Love Me Twice by Roz Lee Page A

right. They had to talk about it.
    “Okay. I’ve spent five years trying to forget what happened, trying to forget Sean, and you. I know what Sean and I were feeling that day, but not you. Tell me, Drew. What happened that day?”
    He stood with his back to her for the space of a few heartbeats. She wanted to scream at him that this talking thing was his idea, that she’d prefer he touch her again, finish what he’d started earlier, but she held her tongue and waited. The silence in the room was deafening. At last, Drew turned and the pain on his face was like a harpoon to her heart.
    “I swear to God, Celeste, I didn’t mean to come between you and Sean.” He paced away again. Every muscle in his body was knotted and tense, like a caged animal. “I wouldn’t have touched you, ever, if Sean hadn’t invited me to, and if you hadn’t agreed. I thought…I thought we were dead, or as good as. We all did. I know Sean did, or he never would have done it. He doesn’t share, Celeste, and neither do I.”
    “I know, Drew. The circumstances were extraordinary. We can all agree on that. What I want to know is, did you love me then?”
    “Goddammit! Yes! I still do. I wanted nothing more than to touch you once, before I died. I swear, I never would have done it if I’d know the fucking Marines were only minutes away, but I won’t say I regret it. Hell no. Never.” He shook his head to emphasize the point.
    “Being inside you for those few minutes was everything I’d dreamed it would be, and I was content to be sent to hell for it, expected to be dispatched there within minutes.” His eyes met hers for the first time since they’d entered the room. “I won’t say I’m sorry. I wanted you then. I want you now, but you’re Sean’s. I don’t poach, and I don’t share.”
    His pain equaled her own, and she knew the love she had for him hadn’t died, hadn’t abated in the least. Drew was one of the most honorable, straightforward men she’d ever known. She’d trusted him with her life more than a few times, and once, she’d trusted him with her body and her heart. He hadn’t betrayed that trust.
    “I won’t lie to you, Drew. I love Sean. I always have, and I always will, but…” she held her hand up, palm out, and he stopped his march for the door. “I love you too. I didn’t know how much, or even recognize my feelings for what they were, until that day. I knew our lives were measured in minutes, we all did, but I wouldn’t have let you touch me if I hadn’t had these feelings for you.” She fisted her hand over her heart and fought back the tears. It was all she could do to stay seated, to keep from going to him, but it was too soon. “At first, when…” God, it was hard to remember that day, harder to put her feelings into words. “When Sean told me to let you love me too, I thought about protesting. But you were standing there, not more than a foot from us, and I sensed your love. I loved you too, and my throat closed up. I couldn’t answer him, I just shook my head.”
    Celeste focused on her toes and continued. “I heard you unzip, and I wanted you. I can’t tell you how much I wanted to feel you inside me. I didn’t care if they came in and shot us all, as long as I had both of you inside me when they did it, I could die happy.”
    Tears welled and spilled over. She let them fall. It was about time she acknowledged what had happened that day. Drew stood like a statue as she finished her story. “I’ve never felt more loved than I did then. You were gentle and considerate, taking me in a way I wasn’t accustomed to. And Sean, well, he was…well, you saw him.”
    She raised her eyes to Drew’s. “We’ve always done it that way, Sean in control, telling me what to do, when to come, but you…you showed me another way, and Dear God, I loved it. That’s what went wrong when we got home. I couldn’t stop remembering the way you touched me, the way you were so careful with me, like