Jennie

I closed the door, locked it, then let shame wash over my body.

Lisa had kissed me.

And I'd kissed her back.

I'd kissed someone while dating another.

Shit. I was low. I wasn't this woman. I didn't string anyone along. Hell, before Taehyung, there hadn't been any men to string along.

Before Taehyung, there'd been boys in high school who'd sneak a kiss in an empty hallway. They'd been appealing only because they'd been forbidden. Those boys had been a way to give my father a rebellious fuck you.

When I'd moved to Black Point, I'd been too busy growing up to think of dating. Besides that, no one had asked. The eligible men in town saw me surrounded by BPs and stayed far away.

Then came Taehyung. Then Lisa.

My hand came to my swollen lips and I wiped them again. Lisa's taste was still in my mouth, and her scent clung to the air.

I'd let her sweep her tongue against mine and devour my lips until I'd realized exactly what I was doing, how I was betraying Ten. I'd pulled away and shoved her out the door.

What was I doing? This wasn't me.

My stomach churned. Ten Lee was a good man. He deserved better. He deserved a woman who wasn't kissing other men.

A woman whose heart wasn't torn.

Kissing Lisa hadn't felt wrong, not in the moment. Feeling her lips on mine was like coming home after a long day. It was like finding the sanctuary, the solace I'd been missing for months. The boat of my life stopped rocking. The waters of my soul calmed.

My foolish, reckless heart was her.

There was no Ten and me. Me and Ten.

When I looked into the future, I saw someone with dark blond hair and a smile that millions of women coveted but was only for me.

Poor Ten had never stood a chance. Even if Lisa hadn't returned to Black Point, eventually I would have cut Ten loose. I simply wasn't . . . available.

But Lisa had returned. Things would be entirely different this time around. I couldn't hide her from the people in my life. The world would know that Lisa Manoban was sleeping in my bed.

"Ugh." I dropped my forehead to the door.

Was I doing this? Lisa had the power to destroy me. If she left me behind again, I'd be shattered beyond repair.

Or . . .

She'd hold my heart and treat it with tender care.

She'd love me.

But before I could think about Lisa, about taking that risk, I had to end it with Ten.

I pushed away from the door and walked into the living room, grabbing my phone.

"Hey," Ten answered. "I was just thinking about you."

Oh, his voice. Not as smooth as Lisa's but it was still sexy. I sank down to the edge of my chair, my shoulders slumping. "Are you still coming over later?"

"I'd like to see you. But if you need more time with your sister, I understand."

I looked down the hallway to the door that was still closed. "No, I'd like to see you too."

"Yeah?" Ten sounded so hopeful. I bet he was smiling.

This was going to suck. "Yeah."

"Give me an hour."

"Okay." An hour would have to be enough time to figure out what to say.

I hung up and tossed the phone aside, pinching the bridge of my nose.

My emotions were all over the place. I hadn't planned on unloading my childhood on Lisa, but with Irene here, the floodgates had opened and the horror I hadn't wanted to relive for years had come rushing out.

I hadn't even hesitated. Confiding in Lisa was so natural. So easy. Why was that? I'd kept my past locked up tight. The only person who'd been able to finagle it out of me had been Drake, and even then, there were things I hadn't told him.

I hadn't told him about the red nail polish incident because Drake would have jumped on his bike, ridden to Chicago and slit my father's throat. It had been hard enough admitting my father had beaten me. I'd cried. Drake had cussed. And when the lid on his temper had blown, I'd clutched his arm and made him promise not to retaliate.

I'd assumed Irene was still there and I hadn't wanted to make things worse. And I hadn't wanted my past mixing with my present. The Jennie with long shiny hair and a dutiful smile was dead. The Jennie who lived by her own design had been thriving.

I didn't want my parents tainting the beauty I'd made for myself.

Lisa had been as angry as Drake. Lisa's fury had pulsed off her in waves, but much like Drake, she'd locked it down. She'd listened and when I'd broken, she'd held me like I was precious.

If I hadn't already fallen for Lisa, today would have been the tipping point.

She'd told me she loved me. She'd been so sure I loved her too.

Was I in love? Being around Lisa was comforting. It was exhilarating. But there was something else—a feeling I couldn't name.

Those were worries for another time because I had a guest coming over. I stood up and straightened the living room. I lit a candle on the coffee table because I didn't want Ten to walk in and smell Lisa's cologne.

Then I waited. My stomach knotted and I couldn't seem to take a deep breath. My palms were sweating by the time Ten arrived, true to his word, exactly an hour after our phone conversation.

"Hey." He smiled and kissed me on the cheek when I greeted him at the door.

