‘I’ve seen that look in your eyes already today,’ he murmured, his words muffled against her hair.
‘No.’ She had to be more careful. Keep her guard up around him. She mustn’t let him see. It was all about good times for the next couple of weeks. She wouldn’t let herself think beyond that. ‘You imagine too much.’
And she kissed his chin and smiled into those perceptive eyes. Her fingers busied themselves lower down and she saw his gaze change from concern to arousal and felt him stir to life again in her hands. She blinked and ran a thumb over the silky tip. ‘Already?’
He grinned. ‘Just give me a few minutes.’
She wondered how long it had been since he’d been with a woman.
She let him tug her down onto the wide leather couch. They lay close in companionable silence for a moment, staring up at the underwater light from the pool reflecting on the ceiling. Somewhere across the water drifted the distant sound of wind chimes.
‘Tell me about him.’
She frowned in the darkness. Just when she thought he’d forgotten about it… ‘Who?’
‘The guy from your home town. The reason you left.’
‘How do you…?’ She trailed off. That first day on the way to Coolangatta she’d talked about a ‘change of scenery’ and avoided mentioning him because it was none of Jared’s business. But Jared was the kind of guy who made you want to share. ‘That would be my ex-husband.’
She felt him shift, felt his gaze on her. ‘You were married?’
She kept her eyes focused on the ceiling. ‘For five years.’
‘When?’
‘We split up five years ago.’
‘You must have been ridiculously young when you got married.’
The words hurt. And angered. ‘I was eighteen and maybe it seems ridiculous to you but I had my reasons. Don’t presume to know me, because you don’t.’ And just as ridiculous were the tears that stung the backs of her eyes.
He immediately rolled towards her, then up onto an elbow, and looked deep down into her eyes. Further. All the way to her scarred heart. ‘Hey…’ he said softly. ‘That’s me being an insensitive jerk. I had no right to say that and I apologise.’ He pressed a chaste warm kiss on her lips.
She stared up at him, seeing genuine concern. Because he was that kind of guy. He’d been blunt but he hadn’t meant to hurt her. He’d just touched a particularly sensitive nerve. ‘Apology accepted.’
He dipped his head so that his brow touched hers. ‘It’s just that I think of Lissa at eighteen. If she— Well.’ He blew out a slow breath.
‘Maybe you’re too protective,’ Sophie said carefully. ‘Big brothers are like that sometimes.’
‘What about your brother?’
‘No.’ She tried to remember the last time she’d seen him and couldn’t. ‘Corey’s one of the exceptions.’
‘So this man you married and divorced still puts clouds in your eyes. He still has the power to hurt you.’
‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘How can a man who means nothing to you hold that kind of power? He has another woman, a young son and another baby on the way. He’s happy. I’m happy,’ she finished, determined, as much to convince herself as to convince Jared. If Glen was unfaithful to his current wife, Sophie didn’t know about it. Didn’t care.
‘Do you want to tell me why you married him?’
‘Because I was ridiculously young?’ She gave a half-smile, forgiving Jared, and he reached for her nearest hand, twined his fingers with hers and somehow the story flowed like the river outside while she lay in his arms. She’d never shared her past. Only Pam knew her story, but sharing it with Jared felt natural, like lifting a burden off her shoulders. And it was almost as seductive as sex.
‘My parents drank a lot and fought more. Dad was in and out of work. Violence was the norm. Corey was out of there by the time he was sixteen. ‘But when I was sixteen Mum was involved in a major car accident and I stayed on to help. That lasted about eighteen months but eventually I couldn’t stand the arguments and the booze any longer.
‘I’d met Glen a few months earlier. He was ten years older than me and we were both working in hospitality. He seemed a good-natured guy and, looking back now, I guess I saw him as a substitute father.’ A safe haven. A way out. ‘One day we walked into a register office and just did it. When I informed my parents, they told me I was nothing but a disappointment, no better than my brother. Then they cracked open a cheap bottle of wine and began to drink themselves into their regular oblivion. I never saw them again.’