Читать книгу One Breathless Night - Jo Leigh - Страница 12
ОглавлениеIN BETWEEN SPOTTING Rick at the BU party and actually meeting him, Jenna’s imagination had gone wild. Now that she’d spent time with him, it was clear she hadn’t given him enough credit. He most definitely was a steely-eyed badass. But he’d also made her laugh, made her smile. Been there for her.
“Forget him,” she said. “Forget Faith. What are we drinking?”
“Usually, I’m good for a beer or two, but tonight, I’m a Scotch man. And you?”
“White Russian. Heavy on the white. I’m a lightweight and I always go for the girlie drinks.”
“I know plenty of guys who drink White Russians.”
“Liar.”
“Fine. I don’t know them personally. But I’m sure I’m right.”
She smiled. Again. A small miracle. “Why do I get the impression you say that a lot?”
“What, that I’m right?”
She nodded. “My guess is that you are. A lot.”
“What makes you say that?” Rick was studying her again. It should have been intrusive and uncomfortable. It wasn’t. “Except for the train wreck at midnight and the alarmingly amazing kissing, you don’t know much about me.”
“Uh, several advanced degrees?” she said. “That was a pretty big hint.”
“I don’t know that the two correlate, but I do have a habit of saying I’m right. How’s that for obnoxious?”
“Oh, please. You’re hot, brilliant and nice. Wait.” The line moved. She didn’t. “Are we talking about the same kiss?”
“What? I think I’m insulted.”
“Oh, okay. Never mind. That kiss. Of course.”
“If you need a refresher...”
What Jenna needed was that damn drink. Alarmingly amazing? Yes, that was a rather good description. She hurried a couple of feet to close the gap between her and the man in front of her. That was when she saw it was a cash bar and quickly felt around inside her purse for money.
When it was their turn she paid for the drinks. Rick let her easily, which she appreciated. Although what did it matter if he appeared to be nearly perfect? Yes, he had gorgeous blue eyes that threatened her undoing every time he looked at her, and the way he kissed made her forget her whole world had collapsed. And yes, he was being as nice and supportive as she could have hoped for, but...
“You know what?” she said. “You’re right.” She followed him to a small unoccupied table, where they sat across from each other. There were still people on the dance floor, despite having no band. She liked the piped-in music better than what she’d heard at the Bond thing. This was more her speed. Old-fashioned dance music. Like in the subway.
“What am I right about this time?” he asked.
“Oh.” She’d forgotten why she’d been thinking. “No, no, you’re right. It would have been the easiest thing for them to make sure we couldn’t see them. But they were standing in the hallway right outside of the BU suite. As if they were so lost in each other that, that...” After taking a couple of big gulps, she put her drink down. “I would never.”
“No,” he said. “You wouldn’t.” He sipped his Scotch, watched the dancers for a moment and then looked at her again. “Although, you do have a point. It’s possible that they just lost their heads for a few minutes. That they’d had too much to drink, and things got out of hand.”
“Is that normal for Faith?” Jenna said. “Does she just lose her head for a few minutes and kiss other men?”
“Not that I’ve ever seen.”
She sighed. “Payton doesn’t, either. Except he did, and from the way he looked at her, he didn’t think of me at all. There was no other exit from that hotel suite. The first thing I saw was you, staring down the hallway. It was crowded, but it didn’t take more than a couple of seconds for me to catch on.” She winced at the memory. Her stomach did that twisted thing that made her feel like crawling in a hole and never coming out again. “I’m sorry. I’m trying to let it go, but... I had a trickster father and I don’t want anything like that in my life.”
“Trickster?”
“He’s chock-full of mischief, my dad. He’s always been a salesman, the kind that requires a lot of travel, but his real love was inventing things that were supposed to make gazillions of dollars. They never did. He knew how to charm the ladies, though. Lots of them. Including my mother. The only thing he couldn’t do was take care of his responsibilities. My mom ended up having to work two jobs, sometimes three. She was exhausted all the time. I learned how to take care of myself. Which isn’t a bad thing in itself. But...” She shrugged.
“Ah. That kind of trickster.”
“I know, I’m a walking cliché, choosing Payton, who’s the exact opposite of my father. But I don’t care. I hated that my dad was gone so much. And that the only time I felt as if we were a family was when he came home. But that wasn’t very often. The only time I felt really...”
She inhaled deeply, then decided to just tell the unvarnished truth. It wasn’t as if she’d ever run in to Rick again. “The only time I felt really loved was when he was home. When we were all together.”
“What about your mother?”
