Not Quite Dating (8 page)

“What kind of perks?” She leaned in a little while she listened.

“Room service with food geared for the family. Babysitting, dog sitting, even a spa priced right.” That was his concept for the hotel he was in Ontario to build. “I’d place every hotel around airports, major family vacation destinations.”

“So you want to start a chain of them, not just one? Those are some serious goals, Jack.”

Jack cautioned himself about opening up to Jessie. “I’d start with one, see what works, what doesn’t, then revise and go forward with the profits from the first hotel and build the next.”

“You’re talking massive capital, investors.”

“I’ve been saving.” Which was true.

“What will you name your hotel?” She was smiling, and not in a mocking,
Yeah, sure you’ll do that…one day
kind of way, but in a sincere,
Here’s hoping you do make it
kind of way.

“More for Less.”

Jessie held back a laugh.

“What? You don’t like it?”

“Well, ‘More’ is a rip from Morrison, isn’t it?”

“My friends do call me Jack Moore.”

She really didn’t like the name. “Still, ‘More for Less.’ It sounds…I don’t know, cheap. Like Pick ’n Save.”

“It will be priced cheap, compared to The Morrison anyway.”

She sat taller. “The name needs
to be something people will brag about. Think of Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack. Both sell Nordstrom clothing, but one is the cast-off store. If you had an in with The Morrison, I’d suggest you call your place ‘Morrison West’ or something like that. Or name it something completely ambiguous like ‘Jack’s Place.’”

Jack scratched his head and purposely didn’t say anything about her comment concerning an
in
with The Morrison. “Jack’s Place sounds like a bar to me.”

Jessie waved her free hand at him while she spoke. “Or a friend’s place. Think about it:
We’re going to Disneyland and we’re staying at Jack’s Place.
Then again,
We’re going to Sea World and we’re staying at More for Less
. Do you see what I mean? The one sounds like a great time, the other sounds like a budget vacation with hard beds and leaky roofs.”

Jack scratched his jaw. “I never thought of it like that.” He wondered if anyone on his planning team thought the same thing but didn’t want to reveal their concerns because More for Less was his brainchild. He definitely needed to talk to the marketing department on Monday.

Jack watched her lips as she spoke. “You have time to think about the name. It will take years and lots of connections before anyone like us can open up such a place.”

Guilt sucker punched him hard in the gut. Jessie really had no earthly idea who he was or his net worth. If she did know who he really was, would she have been so open and honest with him? Probably not.

Jessie hid a yawn behind her hand and smiled when he caught her eyes. She glanced at their hands, both of which were rolling tiny circles with the other. Her hand skidded away when she realized it was engaged in a little mindless flirting.

Jack missed her touch instantly, but didn’t say a word about it. “I better get you home.”

Nodding, Jessie said, “Yeah. It’s late.”

Only he didn’t want to take her home. He wanted
to keep her up late, talking, and then a little kissing, then maybe some more touching. Her pink lips would melt against his, he thought.
Head out of the gutter, Jack. You’ll blow it if you come on too strong.

Ignoring his urges, he opened the door and stepped out.

“I’ll ride in front with you, if that’s OK,” she said after slipping her shoes back on and following him through the door.

“Are you sure? It’s much nicer back here.”

“It’s not as much fun when you’re by yourself.”

Conceding, Jack helped her into the passenger’s seat and walked around the car to take the driver’s.

Jessie pointed out which road to take to her apartment.

“When do you work again?” Jack asked.

“I’m off tomorrow, then on for three. If my car needs something big, my sister can take me back and forth. Do you have any idea what’s wrong with it?”

“Might be your starter. I’ll check it out in the morning.” Jack glanced over at her as she opened her purse and took out a pen and a piece of paper.

“Here’s my number. Call me and let me know what it’s going to cost me.”

“Friends don’t charge friends for favors,” he told her.

“You’ve done enough already.”

She hadn’t seen anything…yet.

Jessie placed the paper with her phone number in the cubby that divided the seats. “I’ll have the dress dry cleaned and have it ready to go back to the store.”

“You can keep it.” He switched lanes as he spoke.

“Right, that would be stealing, not borrowing.”

Jessie was too good for that. Jack had no choice but to hide the fact that he’d paid for the dress.

“I don’t think
anyone would notice.”

“I would.”

