Worth Waiting For

By Erika Reed

Jenna Moore wanted to give herself to the only two men she ever loved on her eighteenth birthday, except Nick and Tyler had other plans for that night. They never intended their feelings for each other to get in the way of their longtime friendship, so they all agreed that it was best for her to go off to college, postponing their plans until she returned. They never suspected the twist and turn of events that would challenge their relationship. But after four years, she has returned to the only home she has ever known for her father’s funeral. She is forced to come clean as to why she waited so long to see them.

Nick and Tyler finally have back the only woman they have ever loved. Now that Jenna has returned, they don’t intend on ever letting her go again. They are older and more mature and she is the one woman they allowed to slip through their fingers. Nick and Tyler will do anything in the power to prove to her that after all these years, Jenna was worth waiting for.

But will they still want Jenna after she tells them the secret she's been keeping from them all these years? 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Erika Reed
• Release date: Nov 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386805946

Book preview

A note to my readers

Worth Waiting For is a standalone story of mine that was once previously written as Something Worth Waiting For.

Since I have recently received the rights back to this book, I have decided to rewrite the plot and change the ending, creating a more enhanced story for you to read. I hope you all enjoy this newly revised love story with Jenna, Nick, and Tyler.

Happy reading, my friends.

Love, Erika

Blurb

Jenna Moore wanted to give herself to the only two men she ever loved on her eighteenth birthday, except Nick and Tyler had other plans for that night. They never intended their feelings for each other to get in the way of their longtime friendship, so they all agreed that it was best for her to go off to college, postponing their plans until she returned. They never suspected the twist and turn of events that would challenge their relationship. But after four years, she has returned to the only home she has ever known for her father’s funeral. She is forced to come clean as to why she waited so long to see them.

Nick and Tyler finally have back the only woman they have ever loved. Now that Jenna has returned, they don’t intend on ever letting her go again. They are older and more mature and she is the one woman they allowed to slip through their fingers. Nick and Tyler will do anything in the power to prove to her that after all these years, Jenna was worth waiting for.

But will they still want Jenna after she tells them the secret she's been keeping from them all these years?

Chapter One

It was the night before her eighteenth birthday and Jenna Moore was enjoying another evening at the lake with her two best friends and the secret loves of her life, Tyler Warner and Nick Peterson. This was their special place, the one that they called their own. As they grew older, her feeling for Nick and Tyler had grown deeper in an affectionate sort of way. She had begun to look at them differently and wanted them to see her as the woman she had grown up to be and not as a younger girl that they thought of as just a friend. She needed them to know how she felt. But gaining the courage to express her feelings for them was another story.

They had spent their entire childhood and teenage years together. Nick, Jenna, and Tyler were inseparable. They had been the best of friends growing up. As kids they played ball together, rode their bikes around the lake, and in the summer they spent all their time swimming, enjoying the weather. Other girls would tease Jenna for being such a tomboy and hanging out with Nick and Tyler all the time. She ignored their snarky comments and soaked up all the attention she could get from her two favorite people. She didn’t mind spending her time with them. They never treated her like a kid, even though they were two years older than her. She didn’t have anything in common with the other girls. Jenna didn’t like wearing dresses or acting girly. She just wanted to hang out and play with Nick and Tyler. They were more interesting to be around than the girls her age.

As they got older, the boys went into high school, while Jenna was still in junior high. Jenna had noticed that Nick and Tyler had shown an interest in girls more. The girls would call them and sometimes just show up wherever they were. Jenna didn’t like the attention they were getting. She couldn’t blame them. The two of them had turned into gorgeous hunks.

Tyler and Nick were into sports. They played varsity football and baseball. She went to all their games and was their biggest fan. They always acknowledged Jenna first before any other girl who happened to vie for their attention. She knew they had a special relationship, and no one could ever split the trio apart. Nick and Tyler chose not to go to their senior prom that year. Many girls asked them, but they turned them all down to spend the evening at their favorite hang out spot on the lakeshore with Jenna.

What she really wanted was for them to ask her to be their date for the prom. They insisted they didn’t really want to go and spend the money on tuxes and tickets to a dumb dance for just one night. It made her feel special that they chose to spend that night with her than for them to attend a special night for them. That was a night she would always remember fondly.

That night was special for her, it was the night she felt she had to confess her true feelings for them.

