Worth Waiting For by Kelly Jamieson

if she’d admit it out loud right now.
    “There’s something so special about you, Ainslie. You just do something to me and I lose my mind.” He ran a hand though his hair. “I didn’t think it would still be like that. But it is.”
    She took in his words, astonished that he felt the same way she did. Whatever kind of connection they had, whatever had drawn them together in the beginning, whatever made them do things to each other that they regretted, then brought them together again, had not weakened over the years.
    She knew she had changed, grown up, become a different woman than she’d been at twenty-one. Likely Griff had changed, too. In fact, she’d seen definite signs that he had, not the least of which were the multiple orgasms he’d given her last night with no thought of his own release. So, given that they’d both changed so much, she would have thought the attraction between them would have disappeared along with the people they used to be.
    But it appeared to be a force that went deeper than she’d even known. And holy shit, that was a terrifying thought.
    Griff looked up at her. “Have you forgiven me for what I did?”
    She looked at him and thought long and hard about that. The dark bitterness and anger had faded even from yesterday. The hurt now seemed so minor. How could her entire perspective have changed? But now she’d slept with him and it had been incredible, leaving her open to being hurt all over again. She still didn’t understand why he was here, but she was pretty damn sure it wasn’t to start a relationship again.
    Shit, shit, shit. Why had she been so stupid?
    “Yeah,” she finally said. “It’s myself I’m mad at now.”
    “Want to talk about that?”
    No way in hell was she going to admit to him what she was feeling right now. She was determined to play this cool. They’d had dinner, caught up on each other’s lives, had had great sex and now he’d go back to LA and they’d never see each other again. She would say, “Keep in touch, Griff. Call if you’re in town and we’ll do lunch.”
    Yeah, right. She tried to ignore the jagged blade sawing at her heart.
    Damn it, she’d do it if it killed her rather than let Griff know he’d torn her life apart all over again. She couldn’t blame him. She’d let him do it.
    “I’m feeling shitty because I just cheated on Matthew,” she said, willing to go that far.
    He nodded. “Yeah. I know. Me…” He stopped, tweaking her curiosity. “I’m not sure what to say about that. I could tell you ‘don’t feel bad; he’ll never know,’ but I know that won’t make you feel any better.”
    She shook her head. “I’m not a cheater.”
    “I know, Ains. It was just something kind of…out of control.”
    “Yeah.”
    They sat in silence for a while, sipping their coffee. He put a hand out and clasped one of hers resting on the counter. Their fingers curled around each other and still they were silent. Ainslie wanted to know when he was leaving. She wanted him gone so she could fall apart in private, figure out what she was going to do now with her life. Again. But she didn’t want to say it.
     
    * * *
     
    Griff wanted to stay. Now he’d found her again and experienced the connection they had, he didn’t think it was possible for him to leave. But he had to.
    Not only did he have issues to resolve, she had a boyfriend and she was clearly suffering major guilt from what she’d just done. She must care about the guy, although he had a hard time imagining there could be anything between her and Matthew that remotely compared to the electricity arcing between them.
    Maybe if he stayed she would realize it, too. He took a deep breath and took the plunge. “What are your plans today?”
    She looked at him. Her hair was all long and tangled, her eyes had make-up smudged beneath them, and the shadows in her eyes made his gut cramp.
    “Why?”
    He smiled. “That’s not an answer.” He lifted a shoulder. “I just