Strong Enough to Love (Jackson Hole 1.20)

“Eve—”

She pushed up and sat on the edge of the bed. She hadn’t meant to say that. She shook her head. “You gave me up, Brian. You told yourself you had to, so you did. But I wasn’t left here just to be scooped up when you wanted me back.” She stood and pulled on her panties. “You took the chance of walking away, the risk of losing me forever, and you lost.”

“I’m sorry. I know you’re angry.”

He sounded so calm. So steady and understanding. She wanted him angry and afraid, damn it.

“Don’t go now,” he whispered.

“I told you this was it, and I meant it.”

“You said one night, not an hour.”

She fastened her bra, and pulled on her dress before turning to smirk. “I have to go. There’s really nothing I can do.”

“Damn it, Eve. Don’t be petty.”

“Fuck you,” she growled. “I’ll be as petty as I want. What did being reasonable ever get me?” She could feel it inside her now, every time she moved. The way he’d stretched her and filled her and left his mark. Her body was sore. She’d feel him for a day, at least. Maybe more.

“All right.” He sounded so calm as she tugged up the zipper of her dress. “Go. I hate it, if that’s what you’re looking for. I want to strip that dress off you and push you back on this bed and have you again.” He stood, still naked in the face of her anger. “But go, if you need to. I can let you, because this isn’t the end of us. It can’t be. I can’t live with that.”

“I know exactly how you feel,” she snapped, grabbing her purse and trying to get her heels on at the same time. “And I was wrong when I thought it, too. Goodbye, Brian.”

She walked away from him, telling herself not to look back. Not to take him in or reach for him or change her mind. She walked out and her numb legs took her away from him for the last time.

CHAPTER FOUR

“YOU LOOK AMAZING!” Grace said once she’d gotten half her coffee down.

Eve ducked her head and stared harder at the proofs she was examining on her laptop. She’d expected to toss and turn all night. She’d expected to be racked with heartbreak. Instead, she’d fallen into bed and slept like a woman who... Well, a woman who’d just had the best sex of her life.

Christ, it had been so good. Everything else aside, how was she going to live without that for another fifty or sixty years? Knowing she’d had that and wouldn’t again? She scowled.

“What is going on with you? Why are you growling at the proofs?”

“I’m not growling.”

“Okay, tiger. I guess that’s a perfectly normal photography-related sound.”

“You get more annoying every day, you know that?”

“What’s that red mark on your neck?”

Eve jumped so violently that the stool shifted under her and she had to grab the counter to keep from tumbling to the floor. She raised her head slowly to find Grace standing there, arms crossed, and a huge grin spreading over her face. It was the most delighted she’d ever looked.

“I hate you,” Eve whispered.

“Spill it.”

“No.”

Grace nodded. “You took that cute guy home from the party?”

“I did not! He was still there when I left.”

“Booty call?”

“No!”