If I Loved You (Harper Falls Book 1) (7 page)

“No premature anything.” God, this woman was
a hoot.

“I didn’t really think so,” Rose admitted.
“So you just aren’t interested. Fair enough. Thanks for the
dance.”

Jack put out a hand to stop her from
leaving. “Can I call you?”
In three
weeks?
He added silently.

“You don’t have to feel guilty, Jack. I get
it; I’m not your type.” She gave him a friendly pat on the hand and
stood to go. “The night is still young. Maybe you’ll hook up with
someone else.”
Just please
,
not Jilly
Underwood.

“Are you going home?”

“No,” she said as she turned and went back
into the ballroom. “Like I said, Jack, the night is young.”

Wait. Jack quickly reran their conversation
through his head.
The night is
young.
Did that mean she was going to find another guy
to invite home? Like hell she was. He might not be having sex with
Rose, but neither was anyone else. Not tonight and not anytime in
the near future. And after that? Well, it there wasn't any point in
jumping too far ahead. For now, whether she knew it or not, Rose
O’Brian was his.

“Rose, over here.”

She turned at the sound of her name, smiling
and waving when she saw Tyler and Dani. They both looked amazing,
Dani was in a black number that set off her pale hair to perfection
and left her creamy shoulders bare. Tyler, who loved bold, jewel
toned colors, had chosen a deep amethyst sheath that added a touch
of violet to her changeable gray eyes.

“How long have you two been here?” she
asked, giving them both a hug.

“Just long enough to get a drink and scope
out the room,” Dani answered. “I thought last year was ridiculously
ritzy. What will she ever do to top this?”

“Throw an outrageous amount of money at a
bunch of party planners and pick the one that she thinks is up to
her unrealistic standards,” Tyler answered in a monotone voice. She
drained what was left of her champagne. “I need something
stronger.

Rose knew that Tyler hated coming to Harper
House. It represented a painful chapter in her friend’s life, pain
that lingered to this day. But to her coming was a necessary
symbolic gesture. Sort of a
screw
you
to the lady of the house.

“I’m for that.” Rose linked arms with her
friends and headed towards the bar. “I just got rejected during my
first attempt at a one night stand seduction. I could use a little
liquid solace.”

“You did what?” Tyler demanded.

“Three brandies,” Dani requested of the
bartender. “Now, start at the beginning. Who did you try to pick
up?”

“Jack Winston,” Rose answered. “I know that
he and Drew are best friends, Tyler. But he fit all the criteria,
and I figured it would only be for one night, so what could it
hurt.”

“I could care less who he’s friends with.”
Tyler frowned into her brandy then took a healthy swig. “I’m
worried about you picking up some pervert and getting hurt.”

“It was your idea.”

“But I never thought you’d go through with
it. And never this quickly.”

“I know.” Rose laughed at the expressions on
her friends faces. “Surprised? I knew what you were up to, Tyler.
And at first I had no intention of doing it. But I thought about it
some more and decided I’d look around tonight, make a mental list
of possibilities. Then I overheard Jilly Underwood going on about
Jack’s reputation in bed and how she was going to pounce on the
poor guy. Well, it was practically my civic duty to save him from
the bitch of the west.”

“You should have been a girl scout, Rose,”
Tyler sighed. “Though I doubt there’s a badge for saving an adult
male from a man-eater.”

Rose shrugged. “It’s a moot point. He turned
me down, and I’ve decided I’m no good at picking up guys.”

“Good.” Dani gave Rose’s shoulder a quick
squeeze. “What if he had agreed? For all you know Jack Winston
could have turned out to be a sexual deviant.”

“I assure you I’m not.”

Tyler and Dani spun around in surprise, but
Rose just closed her eyes and wished the ground would open and
swallow her up.
Jack
. How much had
he heard? It didn’t matter; every part of the conversation was
potentially embarrassing. But it was clear he'd caught the last
part—the worst part.

“Jack,” she began.

“I’ve changed my mind.”