Pushing her to keep the dress was out of the question. He glanced her way and noticed the sparkle dangling from her ears. “I bought the earrings. So don’t put those back in the box. Those you can keep.”

Her slender fingers touched the elegant diamonds, and a smile touched her lips. “You bought them?”

“I thought they would look great on you.” He thought of the knockoff pair in his room at the hotel. Nordstrom versus Nordstrom Rack. There simply wasn’t a substitution.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to. Consider it an early Christmas gift.” One of many, he hoped.

“I trust it didn’t cost you a lot.”

He shot her a frown. “It’s impolite to ask what someone spent on a gift.”

Jessie laid her hand on his arm. “Thanks, Jack. You shouldn’t have, but thanks.”

They drove the rest of the way in comfortable silence. It was nearly two in the morning when they pulled up to her apartment building.

“I can make it from here,” she told him.

Jack ignored her and opened his door. “In Texas, a man never lets a lady walk to her door alone. Especially at night.” Besides, how would he kiss her if he didn’t walk her home?

She laughed, a warm, inviting sound that pulled on Jack’s heartstrings.

“I don’t want to tick off all the men in Texas.”

“Good.”

After opening her door and helping her out of the car, Jack let her lead the way to her apartment door. The floral scent of her perfume followed
her down the hall. He noted the number on her door for future use.

Tresses of her hair draped over her slender neck as she glanced at her door.

“This is me,” she said as she turned toward him.

Jack stood close, close enough to see surprise in her eyes at his being there. She didn’t back away. When she caught her lip between her teeth, Jack’s pulse shot high. Jessie’s gaze slid from his eyes to his lips, inadvertently inviting his kiss.

He didn’t give her a chance to protest.

Jack weaved his hand behind her head and lowered his mouth to hers. The simmering flame that had been on all night with her nearness grew into an inferno within seconds.

Jessie didn’t pull away.

He captured her around her slim waist and held her closer.

She moaned and tilted her head a little more. He slipped his tongue between her lips and melted into her. Jack committed every sensation he felt, from how she smelled and how she smiled to how her lips slid over his, into his memory. Her hand moved to his arm; her fingers kneaded his flesh. Timid strokes of her tongue against his proved her attraction, her feelings toward him, more than any of her words could.

This was more than friendship, he thought.

This is what poets write about.

Jack wanted more, so much more than a stolen kiss at her apartment door.

The door behind her suddenly flew open, causing Jessie to fall back. Had Jack not been holding her, she probably would have ended up on her butt.

Jack’s eyes snapped open and saw the shocked expression from both Jessie and the woman who had to be her sister, Monica.

“Oh, I’m sorry. So sorry.” Monica’s eyes were wide. Her hands covered her reddening cheeks.

Jessie stepped
away from him. Her fingertips ran along her swollen lower lip. The glow of her cheeks was this side of delectable.

“It’s OK. Jack was just leaving,” Jessie finally spoke.

He’d better do so quickly, before Jessie started to regret their shared kiss. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Blowing out a sigh, Jessie chewed on her lower lip. “Right. My car. OK, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Good night, Jessica,” he said as he turned and left both stunned women at the door.

Before he rounded the corner of the hall, he heard Monica giggle and say, “Oh my God. Is that Jack?”

Jack stood a little taller, his grin a little bigger.

“That
was
Jack, right? Holy shit, is he cute
or what?” Monica practically squealed when she spoke.

“That was Jack.”
Lethal lips and all.
Oh man, his kiss had been to die for. Knock-her-on-her-butt delicious. And completely wrong. “Dammit. That shouldn’t have happened.”

“What shouldn’t have happened?” Monica pulled Jessie down on the bed that doubled as a couch.

“That kiss. I shouldn’t have…he shouldn’t have.”
I should have pulled away, reminded him that he’s bad for me.

“Is he a bad kisser?” Monica tucked her feet under herself Indian style and rubbed her hands together.

“He’s an amazing kisser, but I shouldn’t have let him.”

“Why on earth not? He’s gorgeous, and that accent…geez, makes me a big pile of goo just thinking about it.”

“You know how I feel about dreamers, Monica. He’s a waiter at The Morrison.”

“So? You wait tables, too. You both have that in common.”

Jessie rolled her eyes. “Great, so we’ll save money so one day we might actually be able to buy a decent car that we’d have to share in order to get back and forth to our go-nowhere jobs. It wouldn’t work.” Falling for someone like Jack would break her heart. Then what? She’d end up like her mother, hopping from
one man to another.

