Chapter 5

"I want to catch up with an old friend, nothing more," he promised her. "Damn, Jaci, when did you become so suspicious?"

"When it comes to you and your brother? Seven years ago." She glanced up at him, amused at the accusation. "You're not old enough to have forgotten, surely?"

She hadn't forgotten a moment of it, and she knew Chase—he would never let her hide from it if he thought for a minute that she was trying to. Better to get it out in the open now. And she couldn't resist it anyway. Seeing him, knowing Cam was close, the needs were rising inside her with all the dark promise of the dreams that had haunted her.

"Now you're just being mean." He gave her a mock glare before pulling her to a vine-covered swing that sat beneath a wide arbor. "Here we go. We can just sit here and visit."

Jaci sat down, carefully smoothing the material of her black evening gown down her thighs as Chase sat down beside her.

The gown, which had felt so alluring when she put it on, now seemed too sexy, too revealing. It made her feel too feminine. The thin straps held the draped bodice over her breasts. Maybe she should have worn a bra. The side slit ran to her thigh. It showed an indecent amount of leg.

Chase chuckled again.

She lifted her gaze and felt the grin that tugged at her lips, as he watched her knowingly.

"You and Cam always made me too nervous," she admitted with a soft laugh. "Sometimes I've missed that."

She had missed the twins after she left town within weeks of the night of the party. She had snapped up an offer to attend a design school in California and headed out as fast as she could. And every day she planned the trip, she'd had to fight herself to keep from going to Cam, to keep from accepting an offer she knew she couldn't handle. Just to be in his arms. To feel his kiss again. To see what she was missing.

"We've missed you." His arm stretched behind her, his fingers playing with the strands of hair that escaped the decorative clip that held it in the back.

We've missed you. Not I. Jaci caught that one quickly.

She ducked her head, hoping to hide her response to that statement as she inhaled with a slow, deep breath.

"You ran out on us, Jaci."

Jaci swallowed tightly, her head jerking up as his tone hardened.

"There was nothing to run out on." She kept her voice firm, steady.

The shadowed landscape lighting gave his expression a darker, more dangerous cast. His eyes gleamed in the low light, piercing into hers.

His fingers paused at the nape of her neck where they had been playing with the hair that drifted down from the clip. His expression became intent, determined.

He nodded slowly. "I guess you're right. There was nothing to run out on." His lips quirked humorlessly. "We still missed you like hell, though. Life wasn't the same without your laughter."

It hadn't been the same without them, either. She had been their friend, when other women were no more than novelties—she knew that. Until one night destroyed that friendship. She had never looked at Chase the same after that, and she had never seen Cam again.

The thought of Cam had her insides burning, rioting with fear and with need. She kept checking the shadows for him, kept expecting him to step into view. And the hunger to see him was growing within her in burning waves.

"I need to get back inside." She rose to her feet, her fingers tightening on the small purse that hung from her shoulder. "It's almost the witching hour for me. I have to get up early in the morning."