“She was a good mom, in her own way. She did the best she could. If she minded that he was away a lot, I never heard her complain. When he was home he was the center of her universe. I love my mom. I really do. But she just let him keep his head in the clouds, when he had a family to support.”
Rick sipped on his drink, and Jenna felt foolish for that last outburst. She watched the couples on the dance floor, all around their age and older. It was nice, and she was able to calm down a bit.
“Do they live in Boston?” he asked, and her gaze went back to him. His blue eyes made her forget the question for a minute.
“Not anymore. They moved to Santa Fe four years ago. No, five. He still spends half his time on the road and she keeps accepting his crumbs. I know I shouldn’t say any of this.”
“Why not? I’m the ideal audience. The quintessential perfect stranger. In a blink I’ll be gone.”
“True.”
“So, what’s it like now, with them?”
She shrugged. Drank some more of her very strong White Russian. “It’s okay. We’re not close.” Tears welled again. She blinked them back and then wiped away the one that had escaped. “Would you feel up to telling me about you and Faith?”
He did the staring thing again. She’d love to know what he saw, but she wouldn’t ask. Finally, he nodded. “You know how we met? She was a freelance writer who specialized in the earth’s atmosphere and climate change. I’d been in my job for a couple of years. After she interviewed me, we became friends. We went to the same gym, and we were both into mountain climbing, bikes, running. Sex was great, and we didn’t get on each other’s nerves. So she moved in with me.
“She knew I’d be working a lot, that I’m a storm chaser, and that all my friends were also into atmospheric studies. She went wherever the headlines took her so she was gone a lot herself. Every time we connected we were good together. There weren’t any issues. We never actually talked about our relationship.”
“What changed?”
“Hmm?”
“Something big must have changed for you to want to get married.”
“You’d think. But I just figured we’d been together long enough and—” He shrugged. “Kids. The idea of having them. I want that. Not yet, though.”
“So, you were putting down a deposit?”
He inhaled, and she wanted to take the words back.
“I’m so sorry,” Jenna said. “Ignore that, please. I probably shouldn’t have asked about her. Clearly, I’m no good for anything right now. Which is terrible, because you’ve been wonderful.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’re dead-on. That’s exactly what I was doing. But now I want to put some thought into what comes next. Faith and I get along. Always have. And yeah, I’ll admit, with our chaotic lives, our relationship has been convenient.”
He sighed and stared at the dancers. A song Jenna liked started, and for a few moments, neither she nor Rick said anything. His expression changed, though, from pensive to something darker.
“This wasn’t the first time I tried to propose to Faith,” he said. “Clearly I didn’t try very hard. Hot-air balloons aren’t great for proposals. But then, I thought New Year’s Eve was a good idea.” He shrugged. Took a drink.
Jenna’s throat tightened as she stared at the small diamond ring on her left hand. She and Payton were nothing like Rick and Faith. Well, they were convenient, she supposed. He didn’t live in California or work the night shift. But they had talked about their relationship. Each step had been carefully thought out. She’d been the one to decide that they wouldn’t live together until they were married, but Payton had supported her fully. She loved him. He’d been exactly the kind of man she’d always wanted.
Though right now she had no idea what she wanted.
“That first kiss,” Rick said, his smile so nice, she let go of the breath she’d been holding. “I mean us. That was unexpected.”
“It was,” she agreed. “Completely. To be honest, you literally took my breath away.”
He was back to looking pensive. It was a damn good look on him. She imagined half the women in the room were undressing him in their thoughts.
But she worried she’d said the wrong thing. “Do you suppose payback somehow makes kissing more thrilling?”
“Thrilling, huh?” He didn’t actually puff up like a sage grouse in heat, but his faint smile did look awfully smug. “Probably. Yeah. You think if I kissed you right now, it would be payback again?”
She finished her White Russian, feeling that buzz she’d been chasing. “Yeah. I think payback’s going to be a big part of everything for a while.”
“I’ve got no problem with that.”
Jenna laughed, grateful she’d already swallowed. “You know what? I don’t, either.”
“Then we better get some food.”
“I’m sorry, what? You’re hungry? Now?”
“Not especially,” he said. “But you just polished off a lot of booze. Have you had anything else to eat besides chocolate?”
How did he know about that? Had he been watching her earlier? God, she hoped not. She picked up her drink, remembering too late that she’d finished it. “You’re probably right about eating,” she said, gently putting the empty glass down. “Because I’m a little drunk.”
He helped her up and they went to scope out their second buffet of the night. It was a very good buffet, especially when they zeroed in on the amazingly fresh crab and lobster. Just as Jenna was heading around the table to the oysters, an inebriated man in a beautiful suit stopped right in front of her, although he was looking over her shoulder.
