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You are the perfect woman for Jag. Those words rang in her head. Fourteen years ago, they’d been perfect together. There was too much accumulated pain now. She really did want answers, but she didn’t know how she’d react to them. Especially if Jag had simply stopped loving or needing her.
Pretending they didn’t know each other? That would be for the best.
As she went back to the doorway and descended the steps of the plane, she didn’t let herself look at him. She feared Shawn would tell Jagger about the sting like a bee quip. That would come across like her begging for a kiss. Her gut churned as she second-guessed everything she’d said.
How was she going to get through a week of being around Jagger? She and Paul had better run fast in whatever game of cat and mouse these people had set up. She had to stay far away from Jagger. She didn’t want to know how she’d react if they got too close again. Just looking at him made her want to have an epic fight, and then kiss and make up.
Neither could happen.
Chapter
Three
Jagger was a confused mess inside. He kept trying not to react to Belinda screaming at him. Her punch had been decent, but he’d been hit so many times it wasn’t even a bee sting to him.
Bee sting. His Bee. She stings like a bee, but her honey is so sweet. How many times had he said that line to her when she was peeved at him or feisty about something and she’d immediately diffuse and given him lots of sugared honey kisses?
He couldn’t go there or he’d storm into the plane, shove Shawn away, and kiss her and kiss her. They had a lot of lost time to make up for. He gritted his teeth and thought through what she’d said in the midst of her angry diatribe.
Why did he ‘ditch’ her? Something about how could he live with himself after breaking her heart? What was she talking about? She had everything flipped upside down.
He wanted to demand answers, but he was afraid to get too close. She was glorious, a small firecracker. The way she had expressed herself was hilarious, despite the anger. Dang, he wanted to hold her and kiss her until she stopped being angry at him. That used to always work.
Shawn and Bee exited the plane. She hung back and looked at everything but him while Shawn angled straight for him.
“Jag.” Shawn gave him a look he’d never seen from his friend—calculated and perceptive, like he knew a secret about Jagger that no one knew. Shawn would be the last person to spill any secrets, so that was comforting, but what had Bee said to him?
His heart thumped far too quickly. Did she want to give them another chance? Maybe she wasn’t with Mike. Was she single? Was there any chance she was single and interested in Jagger?
Jagger had sworn not to contact her, but she’d come to him here in this paradise turned purgatory. Pastor Ralphs couldn’t claim Jagger had anything to do with this. He wasn’t one to acknowledge God’s hand in anything, but everybody around him did. Wouldn’t that be ironic if, somewhere in his peace treaty with heaven, they negotiated a clause where Belinda was miraculously brought back to him? Pastor Ralphs would certainly protest and lobby against that.
Tilting his head to the side, Shawn walked away from the group and Jagger kept pace with him. He was a jumbled mess. He glanced back, hoping to see if she had a ring on, but his gaze was drawn straight to her enchanting blue eyes. For a moment, she was staring at him like he might have a chance, but then she turned away and spoke to Paul.
Jagger was on a vicious roller coaster ride with no safety harness. No matter how strong he was, he couldn’t hold on. Nobody on earth could keep from being thrown from this dipping, racing, out-of-control rickety car with no hope of survival.
When they were a fair distance away, Shawn pivoted to face him. “I think she loves you.”
“Pardon me?” Jagger shoved his clenched fist against his heart, but it didn’t slow its frantic pace.
Shawn smiled. He didn’t smile often. “That’s not what she said, but her eyes …” He lost his smile and got serious. “This is a mess. Every show has been a mess for one reason or another. Jules and I are concerned Mercedes’s dad is … You know how much Franz loves her, and his money-grubbing cousins are hoping to bully him into them being his heirs. It’s a nightmare.” He shook his head and waved that away.
Jagger was confused. He understood Franz’s deep love for Mercedes and desperation to not be alone in the world. What did that and his billion-dollar inheritance have to do with the shows being a mess?
“This one is a real nightmare from the first moment. I’d blame Mercedes and Julie, but you know that’s not how I operate.” Shawn rubbed at his jaw.
Shawn wasn’t one to place blame or use a scapegoat. Jagger appreciated that about his friend. Shawn was loyal to those in his circle, and though he had an even sadder past than Jagger did, he didn’t complain or place blame. He simply went forward, appearing like a jerk with his serious nature and how fiercely protective he was of his small friend group—especially Mercedes and Julie. It made sense that his loyalty to the ladies would have him blindside Jagger with Bee’s unexpected appearance.
“I won’t blame Mercedes or Julie,” Jagger said.
He’d calmed down enough to not feel betrayed by his friends. They’d pulled a fast one on him, but if there was any possibility that Bee still loved him, if they had a shot at a second chance, he’d praise their names. Could it be possible that she’d thought she loved Mike, but over the years she’d longed for Jagger?
“Is Bee married?” he demanded of Shawn.
“I wouldn’t think so. Mercedes and Julie are proud of their matchmaking skills.” He smirked. “They wouldn’t choose a participant for the show who was already married.”
That was great news, but …
“Wait.” Jagger tasted bile. “Mercedes and Julie want to match Bee with Lieutenant Braven?” He couldn’t sit back and watch that. Seeing her laugh with and hug and kiss Mike had destroyed him. Fourteen years and he still couldn’t force those memories from his mind’s eye.
