Read Online Breathless by Cheryl Douglas - Free Book Online

He
wanted her to look… and touch. “It’s not like we haven’t been naked
together before. More times than I can count.” They shared a look,
and he knew they were both recalling some of the best times,
anywhere and everywhere they could steal a few minutes alone.
    “That’s not
what I came here to talk about.”
    Once again, she
was shutting him down. He was getting tired of playing cat and
mouse. If she didn’t want him, plenty of other women did. One of
whom was waiting on him. He glanced at his watch. “I have to be at
Belinda’s in half an hour. Whatever you came to say, you’d better
make it fast.” It wasn’t like him to be so short with her, and the
hurt look in her eyes made him feel guilty. He reminded himself
that if he didn’t toughen up, he was going to get hurt yet
again.
    “Actually,
that’s what I came to talk to you about… Belinda.”
    “What about
her?” He didn’t feel like talking to Jamie about Belinda any more
than he’d enjoyed hearing about Brent. After being intimate with a
woman as many times as he and Jamie had, talking about other lovers
just seemed wrong. Not that he and Belinda were lovers.
    “How did things
go when she met your family?”
    “Fine.” He
wasn’t going to confide in her about how the drama made him miss
her even more. Jamie fit in with his family as though she was one
of them. But she wasn’t. She’d said it a hundred times: she just
wanted to be his friend. “Look, Jamie, I don’t know why you’re so
interested in Belinda.”
    “I just want
you to be happy,” she said in a timid voice.
    “I am happy.”
That may be a stretch, but she didn’t need to know that. “I have my
dream job, a great family, friends, money in the bank, and a woman
in my life who wants to be more than just friends. What more could
I ask for, right?”
    She looked at
him a long time. “If you’re so happy, why do you sound so
angry?”
    “I’m not
angry.” He raked his hands through his hair, heaving a sigh. “I
don’t know what the hell you want from me. You told me you just
wanna be friends. I get that. I’ve kept my distance so you could
get on with your life. I thought that’s what you wanted.”
    “It is.” She
stared at the blank TV screen. “I do.”
    “Then why are
you here pumping me for information about Belinda? Are you jealous?
You don’t want me, but you don’t want anyone else to have me,
either?”
    Her face
tightened into a veil of fury. “I love you! Can’t you see
that?”
    “You sure as
hell have a funny way of showing it,” he muttered.
    She looked as
though he’d struck her. “How can you say that? Every challenge
you’ve ever faced, I’ve been right there by your side.”
    “Yeah, as my friend .” He chuckled to mask the pain. “Well, guess what?
I’ve decided I don’t need any more friends. I’ve got enough.”
    Tears filled
her eyes. “What are you saying? You don’t want me in your life
anymore?”
    Eli had never
planned on that, never believed it would come down to that. But if
he had any hope of getting on with his life and falling in love
with someone else, cutting Jamie out of his life might be the only
way. “Maybe it’s for the best.”
    “You can’t mean
that.”
    He reached for
her hand, but she retreated. Eli said, “I didn’t want it to be this
way, but we can’t go on like this. Belinda cares about me, and I
think we could have a real shot at a future together.”
    Tears spilled
over her lashes, and she swiped at them. “But not while I’m in your
life? After everything we’ve been through, you’re cutting me out
for a woman you just met?”
    “You did the
same thing to me when you met Brent. He hated how close we were, so
gradually, you shut me out. The only time you called me was when
y’all had a fight, which toward the end was every other day.”
    “You don’t
understand--”
    “No, you don’t
understand. I would have done anything to make you love me the way
you loved him. Anything .”