, and Jewel were all sixteen and he’d ended up moving into the Angelini mansion. He had a refined look, but raw intensity oozed from his every pore. While he liked to project his arrogant nature, Jewel had been privy to his fiercely compassionate side.