Not Quite Dating (12 page)

No matter how many sexy dreams Jack had experienced since meeting Jessie, he couldn’t call himself her lover.

Not yet anyway.

Jack had turned toward the bar in the suite, intending
to pour himself something big and strong, when his cell phone rang. His phone sat in the pocket of the suit hanging on the back of a chair.

Jessie’s home phone number popped up on his caller ID. Maybe she had skipped out on the date after all. His lips slid into a grin.

“Hello?” he answered, trying to sound bored.

“Jack? Is this you?”

Not Jessie.

“This is. Who’s this?”

“It’s Monica, Jessie’s sister.” The alarm in her voice made Jack drop his bored demeanor. “I hope it’s OK I called you.”

“Is Jessie OK? Danny?”

“They’re fine. Sorry to worry you. Jessie is out with that guy, the one from the party.”

As if Jack needed to be reminded.

“And Danny is right here. It’s…ahh…Danny suggested I call you.” Monica was bothered about something.

“What’s going on, Monica?”

“I’m at the apartment, with a friend, studying. Anyway, Lynn got a call a few minutes ago…her mom was in a car accident. Lynn’s shook up, shouldn’t be driving. I need to get her to Pomona Valley, but I’m babysitting Danny. I’d take him with me, but the emergency room is full of all kinds of people, illness.”

“Did you call Jessie, tell her to come home?”

“She accidentally left her phone in her other purse. I called it and it rang in her bedroom.”

Jack walked into his bedroom and pulled a suit jacket off a hanger. “You want me to come over, stay with Danny so you can drive your friend?”

“God, would you, Jack? I know it’s sudden, but Jessie doesn’t use many sitters. Only Mrs. Hoyt, but she’s visiting her family. I didn’t know who else to call. I know she trusts you, Danny knows you.”

“I’ll be there
in ten minutes.” Jack hung up his phone and shoved into his jacket as he walked out the door.

The ride to Jessie’s apartment was short, and Jack didn’t take it slow.

Monica met him at the door. “Danny goes to bed at nine, falls asleep on the couch most nights before then.”

Danny jumped up from the couch, ran over to Jack, and pulled him into a fierce hug. “I knew you’d come. I told Auntie Monica to call you.”

“You can always call me, Danny.” Jack ruffled Danny’s hair and glanced at Monica’s friend whom he’d never seen before. “I hope your mom’s OK.”

The girl held back tears. “Thanks.”

“Thanks again, Jack. I owe you.” Then they were gone.

“Monica’s friend was really sad. They said her mom was hurt in a car crash.”

Jack walked with Danny over to the couch, where they both sat. The television was on and a cartoon played on the screen. “She’s probably just fine, partner. Nothing for you to worry about.”

“My mom drove our car tonight,” Danny offered, catching Jack off guard.

Good
, he thought. She met her date instead of giving him her address.

Danny’s eyes narrowed. Jack realized that Danny’s concern for his mother’s well-being prompted the comment. “I’m sure your mom is a safe driver,” Jack said, trying to assure the boy.

“Our car is always breaking something.”

Yeah, Jack knew that already. The thought of Jessie out there without her cell phone bugged the crap out of him, too.
What if she broke down on one of the back roads?
After ten, Ontario had plenty of stretched-out, deserted, dark roads. It was only eight fifteen.

“What time did your mom leave tonight?”

“An hour ago. I think.”

Great, Jack had to depend on
Danny’s memory. Still, odds were Jessie was eating dinner.

With
him
.
Brad!
Probably short for Bradley. What a wussy name that was.

“What are we watching here?”

“SpongeBob. He’s funny. That’s Patrick and Sandy…” Danny pointed out the key characters and Jack listened. He’d heard of the show, but couldn’t say he’d ever sat and watched an episode. He found himself laughing at the jokes and some of the adult humor laced into the cartoon.

At eight thirty, Jack suggested Danny jump into his PJs and brush his teeth so he wouldn’t forget before going to bed.

Danny bounced off the sofa and to his room.

Jack went into the kitchen and noticed Monica and her friend’s books spread out all over the kitchen table. Among them were plates filled with half-eaten pizza and snacks. Jack rolled up his sleeves and realized he was wearing a suit, minus his tie. Maybe Monica would return before Jessie. Or Jessie would be so frazzled to see him there she wouldn’t notice his clothes.
Can’t change now.

Jack straightened up some of the clutter and rinsed off the dishes before placing them in the dishwasher.

Danny bounced into the room, all smiles and giggles. “All done.”

“OK, sport, now what do you want to do?”

“Do you play cards?” he asked.

“I know a few games.” But Jack doubted they were the ones Danny knew.

“Cool,” he said as he flew down the hall again and returned in seconds with a deck in his hand. “We can play Go Fish or War. Do you know how to play War?”

Not a clue.