"Hi." I took his jacket and hung it in the small coat closet. "Come on in."

Ten followed me into the living room and looked around. "Nice place."

"Thanks." And thank God that elderly woman had crashed into the gym.

It wouldn't have been right, sleeping with Ten. No matter how many times I'd mentally paired us together, there was a gap.

That gap's name was Lisa Manoban.

"Would you like something to drink?" I asked.

"Nah, I'm good." He walked into the living room and took a seat on the love seat. He sat right in the middle, leaving no room for me to sit beside him, then leaned his elbows on his knees. "How is your sister?"

"Fine." I took the chair across from the love seat. "She's sleeping at the moment."

"Anything I can do?"

"No." I gave him a small smile, then mustered my courage to break this off. "So, um—"

He held up a hand. "Jennie, it's okay. I know why I'm here."

"You do?"

"Lisa Manoban is back."

"How did you know? Did she call you?" Because that was going to piss me off. Lisa had no right to interfere.

Ten shook his head. "There's not a lot that happens here that the chief of police doesn't know about. Especially when a famous celebrity moves next door to my girlfriend's house."

Girlfriend. He thought of me as his girlfriend.

Oh, hell. This was not getting easier, but I took a deep breath and gave Ten the only thing I had left—honesty. "We were together when she lived here before. It ended when she left."

"But now she's back," Ten said. "I get it. If I had to choose me over Lisa, I might not choose me either. She's surprisingly difficult to dislike."

Ugh. He was being so nice about this. Couldn't he get mad, call me horrible names and storm out the door? "I'm so sorry, Ten."

He hung his head for a moment, then lifted it to give me a sad smile. "So am I."

Silence settled over the room, aside from the candlewick crackling on the table between us.

Ten stood. "Take care, Jennie."

"You too." I followed him to the front door and retrieved his coat.

He shrugged it on, then bent to brush another kiss on my cheek. There were no tingles. There were no sparks or butterflies.

I'd been searching for something with Ten that had never been there.

"Give me a few weeks, then tell Lisa she owes me a beer for stealing my girl."

I nodded. "Okay."

Ten opened the door and walked outside, lifting his hand to wave before he jogged down the steps. I stood in the cold, watching as he got into his truck and reversed into the street. Then I closed the door, turned and gasped.

Irene was standing in the hall.

"He's cute."

My hand flew to my racing heart. "You scared me."

"Sorry." She shrugged and walked into the living room, curling up on the couch. Her eyes drooped and she yawned, shoving a lock of her stringy hair from her face. "What day is it?"

"Tuesday," I said, sitting beside her.

"Huh. Guess I was tired."

We stared at each other wordlessly.

Looking at her used to be like looking in the mirror. We'd had the same hair, the same clothes. Did I seem as foreign to her as she did to me? Maybe after a shower, she wouldn't look so much like a ghost.

"Do you want a shower?" I asked.

Irene dropped her gaze to her hands. "Sure. Can I borrow some clothes?"

"I'll put some on your bed. There are towels and an extra toothbrush in your bathroom."

"Thanks." Her fingers toyed on her lap, picking at something black, probably mascara, caked beneath a nail. Then her hands stilled, and she looked up. "Did you love him?"

"Ten? No. We only dated for a month."

"No, not Ten." She gave me a flat look. "Taehyung. Did you love him?"

"Oh." My cheeks flamed.

Why couldn't we have talked about anything else first? Like why she was here. Or how she'd left Chicago. Or what she'd been doing with her life. Why did we have to jump right into the Taehyung subject?

"Yes," I admitted. "At least, I thought I loved him at the time."

"And now?"

"Maybe I don't know what love is."

"I do." Irene shifted her gaze to the burning candle. "Because Taehyung taught me."

And there, in her soft voice, was her broken heart.

I'd betrayed my twin sister. "I'm sorry."

For Taehyung.

For leaving her.

For the years that had gone.

"Whatever." Irene stared at the candle without blinking. Without speaking. She was quiet for so long that I gave up and turned to the candle too.

We'd been so close once. If there was love in my past, it was entwined with memories of Irene.

Had I ruined us the night I'd left? Was there any hope I'd get my sister back? Or would she hold Taehyung against me forever?

"I missed you," I whispered, not brave enough to look away from the candle.

Irene stood from the couch and exited the room. But before she disappeared into the bathroom, she paused at the mouth of the hall. "I missed you too."

I held my smile until I heard the shower turn on, then hope bloomed.

This reunion wasn't what I'd planned. A reunion wasn't something I'd ever planned.