“Well, so has she,” Tyler answered for
her.

He ignored Tyler. “Would you like to leave
now? We can stay and dance some more if you’d like. Whichever you
prefer.”

“No, let’s go.”

“Rose,” Dani stopped her. “Are you sure
about this?”

“You don’t have to go,” Tyler added.

She could see the worry on her friend’s
faces. They were acting as if she were a virgin being sent to a
fate worse than death.

“I’ll call you both in the morning.”

“Call us as soon as he leaves,” Tyler
insisted then sent a warning glare Jack’s way as he escorted Rose
from the room.

“Scared?” Rose asked as they exited Harper
House.

“Your friend has perfected her
I’ll kill you if you hurt her look
.”
Jack gave their tickets to the parking attendant. “How long has she
been practicing?”

“Tyler was born with it.” She thanked him as
he helped her into her car. “But she would never kill anyone. Tyler
likes to leave a lasting impression though. She goes straight for
the balls.” Rose couldn’t help grinning at Jack’s automatic
grimace.

“Relax, there’s only been one actual
castration.”

“And what was his offense?”

“Kicking a dog.” She paused. “Maybe
littering. As you've probably guessed, Tyler has her idea of right
and wrong. Just try not to get on her bad side, and you and your
boys will be just fine.”

“I promise to be on my best behavior. Ah,
here’s my SUV.” He made sure her dress was tucked into the car
before shutting her door.

“I’ll wait for you just down the road and
then you can follow me home. Oh, and Jack? This is a one night only
invitation. If you’re not okay with that keep on driving.”

It was a quick trip to town. The bridge
across the Columbia River and into Harper Falls served only one
purpose, to get people to Harper House and back so, of course, the
way was impeccably maintained. During the day, there was a
beautiful panoramic view that drew photographers and artists from
all over the world. But on a moonless night like tonight it was
like driving over a bottomless cavern, a bit creepy if you stopped
to think about it.

But Rose’s thoughts were completely taken up
with Jack Winston. Was the jumpy feeling in her stomach excitement
or nerves? Probably both. Jack was a big departure for her, which
was the whole point. But that didn’t stop the little voice in her
head from asking if this was a good idea. The dance they’d shared
had been brief, but there had been a definite attraction. She knew
having sex with him would be no hardship but there weren't supposed
to be any feelings involved. Less than five minutes in his arms and
she could say without hesitation that she liked him. She could see
them being friends.

Because of her work Rose had met hundreds of
people. Those with whom she’d spent any real amount of time? She
couldn’t say. But there were very few that she would call
friend
. To her friendship
constituted a lot more than social media sites or being able to
recognize someone enough to give them a casual hello as they passed
on the street. Friendship equaled intimacy, letting someone in.
Rose could count her friends on the fingers of one hand. If she
added one more to the small list, she still wouldn’t need a second
hand.

She pulled her car to a stop in front her
garage, waiting until Jack’s SUV pulled up beside her. She had to
stop over thinking this. No friend zone for Jack. This was about
here and now and if things went as planned, she was about to get
hot and sweaty with the sexiest man she had ever met.

Rose rolled down her window when she saw
that Jack had gotten out and was walking towards her.

“There’s plenty of room if you want to park
in the garage.”

He leaned down, grinning. “Afraid your
neighbors will talk if they see my SUV parked out here all
night?”

“My reputation could use a little tarnish."
Just last week Mrs. Teasdale from across the street had given her a
ten-minute lecture about using it or losing it. The woman was
seventy if she was a day and her love life was hotter than Rose’s.
“We don’t get a lot of vandalism or theft around here but you never
know.”

“I’ll take my chances and leave it out here.
Do you want me to come in through the garage or would you rather
let me in the front door?”

"Come on in the garage. Just watch your head
while the door is closing."

Rose turned off the ignition but before she
could even reach for the handle Jack was holding the door open for
her and taking her hand.

“You’re a throwback, Jack Winston.”

