Fiance by Fate (15 page)

Jack followed her inside and immediately made himself comfortable, taking off his blazer. “Isn’t this cozy?” He grinned, rolling up his sleeves. “You can yell at me all you want now.”

She wasn’t about to let him charm her any further. “Jack, what were you thinking, outbidding David like that?”

“Yeah,” he said, looking pleased. “That really got Dr. Too Little.”

That remark earned him her fiercest glare.

“I’d say I got off cheap.” Jack leaned against the back of her sofa, the corners of his mouth twitching. “Charity donation
…
five thousand dollars
. Look on David’s face…
priceless
.”

“David was donating money to help his organization, not to make you look bad.”

“Don’t be too sure about that,” he shot back. “All David wanted was to look good in front of you and all his networking friends. The guy’s a capital P phony.”

“He is
not
. And whose side are you on anyway? I thought you were just supposed to make him jealous, not go around judging and embarrassing him.”

Letting out a huge sigh, Jack stepped closer and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Sabrina, I’m sorry, but I had to do it. You needed to see what a mistake you’re making trying to win him back.”

She shook off his hands. “You had no right. We had a deal.”

Wearily, Jack rubbed his face with both hands. “I know. But…how can you be so sure he’s the right man for you?”

She held his gaze a long time before looking away. She had never spoken what she was thinking to anyone. It was almost as if she were afraid she would jinx her own thoughts. But maybe it was time.

Gazing into his compassionate eyes, she took a deep breath. “Well, there are things,” she began slowly, “about David, our engagement, that just makes it feel right. Like a sign.”

“Sign?”

She smoothed her lips together and went on. “Well, I told you how we met, how great he and his family have been to me. But there’s more. When David proposed, he had no idea—still has no idea—but he proposed on the anniversary date of my parents’ death. Don’t you think all that is more than a coincidence?”

Jack’s eyes narrowed, but several seconds went by before he responded. “You want to get married to David because of some crazy
superstition
?”

His reaction caused a wave of heat to radiate from her face. “No, I want to get married because I want a husband and a family. I want to marry
David
, because he’s a wonderful man and I know he’ll make me happy.” She paused trying to control the cracking in her voice. “Don’t you see, it’s like he’s getting a stamp of approval from my parents somewhere.”

Jack turned away and ran a hand through his hair so hard it stuck up at the ends. He quickly turned back. “You’ve got to be kidding. If your parents are giving that guy their stamp of approval, the distance from up there is clouding their view.”

“Madame Butterfly said we would get back together, too. I can’t ignore all that.”

His mouth drew in a tight line. “That’s the stupidest reason to marry someone I’ve ever heard. I mean, a
sign
? A psychic? Don’t you have any sense at all?”

“It’s not stupid.” Her lips trembled and she felt tears burning the backs of her eyes, but she kept them from breaking free.

Jack reached out to touch her cheek, withdrawing quickly when he saw her body tense. “Look, don’t get yourself—”

“I believe in those crazy superstitions, as you call them. It’s all I have at this point, Jack. But you wouldn’t understand that, would you?” Her voice was rising by the decibel, but she didn’t care. “You have a living family to fall back on for support, to help you, to guide you. Oh, but you never need anything or anyone. All you want from life is your precious work. Well, you—” She hiccupped, then covered her face as hot tears spilled down her cheeks.

…

Jack stood helpless for a moment.

Then he walked up and closed his arms around her. Guilt had him swallowing hard as she sobbed, shaking under his hands. He could kick himself. The last thing he’d wanted was to go and make her cry. He just didn’t want her marrying David for the wrong reasons. He was worried about her. That was what he should have told her from the beginning. But no, he’d let his temper control his big mouth again. He was a complete grade-A jackass.

He held her tighter and when her crying finally began to quiet, he had already made the decision to bank down his pride. “I’m sorry,” he murmured as the light vanilla scent of her hair swept over him.

Sabrina froze for a few seconds, then whipped her head up. “Really?”