At eighteen, I'd had illusions of the two of us laughing and singing to the radio as we drove away from Chicago. I'd pictured us living our lives separately, but connected—mine in Montana, hers in California. We'd call each other often. We'd vacation on the beach and spend Christmases together.

None of that had come true.

But maybe it would, a decade later.

I went to my bedroom and took out a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt for Irene. I also grabbed a fresh pair of panties and a sports bra. I set them on her bed, glancing around the guest bedroom at the bag she'd brought with her.

It was a black backpack, sagging in a corner like it was mostly empty. Where had she been? Where was she living? She'd arrived in a cab. Had she flown here from somewhere? Or taken a bus? Or hitchhiked?

Now that she was awake, we could talk. I went to the kitchen and made dinner. It wasn't anything fancy, but I was hungry and from the looks of it, Irene hadn't eaten much lately. I went for simple grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.

When she emerged from her bedroom, our meal was waiting at my round dining table beside the kitchen.

"What would you like to drink?" I asked.

"Water is fine." She slid into a seat, her hair wet and hanging down her back. My clothes were not fitted, but they were baggier on her than they'd ever been on me.

"You can start without me." I filled up two glasses of water in the kitchen, and when I returned to the table, half her sandwich was gone. I sat down, trying not to stare as she inhaled the rest of her food.

"Thanks for dinner." She gulped from the water glass. "I was starving."

"You slept for two days."

"I was tired." Irene yawned and stood. "I'm going to go back to bed."

"Oh." So much for talking. "I have to get back to work tomorrow. Are you staying or . . ."

"If that's okay."

"Yes, of course. Stay as long as you'd like."

She picked up her dishes and took them to the kitchen.

I abandoned my meal to follow. "Do you need more clothes? Or anything? I can swing by the grocery store on the way home from work. Maybe we could talk tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow."

I smiled. "Get some rest."

"Night."

I waited until her door was closed before returning to my plate, but my appetite was gone.

Was she hiding from me? Or was she really this tired? Was she sick?

I ran a hand through my hair, frustrated that I didn't have answers, but Irene had always done things on her own timeline. She'd wait until the candles on our birthday cake were dripping before she'd blow them out. She'd take twice as long to jump in the pool. It was the reason she hadn't left Chicago with me. She hadn't been ready yet.

When she wanted to answer my questions, she would. Until then, I'd be patient.

I did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. I washed a load of laundry and set a stack of clothes outside Irene's door. It was only seven o'clock by the time my chores were done, and I had no desire to watch TV or read.

The yellow house next door was calling my name.

I padded down the hallway toward my bedroom. Lisa's window was dark but there was a glow from deeper in the house. Donning a warm sweater and a pair of wool socks, I tugged on my boots and slipped into the dark night.

The air was crisp, and my earlobes froze as I crunched across the snow-trodden path Lisa had created between our houses. My foot hit the bottom stair and her door swung open.

Lisa looked to my driveway. "Where's Ten?"

"Gone."

"When I saw his truck, I thought you and he were . . ." Her face was washed in relief. "I about came out of my skin."

"Oh, well, we were never together. Not intimately."

She blinked and stepped onto the porch, her bare feet oblivious to the freezing temperature. "Say that again."

"I ended it."

She took another step. "You ended it."

"Yeah." I climbed the steps, making my way toward the warmth of her arms. "You better not break my heart."

She stepped closer, placing her palm between my breasts. It flattened on my sternum and the heat from her touch seeped through my sweater. "It's safe. I swear it."

Safe.

That was the word I'd been looking for earlier.

It wasn't as monumental as love, but for a woman who'd lived so much of her life in fear, safe seemed almost as important.

"Kiss me, Lisa."

She framed my face. "Where?"

"Here." I pointed to my lips. Everywhere.

"I don't want this to be a secret anymore," she said. "But if you take me, it means you get it all. The cameras. The tabloids. I want you, more than anything I've wanted in my life, but I don't come easily."

I arched an eyebrow and gave her a sly grin. "We'll see about that."

Gripping the hand she still had over my heart, I stepped past her and dragged her into the house.

Her sexy chuckle drifted away as she kicked the door closed. Then her hands were all over me, and her mouth was on mine.

I didn't care if Lisa came with fans. I didn't care that she'd drag me into the spotlight. Because I'd rather be by her side than standing in the shadows alone.

With one fast grab, she swooped me into her arms, holding me against her chest as she walked us into the house. She turned to her bedroom, never once breaking away from my mouth.

My arms banded around her shoulders, pulling her close as I slanted to deepen our kiss. To savor the feel of her lips and the wet heat. We panted and licked and sucked, knowing there'd be no stopping.

We wouldn't come up for air until we were both boneless.

