“I’m driving home,” she whispered in his ear as he helped her out.

“Ahem, enough canoodling, you two. Help me out of the back. I think my groom is lost in the sea of my dress.” Kelly laughed.

Luke helped her out and sure enough, there was a groom buried under a million layers of chiffon and tulle.

“That dress has got to go,” Gabe declared as he crawled out of the backseat.

“Five hours, baby, and you can take it all off.” Kelly fisted his lapels and kissed him.

“Enough canoodling, you two. Your guests await.”

Kelly pushed away and elbowed Jessica with a grin as they made their way to the lodge. Toasts, dinner, cake, and dancing filled the late summer evening along the banks of Lake Tahoe. Luke stood on the sidelines with a cold beer, watching Jessica float around the room, throwing her head back in laughter as she talked with family and friends or danced like a young girl born of innocence and blooming with hope. Not another soul in the room would ever imagine that she carried a hundred lifetimes of pain inside those amber eyes.

“Luke … dance with me!” She held out her hands from the edge of the dance floor.

He grinned and waited a few seconds, needing to let that image of her find its perfect spot in his memory. Then he set his beer on the table and weaved his way through the crowd to those open arms.

“I love you, babe.” She threw her arms around his neck as he lifted her off the ground, kissing her like they were the only two people in the room.

Gasping for air as he eased her back to the floor, she stared at him with wide eyes. “Oh my God …”

“What?” He smirked, wiping her lipstick from his mouth.

Jessica leaned into him. “That kiss.”

“What about it?”

She wet her lips and swallowed. “It’s how you kiss me when you want me … really want me.”

He hugged her to his body, swaying to the music. “I do really want you.”

Her breath hitched. “Dr. Jones, you’re really hard.” She slid her hands down to his ass and curled her fingers.

“Fuck,” he seethed while rocking into her with a jerk. “Don’t do that,” he warned in her ear. His parents were seated at a table twenty feet away. The last thing he needed was them watching him grind into Jessica on the dance floor, sporting the world’s hardest erection.

A playful laugh vibrated from her chest. “Please, please, please tell me we’re going to remedy this situation before we go back to your parents’ house.”

Luke was ready to remedy the “situation” right then and there. Watching his greatest adoration float around all day in that dress, with that smile, wetting those lips if he stared at her too long … it had been a slow burn of seduction. They would not be going back to his parents’ place until the situation was remedied. He just wasn’t certain of the specific details.

“Attention, everyone. The bride is going to toss her bouquet.”

Jessica grinned. “In the bag.”

Luke smiled. “You and me, sexy, in the lake, if you catch the bouquet.”

“Oh, Jones … I love all your little wagers. But you always try to squirm your way out of those lake promises.” She blew him a kiss as she followed the throng of women to the other side of the dance floor.

“Jess, stand by me,” Lake said, grabbing Jessica’s hand. “I turn eighteen tomorrow and I’ve never caught a bouquet. Do you think it’s my lucky night?”

Jessica smiled at Lake. “Yeah … I think it will be.”

Two of the groomsmen lifted Kelly into the air with her back to the mass of hopeful women.

“One. Two. Three!” Kelly tossed it over her head.

Luke smiled while shaking his head in complete disbelief. It was headed straight for Jessica. He imagined her taking out half the women to catch it, but it appeared fate had her back. However, at the last second, she shoved Lake right in front of her. Lake caught the bouquet with a huge grin, eyes wide with surprise. Jessica wrapped her arms around Lake and whispered something in her ear.

As Jessica made her way back to Luke, she shrugged and smiled. “Guess it wasn’t in the stars for me tonight.”

“I don’t think there are enough stars in the sky to count how many times a day I fall in love with you all over again.”

Lake sidled next to Luke, sliding her arm around his back. He hugged her to him.

“Here.” She pulled one of the white roses from the bouquet and handed it to her brother. “It should have been Jess’s, but she gave me an early birthday present. Marry her, Luke. Marry. Her.” She reached up and kissed him on the cheek then hugged Jessica again before twirling off to the dance floor.

“Not even close to enough stars in the sky.” Luke shook his head and tucked the rose behind Jessica’s ear as he pressed his lips to hers. “Race you to the lake,” he whispered over her lips, smiling so big his face hurt.

He backed slowly toward the door. Jessica remained statuesque, lips parted. Her whole face spelled shock. Luke nodded his head toward the exit. With a deep breath, a smile grew along her lips as her eyes gleamed with excitement.

The second he stepped outside he made a dash for the lake, knowing she would be not more than a breath behind him.

“Jones!” she squealed, chasing him down the tree-lined path to the lake.

Jacket, tie, shirt … he tossed them to the wind. The adrenaline-fed insanity made him feel more alive than he ever imagined possible. He took a quick look over his shoulder as his legs continued to propel him forward. Long dark hair flowed behind his living dream. Her shoes tossed to the sand, and with each step she ran right out of her dress. Stopping at the water’s edge, he slipped out of the rest of his clothes.

Jessica flew into his arms, sending him stumbling back into the cool water. It engulfed their tangled bodies beneath a star-studded sky—so many stars.

They emerged breathless, her body wrapped around his. “Luke …” she rested her forehead against his. “Thank you.”

“Thank you?”

She smiled. “William Arthur Ward. ‘God gave you a gift of 84,600 seconds today. Have you used one of them to say thank you?’”

He closed his eyes as his heart swelled even more.

Never. Enough. Stars.

*

Knight

“Thank you? Okay then, Dr. Jones. That wasn’t so hard, now was it?” Through a haze of smoke, Knox smirked around his cigar, taking another slow draw, a slight squint to his already beady, dark eyes. He looked at his watch. “If all goes well, we’ll have you home by curfew.”

“What about Jessica? She looked miserable … not like a woman living of her own free will.”

Snuffing the end of his cigar in the ashtray, Knox looked at Luke with a hint of pleasure in his eyes. “The guy she’s been fucking is dying. Cancer … a real bitch.

Luke closed his eyes. Numb.

“Now. You’re going to wake up in your own bed tomorrow morning feeling much like you did when you arrived here—groggy and disoriented. That blow to your head earlier is going to give you one hell of a headache. I’d suggest taking something for it as soon as you wake. Once your mind stops spinning and the memories from today start to fall back into place, you’re going to have the urge to tell someone—friends, family, the police. Don’t. Everyone you tell dies. Any questions?”

Luke stared at the table. Someone brought Jessica back to life just to kill her in front of him. Another man. She was with another man—a man who was dying. The pain seeped into his chest like poison.

His body stiffened, rejecting Knox’s condescending hand that landed on his shoulder.

“If it were me, I’d get drunk off my ass, stick my dick in as much pussy as possible, burn everything that bears her memory, and get on with my fucking life.”

Knox opened the door and nodded. Two men stepped in the room. One of them handed Knox a syringe. He pulled the cap off with his teeth then spit it on the floor.