Stone Romance (Stone Passion #2) (7 page)

“Mr. Rhys!” she cried out between belly laughs. “I’m right here
!
”

Rhys spun around, making Ferris laugh harder and Jenna’s heart thump even more erratically. It was ridiculous; she had stopped believing in fairy tales and happy endings when Jeremy was taken from her. Rhys was just a gorgeous guy who could make her laugh and illustrate to her that she was a woman who had needs and appetites, that she wasn’t just a mom or an accountant or an almost-widow. He was reminding her of who she used to be before her world collapsed in on itself and sucked her in.

No matter how much she loved her daughter and her family, she had been living on auto-pilot for
almost
seven years and had forgotten how to be Jenna. Watching Rhys interact with Ferris, the sparkle of life in his eyes, a vivacity that infused his entire being, she realized she wanted that spark back. And she wanted to explore whatever this thing
was
with
Rhys
because she had a feeling that he was
going to
chang
e
her life in significant ways.
She’d never be allowed to go back to sleepwalking through life with him around. She might never go back to sleep.

Plus, he adored Ferris and, more importantly, she adored him.

“Isn’t he just the best?” Melanie asked,
drawing her arm through
Jenna’s.

Unable to tear her eyes away from the exuberant man spinning around with her daughter on his shoulder, she nodded, “He’s not bad.”

Melanie playfully swatted at her, “Oh, please; he’s perfect.”

“Nobody’s perfect,” Jenna replied automatically, trying to figure out if Rhys had any flaws, other than a propensity to say and do outrageous things. But she considered that a feature rather than a defect. Of course, she just met the man; it was easy to camouflage even serious flaws for a short period of time. Hell, he probably thought she was as adventurous and fun as he was and maybe once upon a time he would have been right. He didn’t know how…
mind-numbingly monotonous her life actually was. The only joys were her daughter and her family; her job… well, her job was a paycheck. It allowed her to feel like a responsible adult even though she still lived at home with her parents.

When Ferris was born it had been a luxury to be at home, having Melanie there to help out. After a few years it simply became easier to stay, knowing Ferris was safe. Even though she paid rent and lived in an apartment over the garage, she spent most of her time at the main house, with her family. The tradeoff of independence for security was one she struggled with on a daily basis
but she hadn’t known what she could do about it
.

Melanie’s sudden decision to move out had shaken her to the core and caused her to wake up out of the stupor she had fallen in.
Automatically, her gaze went to Melanie, who was hugging Vaughn as if it had been days since she had seen him instead of moments.
Lenni’s
smile was dazzling and full of love and Jenna wanted that with Rhys.

She
was moving too fast, maybe….

“Shall we?” With one arm holding a brilliantly smiling Ferris, Rhys held out his elbow out for her to take, jolting her out of her ruminations. She looked up into his warm laughing eyes and felt as if she could drown; seeing him with
Ferris made her sink a little further. Not wanting to think about it too much, she offered him a smile and looped her arm through his.

“You’re a natural, Rhys,” she murmured, reaching up and brushing a strand of Ferris’s hair from her cheek. She was about to ask him if he wanted lots of children but bit her tongue; that was way too personal, way too soon. Besides, it was nice just walking next to him, breathing in the scent of leather and Rhys and the cold winter air.

A short while later, the small group was standing next to Jenna’s running car and saying their goodbyes, the ambient lights of the city allowing them to see
clearly.
Ferris’s eyes were heavy and her head was resting on Rhys’s shoulder as she mumbled sleepily, “Can I stay with Aunt Mellie and the gargoyles, mama?”

“No, sweetie,” Jenna grinned, gently stroking her daughter’s smooth cheek. “I promised your grandparents that we would have brunch with them tomorrow and then we need to get some laundry done so you’ll have clean clothes next week.”

She made a little grumbly sound but didn’t protest when Rhys strapped her into the back seat. Rubbing her eyes, she drowsily smiled up at the auburn haired man, “Good night, Mr. Rhys.”

“Goodnight, sweetie,” he murmured, pressing a tender kiss to her forehead. Jenna had to press her hand against her chest to keep her stupid heart from galloping towards Rhys.

After Melanie and Vaughn said their goodnights, it was just Jenna and Rhys beneath the clear winter night and s
trangely
she was
incredibly
nervous. Leaning against the driver’s side door, she looked up at him as he boxed her in, his heat touching the coldest parts of her soul, “I had a really good time tonight.”

“So did
I
,” he murmured. His eyes darted past her to the interior and he smiled slightly, “She’s passed out.”

“She’ll sleep through the night.” Jenna smiled fondly as she thought about Ferris and how the little girl always gave one hundred and fifty percent, right up until the moment she crashed. “Thankfully I can still carry her from the car to her bedroom. I’m not sure what I’ll do when she gets bigger.”

“That’s when you get a wheelbarrow,” he said. “It’s a much easier way to move a body.”

The wry comment made her grin and suddenly she didn’t want the night to end, she didn’t want to leave Rhys. Going up on her tip toes, she pressed a soft kiss to the corner of his lips
. T
he stubble of his beard rasp
ed
against her tender flesh
and the heated musk of Rhys filled
her senses.
Her desire for him was a pleasant ache deep in her belly and she didn’t want to leave even though she knew she had to go.
Keeping her mouth against his, she whispered, “Thank you, Rhys, for everything.”

