All of Me (27 page)

“See that house up there?” Jefferson pointed to a sprawling split-level log cabin hidden in the mountains.

“Mmm-hmm.”

“I sold it as a summer place to Wolfgang Puck’s nephew,” he said proudly.

“That must have been interesting.”

“He gave me a gift certificate to Wolfgang’s restaurant for the next time I’m in Vegas. Would you like to go to Vegas with
me sometime? You know, what happens in Vegas …”

“Stays in Vegas,” she finished for him. “Yes, I’ve heard the slogan.”

Jefferson swiveled his head and winked at her. “So, what do you say about a trip to Sin City? We could stay at the MGM Grand.
Catch Blue Man Group onstage?”

“Let’s see how one date goes.”

“Gotcha.”

It was all Jillian could do to keep from rolling her eyes. She shifted in the seat, angling her body away from his, and stared
out the window to while away the time while Jefferson gave her a running commentary on who owned the houses they passed, how
much the houses were worth, and who was likely or unlikely to have property on the market soon. The guy knew his business.
She had to give him brownie points for that.

They rounded a curve, and in the rearview mirror, Jillian caught a glimpse of a pickup behind them that looked exactly like
Tuck’s. Her pulse accelerated. Was he following them?

But that was stupid. Tuck drove the number-one selling pickup truck in America. In silver, the most common color for vehicles.
The chances of Tuck being behind them were very slim. So why did she feel a sudden burst of excitement?

Because you’re starting to get hung up on the guy.

She wasn’t. Was she?

She waited for the next curve to even out to see if she could catch another glimpse behind them, but the road just kept spiraling
upward.

Be real. Why would Tuck be behind you?

Well, there was only one road up the mountain, and he’d said he had a date. It wasn’t as if Salvation was flush with great
first-date places. Most likely, anyone headed out for a date would go to either Boulder or up to Thunder Mountain, and the
mountain had the better view.

“Almost there,” Jefferson said, and reached across the car to touch her arm.

She drew back.

“Sorry,” he apologized. “Did I overstep my boundaries?”

Jillian forced a smile. Honestly, he wasn’t a bad guy, just overeager and not at all her type. “I’ve just been a little tense
lately.”

“Well, tonight is your night to relax. Thunder Lodge is known for their excellent wine list and romantic ambiance.”

“Good to know.” The thought of getting snockered was appealing, but the last thing she wanted was to lose her edge around
Jefferson. He hadn’t tried anything funny yet, but he had said that stupid crap about Vegas.

“Lily Massey and Bill Chambers are getting married up here.”

“So I’ve heard. I’ve been invited.”

“Really? You wanna go together?”

“One date at a time, Jefferson.”

“Gotcha.”

They arrived at the restaurant at last. Jefferson tossed his keys to the valet and offered her his arm, trying his best to
be a good date. But Jillian just wasn’t in the mood to appreciate his efforts. As he escorted her into the building, she couldn’t
help glancing over her shoulder to see if Tuck’s pickup had arrived.

“This way,” Jefferson said, and ushered her inside before she had time to see who was coming up the mountain.

The restaurant was quite elegant. White linen tablecloths. The waitstaff attired in traditional black uniforms with white
aprons. A maître d’ who seated them right away at a spectacular table by the window overlooking the ski run. An impressive
wine list just as Jefferson had promised.

There was night skiing at the resort, and from where they were seated, they could watch skiers sluice down the mountain. Fun
classic rock from the fifties and sixties was being played on the slopes, and they could hear it inside the restaurant. It
was a great place with the proper romantic atmosphere. The only trouble was, Jillian kept wishing she was there with someone
else.

Tuck.

Just as the waiter arrived to take their drink orders, Jillian looked up from her menu to see Tuck and Lexi walk in. Her stomach
lurched.

In his suit and tie, Tuck stole her breath away, and she had to admit Lexi looked quite lovely in a lavender skirt and blouse
set. A waiter steered them toward the opposite side of the room, but Lexi headed their way. Tuck looked surprised and followed
her over.

“Hello,” Lexi greeted, sauntering up to their table. “Imagine running into you guys here.”

Tuck clamped a hand on Jefferson’s shoulder. “How you doing, buddy?”

“Tuck,” Jefferson said. “I didn’t know you and Lexi were dating.”

Lexi beamed. “It’s the first time we’ve gone out.”