“I’ll bet you can teach me.”

Back in the living room, Danny
sat on his knees on the floor and dealt out the cards. He explained the rules, which Jack seemed to remember vaguely, and the two of them proceeded to play.

It was five past nine when Jack realized the time. “Dude, it’s past your bedtime,” Jack said.

Danny pushed his lower lip out. “But I usually fall asleep on the couch.”

Right, Monica said that. Jack guessed it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he let the kid stay up a little later than he normally did.

“OK, but we need to put the cards away and settle down.”

Danny tossed the cards on the coffee table and curled back on the couch next to Jack.

“I like having you babysit,” Danny informed him. “Maybe you can come over again.”

The insides of Jack’s chest swelled with warmth. “I like you too, partner.”

Jack didn’t even flinch when Danny leaned his head against his shoulder. Twenty minutes into another crazy animated show, Danny was snoring little logs and practically lying in Jack’s lap. Jack smiled to himself and stroked the back of Danny’s head.

With the remote, Jack switched on the evening news and set the volume to low.

To the side of the TV was the Mann Christmas tree. A few more gifts were scattered under it. Two Jack easily realized were from Danny to his mom and his aunt. The homemade wrapping paper, which was really a paper bag painted green and red, adorned gifts proudly piled in front. Danny’s stocking was tacked to a wall.

The tree in his childhood home had been set up and taken down by his father’s staff. The gifts wrapped by the department stores before they even made it home. When he stopped and thought about it, Jack wondered if his father
had ever gone out and shopped for him and Katie, or had he sent his secretary to do the job? Probably the latter. Yet that had changed in the last few years, which was a good thing. Gaylord had never been cruel, just clueless about his children.

Jessica had created a home and holiday with love. The apartment might be small, but it screamed Christmas and family. Sitting on the worn sofa felt as comfortable as any leather variety he’d ever had the pleasure of planting his butt on.

The news announced the time as ten o’clock and Jack couldn’t help but shift his thoughts to where Jessie was and what she was doing. A cloud of worry stretched over his earlier happy thoughts. She might not be out with
Braaad
if Jack had revealed certain truths about himself.

Part of him wanted to tell her the truth, and the other part reminded him that if she suddenly decided he was worthy enough to date, spend time with, make love to, that he’d never truly know if it was his money or him she wanted.

The guilt in her eyes when she’d said she was going on a date with that loser had said so much. Jessie worried about what Jack thought. He smiled at the thought. Without a doubt, there was heat in Jessie’s gaze when she looked at him. He felt it every damn time he was around her. Someone upstairs really should offer him sainthood or some such thing for the restraints he’d placed on himself where Jessie was concerned.

Danny sighed in his sleep; a little drool fell from the boy’s mouth and onto Jack’s pants.

Jack was about to pick the boy up and put him to bed when he heard a key turning in the lock of the door.

Jessie walked in with her eyes to the floor. She held her shoes in one hand and the keys and her purse in the other. She turned toward the door and secured the
dead bolt and the chain lock without even realizing Jack was there.

She rested her head against the door and dropped her shoes to the floor. “God, Monica, you won’t believe this date.”

Jack was proud to say that Jessie’s tone didn’t sound happy or dreamy.

Slowly Jessie turned around and lifted her gaze. She let out a quick squeal and stifled it before it became a full-on scream. Her hand flew to her mouth, her eyes to her son who lay in Jack’s lap.

Lifting a finger to his lips, Jack said, “Shh, Danny’s worn out.”

“What are you doing here?” she asked in a curt, hushed tone.

“Let me put
him to bed,” Jack whispered before he lifted Danny into his strong arms, cradled him against his chest, and walked to Danny’s room.

Jessie’s heart was thumping faster than a jackrabbit’s. What was Jack doing in her apartment, and where in the world was Monica?

Two hours earlier, Jessie had realized she’d left her phone at home and nearly asked to use the restaurant phone to call in. Instead, she kept on with the disaster of a date until she couldn’t handle it any longer.

Standing in the doorway, Jessie watched Jack tuck Danny in bed as if he’d done so a hundred times.

Danny rolled over in his sleep, dragging Tex, the snake, with him.

Jack silently tiptoed away and squeezed between Jessie and the door before standing in the hall. She closed the door and motioned for Jack to follow her.

“What are you doing here?” she asked again.

“Monica called me. Her friend, the girl who was here tonight…”

“Lynn?”

“Right. Lynn’s mother was in an accident and Monica needed to drive her to the hospital. Your sister didn’t think it would be a good place for Danny, and
you didn’t have your phone, so she called me.”

“Why you?” Who else, Jessie thought. Their mother was too far away and didn’t take to watching Danny all that often. But she would have in an emergency.

“I was close and available. It was Danny’s idea.”

