Whitney in Charge (21 page)

He put his finger under her suit’s strap. “You’re so hot in this bikini that I’ve been having evil thoughts.”

She giggled, squeezing his buttocks. “I won’t ask you what kind of evil ones because I’ve been having a few of my own.”

He pulled her closer to him while his demanding lips caressed hers.

Her own excited response to the touch of his lips surprised her, but even more shocking was his hard erection against her. Her breathing quickened as she realized how much she wanted him to love her. “Oh Jack,” she moaned.

“Well, isn’t this cozy?”

She turned her head at the sound of a woman’s voice. Her jaw dropped when she saw Anna, Ben and Adam.

Ben cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. Anna thought Casey was here and wanted to talk to him about work.”

“I want to play with Lily,” Adam said.

After she said hello to her visitors, Whitney reluctantly left Jack’s embrace to climb the steps leading out of the pool. He followed her, picking up a towel from one of the chairs to hand it to her.

“Casey left to see his mother. Regan and Lily went with him.” She wrapped a towel around her and continued, “Adam, how was your trip?”

“We had fun,” Adam said.

Anna gave her a big smile. “It was wonderful.” She patted Ben’s arm. “Ben’s an awesome pilot. It’s a shame you don’t like to fly, Whitney.”

Jack put his arm around her shoulders. “I’m hoping she’ll decide to fly with me sometime.”

Ben raised his eyebrows. “Won’t that be hard since you don’t have a plane?”

“My dad has one I can borrow anytime.” Jack smiled at Anna. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Jack Hensley.”

Whitney raised her eyebrows at Anna. “Actually I’ve never met you, but I guess you know me from Casey.”

“Sorry. I’m Anna Morgan.” She gave a pretty smile at Jack. “It’s nice to meet you both.”

“Since Casey’s not here, we’ll leave you two alone,” Ben said, his voice sharp as his gaze shifted between Whitney and Jack. “Sorry we disturbed you.”

“You don’t need to leave,” Whitney said. “We’re going in anyhow. The water is getting chilly.”

Jack grinned. “We were trying to stay warm with our body heat.”

Adam touched his stomach. “I’m hungry. Daddy ordered pizza.”

“Enjoy your pizza,” Whitney said. “Maybe next weekend, you and Lily can go swimming.”

After they left, Jack said, “I think Anna knew Casey wasn’t here. What do you think?”

“She knew.”

“I hope you’re okay with Ben seeing us together.”

“Actually I am. Anna also wanted me to see her with Ben.” She grabbed his hand. “Let’s go in. While you change I’ll fire up the grill. And you can watch the steaks while I get dressed.”

Forty minutes later, she was happy to be seated next to Jack on the patio with the grilled steaks in front of them. Jack had poured wine and set out some left over salad from earlier to make a nice meal. Sitting at a table with him, sharing a meal, felt natural and good. She decided she liked it a great deal.

“This steak’s delicious.” Jack cut another piece of meat.

“Thanks for the bottle of wine.”

“I was hoping you’d want to grill. I decided either way we could have wine. You threw a few hints out yesterday how nice it’d be for us to eat by the pool.”

She sipped her wine. “I’m glad you came over today.”

“It was either come here or go shopping for baby clothes.”

“Oh thanks. I won over shopping. Something you don’t like to do.”

He reached across the table and took her hand in his. “It wouldn’t have mattered what choices I had, you’d have been my first.”

First choice. She’d never been first in Rob’s life. If she had been, he might still be alive. But she’d been just as guilty about her priorities. She should have begged him to return home, but while he’d been gone she thrived in her demanding career as a producer.

“Did I say something wrong?” Jack asked.

“Not wrong but something astute.” She took in a breath and then exhaled it. “I realized how I was never a first choice to Rob. Everyone thinks we had the perfect marriage except for being apart. But the last few days, I’ve been thinking how during our three years of marriage, we were separated more than together. No wonder we never made time to have children.”