Jack shrugged. “That’s how I was brought up.
Dad opened doors for every lady he met. He always said the only way
to get respect is to show respect, and it’s especially important to
respect women.”

“Hard philosophy to argue with.”

Rose turned on the light. Was it customary
to offer your one night stand something to drink? She was about to
ask jokingly when Jack spun her around and had her pressed up
against the wall. Who could think about etiquette when you were
getting the hottest kiss of your life?

JACK WAS GOOD at thinking on his feet.
Whether it was avoiding a three hundred pound linebacker intent on
inflicting as much pain as possible or fixing a glitch in a
software program just hours before it was they released it to the
public. When he came face to face with a crisis, Jack never
panicked. But when Rose had announced that tonight was going to be
a one-time thing—period—he came as close to freaking out as he
could ever remember.

The original plan had been to get her away
from the party. He didn't know if she had been serious about
hitting on another guy but better safe than sorry. Then he was
going to drop her off at her house giving her one quick and very
chaste kiss. He'd ask her out for the next night, maybe dinner and
a movie. For tonight, he would claim exhaustion. And besides, he
would tell her, the sex would be so much better if they got to know
each other first. At one time or another he was sure he'd heard his
sisters say that. Of course, the truth was that
hello
was all the relationship development most
guys needed. Sometimes not even that was necessary. But women
appreciated a man who was willing to take it slow—also a bit of
wisdom from his sisters. And thanks to that stupid bet, Jack had
become a freaking snail.

Unfortunately, Rose wanted fast, tonight and
only tonight. How was a guy supposed to plan for that? One dance
and he'd known Rose was different than any woman he’d ever met. The
attraction had already been there, but this was more.
What
it was he didn’t know. But to
find out he had to convince a woman determined to kick him out
after one night that there was going to be a whole lot more.

The kiss was pure improvisation. Bad idea,
his brain screamed, but he had to have a kiss, one brief kiss. But
the moment she made that little moaning sound and opened her mouth
to his questing tongue, he knew he was a goner. Kissing Rose could
never be brief, he planned on devoting hours to this one task.
Eventually, he’d be able to write a thesis on her taste alone. It
turned out kissing Rose was the best
bad
idea he’d ever had.

Rose was drowning in pleasure like she’d
never known, just from a kiss. Jack wasn’t touching her any place
but on the lips and yet she could feel it on every inch of her
body. Long, sure strokes of his tongue made her ache for him to
explore the rest of her with equal thoroughness. She needed to
touch him, why wasn’t she touching him? She reached out not caring
where she started just determined
to
start. But Jack had other ideas. Before she could do more than skim
her hands up his chest, he stopped her, trapping them in one of his
and raising them over her head. She was at his mercy and loving
every moment.

“I want you, Rose.”

Even his voice was an erotic jolt to her
already overheated system. She had gone from nervous to ready to
explode in mere seconds. Jack’s warm breath bathed her ear with
every whispered word. Had her ear always been so sensitive? She
couldn’t remember, at the moment she couldn’t think of anything
past the small patch of skin on the side of her neck that he was
slowly caressing with the side of his finger.

“Can you feel that, Rose?”

“Yes,” she sighed. More, give me more.

“Close your eyes. Think of nothing but my
touch. Is that enough?”

Rose moaned. Enough? God, no. She needed his
touch; she needed everything.

“One finger giving you so much pleasure.” He
slowly moved the tormenting caress down her neck and to the top her
spine. All her senses were zeroed in on that feather light touch as
it made its way down the exposed skin of her back.

“Imagine, Rose, just imagine. If just one
finger can set your heart racing what could the other nine do?”

If he hadn’t been holding her hands above
her head, Rose knew her legs would have given out. She was feeling
so much all at once and yet she wanted so much more. She wanted
Jack—naked—now.

“I’m going to leave you, Rose.”

She heard the words, but it took a moment
for the meaning to register. Leaving? Was He leaving?

Rose’s eyes popped open. He was still
standing in front of her, but he was no longer touching her, no
longer whispering seductive promises.