CHAPTER 11 – THE PAST COMES TO HAUNT
"Is that so? Years? For me maybe…" he said with a chuckle.
"Oh, come on. You knew that I was attracted to you all these years. I knew that you knew so I worked very hard to hide it. It also helped that you were irritating on most days. But seriously, I used to watch you sleep… a lot – it was the only time I could look at you without you knowing or reading me-"
"I knew that…" said Jane and he tickled her side.
"No, you didn't! How?" she asked incredulously.
"Easy… I wasn't always sleeping. I just liked to be around you when your guard wasn't up. Sometimes you hummed a song or talked quietly to yourself. And sometimes you were still for a long time – I figured you were watching me. And I loved it when you covered me with a blanket." His eyes lit up at the memory. "So what else were you checking out?"
Jane grabbed her hand. They were both sitting on the warm sand letting the ocean waves lap at their legs. He couldn't get enough of her in that bikini. He kept wishing they were somewhere more private, so he could touch her the way he wanted and at the same time, was enjoying the anticipation of not being able to do just that. The morning had been very enjoyable waking up and knowing that she was his and that she loved him. Being able to finally tell her about his feelings had lifted a weight he didn't realize he had been carrying. They had breakfast in bed and then had headed out for the beach for a swim and this is where they had been since. Although he was getting hungry again… it must be getting close to lunchtime.
"Wow… you just want to know everything don't you?" she said giggling. "I don't know… at the time I didn't realize I was checking you out… I was simply observing," she said with a coy smile.
"And what were you observing may I ask?" said Jane diplomatically.
"Okay…" – She took his hand and placed it on her thigh. – "I'd never seen sexier hands than yours and I thought about them a lot, more than I wanted to. I enjoyed watching you do your hand tricks, when you would drive, or that thing you do with your hands when you're thinking. And you're not exactly hard on the eyes either," she said.
"I'm not huh?" he said smirking and he stroked her leg and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips since there were kids on the beach.
"Oh, you know… don't be modest," she said feeling all tingly with his hand stroking her thigh.
He flashed her a devilish smile confirming that he knew what he was doing to her.
"Everybody has a type, I didn't think I was yours… I always thought you favored the muscled cop type."
"Well, you're right that I did date that type… but – are you serious right now? Any woman you set eyes on, you can have."
"Oh, that – well that's back to sex again. That's easy to manipulate when you know how. You don't have to be too attractive for that. You just have to know what you're doing."
"You really think that-" Teresa started.
Jane chuckled. "I know it. Don't fight me on this. It's what I do." – Teresa was staring at him with a huge smile which made him smile harder. – "What?"
"Well, I guess I'm wondering what else it is you can do if it's that easy? What are your moves?" she said teasingly.
Jane blushed. She'd made him blush. "You will find out later," he said with a wicked smile.
"Humm… can't wait," she giggled. "What about you… were you checking me out?"
"Ah… I wouldn't say that I was checking you out. Not in the typical way I guess. You're beautiful, that was not missed the first time I saw you and you have the most stunning eyes I've ever seen… but my favorite thing to do was to irritate you because you would get this look on your face and your eyes would flare, and I loved it. I also enjoyed teasing you and loved the look of wonder you would give me when I would show you a new trick. I just really enjoyed being in your company and having your attention you could say."
"I always thought that you just had an irritating personality… I didn't realize you were working at it for my benefit. You could have skipped that part," she said laughing.
Jane shrugged. "I was addicted to your attention. I also used another strategy on you so that I could give in to my urge to show you how I felt without it being so obvious," he said with mischief in his eyes.
"Well don't leave me hanging," she chuckled.
"Grand gestures that were too obvious to be believed," Jane said expanding his arms outwards.
"Are you talking about the pony?" she asked incredulously.
"And the emeralds and the job at the FBI," he said smugly. "And while we are on the subject, I have an apology or confession of sorts." – He leaned on his elbow, so he could get closer to Teresa's ear. – "I did say 'I love you' before I fake shot you all those years ago."
Teresa turned towards him and shoved him so hard that he rolled onto his back roughly.
"I knew it! You made me think I imagined it… Mr. Memory Palace!" she said sharply. She then got up and started walking back towards the hut, feeling quite peeved at him after all this time.
Jane blinked and couldn't believe he'd made her that upset with his confession. He grabbed their towels and beach bag and took off after her.
"Hey, hey – I didn't mean to upset you back there. C'mon, let's talk about it," he said regrettably.
