“I just thought when you said—”
He shifted her in his arms, pinning her against him. “Let me be very clear. I don’t want a fling, and I’m not into sharing. So if you were looking for a fling, gather your slinky little dress and I’ll drive you home.”
Her eyes narrowed. “And if I’m not looking for a fling?”
“Then let’s get cleaned up and eat some dinner so I can enrapture you with my seductive ways and claim you again and again.”
Jenna pushed at his chest. “Would you mind getting off of me?”
Her words sent a sinking feeling to Pete’s gut as he moved off of her and watched her scoot to the edge of the bed.
“Did I really misread you?” He wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed the back of her neck—just in case it was the last taste of her he’d ever get.
Jenna hopped from the bed—literally—and turned to face him. Her eyes were wide, her smile mischievous, with every sweet curve on display, making him instantly aroused. “Who are you kidding?” She strutted to the bathroom. “Get your butt up. Let’s rinse off and get you fed. You’ve got a girlfriend to satisfy.”
He followed her into the bathroom, making her laugh as he swooped her into his arms and turned on the shower.
“Girlfriend? So you don’t mind that I’m a little possessive?” He kissed her neck.
“Little?” She arched a brow and dragged her eyes down his body. “There is nothing little about you, and I’ve been lusting after you for years.” She met his gaze again. “I’ve been yours for years. It’s about time you owned up to it.”
“Man, I really like you, Jenna.”
“Fair warning. I’ll drive you crazy.” She held on to his waist and stared at him with a serious look in her eyes. “I’ll organize everything in your life, and if you think golden-brown marshmallows are a pain, you should see—”
He kissed her.
“I’ll take my chances.”
An hour later they were dressed and sitting on his deck, eating cheese and crackers and sharing a glass of wine, when Pete’s cell phone rang with his father’s ringtone. Are you kidding me?
“Excuse me.” He rose to his feet and grabbed his phone from the living room table. “Hey, Pop.” He eyed Jenna on the deck. She kicked her bare feet up on his chair and rested her head back.
“Where is she, Peter?” His father’s speech was slurred and slow. Pete’s heart ached. No one outside of his family knew about his father’s drinking, and just this one night he’d hoped to escape his father’s call. Sometimes he went days without calling. Of all the bad luck…
He turned his back to Jenna and rubbed his temples. “She’s gone, Pop. But you’re okay. Can you get into bed?” He knew his father wouldn’t be able to without stumbling, and the thought of him getting hurt worried Pete.
“Gone? What d’you mean gone?”
Pete turned back toward Jenna. “I’ll be there in a few minutes. Stay put.”
Jenna turned when he opened the screen door. Joey followed him out and rubbed against her leg.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
He ran his hand through his hair and glanced over the bay. “I’m really sorry, Jenna, but I’ve got to go take care of something.” He did not want to end this night.
“Oh.” Her eyes filled with disappointment.
Jenna had woken up every part of his brain and body. He wanted to protect her, to love her, and the last thing he wanted to do was leave her. But she didn’t need to deal with his father’s garbage.
He reached for her hand. His jaw clenched tight, and he knew he was being quiet and withdrawn. It was unfair to Jenna that he was acting this way, but he was pissed—at his father, for falling into the bottle night after night, and at himself, for not forcing him into rehab.
“I’m sorry, Jenna. The last thing I want is to end our date, much less end it like this.”
“It’s okay. Is there anything I can do to help?”
He shook his head. There was nothing anyone could do. Once again he wondered if Jenna would be better off without him—and his father’s illness—in her life.
And he knew there was no way he’d ever let her go.
Chapter Twelve
JENNA HUNG UP the phone from talking with her mother and banged her forehead on the table for the millionth time. That seemed to be a theme for the summer.
“I’m the worst daughter in the world. Seriously.” It was Monday morning, and Jenna, Amy, and Bella were lying in the sun in the quad behind Jenna’s cottage, debating walking the hundred or so steps to the pool or driving to the beach, each too lazy to make a decision, much less get up and go.
“No, you’re not. You’re dealing with a lot right now. Your mom knows that.” Amy shaded her eyes from the sun and reached for Jenna’s hand.
“No, she doesn’t. I didn’t tell her about Pete.” Sadness welled in her chest as she thought about her mother, which always brought her mind to her father. Although she wasn’t in close contact with him, they talked every few weeks. A brief catch-up phone call, like he was checking off a to-do list, and though she didn’t hate him for everything that was going on in his life and he hadn’t left her mother for his young bride-to-be, every time she heard the pain in her mother’s voice, or saw her mother’s emotional turmoil masked by a forced smile and her ridiculous new costumes, it drove an arrow of anger through her, aimed directly at her father.
“Why not?” Amy wore a light pink bikini, and she’d painted her toenails pink to match. She wiggled them now as she waited for Jenna to answer.
“Because. I don’t know. She’s so in my face these days. She’d ask a lot of questions and want to talk about sex—and there’s no way I’m talking about that with my mother.”
“Especially sex with Pete,” Bella added as she twisted her hair into a pile on top of her head and secured it with a clip.
“I still can’t get over our mild-mannered Pete coming out of his shell. How did we not see that side of him? Ever?”
“Seriously,” Amy agreed.
“If I had seen it, I probably would have been even worse off around him.” Jenna sighed, thinking of being in his arms, the sheer strength of him, and the way he looked at her like she was the most delectable creature on earth. “What do you make of the sudden end to our date? I mean, we know he’s not married or anything, so what would send him running off like that when I was ready to spend the night? Do you think it was just an excuse? Like he’s second-guessing this whole thing?”
Bella slid her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose and looked at Jenna over the enormous brown frames. “You established boyfriend, girlfriend. There’s no way he reconsidered.”
“He could have. Maybe he thought about it while he was on the phone and realized I am a pain in the butt. Oh no! Bella! What if that call was his emergency call?”