The explanation was reasonable, but Jessie wasn’t happy to see the man who’d unknowingly wiggled into her date before it had even gotten started. Jack shot her a smile. His dimples peeked through. Dammit.

She’d thought of that smile for the past half hour. The past thirty minutes, as she’d walked from where her car had broken down, the crappy thing. “Could this night get any worse?” she said as she turned away from Jack’s easy smile and sparkling gray eyes.

“What was that?” Jack asked.

“Nothing, nothing.” Jessie picked up her shoes from where she’d dropped them and unlocked the dead bolt and chain so Monica wouldn’t be locked out.

“Are you OK?” he asked. His voice had dropped the laughing tone, and suddenly Jessie was on the verge of tears. No, she was absolutely not
OK
.

But, darn it, she didn’t need her bleeding heart, and probably feet, crying to Jack about it. Seemed like she was continually indebted to Jack already, and she’d hardly known the man for a month. “Fine!” she nearly barked out at him.

“You don’t seem fine, Jessie.”

“And how would you know whether I’m fine or not? I’ve known you for, what, a month?” She verbalized her frustration and her feelings. “A month, and already my family calls you when there’s a crisis.”

“I’d like to think we’re friends,” Jack said as he inched closer.

What a crock of horseshit. Jessie
didn’t fantasize about her friends. All night she’d compared Jack to Brad.

Jack had dimples and smiling, genuine eyes. Brad’s were dull and less than convincing.

Jack would have been on time. Brad was late.

Jack considered what she wanted and wouldn’t have ordered for her the way Brad had.

Jack asked her about her life, got to know her through long talks and not a continual drilling of questions that made her feel as if she was on the stand in a court of law.

More than any of that, Jack would never have said or pulled what Brad had tried once they’d finished their meal.

Jack was too much of a gentleman, too nice a guy. He respected her wishes even if he didn’t believe in them.

The man of the hour stepped closer to her, took his finger, and lifted her chin so they looked at each other. “We are
friends
, Jessie.”

“Really, Jack. That’s what we are…friends?”

“Of course.”

“Just friends. Are you saying that if I took my clothes off right now and offered myself to you, you wouldn’t take me up on it?”

The words first widened Jack’s eyes. A hot current of need flashed on his face; the effect shot molten heat straight to her core. Then those sparkling gray eyes narrowed. “I’m not a saint, Jessie, and you know how I feel about you.” His husky voiced confirmed what his expression had already said.

“Friends don’t sleep with friends.” Her words were weak.

“Say the word, and I’ll turn this friendship into a relationship faster than a rattlesnake can strike his prey.” He would, she knew he would. The fire in his gaze said more than any of his words could.

“To what end, Jack?” Jessie pulled away from him, felt tears sting her eyes. “What is wrong with me? There has to be more out there than
dreaming fantasies in cowboy boots and lawyers who peg me as a quick roll because I wait tables and have a kid.”

Jack grasped her arm and swung her around to face him. His face grew stone cold. All fire and heat forgotten.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing.” She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her go.

“Did he hurt you, Jessie? By God, he’d better not—”

“No. My pride. My ego. But not me physically.” Why couldn’t she find a combination of man that had it together financially like Brad but had all the qualities of Jack?

A sob escaped her throat and Jessie dropped her forehead on Jack’s chest. The comfort of him, his heat, helped a few tears run down her cheeks.

Jack brought his other hand around her and pulled her closer.

She wanted to cry, a big sob session with tissues and blotchy eyes. Brad had dominated their meal, talked about his work, his worth, then asked her if she wanted to go home with him for a few hours and “finish up their date.”

She was stunned by the proposition, didn’t quite know how to act afterward. Jessie told him she didn’t work that way. Brad appeared offended. His mountain-sized ego had escaped her until that moment. He couldn’t believe she was blowing him off. There wasn’t even interest to go on a second date with the guy, let alone sleep with him.

With as much dignity as she could muster, Jessie estimated the cost of her meal, tossed a few bills on the table, and walked out of the restaurant. When her car died halfway home, she screamed and pitched a hissy fit, dash-hitting and all. Truth was the walk home, in heels, probably helped burn off some of her anger.

Then to find Jack sitting on her couch, Danny curled in his lap, brought a whole new wave of emotions over her.

Jack was so…Jack.

Here she was, sobbing in his arms. Arms she had
no business enjoying.

Jessie lifted her head from his white shirt and saw the mascara stain on his shoulder. “I’m a mess. Look what I did to your shirt.”

Jack brought both hands to her face and forced her eyes to his. “It’s just a shirt.”

She realized that it was a dress shirt and that Jack wasn’t wearing his normal jeans and hat. Had Monica called him off a date?

She wanted to ask but didn’t really want to know.

Using his thumb, Jack wiped away her tears. “You want me to beat this Brad guy up?”

She laughed, despite herself. “He’s a lawyer.”