I wouldn't mind if that took days.

Lisa's delicious scent filled my nose as we entered her room. The bed centered beneath the window was big and covered in a charcoal quilt. She spun us around, setting me on the edge as she dropped to her knees.

Her hands roamed my legs as I whipped the sweater off my torso. My nipples were pebbled in my bra and my core throbbed as she stayed on her knees, removing my boots and socks.

When my feet were bare, Lisa picked one up and placed a soft, gentle kiss to my ankle.

A shiver ran down my spine. "What was that for?"

"I've never kissed you there before."

"Oh." I blushed furiously through a smile that pinched my cheeks.

Lisa laughed, the vibrations of her rich voice rolling over my skin and prickling the little hairs with electricity.

She stood and unzipped her jeans. She didn't shove them off her hips but let them hang open, clinging to the V of her hip bones and teasing me with what was beneath. With one graceful move, she reached behind her neck and yanked her black cashmere sweater over her head.

My mouth watered at the sight of the bare chest and sinewed arms I'd dreamed about for months.

"Where else haven't I kissed you?" she asked.

I pointed to the inside of my arm, the hollow point opposite my elbow. "Here."

She bent, bracing herself above me with one arm in the bed, then used her free hand to take my wrist. Lisa's touch was featherlight. She skated those lips up the inside of my forearm, the pressure enough to leave a stream of tingles. When she reached the hollow point, her tongue darted out to drop one wet kiss.

The erotic sensation of her lips, the heat of her body hovering above mine but not touching, sent a pool of desire to my center.

"Where else?"

I pointed to the spot behind my ear. Maybe she'd kissed me there before, but I couldn't remember past this lust-induced fog.

Lisa placed the kiss on the exact spot I'd pointed at. My eyes drifted closed as she dragged her chin across the line of my jaw.

"Here." I touched the underside of my chin.

She dropped a kiss there, then another on my lips.

I reached between us, lifting the hem of my T-shirt. She took it from my hands, lifting it off. The jeans I'd worn rode low enough to show the waistband of my panties. I pointed to the red lace on my hip. "Here."

Lisa dropped a trail of kisses from my chin, over the cotton of my bra to my hip. Once she'd kissed that spot, she nuzzled kisses across my stomach.

I threaded my fingers through her hair, then I pulled her up my body, sealing my mouth over her as my hands dove into her jeans.

The slow, tortured exploration was over. We flew into a frenzy, stripping one another of our remaining clothes. She moved us deeper into the bed, covering me with her weight as she stretched for the nightstand's drawer.

She was going for a condom.

I froze.

"What?" She stilled. "What's wrong?"

"Were you . . ." Oh God, if she'd been with another woman—I was beginning to understand how hard it must have been for her to see me with Ten.

"No." She kissed my lips. "There's been no one."

Relief crashed into me and nearly made me weep. I cupped her jaw. "Good. I might have had to kill you."

She chuckled and kissed me again, then went back to the nightstand, but I stopped her once more.

"I'm on the pill. I got tested after the wedding."

"I'm clean too."

"Then stop making me wait." I lifted up and slammed my mouth to her, diving in with my tongue as my hand reached for her shaft between us.

Her hand wrapped over the top of mine as she dragged the tip through my wet folds. Then she took my wrist away at the same time she thrust forward.

I hissed, crying out as she filled and stretched me.

"Fuck." Lisa buried her face in my neck and stilled, giving me a moment to adjust.

"Move," I whispered into her ear.

She obeyed, rocking in and out with long, hard strokes that shook me from head to toe. The feel of her bare inside me was incredible. The stretch, the connection, was raw and profound and breathtaking.

We were beautiful together.

We moved in sync with every touch and kiss. We devoured one another until neither of us could hold back from the edge.

I cried out Lisa's name as I came, blinding sparks overtaking my vision. Lisa moaned against my breast as she sucked a nipple into her mouth, pouring into me as I clenched around her.

"Damn, woman." She breathed against my skin as she collapsed onto her back, pulling me to her side. "I missed you. So damn much."

"I missed you too." I hugged an arm over her stomach and kissed her pec.

"I need to ask you something."

"Okay." I shifted up to look at her face, nervous at the seriousness of her tone.

She grinned and rubbed the crease between my eyebrows away. "Will you go out to dinner with me?"

"Like . . . on a date?" I scrunched up my nose, holding back a smile. "What's in it for me?"

"Besides a meal?" Lisa's eyes sparkled. "Me."

"Hmm." My smile stretched wide. "Yes. I'll go on a date with you."

Her arms came around me in a flash, flipping us both until she'd pinned me to the bed. "Finally I didn't get a goddamn no."