Stone Passions Trilogy (44 page)

Chapter 1

Jenna scrubbed her fingers through her chin length hair and stared at her sister as if she had finally gone mad. “What do you mean you invited Vaughn’s brothers to go with us? I thought it was just going to be the three of us tonight?”

Melanie looked up, pausing a moment from putting Ferris’s long, brown hair into French braids. “Well, Ferris and I thought you might like to meet Rhys but it seemed rude to invite only one of Vaughn’s brothers so we invited both of them. Though I doubt you’ll have to worry about Armand since he will probably refuse to join us anyway. He’s not a big fan of fun. Or me.”

Jenna closed her eyes and took a couple of slow breaths to calm the tide of irritation and trepidation that was rising in her chest. “I highly doubt my daughter had anything to do with your mad scheme to set me up with Rhys since you’ve been talking of little else all month.”

Melanie tied off Ferris’s hair and then wrapped her arms around the little girl in a hug. With a dazzling smile curving her lips, her blue eyes sparkled mischievously and Jenna wanted to groan in exasperation knowing that her sister was going to get her way, as she usually did. Ferris wore an eerily similar expression and once again Jenna had the thought that Ferris was meant to be Melanie’s daughter and not hers. “I’m sure I’ve talked about other things, Jen, but it just so happens that Ferris and I agree on this. Rhys is such a great guy and Ferris already adores him.”

Jenna ground her teeth together, not ready to just dive right in to the dating scene again. It was only a few short weeks ago that she decided she was ready to test the waters and if Rhys was anything like his brother, he was an entire ocean. “I told you that I’m not interested in meeting him. If I start dating, it’s not going to be with your boyfriend’s younger brother. Has he even graduated from high school yet?”

Melanie snorted, taking absurd delight in Jenna’s question. Ferris looked over her shoulder at her aunt and the two of them started laughing maniacally, their minds linked by some invisible thread that Jenna would never understand. Flinging herself onto the couch, she sighed in resignation, knowing she was going to have to wait for her daughter and her sister to stop giggling before a normal conversation could continue.

God, Melanie and Ferris even looked like mother and daughter, with their similarly elegant noses and the shape of their eyes and their long, chocolate brown hair, though Ferris’s hair was a shade or two darker. The only difference between Ferris and Melanie was the color of their eyes: Ferris’s eyes were an unusual shade of bluish-green, while Melanie had blue eyes the color of the summer sky, the same shade as Jenna’s

Though she shared similar facial features with Melanie and the same shape and color of eyes, Jenna’s hair was black as midnight and short, just brushing her chin. Even though she had chopped off the locks in a moment of bleak despair it was simply easier to keep her hair short, especially with a baby.

Jenna’s eyes moved between Ferris and Melanie, a slight smile tipping her lips. It was impossible not to love the two of them, even if it drove her nuts trying to understand them. They believed in fairy tales and magic, mystical creatures and happy endings and Jenna no longer did. She knew that reality wasn’t nearly so wonderful and she couldn’t pretend, no matter how badly she wanted to at times. Granted, it had its moments but life was dark and painful and some days it was all she could do to get through the day without worrying about the bottom being jerked out from under her again. She wasn’t sure if she would have the strength to struggle back from the abyss again.

Of course, Melanie could never understand Jenna’s reservations. Her sister had never loved someone so much, planned to spend the rest of her life with him, only to lose him in a heartbeat. Lenni led a charmed existence, untouched by the darker side of life, blissfully unaware of the harsh realities most people experienced. Throughout high school, Melanie was the imaginative one that everyone wanted to protect and shelter, the one with a dreamy smile on her lips as she waltzed through a life filled with magic.

Even now, she found the perfect, albeit tiny, apartment and she was madly in love with a drop dead gorgeous man that was madly in love with her. Vaughn worshipped Melanie, looking at her as if she hung the stars and the moon, watching her as if he would protect her with his life. It would shock Jenna if the man didn’t propose within a fortnight, three weeks tops.

Jenna wished her sister all of the happiness in the world, she did. She just wished Melanie wouldn’t try setting her up with Vaughn’s brother. She had barely just made the decision to dip her toes in the water again and she wasn’t ready for anything serious. Serious simply hurt too much.

As long as she didn’t think about Jeremy too much and what her life could have been she was okay. But when she was alone at night, the
what if
’s started crooning their worrying song in her head. The last thing she needed was a date with some prepubescent man-child who was only interested in sex. High school boys were all about the race to the finish and not the journey along the way. Even Jeremy sometimes had difficulties making it last but he had loved her and because they had been so young, sex was all about fumbling in the dark and clumsy penetrations.

Occasionally Jeremy had surprised her with extended foreplay, despite her furious blushes and feeble protests. Once, probably the night Ferris was conceived, she came with him inside her. Letting out a long sigh, she realized that it had been over six and a half years since she had an orgasm that wasn’t the result of her own manipulations.

“He’s not a child, Jenna, he’s a fully grown man,” Melanie managed to get out between giggles, pulling Jenna back into their conversation. “Why would you think otherwise?”

Jenna’s brows drew together in a puzzled frown because she wasn’t sure why she thought Rhys would be so young. Probably because Vaughn didn’t look very old, maybe mid-twenties, and Melanie kept referring to Rhys as his younger brother. And some of the stories she told, mainly the ones where Rhys was able to eat everything in sight and not gain an ounce, made Jenna think of teenage boys, with their hummingbird metabolism and dinosaur appetites. “Then is he a frat boy?”

Maybe an overgrown frat boy wouldn’t be so bad because there would be no chance of a deeper relationship. But getting involved with Melanie’s boyfriend’s brother was a bad idea for a million different reasons, the least of which was the awkwardness of having to see him afterwards when things didn’t work out. If Melanie married Vaughn, family gatherings would become something to be avoided like the plague and that was not something Jenna wanted to contemplate because she really liked her family.