“Rick? Is that you?”
“Hey, Paul. How you doing?”
Obviously, Rick wasn’t especially happy to see Paul. The man was nice-looking, if you were into three-piece suits with just a hint of pocket square showing.
“Great,” Paul said, his voice oily with booze and self-pity. “Just great. My wife left me last week. I thought it would be a good idea to come here instead of sitting home alone. Stupid. All I can think about is her and Dennis.”
“I’m sorry to hear it, Paul.” Rick slipped his arm around her so smoothly, she would have bet money that Paul hadn’t even noticed. “Maybe this is just a separation—”
“Maybe nothing. She wants out. All she cares about now is my money and her dermatologist.”
“Man, that sucks.” Rick put a hand on Paul’s shoulder. Steadied him a bit, and took him a few steps away from the food. “You have a place to stay tonight?”
“Got a room. Don’t want to go until I know I’ll crash until tomorrow. Why I came. Being alone is what sucks. The quiet. The...everything.”
“I think you’re gonna sleep just fine if you go up soon,” Rick said. “Real soon. Okay?”
Paul nodded, but not at Rick. There was an older man heading for them. He appeared to be someone connected to the group, or the hotel, she wasn’t sure which. But when he arrived, he smiled at Rick and then took over watcher’s duty. “Real soon, it is,” Paul mumbled.
“You think he’ll be all right?” Jenna asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “He knows a lot of people here, and he’s a big donor. They’re not gonna let him get into too much trouble.”
“Does that mean you know a lot of people here, too?”
“Not necessarily. I’m trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. You about ready to go sit down?”
She put several oysters on her plate and nodded.
Rick shook his head and put some on his, as well.
They found another table. They were both drinking water and the food was delicious. Jenna liked that he wasn’t hesitant to make yummy noises. It said a lot about him. He was comfortable in his own skin. She’d seen that all night, and she admired it a great deal.
Even though there wasn’t a bite of chocolate on her plate, she enjoyed every last bit of her food. After quickly washing up in the ladies’ room, she waited for Rick, who took her hand and pulled her onto the dance floor.
She didn’t know the song. Or care. They didn’t even dance, not for real. They just swayed back and forth, hardly moving their feet. She let her head rest on his shoulder. No, his chest. Rick was taller than Payton, and God, he smelled good.
“Payton loved me more,” she said.
He stopped swaying. “What?”
She pulled back, far enough to look at him. “I always thought he loved me more. I wanted it that way. I never told anyone. But I wanted to have the upper hand.”
“Because of your parents’ relationship?”
“Yes,” she said, surprised he’d made the connection so quickly. Obvious as the correlation seemed, it had taken her a while. She went back to swaying, and smelling his spicy cologne. It made her think of fall. Of leaves and grass and a storm brewing.
“I’m not in love with Faith,” Rick said.
Jenna didn’t lean back this time. She let him lead.
“I love her. Although I’m very disappointed and angry about what she did.” His body had tensed, and Jenna gave his shoulder a light squeeze. He tightened his arm around her, bringing her breasts flush against his chest. “I guess I thought the more passionate, long-haul kind of love would happen eventually. And being friends wasn’t a bad basis for a marriage.”
“Fair enough,” Jenna said, raising her voice, not her head. “But only if both parties agree.” She felt a bit drowsy...from the music, she supposed, and Rick’s warm body. “They both threw us under a bus tonight.”
They kept on dancing their own slow way when the music changed and Katrina and the Waves started singing “Walking on Sunshine.”
“Maybe you can salvage this thing,” she said, tilting her head back to look at him. “You might want to check your messages. I mean, you’re in Boston. You’re probably going to be sleeping in the same hotel bed. Eventually.”
“Well, that’s one way of looking at things.”
“And the other?”
He smiled his Danger Bond smile. “You and I go back to the apartment together.”
* * *
RICK WAS ALMOST sorry they’d left the MIT suite. It was too easy to think without constant distractions. But he knew Jenna had to be exhausted, and not just because it was 2:00 a.m.
The lobby traffic had dwindled, because it seemed everyone was outside in the freezing cold waiting for transportation. The longest line by far was the queue for taxis and he could barely hear the piped-out Christmas carols for the sound of whistles.
The idea of hypothermia, mixed with the daunting proposition of checking his texts and calls, made him wish they’d stuck with booze instead of switching to shellfish. But he couldn’t leave Boston without talking to Faith. “What do you think?” he asked. “Should we get in line?”