She was walking at a fast pace in the sand and he felt ridiculous trying to keep up with her with all the gear while trying to manage the crowd of people enjoying the beach.
"Teresa, please stop," he pleaded.
She stopped and turned around then. She had her arms wrapped around herself.
"I'm getting hungry. How about you?" he said. "Let's go get some lunch."
"Actually, I need to go back to the hut. I just need some time," she said as all the memories started rushing back to her.
Jane watched her walk away. He decided to go to the café and pick up lunch and bring it back to the hut. And he would try to talk to her then.
Teresa didn't know why she was so upset at his confession after all this time. She had buried that memory so far, that she'd forgotten all about it because it had hurt her that much. She still remembers how confused she'd felt when he'd said that to her because, in hindsight, she had been in love him already at this point. He'd just come back from being gone for six months and she'd been so worried about him. And she'd been scared to death that day… afraid that they wouldn't be able to catch Red John and what that meant to Jane's mental health and more afraid that they would catch him, and Jane would go to prison. Or worse, that something terrible was going to happen to Jane. It had been a really bad time for her and when he took it back it had stung quite a bit.
Teresa took a shower to relax and put on a sundress. Jane looked surprised by her reaction and she laughed a little to herself when she pictured his confused face. She figured he'd be right behind her, but he was still a no-show and that was making her mad. He wasn't even going to try to come after her now. She grabbed her bag and headed out the door.
Jane couldn't believe that she was gone when he got to the hut and she'd left her phone in the bathroom. He went back out and got in the golf cart. She was on foot, so she wouldn't be hard to find. He rode around the resort for two hours and couldn't find her. He found the Lisbon brothers by the pool, but they hadn't seen her either. She wouldn't have gone off the resort, so he decided to loop around again. She would be hungry by now… she would go find a place to eat for sure. It took another 45 minutes for him to find her and it wasn't what he had expected. She was at one of the resort bars along the beach and she was laughing with a very good-looking guy who was trying to pick her up. He's never been a jealous possessive type in the past, but after searching for her for almost 3 hours, he wanted to walk up to that guy and punch him or make him cluck like a chicken.
Jane had surprised her from behind and she'd almost jumped out of her skin. He put his hand on her back and she was surprised by two things… he was still wearing his swimming trunks and he looks annoyed, to say the least. He was making that face he does when he's disgusted by someone or angry.
"Teresa, how lovely to find you here," Jane said coolly.
"Jane," she said passively.
"May I have a minute of your time, please," he said softly near her ear while pinning the guy she was chatting with a death stare. The timbre of his voice gave her exciting shivers. She'd never seen him act like this… he was for sure jealous. She wasn't into that whole possessive guy type and she hadn't expected Jane to be like that, but she was thoroughly turned on. She turned in her chair and made to leave, but the guy she was talking to decided to be chivalrous. 'Tereza, you don't need to go with him if you don't want to. We're having a great time. Stay,' he'd said and then he put his hand on her arm. Before she had a chance to react, Jane stepped forward, inserted himself in front of her, and told the guy to take his hand off his girlfriend. The look on Jane's face must have been menacing enough that the guy put his hands up in defense and left apologizing saying he didn't know she had a boyfriend.
"I don't need you to save me, Jane. I could have handled him on my own," she heard herself say against her own will. When actually, she liked that Jane had felt strongly enough to fight for her. He still looked annoyed, but more tired. She returned to her drink at the bar and Jane reluctantly grabbed the vacant stool beside her.
"I've been looking for you everywhere, for hours," he said.
"Hours huh? I wasn't exactly hard to find when I was at the hut," she said.
"What? What do you mean by that?"
"What I mean is that you didn't feel it was very important to come find me while I was still at the hut. So, I went for a walk," she said sulkily.
"I lost my shoes when I was running after you on the beach. I had to retrace my steps to find them so that I could walk on the hot pavement back to the hut. I'm sorry if it took longer than expected since I wasn't exactly aware of the path I took when I was chasing you with all the stuff."
'Oh' was all she could say.
"'Oh' is all you can say? I've been driving around for almost 3 hours looking for you. I was about to call your brothers to help me find you when I saw you sitting here. I was worried sick."
"You were?" Teresa said feeling touched.
"Yes. I was. Of course, I was. I love you. You know I don't like to be away from you," Jane said sweetly. He then stood up from his stool and kissed her. "Can we get out of here?"