“Rob loved you,” Jack said. “He missed you while he was in Iraq.”

“He loved me in his own way, but we were both too independent. Our careers took on the passion we should’ve had in our marriage.”

“Rob might’ve been obsessed with reporting the news, but I wouldn’t say it was his first choice or priority. He planned on returning to you. He didn’t expect to get killed.”

“But that gets me too,” she said. “Several reporters have been seriously injured or killed in Iraq. He had to know he was taking a risk.”

“I suppose so but Rob talked several times about you. You were definitely on his mind a lot.”

She smoothed her napkin, staring at it. “I think he was afraid if we had a baby, I’d have asked him to give up reporting in Iraq. Rob liked to finish whatever he started.” A breeze fluttered through the trees, causing her to feel chilled. “It’s getting cooler out here. Let’s move inside and eat our dessert.”

Jack rose and picked up his plate. “I’m sorry you didn’t get to have a baby with Rob.”

“Me too. But at least I have my nieces and nephew.”

“I know what you mean. I’m looking forward to being an uncle.”

She walked to the patio door. “I hope you like coconut cream pie. I experimented a bit with my mom’s recipe and might give it on the show if we like it.” She noticed Jack had a sad expression. “Hey, you don’t have to eat any pie. Are you a cake kind of guy instead?”

He shook his head. “I need to tell you something.”

“I’ll start the coffee and we can go in the living room while it brews.”

While she measured the coffee grounds, she wondered what was bothering Jack. What did he want to tell her? He looked pretty miserable. After the kisses they’d shared that day, she had no doubt that Jack was as attracted to her as she was to him. She doubted he wanted to break things off, so what could it be?

“The coffee smells good.” He sat on the couch, giving her time to get comfortable next to him.

“I love the smell of coffee.” She didn’t want to rush him, so refrained from asking him what he needed to tell her.

He sighed. “This is hard because after I tell you, I’m afraid you won’t want to see me again.”

Fear gripped her. She didn’t want that to happen. He had to be exaggerating. “I’m not a judgmental type of person. Unless you murdered someone,” she gave him a reassuring grin and continued, “I can’t think of anything that would make me want to stop seeing you.”

“I witnessed Rob’s murder.” His troubled eyes met hers. “I saw him blown to bits. I had nightmares for a year.”

It took her a few minutes to absorb what Jack had just told her. She’d had nightmares, too, about Rob’s death, and she hadn’t even been there. Whitney swallowed and looked down at her hands for several moments to compose her thoughts. Finally, she raised her head and looked him in the eyes. “I’m sorry you were there. Just hearing what happened to Rob caused me to have terrible dreams.”

“There’s more. Something I’ve never told anyone.” He took a deep breath. “I was close to Rob.” He stared at her for several beats of her heart, his jaw jerking as he grit his teeth. “Very close. So close that…” He didn’t finish, and turned away.

He didn’t need to finish. Whitney understood what he tried to say and immediately her chest tightened and she felt queasy. The thought tore at her insides. While her stomach turned, she tried to find her voice. “You could’ve been killed too.”

She leaned against him and his arms went around her.

Jack said softly, “Rob wasn’t the only one who died that day. Part of me died too. It was time for us to leave the area. I’d already told him but he wasn’t ready. I was heading to tell him again. If I had insisted the first time, he might still be alive.”

Sadly, she understood how Jack felt. She’d thought so many times how she should’ve insisted on Rob changing assignments and getting out of Iraq. “And if I’d begged him to come home, he’d be alive now. But the truth is Rob never left anything undone until he felt like he was finished. He had to get the story at whatever cost.”

A sudden rush of tears ripped through her, and his arms tightened around her, pulling her to him. She’d cried for Rob before, but never like this. As she sobbed against his chest, Jack said, “I think now I always needed to tell you about the day he died.”

She choked back her cries. “I’m glad you did. It was hard for me to hear, but it had to be harder on you to tell me.”