“Yeah.” He gazed at her beautiful tear-stained face and his throat tightened. “You’re right. I went off-script and completely blew our deal. Your beliefs aren’t stupid. I’m the stupid one. It wasn’t my place to interfere.”

“Thank you. That means a lot to me.” She gave him a tiny watery smile, then her gaze wandered to his mouth.

Unexpected, unwanted desire unfurled in his stomach and he swallowed. His heart picked up speed as if he’d just jogged around the apartment building. That was the signal.
Let her go, stupid
. He knew he should drop his arms now and take several steps back. But he didn’t.

Couldn’t.

“Jack?” she whispered.

He moved his face closer to hers. “Yes?”

“Maybe you should…let me go now.”

Her eyes, still shiny with tears, burned into his. When she looked at him like that, so sweet and vulnerable, he became defenseless, too. Something inside him snapped. Before he knew it, his lips landed softly on hers—and by all that was holy, she was kissing him back.

She slid her arms around his neck as he deepened the kiss. She tasted of apples and cinnamon, courtesy of the apple cider served with dinner, but there was much more to her. Something was different, like the planets were aligning. All because she was kissing him and it wasn’t pretend. There was no David watching. Nothing for show this time.

He ran his fingers through her soft brown hair and down her back, gathering her up against him. She fit so perfectly in his arms. His body tingled from the contact. He didn’t know how much more he could take and finally, he broke the kiss. “Let’s continue this elsewhere,” he murmured huskily. Lightly holding her fingers in his, he began to lead her to her bedroom.

Sabrina dug in her heels. “I can’t.”

Jack turned and studied her. Okay, she did look a little shaky. He was knocked for a loop, too. But not a problem. He scooped her up in his arms and managed to take two small steps before she shook her head.

“No, Jack. I can walk. I mean, this isn’t right.”

“Of course it’s right. It’s more than right.” He fought the panic rising in his system and swallowed hard. “It’s perfect.”

The soft, dreamy eyes she’d been gazing up at him now aimed hard and direct. “No. It’s not perfect. It’s fake.”

Her words cut, and just like that reality came crashing back. He allowed her legs to unceremoniously drop to the floor. “It felt pretty real to me,” he murmured.

Sabrina drew in a shaky breath as she looked away. “We just got a little carried away.” Her eyes managed to travel back to his. “It’s only natural. I mean, sometimes being friends with a person can lead you to—”

“You can save the bit about friendship. Trust me, I don’t want to touch any of my other friends like I want to touch you right now.”

Jack had the satisfaction of seeing color spring onto her cheeks. “Okay,” she began tentatively, “I’ll admit we do share a kind of…mutual attraction. But that doesn’t mean we should act on it.” She took a defiant step back, putting a mile of distance between them.

“But we’re two consenting adults. There’s no ring on your finger, and there’s certainly none on mine.”

“I know,” she began, “there’s no ring on my finger, but there’s the
hope
that there’ll be one again. It’s what I’ve dreamed of having. The whole point of our charade. As much as I’m attracted to you, I can’t settle for less than that.”

Now Jack knew what she was telling him. He hadn’t made it a secret that a long-term relationship wasn’t exactly something on his life’s agenda. Sabrina wanted a future—with her ex-fiancé. But David wasn’t here. And Jack was.

When did something so simple get so complicated?

A small sigh escaped her lips. “Jack, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

“I have no feelings, remember?” The way she flinched at his words had him wanting to apologize all over again.
Twice in one evening
, he thought bitterly. That would’ve been a new record for him.

“I didn’t mean—”

“If not you, then there’ll be some other woman—like Jessica—before long, right? Is that what you really meant? Look, if you want marriage and the whole nine yards then that’s what you should have. Don’t let me or what’s happening between us get in your way.” Okay, he wasn’t handling the situation like he’d wanted to at all, and worse, he was feeling extra cynical, so he picked up his coat to leave.

Sabrina walked over to him and laid a hand on his arm. “It would only complicate our plans,” she assured him.

“You’re right,” he managed between clamped teeth. The last thing Jack wanted was her touching him now. Where her hand gently rested felt like fire going directly to the bone. He was sure by the time he reached for the doorknob his arm would be singed clean off.

