All Said and Undone Read Online Free Page B

only thing he’d said was, “If that’s what you want….” and then packed his essentials and left her standing.
    The memory of how she’d felt after he walked out the door, how ambivalent he’d seemed, coursed through her with sharp familiarity. She dropped the book on the table, unable either to read a word or withstand the quiet.
    “How can you just sit there?”
    Jack remained in his relaxed position, moving nothing but those cobalt-rimmed irises to meet hers. The fire embers popped while the silence sizzled between them. Grace’s heart began to pound at her husband’s stare.
    “How can I just sit here?” he repeated, arching a brow, his deep voice slow and patronizing. “Why don’t you finish your sentence, Grace? As in, how can I just sit here…and not…what? What do you expect me to do?”
    Grace swallowed on a dry, nervous throat. It was a good question. What did she want from him? To talk to her? Yes, but…to say what, exactly? That he missed her? That he was lost without her? That he’d give anything to save their marriage? She sighed mentally. Maybe she’d like for him to say such things, but that wasn’t Jack’s style. He didn’t beg or give heartfelt speeches about feelings. From the first time they met, he had told her his actions would speak louder than his words. If he was with her, it was where he wanted to be. And if she didn’t want to be with him, he would leave. Grace had tested him, expecting—hoping—he’d refuse to go. She’d been tired of the emotional distance between them, living two separate lives, and feeling taken for granted. He was married to his job, and she was the mistress. The only time she felt close to him was in the bedroom, but it hadn’t been enough. Fed up, she’d told him she needed more. He still didn’t get it. They’d fought, and just like that, he’d left. Out of her life. Jack was nothing if not a man of his word.
    As he sat there waiting for her to reply, she would’ve sold her soul to know what he was really thinking under that cool mask. How crazy it made her to see him so calm, as if he couldn’t care less, either way, what happened to their relationship. If it had been his job on the line, she imagined he would pull out all the stops to save it.
    When he lay his head back and folded his hands behind his head with a sigh, she had the biggest compulsion to throw something at his sharply handsome face.
    “What are you doing?”
    “Relaxing.”
    “How can you?”
    He gave a long sigh. “These questions you’re asking are loaded. This is why I came out to the cabin, Grace. I’m sorry if it offends you.”
    Everything about his attitude was offending her, but she didn’t know how to begin a conversation without sounding bitter or bursting into tears. “Jack….”
    “I don’t want to fight.” His voice was resigned.
    Exactly. He was perfectly fine to let her go without protest.
    Frustrated, Grace got up and retreated to the bathroom, but left the door ajar to let out the stifling air. She changed into a blue cotton nightgown with spaghetti straps, and brushed her long hair, waiting for her nerves to settle, her heartbeat to steady. She didn’t know how long she was in there when she heard steps approaching. She’d been absentmindedly smoothing lotion onto her arms. Jack appeared in the doorway, leaning against the jamb, watching her.
    Her pulse began its inevitable race, but she kept her eyes forward, not acknowledging him.
    “Grace,” he said huskily, coming up behind her. Their gazes met in the mirror.
    She stiffened, immobilized, unable to say anything. Her heart pounded as hot blood roared in her ears.
    “Do you ever think about me? About us?” he murmured, bringing her back gently to his front, his hands snaking around her hips, fingertips sliding on the cotton. To her inner shame, her body surrendered on its own accord as she slowly leaned back, feeling a warm wall of male granite.
    His eyes never left hers in the