Seducing the Old Flame (19 page)

In many ways it had been.

A dream like the one he desperately wanted two years ago.
 
Tabby in his home, at his beck and call,
waving him off to work, smiling and saying yes.

His macho alert went off again.

Okay, so he admitted his expectations of Tabby two years ago
hadn’t been realistic or fair.

But what about now?

He sighed.

This weekend radically changed his plans for his future.

He wanted Tabby.

He didn’t love her.
 
He’d
learned his lesson there.

But she still affected him as no other woman could.

He wasn’t above asking to see her again.
 
Not that he would beg, but maybe they could
have a repeat next weekend.

“I want to see you again.”

She looked up from where she slipped her shirt back on, and
smiled, confusion shining in her green eyes.
 
Excitement, too.
 
“What?
 
I’ve barely covered myself.”

“Not that.”
 
At her raised
eyebrow, he backtracked.
 
“Well, yeah
that, too, but I meant next weekend.”

She paused.
 
“What do you
mean by seeing me?”

“This.
 
Why does it have
to end today?
 
Why can’t we do the same
thing next weekend?”

She didn’t say anything and he could tell she was thinking too
much.

“What would it hurt?” he asked.
 
“We enjoy each other’s company and Lord knows we enjoy each other’s
body.
 
We could pick up on Friday night
where we leave off today.”

He couldn’t read her face and was pretty sure she didn’t want
him too as she asked, “I’d show up here Friday night and be your sex slave
again for the weekend?
 
Nothing more,
nothing less?”

Did she want more?

No, this was Tabby.
 
Sex
was the only thing she needed a man for.

“It doesn’t matter if we’re at my place or yours.
 
It isn’t like you haven’t been a willing
captive, Tabby.
 
Or that I haven’t given
you pleasure.
 
We both know I have.”

“True.”
 
She finished
dressing, then faced him.
 
“Jason, as
much fun as I’ve had this weekend, continuing this isn’t something I want to
do.”

Hell.

His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth.

She was going to do it to him again.
 
Reject him.

That stung.

“I mean it’s not that I don’t want to see you again,” she
continued, looking very Tabitha Sterling-ish.
 
“But what would be the point?”

What indeed?

He took a step back.

“We don’t want a relationship together, do we?
 
And you’ve already admitted that you’re
thinking about a future with Allie.
 
Something about Tabby’s eyes appeared just a little too removed, a
little too indifferent.
 
“So, I have to
ask, what would be the purpose of us seeing each other again?”

What had he been thinking?

Tabby was right.
 
All
they’d be doing was delaying the inevitable.

A relationship between them was impossible.

Always had been.

Still, he didn’t want to let go.

“Good sex?” he said, trying to lighten his suddenly gloomy mood.

“Then where would we be?”
 
She sighed.
 
“Eventually the
fighting would start back, Jason.
 
A
relationship can’t be based on sex alone and if we continued what we’ve started
this weekend, sex is all we’d have.”

He stared at her torn expression.
 
A part of Tabby wanted to say yes.
 
He could change her mind; get her to agree to
another weekend, if he wanted too.

So the question was did he want to?

Yes immediately popped into his head, but he hesitated.

Even if he convinced Tabby that they should spent next weekend,
several weekends, having all the sex they could handle, where would they be
when all was said and done?

Right where they were at this moment.

It wasn’t enough.

Nor did it fit in at all with his long-term goals.

He wanted a wife, children.

Tabby wanted, well, who knew what Tabby wanted?
 
Not the things he wanted.

“You’re right,” he said.
 
“We end here.”

She turned away from him and if he didn’t know better he might
believe that she’d wanted him to deny her claims.

He did know better.

Knew Tabby.

“So, what’s next, Tabitha?”

Without facing him, she shrugged.
 
“You tell me, Master.
 
I’m your slave for the next couple of
hours.
 
Your wish is my command.”

If only.

“Well, if all that’s left is a couple more hours, I know what I
want next.”

“You do?”
 
She thought he
meant sex.
 
He could see it in her
expression.
 
What he couldn’t see was if
she was disappointed or pleased by the thought.

He laced his fingers with hers, not willing to change his mind
on how he wanted to spend his last hours with Tabby.
 
“Yep, come on, let’s go.”

Tabby followed Jason’s lead, determined to play the role she’d
agreed to play, wondering what sexual game he’d want to participate in this
time.
 
Maybe tie her to the bedpost?
 
Or to the headboard?

He stopped at his hall closet, ripped open a large taped box
near the back, dug around until he found what he was looking for, and pulled
out an inline skate.

“Here, hold this.”
 
He
handed her the skate.

Tabby eyed the shoe, then realized she was looking at her
skate.
 
She’d not thought of them in
years.
 
Well, apparently not since her
break-up with Jason.

She’d taught Jason how to skate.
 
She smiled at the memories, of the laughter as he’d fallen time and
again because he couldn’t loosen up enough to get in the rhythm.

