Jealousy #2

“Mattie.” Joe stands too and tries to follow her until he realizes he’s ditching me and comes back to apologize. “Debra, I’m sorry the evening ended like this, but I need to talk to her. I—”

“Don’t worry about it,” I excuse him. “Work it out. We’ll see each other another day.”

“You’re an absolute gem of a woman.” He kisses my hand and then says goodbye to Haven. “I’ll call you tomorrow, mate.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

And Haven and I are left alone.

“Dessert?” he repeats, though the tone of his voice has changed and I see that rebellious glint in his eyes that has never boded well. Or perhaps too well, but unhealthily so for my practical mind.

“I’m full,” I excuse myself.

“I think you could be even fuller.” He leans across the table to bring his face close to mine and whispers: “If you’d let me.”

“There’s no need to be vulgar, Haven,” I scold him, but my sinful mind is already picturing him inside me, filling me just as he’s implied.

I clear my throat and, under his watchful gaze, drink the rest of the wine in my glass.

I feel an urgent need to moisten my lips despite having just drunk, and his eyes don’t miss the slightest detail of my tongue’s movement as I run it over them.

I watch his pupils dilate and I know my underwear will end up wetter than my mouth if I don’t leave now.

I can’t believe he’s seducing me without saying a word.

Or that I’m the one provoking him without meaning to.

“I’ll walk you to the inn,” he offers, standing so abruptly his chair screeches behind him.

He pulls me up and goes to the register to pay for dinner.

Even though I insist on covering my share and Joe’s, he won’t allow it.

He only releases my hand to take his wallet out for the card, as if afraid I might vanish at any moment.

And I should, while he’s signing the receipt, but I know it would be pointless.

I’d rather he not barge into the inn and shout my name until I come down to talk to him.

“I can go by myself,” I tell him along the way.

“I know you can.”

Our hands are still linked. I’m worried someone might see us, but the two times I tried to pull free, he wouldn’t let me, so I’ve given up.

“Tomorrow will be a very long day,” I press. “You should go home and rest.”

“As soon as I drop you at the inn.”

“Really, it’s not necessary, Haven. I can—”

“You would have let Joe walk you.” He stops me sharply.

“What?! Where is that coming from?” This time, when I separate our hands, he allows it.

“Were you going to sleep with him?” he confronts me. “He’s my friend and I’m sure you knew that when you agreed to dinner.”

“Do you really think so little of me, Haven?” I feel insulted and I want to hit him for what he’s said.

I want to believe he’s only speaking out of spite, because if that’s not the case, I doubt I’ll ever be able to forgive him.

“I never play both sides and I certainly don’t get between two friends. If you think I’d be capable of—”

“Then why did you agree to go out with him?”

“That’s none of your business,” I reply, annoyed.

“Not everything I do revolves around you, Haven. You’re not the center of my universe.

I go out with whoever I want and I don’t owe you any explanations.

You and I are nothing, no matter how hard you try to make it something.

I told you I didn’t have time for you—do you think I’d have time for Joe? Or for anyone else? No.”

“Just tell me why. Why Joe?”

He looks so desperate that I decide to explain what happened between us and how we ended up having dinner together.

“We met on the outskirts of town the day he arrived. My car broke down because a deer jumped in front of me and I ended up in a ditch. Joe offered to help when he saw me stranded. I thought he was a great guy—funny, with a great sense of humor. He asked me to dinner and I said yes. That’s all.”

“I should have been the one who helped you. The one who made you laugh. The one who took you to dinner. I want to be that great guy. But you didn’t even want us to be seen together in public.”

“That was because I was trying to close a deal with your father, Haven. I don’t like mixing—”

“I know.” He’s upset with me again. “To you I’m just business.”

“Haven, no—” He deserves a good smack for that, but instead I decide to keep being honest with him. “I wasn’t planning to sleep with Joe.”

“Good.” He grabs me by the back of my neck. “Because I wasn’t going to let that happen either.”

His lips are possessive and give me no quarter. His hands press me against him and I feel the evidence of what he’s feeling right now. But all I can think is that he’s behaving as if I belong to him and no other man can come near me, so I pull away and slap him across the face.

“I am not your property, Haven Odell.”

“I know.” He pulls me in and kisses me again as if the mark I’ve left on his cheek doesn’t matter. “I wish you were, so I could forbid you from seeing Joe again.”

“You’re acting like a damn fool.” I push him to get away, but he won’t let me.

“What I am is a damn man who’s out of his mind with jealousy, Debra.” He crushes me against his chest. “Joe is a thousand times better than me in every way and I couldn’t compete with him in a million lifetimes. If he’s set his sights on you, I’m afraid I’ll lose.”