No, the kiss was a mistake. The next time Jessie saw him she’d set him straight, make him promise to keep his distance, or their friendship needed to end. She liked talking to him, listening to his plans, but kissing her needed to be something they did once.

One amazing time…but only once.

Jessie glanced at her sister and pushed off the sofa bed. “I’m beat.”

“But I want to hear more about this date.”

“It wasn’t a date.”

“He drove you home.”

“That’s because my car wouldn’t start,” she said, explaining the situation.

“He kissed you at the door, and it’s almost three in the morning.”

“We talked in the back of the limo, watched the planes take off.”

“You were in a limo?”

Oh boy, not the information her sister needed to hear if Jessie was going to get any sleep before her son woke her up. “The hotel limo. Jack finagled it to give me a ride home. It wasn’t a date.”

“Sounds like a date to me.”

Jessie had spent the whole night in Jack’s presence, driven home with the guy, talked about their past, their futures. That kiss wouldn’t be forgotten any time soon. “Not
quite
a date.”

Monica pushed in between the covers of her bed with a catty smile. “If what I saw is ‘not quite dating,’ I want some.” She air quoted the dating statement and then turned off the light.

“Good night, Mo.”

“Night, sis. Have amazing, ‘not quite kissing’ dreams.”

Jessie tossed a pillow at her. “Brat.”

“If you want my advice, I’d suggest you send this wreck to
its grave.” Max Harper owned a small auto shop a few blocks from the hotel. He had happily towed Jessie’s car and squeezed in time to work on it. Jack had met Max prior to Dean’s bachelor party. He had wanted his truck road-ready, and Max had taken care of him.

“Can’t do it,” Jack told him. “The lady who owns it can’t afford to dump this quite yet.”

Max wiped his hands with a shop rag and pulled a pencil from his blue shirt. “I can get it up and running without too much fuss. Needs a new starter.”

“It needs more than a starter.” Jack noticed the worn-out belts, the overheating radiator.

“It needs to collect dust in a junkyard. But if you insist on limping her along, I’ll get you out the door today with a starter.”

“The battery looks ancient,” Jack told him.

“It still has a charge, but I’d be happy to replace it.”

“Do that.”

Max moved around the car and to the back of the shop to gather parts.

The need to fix every possible problem with the car made Jack’s skin itch. The thought of Jessie driving around town or breaking down at night…

“You know what I don’t get?” Max asked.

“No, what’s that?”

“How someone with your money is driving around in crap like this. No offense.” Max was pushing sixty, weighed forty more pounds than he should, breathed too heavy for a man his age, and was honest to a fault. Dean had recommended the man and Jack knew now why. Even with the knowledge of Jack’s deep pockets, Max didn’t try and sell him more than he needed. Even now, as the two of them stared
at the bleak engine in tandem, both of them agreeing the car should be shot, Max didn’t push.

And he didn’t hold his tongue, either.

“It’s not mine, and like I said, I’m helping out a friend.”

“You would help her by getting her something reliable. Not all mechanics are like me. And unless the woman knows something about basic auto repair, she’ll end up overspending every time the car needs so much as an oil change. Hell, the mechanic wouldn’t even have to be unethical working on this. He’d just have to start at one end and work his way to the other to find issues.”

Didn’t Jack know it.

But he couldn’t tell Jessie that someone had left a new car at the hotel and she could keep it. No, he’d have to work in something that big a little differently.

“I couldn’t agree with you more, Max. Just get her back up and running. If you can replace a few things my lady friend won’t notice, by all means do it. If she notices that I’ve spent money on it, she’ll insist on paying me.” As it was, Jack worried about telling her he’d taken it to a mechanic. A friend working on the car was one thing…quite another to hire someone to do the job. But if he was put to the test at some point, he might find that lie hard to continue. No, he’d tell her someone had helped him if he had to.

He needed to keep the web of lies as thin as possible.

“A woman who doesn’t want you to spend money on her? Seriously? I didn’t think they existed.”

Jack offered a smile. His did.

It was after noon when Jack finally picked up the phone and called Jessie. Although he’d thought of her all day it wasn’t until he heard her chipper voice that he was reminded of their kiss all over again. The kiss to end all kisses. The mating of lips that promised amazing things should they ever find the right time to touch in other places.

