Free You Can't Go Home Again by Aubrianna Hunter Page B

She’d always been direct,
and she’d gotten even stronger over the years.
    “Maybe a fight will do you some good.”
    “Yeah, maybe.” He thought that might be just the ticket.
Maybe instead of avoiding her, he should just pop on by one more time. A good
heated argument might just clear the air. If he could keep his hands off her.
“You might just be right.”
    “Besides, the make-up sex definitely makes it worth it!”
    Jace’s head whipped up, confusion and shock evident in his
eyes. “Make-up sex?”
    “Yeah. It’s the best sex you’ll ever have in your life,
dude. Surely you remember from college? You and Nicole never fight, but you
used to fight with some of your girlfriends then.”
    “Right, Nicole. Make-up sex.” Guilt started to creep in.
Jace had never cheated on anyone in his life, not even in high school. And now,
instead of worrying about Nicole, he was still thinking about Dani. While he
hadn’t slept with her, he knew that what they’d done was still cheating. Shit!
    Jace watched Bri’s head tilt to the side as he seemed to be
trying to read Jace’s mind. When he saw Bri smirk, Jace knew he’d been caught.
Bri knew he hadn’t been thinking of Nicole. With another silent cuss word, Jace
figured it was time for a change of subject.
    * * * * *
    Later that night, as Brian and Jenn snuggled down in bed, he
leaned over and pressed a soft kiss against her shoulder.
    “Jace came by today, took me to lunch. He did apologize.”
    “That’s good. He stopped by Dani’s first and screwed up an
apology. Hopefully he did better with you.”
    Bri laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
    “Really, why’s that? I’ve never known Jace to be this much
of a jerk. He and Dani had another fight before I got there. She is such a
mess. I don’t get why he’s being so awful to her. What happened with them?”
    Brian smiled against her neck, letting out a little chuckle.
Jenn rolled over, seeing the humor in his eyes. “What? What do you know that I
don’t? Did Jace finally tell you what happened?”
    Bri shook his head, still smiling. “No, but I figured it
out.”
    He waited a beat, seeing if Jenn would piece it together
herself. When she didn’t say anything, he finally told her.
    “Jace is in love with her.” At the shocked and doubtful
expression, Bri continued. “I’m serious. I don’t think he knows it yet, not
sure when it happened, or how. But that’s why he’s so pissed over her being
gone so long.”
    Bri watched her try to process this a minute before she
quickly shook her head.  “I don’t see it, Bri. I know you get paid to read
people, figure out how they feel about things, but I think you blew this one.”
    “Just watch them tomorrow. Jace said he was going to avoid
her, but I’m betting that doesn’t happen. Just watch how they are together with
that thought in the back of your mind. I’m right. You just wait and see.”
    He ran his hand gently down Jenn’s side, brushing the side
of her breast the way he knew she liked. “In the meantime, want to pretend we
had a fight and have some make-up sex?”
    He waggled his eyebrows, making Jenn laugh as she rolled
into his kiss.

Chapter 13
    The Fourth of July dawned hot and steamy, the heavy air
bringing the promise of even more heat and humidity by the afternoon. Dani was
very glad Jenn’s parents had a pool; otherwise she would have bailed on the
party and gone to the pond instead.
    But before the party, she went for a run. Knowing she would
need to burn off some steam before facing this gathering, she ran a little over
eight miles. She had started running when she got to L.A. It had been her
stress release. She would grab her iPod, play her favorite music and tune
everything else out. The best thing about it was that you could run anywhere.
All you needed were tennis shoes.
    After a quick shower she threw on her bathing suit, cutoffs
and a tank top. She slathered on sunscreen, wound her hair into a knot and
yanked a hat