Page 69 of Second Chance Saloon

Heart in her throat, Jackie reached for his face and swept them away.

They were so close. Chests touching, his hands sitting on her waist again.

The thin fabric of her swimsuit did nothing to dampen the heat generated from his touch, even in the cool depths of the cenote.

Air whizzed over her teeth as she laced her hands behind his neck. “And what if it’s the feelings that scare me?”

“Then we can be scared together.” His voice turned raspy as he pulled her close, bringing his forehead to hers. “I can handle fear. What I can’t bear is knowing that somehow, in its twisted way, fate brought us together again. I can’t walk away from you.”

“Mitch—” she started, but he kissed her forehead, his lips lingering there like he wanted to leave their imprint on her skin, tear through the barriers her mind had put up between them.

“I know this is complicated.”

A low laugh rumbled through her chest. “Complicated? You were meant to be married.”

“But I’m not married. And neither are you. Surely, the fact that ten years have passed and we still … We still have this strange …” Mitch drew in a breath, his entire chest shaking as he struggled for air.

“Chemistry?”

He shook his head, not drawing away from her. “What we have goes way beyond just chemistry.” His wet hand cupped her cheek, tilting her head back so she was looking directly into his eyes.

Jackie froze, her hands locked over the nape of his neck, her heart the only moving part of her, thrashing in the remnants of its imperfect, creaking, rusty cage.

How could she give in to what she wanted without telling him everything?

He knows a small part of it. You told him you can’t have children.

There was that, at least. Though it wasn’t enough.

“No matter what happened, you’re always going to carry a piece of my heart. And I’ll always carry yours, I think. Maybe that makes me selfish, maybe I should give it up, but I never could. I spent years hoping that you were happy. Because in a way, if you were happy, a sliver of that happiness would reach the core of my soul, and make me happy, too.”

Her wet eyelashes fluttered, pain creasing her features. “Mitch, please don’t—”

“I’m not finished,” he cut in, his nose brushing the side of hers. “Just for now, I don’t care why you left. All that matters is that I got to hold you again.”

The muscle in his jaw twitched, his irises teal as they reflected the water. His lips looked so soft and inviting …

Jackie wondered if they still tasted the way she remembered. Maybe if she just checked, just once, her curiosity would be satisfied and the ravenous monster that awoke when her hand touched Mitch in the lobby a few days earlier, which now felt like forever ago, would fall asleep for another ten years.

Maybe this didn’t have to be as complicated as she was making it out to be.

“And I think, deep down, you feel the same. I think you want me as much as I want you,” he murmured, words echoing in the cave.

“I think I might,” she whispered softly against his lips.

“Do you remember when we were in the water together for the first time?”

Jackie groaned, her eyes slamming shut as the memory washed over her. “Could I ever forget any of it?”

Then, before she had a chance to think, to consider what she was doing, the invisible shield between them evaporated.

His lips were soft, gentle at first, but as their tongues connected, sparks erupted, and everything turned more frantic. Mitch’s hands ran up and down her back, and her legs hooked around his waist as she balanced herself in the water.

Her soul found its anchor in his body.

Their breaths mixed, becoming one. Their heartbeats slotted together like interlocking puzzle pieces. Invisible flames licked her skin, burning like the fire: inviting, safe, but at the same time, capable of bringing devastation.

And damn her, she wanted Mitch to devastate her until her last breath.