“What else of mine do you have in that box?”
 
She peered inside, noting the large, brown
paper covered rectangle at the very back of the closet.

Shivers covered her skin.

Her painting.

It had to be.

He’d kept it.

Covered it up and stuck it at the back of a closet, yes, but he
hadn’t thrown it away.

Why did it please her to know that he still had that painting?

Perhaps because she didn’t want some stranger staring at a
canvas starring her in all her God given glory and not a stitch more?

Perhaps, but not likely.
 
More to do with the fact Jason owned the painting still.

Why had he kept it?

Jason looked up, oblivious to her meanderings, and grinned.
 
“You can go through the box when we get
back.
 
Take anything that’s yours.
 
Here, wear these.”
 
He handed her elbow and knee pads.

“Yeah, I’ll probably be needing those as I haven’t skated since
the last time we went and imagine I’ll be spending a lot of time on my rear.”

“Really?
 
I’m
surprised.
 
You always enjoyed
skating.”
 
He closed the box and shifted
to the other side of the closet, picking up his own inlines.

Yeah, she did enjoy skating.
 
Or had.
 
“Made me think of you,”
she admitted, not meeting his eyes.

“Really?”
 
He
straightened, his hands full of skating equipment.

“Really.”
 
She hadn’t
thought about it, not until this moment.
 
But she’d given up quite a few things she associated with Jason.

Like strawberries, whip cream, chocolate syrup, water gun
fights, plastic sheets, bubble baths for two, feather boas, trips to
Gatlinburg, and skating.

She hadn’t missed those things, because she hadn’t let herself.

Hadn’t even let herself realize what she’d given up.

Now that she knew, walking away a second time was only going to
be that much more difficult.

But she’d given him a chance to tell her he wanted more than
just sex from her and he hadn’t.

She’d laid it all on the line in the kitchen, given him the
perfect opportunity to admit he thought they had something beyond sex and he
backed away from her.
 
Reiterated that
sex was all he wanted from her.
 
Was all
he would ever want.

It’s all she’d ask from him.

She wouldn’t beg.

Life would go on.

Without Jason.

But she still had today and she wouldn’t waste a precious second
by mourning what she once had.

There would be plenty of time for that in the nights to come.

“I beat you,” Tabitha gloated, spinning on her skates to face Jason.
 
He grinned at her.

She was beautiful.

The fall wind whipped at her hair, which she’d pulled back in a
ponytail.
 
Only hundreds of pieces had
escaped and curled around her face.

Her cheeks flushed from excitement and the exercise.
 
They’d skated up to UT’s campus and were
headed back in the direction of his apartment complex.

She waggled her brows at him, daring him to do something about
her win.

Dare he would.

He careened into her, wrapped his arms around her waist and
pulled her down onto the grass that grew next to the sidewalk.

He positioned her to where, all soft curves and wide-eyed, she
fell on top of him.

“Nice of ya to drop in like this,” he teased.

“Hey, I didn’t know tackling was allowed in skating,” she
accused, laughing as she stared down at him.
 
She frowned, but her eyes twinkled.

“New rule.”

“I’d forgotten you were one of those men who made up new rules
as it suits your purpose.”

“Who me?”
 
He tried to
look innocent.
 
Not an easy thing to
accomplish with Tabby lying on him, looking all high and mighty as she did her
best to hold a straight face.

“Yeah, you.”
 
She wiggled,
as if she wanted to stand up, not that she tried too hard, or maybe she did-—to
excite him, that is.

She accomplished that ten-fold.

He tightened his arms, rolled her over, and pinned her beneath
him.

“You’re not playing fair, Jason,” she accused with a pouty lower
lip.

Did she purposely tempt him to kiss her?

Probably.

He’d give her what she wanted.

A kiss.

More than that he’d hang on to, as she didn’t want it
anyway.
 
Never had.

“So, what else is new?”
 
He shrugged, dismissing her claim about fairness.
 
To hell with fair.
 
“I never did.”

Her mouth fell open and she wiggled some more.
 
“Yes, you did.
 
You always played fair.
 
Almost to a fault.
 
As a matter of fact, I’d say the only time
you weren’t fair is when we were fighting and then you didn’t pull any
punches.”

He grinned at her haughty expression.
 
Maybe she was right.
 
But not anymore.
 
Forget fair.
 
He silenced her with a kiss.

Just a brief one.

She’d have to be still if she wanted a real kiss.

“There you go not playing fair again.”
 
Her words were soft and her gaze guarded.

“Nope,” he disagreed.
 
“Haven’t you heard, all’s fair in war and love.”

“But we’re not in love and the war between us ended a long time
ago, so your argument doesn’t hold water.”

He didn’t know the answer to that one.

Nor could he swear that he agreed with her.

But now wasn’t the time to think deep thoughts.
 
He’d have time for that later.
 
After she disappeared from his life as
quickly as she entered it.