“Hey, why don’t we all eat together?” Tuck suggested.

Jillian rummaged in her mind for an excuse why they should not share a table, but Lexi clapped her hands in that endearing
way of hers and said, “Oh yes, that would be so fun.”

Tuck was already pulling out Lexi’s chair for her. Jillian shot him a withering glance. He grinned at her. She glared.

The waiter hovered.

“Instead of two glasses of cabernet,” Jefferson instructed, “go ahead and bring us a bottle.” Then he turned to Tuck. “This
is our first date as well.”

“Really?” Tuck popped open his linen napkin and spread it across his lap, all the while keeping his eyes trained on Jillian.

Lexi leaned over and whispered behind her palm to Jillian, “This is so much fun. Me being out with Tuck, you with Jefferson.”

The excitement in her new friend’s voice made Jillian glower at Tuck. What was he pulling? “Don’t expect too much,” Jillian
whispered back, desperate to protect Lexi. “This is his first date since Aimee.”

“Don’t worry,” Lexi whispered. “I know what I’m doing.”

Jealousy, sharp and unexpected, sliced into her. From the ski slopes came the sound of “Do You Believe in Magic?”

“Hey,” Tuck said. “They’re playing our song.”

Jillian stared at him. “Our song?”

“Your song?” Lexi raised an eyebrow.

“You have a song?” Jefferson asked.

“Yeah.” Tuck held Jillian’s gaze. “It was playing on the radio when we had our first fight. Remember?”

Oh, she remembered, all right. “That doesn’t make it our song.”

“It makes me think of our first fight. Doesn’t that qualify as our song?”

“You can only have a song if you’re a couple,” Jillian said. “We’re not a couple.”

Several long minutes passed. Then the waiter returned with wine and took their food orders. Tuck and Jillian ordered filet
mignon cooked medium. Jefferson and Lexi ordered the pheasant.

Jillian was sitting directly across from Tuck, and in spite of herself, she couldn’t help noticing how sexy he looked freshly
shaven and smelling of manly cologne. Jefferson’s cologne had a floral undercurrent, but Tuck’s was woodsy, earthy. She’d
never seen him dressed in anything but flannel and jeans except for on the cover of
Architectural Digest
.

His eyes met hers across the table as if he could read her mind. He gave her a short, sly smile, and she felt as if she’d
been lit on fire. White-hot embers of desire that had been burning inside her from the moment they had met sparked, flared.

When the bread basket came, Tuck and Jillian reached for it at the same time, and their hands touched. The heat of his hand
short-circuited her hormones and she burned.

Yes.
Burned
.

For Tuck.

Blindly, she left the roll in the basket, drew her hand back, and reached for her wineglass instead. She took a big gulp,
trying senselessly to put out the brushfire rolling through her.

“So tell us, Jefferson, what big real estate deals are you working on?” Tuck asked, smoothly buttering his bread, but the
whole time he was talking and buttering, his gaze was on her. His whiskey-colored eyes were luminous, the pupils dilated in
the candlelight. He parted his lush lips and very sensuously took a bite of bread.

“Well, Tuck …” Jefferson launched off on his latest project while Lexi asked eager questions.

But Jillian wasn’t listening to Jefferson babble. All she could do was look at Tuck and think,
I want this man.

Lexi fueled the conversation when talking houses turned into specifics and she got down to flooring and window treatments.

“What do you think of laminate flooring, Lexi?” Tuck asked, but he was still looking at Jillian.

She shot him a knock-it-off look.

Simultaneously, he slightly lifted his eyes and his shoulders.

“Laminate definitely has its place,” Lexi said.

“Thank you.” Jefferson raised his fork. “A lot of people look down their noses at laminate, but when you have three cats like
I do, you appreciate something that, while looking like hardwood, is actually much more practical.”

“Really?” Lexi’s eyes widened. “I have three cats as well—Mandi, Andi, and Moe.”

“Faux wood,” Tuck mouthed to Jillian.

Jillian swung her foot and kicked Tuck under the table.

“Ow!”

“Oops, sorry, clumsy me.”

“Watch the pointy-toed shoes, Queenie. My ankle still isn’t one hundred percent.”

“Queenie?” Lexi asked.

“Her nickname,” Tuck explained.

“It’s not my nickname,” Jillian said hotly. “It’s the insult Tuck likes to irritate me with.”