The corners of his lips curved upwards in a wicked smile, “Throw caution to the wind, Jenna;
let go
and I’ll be there to catch you.”

“You make me want things I shouldn’t even be thinking about, Rhys, not when I am a mother and I have so many people relying on me to be sensible.” Stepping away from him, she swallowed thickly. He was
so
tempting and in
this moment she was too tempted;
she had no defenses in place to protect her tender heart
against such warmth
. Beneath the dark night sky, it didn’t matter but in the morning she’d wake up and remember who she was.
And who she w
as no longer.

With a shaky smile, she reached up and ran her fingers along the
carved
line of his jaw, the bristles of his beard
growth
rough beneath her fingertips. She wanted to touch him and never stop and that was a dangerous wish. And yet being with Rhys seemed… right.
Fated.
Which was ridiculous; she wasn’t the sister who believed in magic, no matter how magical she felt in Rhys’s sphere. “If I stay any longer I’ll want to stay all night and I have a sleeping child in the back seat and a million reasons why I shouldn’t get involved with you.”

Holding her eyes, he put his hand over hers and kissed her palm, “I’ll call you, Jenna Jacobs and we’re going to figure this out.”

She smiled even as tears glittered in her eyes; she was finally saying goodbye to the past and it was heartbreaking and nerve-wracking
and long overdue
. “I’ll see you later then.”

“Definitely,” he promised, opening her car door and letting her slide into the driver’s seat. Leaning against the frame, he bent down, his long hair falling forward to brush against her lap, “This is only the beginning, sweetheart; like I said earlier,
I’m
not letting you go.”

“Good night, Rhys,” she said softly, feeling the world shift once more.

By the time she got home,
Jenna
head felt like it was stuffed with cotton and she was looking forward to
pouring herself a glass of wine, which she hadn’t done in ages,
and relaxing with a steamy book. Her thoughts about Rhys were all muddled and she knew that she was moving too fast; she just couldn’t seem to stop herself. It had felt so right being in his arms.

As soon as she had Ferris tucked into bed, she grabbed the book she saved for nights she
had too much pent up energy
and headed straight for her room where she put on her old nightshirt. Her head was
a little
cloudy
but s
he still felt good
.
She
felt like she was eighteen again with the whole world laid at her feet, no longer old before her time with the weight of a life not lived on her shoulders.

As much as she adored her daughter, Jenna needed adult interaction. She craved the intimacy of two adults coming together in the dark of night and connecting on a physical level. Jeremy was supposed to be her other half, to hold her hand when the road became too difficult, to lean on her when his load became too heavy and it nearly destroyed her when he was taken from her. If she hadn’t had her family she would have lost it long ago. All of them had given her so much and she could never repay them.

Hell, Melanie gave up her scholarship to attend culinary school in Paris to help Jenna out, choosing to go to the local college instead so she could stay home. And Lenni never complained; she simply rolled up her sleeves, grabbed a diaper and said that there was always going to be other opportunities but only one Ferris. And she threw herself into aunt-hood with gusto, as if giving up Paris was nothing.
Jenna envied
Lenni’s
uncanny ability to roll with whatever life threw at her and make it into some fairy tale dream. Birds probably rose up in chorus wherever she went.

Jenna chuckled to herself; Lenni and Ferris were two peas in a pod, living in a fantasy world of their own creation. Lenni was extremely lucky Vaughn turned out to be such a wonderful guy; it made Jenna cringe when she considered what could have happened New Year’s Eve had Vaughn been anyone else.

But that was Lenni, the gods’ favorite mortal.

The ringing of the phone startled her out of her melancholy and without checking to see who was calling, she answered, “Hello?”

“Jenna,” Rhys’s smooth voice caressed her from over the phone. “I’m just calling to make sure you got home safely.”

She smiled, appreciating his consideration. Getting comfortable on the bed, she answered, “We arrived a few minutes ago and I was just getting ready to read
some before going to sleep
.”

“What are you reading?”

“Um,
A Virgin in the Sultan’s Harem
,” she admitted, knowing the title gave everything away.
The
sound of h
is
voice brought back the exhilarating memory of being in his arms, a thin layer of cotton the only thing between them. She was no longer asleep and it felt good; she didn’t want the feeling to end.

After a long silence, he asked in a raspy voice, “Do you want to play a game?”

“A game?”
His voice had been thick with desire, the sound doing more for her libido than some silly old book ever did. She knew what was about to happen and she welcomed it; she wasn’t going to go back to
sleep without a taste of Rhys; she wasn’t going to go back to sleep at all.
“What kind of game?”

“What are you wearing, Jenna?” he asked in a low, seductive purr.

“Do you want to know what I’m actually wearing or what I
imagine myself
wearing?” She
was going to
savor
her time
with Rhys; the rest of the world would still be wailing and gnashing its teeth in an hour, she could steal a few minutes before joining them. Smiling to herself, she lay
back
on the bed and tried to get comfortable as nerves and lust danced through her body, tightening her skin and firing up all
of
her previously snoozing sex cells.