Explosive (The Black Opals) Read Online Free Page B

happened to her, whatever shattered her confidence in the future they’d planned, he hadn’t been there to help her through it.
    Emotion surfaced, feelings he fought night and day to keep down. He swallowed hard and rose to his feet. “I’ll do better, Jordan.” If he had to force Clarke to arrange some sort of conventional cover, he would, just to give Jordan the connection with someone who understood her. “I’m off to bed, sis.”
    “Wait, Jayce, I didn’t mean—”
    He held up a hand, begging off her apology. “I know. I’m bushed. I need to hit the sack.”
    “Since when do you go to bed before midnight?”
    Since Alyssa showed up tonight. Ignoring Jordan’s question, Jayce wove his way down the hall to the guest room and shut himself inside. As he stripped off his shirt, Alyssa’s sweet perfume tickled his nose. He closed his eyes against the twist of his heart, refusing to let the questions surface in his head. She was gone now. In another three days, he’d be free of Boulder. He wouldn’t see her again. He’d make sure of that. It was beyond time to leave the past behind.
    * * *
    Alyssa sank into the couch beside Brice, exhaustion weighing down her very bones. He motioned for her foot, the way he did every time he sensed she needed to relax, and she willingly set her ankles on his thigh.
    “Tough night, huh?” Brice asked quietly as his fingers began to work into the ball of her foot.
    “Tough day.”
    “You looked pretty close to normal when you walked into the bar, Alyssa.” Leaning away from her, he pinned her with a knowing frown. “C’mon, we’ve been down this road before. Jayce is here. You’ve always wanted him. You’ve got fantastic excuses for keeping your distance, but none of them make sense when one look at him makes it impossible to deny he wants you just as much.”
    She wasn’t having this conversation. Between Jayce’s unexpected reappearance and his equally unexpected reaction on the dance floor, her emotions were in a state of flux. She had Brice. Calm, steady, non-demanding Brice who satisfied her physical needs. Brice who knew her secrets, who understood her fears, and was always there for her, able to ground her when she felt like she might fly away untethered. Jayce, on the other hand, reduced her to a state of chaos. Uncontrolled chaos. Not to mention the guilt that came with thinking of him. She couldn’t cut Brice out of her life for passing whimsy.
    And she wasn’t going to explain again how the one thing she longed for, she feared more than anything. Because that lack of control brought back other horrors she’d rather not release.
    Brice protested her continued silence with a harassed sigh. Strong fingers worked into her heel. “Alyssa, what are you running from?”
    She shot him a frown. “Do we really have to have this conversation?”
    “Yeah, we do. Because I can’t stand the idea of you letting him slip away when I know how much you want him.”
    “I can’t go there, Brice,” she confessed.
    “Why the hell not?” He released one foot to exchange it for the other.
    Bliss slipped up her spine as Brice’s fingers kneaded her tight ankles. As her body began to unwind, so did her mind. She leaned her head back against the cushions and closed her eyes. “It’s too intense. I can’t be alone with him—what if he asks questions I can’t answer? What if I freak out in the middle of…things?”
    Several moments of silence passed as Brice worked over her left foot. He squeezed and kneaded in that just-shy-of painful way she couldn’t get enough of, pushing the tension in her body out the tips of her toes. Then he smoothed one palm down the top of her arch and his hands stilled. “What if I were there with you?” he asked quietly.
    Alyssa cracked one eye open, uncertain she’d interpreted his meaning correctly. “You mean…the three of us?”
    Brice nodded. “To break the ice, maybe.”
    Momentary shock drew her upright. In a hundred years,