After holding each other for what seemed like a long time, her crying subsided. Jack’s comforting hands rubbed her back and shoulders. His fingers pausing each time to curl around the base of her neck before moving down her spine again. Whitney’s heart pounded fiercely in her chest. She knew it wasn’t from the shock of what Jack had witnessed in Iraq. Finally, she realized that Rob would never be forgotten, but it was time to start moving on with her life.

She could only think of the incredible man next to her. Pulling slightly away from him, she said softly, “I feel like a burden’s been lifted.”

“I feel exactly the same way. I was afraid to tell you sooner because I thought you might not want to date me. I always knew I’d tell you when the time felt right.”

She’d been torn apart emotionally about Rob, but her feelings had started shifting when she’d met Jack. As she felt his body against hers, desire flamed hot inside her.

He leaned down and planted little kisses on her neck and moved up to her lips. He slid his tongue in effortlessly.

She clutched him tightly as his tongue moved inside her mouth. His hands slipped beneath the hem of her blouse, and his palms were hot against her skin. Whitney’s breath quickened and she closed her eyes, letting herself be lost in the sensation of his touch. Her body tingled even more when he pulled her top off, and he kissed the hollow between her breasts. His fingers found the bra hooks, but before he got to free her breasts from the lacy bra she wore, his cell phone rang.

Jack groaned and moved away from her enough to unclip the phone from his belt. He looked at the caller ID. “It’s Casey. I better answer it.”

She hoped the call would be short because she definitely didn’t want the evening to end. But when she heard Jack say to Casey, “I’ll be right there,” she knew something serious had happened.

He looked up from his phone and gave her a tender look. “I’m sorry. There’s been a bad accident. It involves three vehicles. They need me.”

“It’s okay. Be careful.”

He grinned. “I better do damage control here first
.” After he slipped the top over her head, his lips brushed hers briefly.

Once Jack left, she decided she might as well go to bed early. Before she crawled into bed, her phone rang. Maybe Jack hadn’t been needed and wanted to know if it would be okay to come back. That’d be perfect to have him back with her.

She grabbed the phone next to her bed and was disappointed to see it wasn’t Jack’s number. She sat on the edge. “Hello.”

“Hi, Whitney. It’s Ben. I forgot to ask you when I was there earlier about your pilot. How’s it going?”

She should have kept Ben informed. He’d been great using his connections for them. “We’re going to make the pilot soon. Everything’s looking good. I can’t thank you enough for all your help—”

“No, it was nothing.”

She heard his nervous laugh. “Ben, we’ll do a great job. I have a positive feeling about us doing this program.”

“I was using your show for an excuse. I missed you this weekend.”

She hadn’t thought about him. She didn’t want to hurt Ben’s feelings but also didn’t want to lie. Avoiding saying how he hadn’t been missed by her was the best way to handle this situation. “I’m surprised you had time to think about me. How was your trip?”

“Meredith gave Adam lots of attention.”

“I’m glad Adam had a good time with his mom.” She paused for a moment. “Anna seemed happy about the trip.”

Ben cleared his throat. “I’m going to get straight to the point why I called. I like you a lot and know it could develop into something deeper. When you kissed me by the waterfall, I thought you returned my feelings, but I’m not so sure now. You were a bit distant when I cooked you dinner. We both know what Anna and I interrupted today, so I might as well just ask. Do I have a chance with you?”

Whitney didn’t even have to think about the answer, she knew it right away. Ben’s kiss had been wonderful, because it had been the first time she’d been close to a man in years. But her pulse raced thinking about Jack’s fervent kisses. Each time she saw him, the attraction between them was stronger. Jack was the man she wanted. “I like you, Ben, and think you’re a terrific guy, but—”

“I don’t have a chance because of Jack. Anna told me she could tell you were interested in him,” Ben said, interrupting her. “I’m not blind. I saw how you two looked together this evening.”

“You’re right. I have deep feelings for Jack, but where it will go, I don’t know. I just know I have to find out.”