Without another word, he let himself out before he did or said something even stupider. Like apologize again. Or worse yet, fall on his hands and knees and beg her to change her mind.
Now
that
would be a new one.

Hearing the door quietly close behind him, he let out a sigh of relief. At least he was out of there with some shred of dignity still intact. Although his body was in rebellion, he had to admit Sabrina was right. It would’ve been a big mistake getting involved with someone like her. He didn’t do long-term. She was just the kind of complication he’d steered clear of for years. It wasn’t part of what he really wanted. All he wanted was to concentrate on his career. He wanted to be back in good standing with his dad and the board. He wanted to take over Brenner Capital. He wanted…

Sabrina.

As Jack started walking down the hallway, he honestly didn’t know what he wanted anymore.

Chapter Ten

“I went over a few of your sales ideas, Jack, and I’d like to set up a lunch meeting this week to discuss them with you.”

Jack looked up from his desk. Pride filled his chest as he took in his dad’s pleased expression. Jack was so close to getting the position he wanted. His ideas
were
good. And if they impressed his father, he knew they’d impress the Board of Directors. But he’d been working hard on his image as well as his job over the past few weeks. He hoped that part hadn’t gone unnoticed, but just to make sure, it was time to use his trump card.

“Sabrina helped with those suggestions, Dad. We’ve actually been working closely lately—very closely.”

“I know.” His father’s eyes lit with amusement. “She looked lovely the other night at the fund-raiser you two attended.”

“How do you know about that?”

“One of the stockholders emailed me the link to the
Boston
magazine blog this morning. Apparently, your donation was quite the show stopper.”

“Yeah, about that—”

“Well done.”

“I— You think so? I know I said the pledge was from Brenner Capital, but I had planned on using my own money.”

“You can take it out of the company’s account. The Assist Club is a wonderful organization. Very nice idea to have us donate there. That’s the kind of publicity I don’t mind seeing from you.”

“Yeah, well, Sabrina and I weren’t at that event for work.” Jack cleared his throat. “We’re dating now.”

His father’s grin spread wide, as if it were Christmas morning and he’d just been handed a puppy. “That’s fantastic, son. And here I thought you still had the National Sales Manager position stuck in your head. No wonder you’ve been working so hard, to spend more time with Sabrina.”

“Well, uh, yeah. Of course.” Jack fumbled with his words, worried his plan had backfired on him. “Sabrina is great, but Brenner Capital is still my number one priority.”

His dad’s forehead wrinkled in a frown. “Oh. I’d hoped this news meant you were making room in your life for more important things than work now.”

“What could be more important than our company?”

“
Family
for one thing.”

Jack’s jaw tightened. “I’ll be at Laurie’s for Thanksgiving.”

“Making an appearance at your sister’s house is not what I mean and you know it. Everything revolves around work with you. What would your mother say if she saw you only devoting—”

“Don’t go there, Dad. Mom’s not here to see or say anything now because of her own choice.” He and his father stared at each other across a sudden ringing silence. Jack swallowed the bitterness in his throat. He didn’t mean to bring up his mother, but her suicide still cut deep. She obviously hadn’t felt he or the family had been important enough to live for.

His dad let out a long sigh. “I just don’t want you to miss out on a good thing when you finally have it. Sabrina is a wonderful woman. Don’t go through the motions. Life is too short not to live.”

Jack unclenched his jaw. “I
am
living. I’m dating a nice girl, just like you suggested, and I’m even generating good press for the company. I don’t know what more you want from me.”

“I want you to be happy.”

Tightness expanded in his chest and he looked away. “I am happy.”

“You just don’t get it, do you?”

Jack got it all right, but he didn’t want to admit that much to his dad. It would only prolong the conversation and disappoint his father further. And Jack didn’t have the energy. Apparently, he was good in business, but that was all. When it came down to family—relationships—he was a failure. He hadn’t been enough for his mom and now it seemed as if he couldn’t please his father, either. Even Sabrina had rejected him the other night. Was there any wonder he preferred to invest all his time in work?