“Probably a sissy in a fight.”

“He’ll press charges and have the last laugh.” The testosterone kick of Jack’s words sure was nice to hear. “Thanks for the offer.”

Jack’s grin slowly faded as he stood there holding her. His eyes roamed her face; his thumbs went from wiping away her tears to stroking the outline of her bottom lip. It was as if he were memorizing her. Taking in every detail, every line, and committing it to memory.

Jessie found herself studying him. Gray eyes held silver flecks that sparkled from time to time. Running a finger along his jaw, she noticed the bristles of a five o’clock shadow. He was clean shaven most of the time, but his jaw took on a more rugged appeal when he was like this. She liked it. The hard edge of Jack that made him want to stand up for her and kick Brad’s butt.

Her eyes focused on Jack’s soft lips, next to his bristled chin.

Kissable lips. She wanted those lips against hers in the worst way.

Jessie trembled in his arms and pulled her lower lip between her teeth.

A questioning expression spread over his face, his hands tightened, and she swayed forward and placed her lips to his. There was no slow boil, no
simmering steam. They went from hot to hotter instantly. Jack tilted his head and deepened their kiss. Fingers in his hair, Jessie enjoyed the silky feel of it, of him.

Their tongues fought for control as they explored each other.

He was perfect. Strong and hard in all the right places and so soft and caring in others. His mouth assaulted hers, but his hands slowly stroked her back and waist. Desire and need for this man, this dreamer, ate away at her resolve. Already her nipples pebbled to tight buds and her body hummed.

Jack’s hand traveled low on her back until she felt it round over her bottom. The intimate touch held both relief and frustration. Relief because Jack’s hands were on her, and not only in a dream. Frustration because of how she shouldn’t be enjoying his kiss, his touch, so much.

Jack tore his lips from hers and moved to explore her neck, her ear.

She gasped and tilted her head back. Her clothes suddenly felt too tight, itchy.

Friends with benefits. They could do that…right?

But they couldn’t. It wouldn’t be fair to Jack. It would be easy for her to take him to her cold and lonely bed, but then what?

What about tomorrow? Jessie hated that she couldn’t remove these lurking thoughts from her head and just enjoy the man’s touch.

What if it didn’t work out? How could their friendship survive?

Jessie realized her hand had slipped into his shirt and was clutching his bare skin. She pulled her hand away. “Jack,” she whispered.

He stopped kissing her neck and focused his gaze on hers.

“We…we shouldn’t be doing this.” Not now, not after a date from hell, not with her emotions running high. She needed to think, make educated decisions about the man in her arms.

“You want this as much as I do,” Jack stated the obvious.

There could be no
denying that. “I don’t want regrets, Jack. You evoke so many emotions inside of me, I can’t see straight.”

“Darlin’, that makes two of us.”

“But…we’d have regrets. Maybe not today, but tomorrow or the next day.” When Jack took his fill and left to follow his next dream. She’d have a heaping boatful of regrets.

“I have never, nor will I ever, regret any time I spend with you.” His sober words made her realize how many regrets she would hold.

“I value our friendship…If we do this, there would be no friendship.”

Jessie knew he couldn’t deny her words.

Jack groaned and kissed her forehead before breaking their contact.

Her body cooled instantly, a root of reality already reaching its fingers around her heart and giving it a tight squeeze.

Jack gathered his jacket and pushed his arms into it. At the door, he turned to her. “You have my number.”

Which meant she’d have to make the next move.

“Thanks.”

Jack nodded, passed her one long, heated stare, and walked out her door.

Jack slipped into his shower and blasted the water on cold. There was nothing remotely satisfying about a cold shower. The only thing it served was cooling his enraged hormones that were on a continual high cycle when in the presence of Jessie.

She’d been so vulnerable tonight. In hindsight, he was happy she’d pulled away. Left to himself, he wouldn’t have. They would have both enjoyed each other in bed, but he could see the pain in Jessie’s eyes; she would have regretted it.

She would have been right.
Once they slept together, this pseudofriendship would blow up like smoke and Jack would hold on to her as tight as he could. No more misfit dates with lawyers who took her as easy. No more pretending not to care if another man looked at her with desire. Jack Morrison was a good many things, but he didn’t share his women, and none had meant as much as Jessie did.

Jack let the cool water run over his face before turning and allowing it to drip down his back. He started to cool his jets, but his insides still flamed. Only now, they were in an all-fire pisser about Brad the snake. How dare the man expect something from a first date with a woman he barely knew?

How could the man ever mistake Jessie for that kind of woman? Kind and caring, Jessie deserved respect. Jack knew she was worried about his feelings when she’d backed away from sleeping with him tonight. She didn’t want him falling for her because she wasn’t ready to return the sentiment. What Jessie didn’t realize was her efforts were already too late.