“It’s not an insult. If I was insulting you, I’d call you a bathroom hog.”

“I don’t hog the bathroom.”

“I disagree. When I went to shower for my date with Lexi, guess what—no hot water.”

“So you had to take a cold shower. Poor baby.”

“Bathroom hog.”

“Cry baby.”

“Um … my pheasant is delicious,” Lexi said to Jefferson. “How’s yours?”

“Wonderful. So with three cats, what kind of flooring do you have?” Jefferson asked.

Tuck was glaring at her. Was he mad? He’s the one who’d started this whole mess. Now here he was ruining dinner.

“Could you guys excuse me a minute? I need to make a phone call,” Jillian said.

“Hurry back.” Jefferson smiled.

Jillian darted to the alcove near the restroom; from here, she could see Tuck sitting at the table. She got out her cell phone
and called his number.

He answered at the table.

“What in the hell are you doing?” she demanded.

“Hang on a minute.” While she watched, he lowered the phone, said something to Lexi and Jefferson, then pushed back his chair,
got up, and started sauntering toward her, all grin and swagger.

“Okay,” he said into the phone, his eyes on her face across the length of the restaurant. “I’m back.”

“What in the hell are you doing here?”

“Last time I checked, it’s still a free country. You don’t own Thunder Mountain.” The closer he came to where she huddled
in the alcove, the wider his grin grew.

“You asked Lexi out to make me jealous,” Jillian accused.

“I did not,” Tuck huffed. “Lexi asked me out.”

“You are such a liar.”

“She did. Go ask her. She had a birthday gift card to Thunder Lodge that was about to expire.”

“You expect me to believe that coincidentally on the same day I was going out with Jefferson, Lexi had a gift card to the
same restaurant where he was taking me?”

“It’s the truth.”

Was it? Tuck didn’t seem the kind of guy who’d be unkind enough to ask Lexi out simply to use her as an excuse to spoil Jillian’s
date.

“Besides,” he said, “you went out with Jefferson to make me jealous.”

“I did not. I accidentally got roped into this.”

“That might be true, but you sure went to a lot of trouble to make sure I knew all about it.” Closer and closer he sauntered,
those whiskey eyes drilling into her like lasers.

Jillian backed up. “Lexi’s going to think you’re interested in her.”

“I’ll make sure she knows we’re just friends.”

“Like we’re just friends.”

“Yeah.” His voice was husky.

Tuck kept coming, looking at her as if he were stripping her clothes off with his eyes. What had happened to the man in mourning
she’d been living with for the past several weeks?

Gone was the emotional barrier he’d erected. Hell, gone was any respect for her physical space as he walked right up to her,
taking the cell phone from his ear and snapping it closed just as her butt bumped the wall behind her.

“You’re being rude,” she said. “Leaving your date alone.”

“You left the table first. Your date is just as alone as mine.” He was standing toe-to-toe with her, his mouth merely inches
away. “And you kicked me. Now, that was rude.”

She had an overwhelming urge to reach up, grab him by that expensive tie that looked like a holdover from his Magic Man days,
tug him into the bathroom, and make out with him.

If it hadn’t been for the waiter who came up behind Tuck, she might very well have done just that.

The waiter coughed.

Tuck swiveled his head but kept his body angled in Jillian’s direction. “Yes?”

“Um, sir, the rest of your party left.”

“Yeah?”

The waiter extended the check and cleared his throat. “They said you’d be paying the tab.”

“S
O WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?
” Jillian asked Lexi the next morning. She stopped by the flooring store with Styrofoam cups filled with hot coffee and cream
puffs from the Bluebird as a peace offering.

“Evie’s cream puffs!” Lexi squealed and bit into one. “Oh, yummy. Thank you.”

Jillian rested her hip against the edge of Lexi’s counter and crossed her arms over her chest. “So, about last night … ?”

Lexi giggled and wiped powdered sugar from the end of her nose with the back of her hand. “That was rude of Jefferson and
me running out and leaving you with the check. I do apologize.”

“No, no, it was rude of Tuck and me to go off and leave you guys at the table. Honestly, Lex, we didn’t mean to hurt your
feelings.”

Lexi blinked at her. “What do you mean? My feelings weren’t hurt.”

“I thought you and Tuck … that you were interested in him.”