Page 104 of The Work Wife

There were no silly games at dinner. The group chatted during the meal, and then one by one everyone got up to leave. Jamie wanted to leave so she could be alone with Wes and talk about what was happening, but her hints went ignored.

When they were the second-to-the-last couple remaining, Jamie took matters into her own hands.

“I’m tired. We should get some rest so we’re ready to leave in the morning.” She stood and waited for Wes to follow. It took a few seconds for him to respond. Wendy and Curt watched the scene, as Jamie worried Wes wouldn’t come with her.

Wes stood and followed. They didn’t speak as they followed the lighted path back to their cottage. Jamie couldn’t help but wonder if the twisting in her stomach was similar to what inmates felt on the way to their execution. Something bad was about to happen. It sizzled in the air around them.

Wes stopped walking where the sidewalk intersected with the boardwalk to the beach.

“I’m going to go for a walk. I’ll be back later,” he said as he headed in the other direction. For a long second she thought about going after him, but what would she say?

This wasn’t meant to happen. They were friends. He was the most important person in her life, aside from her father. She couldn’t afford to mess it up with sex and romance.

He of all people should know how badly she messed up those kinds of relationships. He should be thanking her for sparing him the horror that transpired when she tried to date someone.

After everything was packed, Jamie crawled into their empty bed. It was nearly eleven and Wes wasn’t back. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize he wasn’t coming. He’d found somewhere else to sleep.

She knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t have found someone else to sleep with. He didn’t have any condoms and he wouldn’t have sex with a stranger without one.

She tossed and turned for another hour before a lone tear ran down her face. The thing she had been hoping to avoid by putting a stop to their sexual relationship was coming to fruition anyway.

She’d lost her best friend.

More tears joined the first as her heart broke into a million pieces.

Chapter 19

Wes couldn’t force himself to go back to their cottage. He couldn’t be expected to lie next to her in their bed and not want more than friendship. It wasn’t just the matter of his dick wanting to continue what they’d started. His heart was raw with her casual disinterest in having something serious with him.

She was able to just step away and go back to being friends? He was in a completely different place. He’d wanted to see where it would lead if they actually gave this marriage a chance.

The stars above him blurred in anger, or maybe it was the moisture that had somehow accumulated in his eyes. He’d never cried over a woman in his life. Hell, he hadn’t even had tears at his father’s funeral. But he had lost more tonight than he could face.

For the first time since he’d known her, they hadn’t agreed on something. It figured it would be the most important thing ever.

The sound of bare feet on sand and the swish of fabric made him turn his head. Jamie stood over him with her hands on her hips.

“What are you doing out here?” she asked, her voice husky.

“The bed in the cottage is too small tonight.”

“You’re pissed at me.”

The thing was, he wasn’t really. How could he be? She’d been very clear about what this was from the beginning. He was the one who’d wanted more. He couldn’t be angry that she wasn’t willing to give it to him.

“No. I’m pissed at me, I guess.” Or the stars. He glared up at them again as Jamie sat next to him in the sand. Too close. “You should go back to the cottage. I’m not fit company at the moment.”

“I’m not going back to the cottage without you. I’m scared.”

“Of what? Did you see a spider?”

“No. I’m scared if we don’t talk about this, we’ll lose each other here, and I can’t handle it. I need you, Wes. I wouldn’t have wanted to come on this trip without you. You’re my best friend.”

He let out a sigh and then looked at her again, desperately trying to see her the way he once had. As just a friend. But it was impossible.

He saw everything when he looked at her. He saw the way they moved together. He heard the sounds she made when he satisfied her. He saw the look she gave him when she desired him. He felt her fingers twined in his hair.

He felt everything they could be and he wanted it.