Jen_C’s Reviews > Melt with You > Status Update

There, it was done. He was glad. And he was glad that he’d thrown the ring away instead of taking it back to the store to reclaim his ten thousand dollars. His finances deserved to take the hit. Maybe that would teach him better than to drop half his life savings—or his defenses—for a woman he couldn’t trust.

No matter what Jamison wanted to talk about, it wasn’t going to change anything. Jake was in love, he was going to ask the woman he loved to marry him tonight, and he was going to start really living for the first time in years. But as Jamison turned to face him with a miserable expression unlike anything Jake had ever seen on his brother’s face, uncertainty drifted through Jake, as cold as winter air.

They were some of his best memories, he realized, and some of the most wonderful moments in his life. For the first time in years, it felt okay to admit that and he knew she felt the same way. Years had passed, and they had both suffered and celebrated and changed from the people they’d once been, but in each other’s arms they would always be home.

That’s why she’d run away from Summerville and her high school sweetheart all in one fell swoop. If she’d stayed, she would never have let Jake go. Even when she was young and stupid, something intuitive inside Naomi had known that Jake was the one, the one she would never be able to quit, the one whose kiss would always set her on fire, whether it was their first or their one thousandth.

Jake fought the smile pulling at his lips and lost. “There it is,” Naomi said with a laugh. “I’ve missed your smile.” Her sweet, wistful voice summoned a wave of longing inside of him so fierce and unexpected it took Jake’s breath away. He could play it tough all he wanted, but deep down, he wanted to smile at Naomi.

Dating Naomi he could suffer through, but dancing with her would be pure torture. Just the thought of her in his arms, her curves pressed tight against him and her head on his shoulder, was enough to make him ache. He might hate Naomi, but he also wanted her—always had, always would.

Only the Methodists would allow the firefighters to hold a “Hunk-for-a-Month” charity auction in their large basement. The Baptists didn’t approve of dancing, let alone oiled-up firefighters strutting down a makeshift catwalk while local women hooted and hollered and bid on the man they wanted to be their date for the next month of Fridays.