Free I Waxed My Legs for This? by Holly Jacobs Page A

should run, she should scream and shout. It wasn’t right, she knew that. Carrie didn’t want Jack on the rebound. She just wanted him to see her as more than a little sister, and slowly, maybe he’d see her as a woman, someone he could learn to care for.
    “We shouldn’t,” she said, with absolutely no conviction in her voice.
    The knot gave way and Jack’s hands moved beneath the robe. “Shouldn’t what?” he said, his lips moving to her shoulder.
    “You’ll hate me in the morning,” she said with despair. “It will change everything.”
    That finally stopped him.
    Jack’s hand went under her chin and tilted it upward until she was forced to look at him.
    “It doesn’t have to,” he said with certainty.
    What had changed between them? Jack couldn’t figure it out.
    Ever since he’d waxed Carrie’s legs, there had been something between them he’d never suspected before.
    And when he’d brought his tipsy best friend from the airplane to the hotel? The feelings he’d entertained hadn’t been friendly, they’d been hot.
    He’d been relieved when she’d kicked him out and undressed herself. He’d thought he could walk away from those feelings.
    But now, standing here with her, only a robe separating them, Jack knew he couldn’t escape these feelings. They were growing stronger minute by minute.
    He wanted her. Wanted her in a way he’d never wanted anyone else, not even Sandy.
    What had changed?
    “But it will make things different,” she said. “If you, if we... Jack, if we do this, things can never go back to what they were.”
    “Maybe they’ll move forward instead?” Moving closer, Jack feathered kisses down her neck.
    Holding Carrie, kissing Carrie felt right. It felt as if after years of searching he’d finally come home—home to Carrie.
    “I don’t know if this would be moving forward. I don’t know if it’s what I want,” Carrie said, though she knew it for the lie it was.
    She just didn’t know if it was what he wanted. He needed more time to recover.
    He didn’t believe a word of what she’d just said. And the look he gave her told her more clearly than any words he could have used.
    “You’re sure that no is your answer?” His hands dropped from her body and Carrie almost wept from the pain the loss of contact caused.
    “It’s the only answer I can give,” Carrie said, reknotting her belt.
    “Well, if that’s it, then that’s it. Good night, Carrie.” Without another word, Jack turned and walked into the room, threw the comforter and a pillow onto the floor and crawled into his makeshift bed.
    Carrie stood on the patio, watching the ocean for a long time. Tonight was a memory akin to the chem lab kiss-that-wasn’t. It was a memory that she’d hang on to for the rest of her life. And hard though it was, she was sure she’d made the right decision. She couldn’t allow herself to use Jack that way.
    She wouldn’t do it. He didn’t realize how precarious his emotions were. He was on the rebound. It had been months since the breakup, but rather than healing, he just seemed to plod forward. It broke Carrie’s heart, knowing he wanted something he could never have. The fact that he wouldn’t talk about Sandy only reinforced her belief in his grief.
    Tomorrow she’d try to get him to forgive her and put their friendship back on track.
    Her fingers brushed her lips.
    No, after having been really kissed by Jack, there was no way she’d ever mistake his mouth-to-mouth as anything but.
    Hours later, she tiptoed into the room and crawled in bed, with her bathrobe still knotted in place. Her dreams that night were filled with sweet fantasies about her life if only Jack had loved her.
     
     

~~~
     
    Jack jogged up to Carrie’s perfect hiding place. She’d known he’d find her. Jack had always found her when she was hurt and confused. Most of the time he was able to ease the tempest, but this time he was the cause of it.
    She hugged her legs to her chest and