Nick and Tyler had this old boat they bought for cheap that they used numerous times to spend on the water. They took the boat out to their favorite spot across the lake to spend the night under the stars like they did most of their weekends. She told her parents that she would be spending the night at a friend’s house. Jenna had made sure to pack some snacks and drinks, and the boys made sure they had everything to camp overnight.

That night the three of them sat up as she listened to Nick and Tyler talk about the community college they were planning on attending once school was over. The two had always been good with their hands, building and thinking of things they wanted to do when they built their first house together once they had established a contracting company of their own. It was a dream of theirs to become architects, watching their construction company grow from the ground up.

She often thought of what it would be like to be part of their future. It scared her to think that they didn’t see her in the way she saw them. She was aware that plans sometimes changed, as they grew older. Jenna didn’t want them to forget her when they had to work and concentrate on college. Deep down she was afraid the two would meet someone they liked and saw a deeper connection with, a woman they would eventually fall in love with and marry.

That night she never gained the courage to tell them how she really felt about them. After their graduation, Nick and Tyler did as she thought: they worked more hours and spent any extra time they had studying. She didn’t see them as much as when they all went to school together.

Thankfully, her junior year of high school went by fast. She tried to keep herself busy in after-school clubs and hanging out with her friends while Nick and Tyler worked and went to school. They spent as much of their down time with her as they could. She would offer to make them dinner in their apartment. She enjoyed the times they just stayed in and watched movies and relaxed after a long week. Any spare time they had, she was willing to spend with them.

In her senior year, all her friends were making plans to go to the prom. Jenna couldn’t see herself going with anyone else but her two best friends. She was too afraid to ask them to go with her because it was a bad time for them financially. They had mentioned her going to the prom and she had told Nick and Tyler that she actually preferred to just go to the lake and spend it with them like they’d done for their senior prom. 

She never felt any remorse for not going to her prom. Her mother didn’t understand why she didn’t go with her boyfriend. She’d started seeing Jeff that year, and he had asked her to accompany him to their prom. She had to make up a lie just so she didn’t have to go with him. Jeff was merely a friend, and never anything more to her. He had caught her in a weak moment when he asked her to be his girlfriend. He had always been around, trying to get her attention. He was a nice enough guy and he had the attention of most of the females in the school. But Jeff just wasn’t Nick and Tyler. Jeff knew how close she was to her best friends. She had made it clear in the beginning when they first started dating that no matter what, he would come second to Nick and Tyler. She knew it pained him confessing like that, but she never lied about her feeling toward them with Jeff.

There was never any romantic involvement between the two of them. They kissed and held hands just like any other couple in school. All he asked was for her to give them a chance. Their relationship lasted until the end of the school year. She could no longer keep stringing him along like that and broke up soon before their graduation.

She saw less and less of Nick and Tyler that year. They had known she was dating Jeff and liked the guy. She had made it clear when she first started dating him that she was with him as only a friend. But what she really wanted to tell them was that she was waiting for the right time to tell Nick and Tyler how she really felt about them. And tonight, the night before her eighteenth birthday, she knew this would be her one and only chance.

She stared across the lake as the moonlight reflected off the still water.

Jenna, what’s wrong? You’ve been distracted all evening. Tyler lay on his side by the campfire. You act like you would rather be somewhere else besides here with us. He broke pieces of the wood they had stacked beside the fire as he waited for her to respond.

She could no longer contain the way she felt for them. Tonight she had to come clean. Nick and Tyler had always been there for her. They were and always would be her best friends. But what they didn’t know was how deep her feelings ran for them.

There is nowhere I would rather be than with the two of you. You are the most important people in my life and you always have been.

Tyler looked to Nick in confusion.

Nick was sitting beside her on a log they had placed in front of the fire. His hand rested on hers on her lap.

What’s wrong? Did something happen to you?

They always knew when something was bothering her. She could never hide her feelings from them. Nick used to say she wore her heart on her sleeve and they could always tell when she was upset about something. This was going to be harder than she’d imagined.

Nothing is the matter. In fact, everything is great. She looked at Nick’s hand, trying to gain the courage to speak up. "I love you both so much. I’m just scared that while I’m away at college we won’t talk or see each other as much, especially because the two of you are going to school here and I have to go so far away from you. I told my father that I didn’t want to go to that

Reviews for Worth Waiting For

[Jackie Brown · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sweet story. I was little disappointed at the fast wrap-up. The whole time she fights their love and insists on going back to Cali, then suddenly she finds out she’s pregnant, and at a snap she’s accepting staying with her two best friends. Just too pat a wrap up for me. At least there is an Epilogue. Enjoy.