Jack knew Jessie would be miffed about the kiss, so he
planned on acting as if it hadn’t happened unless she said something about it. He wouldn’t apologize for something he wasn’t sorry for and something he knew she’d enjoyed just as much as he did.

“Hey, darlin’, how did you sleep?” He’d tossed and turned all night, but he wasn’t about to tell her that and give her ammunition to hang up the phone.

“Hey, Jack. I-I, ah, slept good, fine.” Her voice wavered, making him wonder if she spoke the truth.

“I should have your car up and running in the hour. Are you going to be home so I can drop it off?”

“Actually, I was taking Danny to the park around the corner so he can play with some of his friends.”

Even better. “I can bring it to you there. What’s the name of the park?”

She told him, then added, “You don’t have to do this. I can get Monica to drive me over to the hotel to pick it up.”

Only the car wasn’t at the hotel. It was with a mechanic at a shop, getting a new starter and a new battery, an oil change, air filter…“Not a problem.”

“You sure?”

“Jessie, please. I might not be able to help with much, but I can do this.” The lie tasted sour on his tongue, but he blurted it out all the same.

“What was the problem?”

“The starter, like I thought. I, ah, just had to find the part.”

“Was it a hassle?”

“No,” he said too quickly. After a breath he added, “There’s a place around the corner from the hotel that sells parts. It’s just gonna take a little longer to get it in and clean up. You’ll still be at the park in an hour?”

Jessie laughed. “Danny would make me
stay there until dark if he could. We’ll be there.”

“I’ll see you in an hour.” Jack said good-bye and hung up.

A late November bite in the air was what Jessie referred to as a sweater-without-a-coat day. The sun was warm, but the air held a tiny nip. The kids filled the park while their parents sat on the benches next to the playground equipment and watched them play.

Danny concocted a game of follow the leader with three other boys. The kids led one another up and down the slides, hopped over the swings, and spun in circles in the sand. Within ten minutes of playing in the park, Danny was laughing, dirty, and jumping around. Days like this made her happy with her choice about working graveyard. She didn’t miss out on her son’s day-to-day life so long as she worked during his sleeping hours.

It didn’t always work that way. Sometimes when he came down with a cold or had a nightmare, she missed being there to care for him, but Monica handled those times like a pro. If ever Danny really needed her, Jessie called in sick or would come home. By the time she was able to manage a day job, Danny would be spending his days in school, and Jessie could work while he was there. That was the plan, anyway.

“Hey, darlin’.” Jack’s voice purred behind her ear. She turned around and caught his grinning face only a few inches from hers. She pulled back, just in case he thought he was going to greet her with a kiss.

“Hey.”

She was sitting on the edge of a picnic table and decided to slide between the seat and the table to further the distance from him. Without a glance, Jack sat opposite her.

He dangled her keys from his
fingertips. “All fixed.”

“So…it was the starter.” She gathered the keys in her palm, grazing his hand in the process. That innocent touch reminded her of their fondling fingers the night before. Even holding hands with the cowboy held appeal.

His hat sat firmly in place. His button-up shirt covered his muscular arms that had held her so close the night before, and she remembered the hardness of his chest and the sound of his sigh when she dropped her inhibitions and allowed the kiss to continue. His lips were just as plump as the night before. The sweater she wore suddenly felt hot. Jessie shook her head and looked behind her to see where Danny was.

“Your starter was fried.”

“Was that expensive?” She reached for her purse sitting beside her.

“A friend owed me a favor.”

“So you had to have someone else do the work?”

“Had to; Max had the parts, I didn’t.”

How silly of her. Of course Jack didn’t have the parts. She removed her checkbook, but Jack covered her hand with his.

“Max owed me a favor, Jessie. No charge.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

“You have to,” he insisted.

“What if you need Max’s help for your truck? You’ll have used your get-out-of-jail-free card for me.” Jessie shook off his hand and started to write out a check.

“I’m not taking your money.”

“You’re right, you’re not. You’re giving it to Max. Now, how much does an average starter cost?”

Jack ignored her and peered over her shoulder at the kids playing on the playground. “Which one is Danny?”

“You’re changing the subject.”

He winked at her. A smile played on his lips. He
wasn’t going to tell her what it cost, wouldn’t take the money willingly. Jessie knew she’d have to find another way to pay him back. She refused to mooch off someone’s goodwill.