“Rhys is not a frat boy, either,” Melanie chuckled. “He’s gorgeous and funny and has a set of abs to die for.”

Jenna smirked, one side of her mouth quirking upwards in a disbelieving smile, “And he’s not a frat boy? Any guy who has abs to die for tends to be gay or a total narcissist so which one is Rhys?”

Melanie opened her mouth to answer but the sound of someone knocking at the door cut off the words before they formed. Her smile grew impossibly wider as she crossed the miniscule distance to the door, throwing the words over her shoulder, “You’ll see in a moment.”

As she watched her daughter rush to catch up to Melanie, a brilliant smile on her little face, Jenna covered her face with her hand and chuckled softly. She would never win against those two. Peeking at the newcomers from between two fingers, her laughter died in her throat as a breathtakingly beautiful man with absurdly long hair wrapped his arms around Melanie and hugged her, picking her up and spinning her in a circle before setting her down. Then he bent down and as he greeted Ferris, his smile softened to one of genuine affection.

Without hesitation, Ferris stepped into his arms and embraced him with all of her five-year-old exuberance, chattering away as he stood up with her arms practically choking him as they hugged his neck. Jenna’s heart did a painful little lurch in her chest as the image of Jeremy holding his daughter flashed in her mind, juxtaposed with the reality of this stranger holding Ferris. How could such a magnificent man look so natural holding a nearly six-year-old child?

His long, reddish-brown hair was pulled back into a pony tail and hung to the small of his back, long, thick strands of gorgeous auburn hair. When he smiled, a dimple caressed his cheek and his brown eyes sparkled with amusement. The gorgeous stranger and Vaughn were definitely brothers. They shared similar facial features, from their stone-chiseled jaws to their straight noses and their full lips. But while Vaughn only had eyes for Melanie, Rhys was looking at her with avid curiosity.

There was a sense of familiarity about him, as if they had met before or knew one another in another life. Shaking her head to clear it of such ridiculous thoughts, she smiled wryly because she would have remembered meeting such an extraordinary man. And the longer he looked at her, the warmer his gaze became….

With a self-conscious gasp, Jenna was painfully reminded of her sprawling position: slouched on the couch with her palm over her face, gaping at the man as if she had never seen an incredibly attractive man before. Clumsily scrambling to her feet, she ran her hands over her short locks then over the front of her blouse, smoothing the wrinkles from the cotton material. She could feel the blush coloring her cheeks and she knew she was being ridiculous. Normally she wasn’t so bumbling, tongue-tied and gawky. In the real world she could strike up a conversation with even the most hardened of social misfits and put them at ease. Hell, in high school she had been the fun one, the daring one.

But that was a lifetime ago. Now she worked in the frequently dull but secure profession of an accountant and her social calendar consisted of play dates with mothers who had children Ferris’s age. Her social skills were widely out of practice and in the face of a dazzling smile they had disappeared. She really needed to get out more.

Pasting a smile to her frozen face, she wiped her palm against her thighs before holding it out towards the newcomer who still held her daughter. “Hi, you must be Rhys. I’m Jenna.”

He wrapped his strong fingers round her palm and brought her hand up to his mouth, pressing a heated kiss on her knuckles as his eyes darkened. Electrical currents shot up her arm and her skin burned where his lips pressed. He looked at her as if he knew her, as if he wanted to know her better, on an intimate level, and her breath caught in her throat. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Jenna. You’re even more beautiful than you are in the pictures Lenni has shown me.”

Jenna’s blush deepened as she lowered her lashes, absurdly pleased by his words, the way he said her name in that whisky and sex voice of his. It didn’t change the fact that she was going to disown her sister when this night was over. As often as Melanie had talked about Rhys, she hadn’t bothered to mention how utterly irresistible he was. He was sex on a stick, oozing sensuality and charm with no effort at all. Rhys was all of the oceans combined and Jenna knew he had the ability to pull her under and make her drown.

Or she would just have to learn how to swim in the deep end. She just wasn’t sure if she was ready to go that far, if that was even where this was heading. She had just met the man and had no need trying to figure out her next move when he hadn’t made a move at all. The only thing she knew was if he was a frat boy she might have to consider going back to college to get a second degree.

Easing her hand from his grip, tearing her gaze away from his full lips, she turned to the golden-haired, golden-eyed Vaughn and smiled with true affection “Vaughn.”

“Jenna,” he said, returning her smile. Stepping forward, he enfolded her in a warm embrace, placing an affectionate kiss on her cheek before letting her go. “It’s good to see you again.”

“You, too,” she murmured.

He stepped back and wrapped his arm around Melanie, pulling her into his hard body in a gesture that was protective and possessive. The two of them were two bodies that shared one soul.

Jenna’s eyes darted to Rhys, who continued chatting with Ferris as if Jenna wasn’t there at all and an odd pang tightened her throat. But then, he looked up and their eyes met and she felt the earth shift beneath her feet.

Crap.

No, it was okay. It was a simple physical reaction to a gorgeous guy who looked incredibly handsome holding her little girl in his strong arms. Of course her heart would melt a little. It was merely lust and it was only because he was the first man she had really seen since making the decision to test the dating waters. He was the first man to look at her as if she was the richest, most decadent dessert and he was an avowed lover of desserts, ready to devour her. The feeling of being desired as a woman was heady and she just wanted to enjoy it for a little while.

It wasn’t like anything could come of it. Obscenely hot men like Rhys preferred equally hot women who didn't have the responsibilities of a child. Since she wasn’t disturbingly gorgeous and she
did
have a child that excluded her. But as long as she kept her head clear, kept it light and impersonal, she would be able to enjoy flirting with him.