They were still inside the hotel near the front exit. Jenna had her cell phone out and from the number of tone notifications, Payton hadn’t spent all of the last two hours kissing Faith.
“I’ve got nineteen texts and six voice mails, none of which I plan on reading. Well, maybe a couple, But my intention is to text him to let him know I’ve made other arrangements for the rest of the morning.”
“Sounds about right. So, since I’m also just checking a few of Faith’s texts, we should probably get in that insane line.”
Jenna shivered preemptively. “Does that second bedroom have a heated blanket? Or a fireplace?”
“You’ll be fine,” he said. “I promise. Besides, the cab will be heated.” With great reluctance, he turned on his phone. He had his own pile of unread, unheard messages. Checking the first three and the last three texts should give him all the information he needed. If Faith was truly stranded, he wasn’t going to leave her here, even if it would make for the world’s most awkward cab ride. He didn’t want to think about the sleeping arrangements, but he’d do his best to make the night as comfortable as possible for the three of them. “I’ve got twelve texts and nine voice mails.”
She took a step toward the exit, and then just stopped. “Huh. What if it’s not all apologies?”
“What do you mean?”
“The way they looked at each other? Maybe they’ve reconnected with their soul mates. Maybe they’re writing us to say goodbye.”
“I doubt it. They chased after us, remember?”
“Right.” She nodded as she led the way to the porte cochere.
The cold was like a sucker punch. Sadly, he’d learned a lot about that feeling tonight. But they found the end of the taxi line and he opened the first of the texts.
I’m so so sorry!
The second was straightforward and typed at 12:13 a.m.
Where are you?
At half past midnight the tone shifted.
I’m starting to get worried
It probably made him a horrible person, but instead of feeling guilty, he was glad. He swiped through until he found the last three texts. But the first of those was all he needed:
I’m with Payton and he’s letting me stay at his place
He turned off the phone. Moved a whole quarter of an inch forward, trying to save not only their place without disturbing Jenna, but also gain some distance from the man behind them. Nothing was shady about the guy, but he got inside their personal space bubble. And as soon as Rick could, he moved his wallet to a safer inside pocket.
But all that was nothing, really. He looked over at Jenna. She was texting so he couldn’t see her expression. Couldn’t read her through her heavy woolen coat. Was she telling Payton to go to hell? Accepting his apologies?
When she did meet his gaze again, she’d put her phone back in her purse and donned her gloves. “We’ve hardly moved. At this rate, we’ll still be in line next New Year’s Eve.”
She seemed fine. Subdued, but fine.
“We could take our chances with Uber.” He’d used the services of the app-generated taxi service before, but not on a major holiday.
“That’s true. I imagine we’d find a ride sooner that way. But I don’t know. I think we should walk.”
He laughed out loud, evidently annoying Mr. Oblivious behind them. Rick didn’t care. What he should do was tell the inconsiderate bastard to just move. But first he said, “You’re joking, right? The apartment isn’t around the corner. It would be a challenge in the middle of spring, and, if you haven’t realized, it’s snowing.”
Jenna shook her head. “What kind of a weather chaser are you? So it’s cold out. We’ll walk fast.”
The man behind him snorted.
Rick tensed and turned on the guy, ready to teach him a thing or two about manners. But the guy was completely absorbed by something on his tablet, and not paying any attention to Rick or Jenna.
Stepping to the side to regain his equilibrium, Rick wasn’t sure if he should laugh his ass off or find a therapist. Normally, it took a hell of a lot more than inconsiderate line movers to make him Hulk out. Perhaps he wasn’t quite as Zen about Faith’s midnight kiss as he’d thought.
Turning to Jenna, it also occurred to him that her impulse to walk to the financial district wasn’t such a crazy idea. They both had a lot to process and he knew of no better way to unclutter his mind. “Okay. Let’s go for it,” he said. “We can always defrost when we get to the apartment.”
Her expression changed from that self-contained cool to ready, willing and able. She started walking as fast as those stupidly high shoes would let her. And that was pretty darn fast. It actually took him a few seconds to catch up to her. When he did, she turned on him so sharply he nearly ran in to her.
She grabbed his lapels and yanked him even closer. “Whose stupid idea was this? It’s freezing out here. We’ll never make it to the corner, let alone your fancy-ass apartment.”
He laughed, and then kissed her very cold lips. But that was just a peck while he unbuttoned his coat all the way down. The second the last button was undone, he pulled her against his body. Then he closed the coat, making them a warm cocoon. “Better?”
“Oh, yes,” she mumbled against his collar. “How are you going to call Uber?” Adjusting her head so she wasn’t smothering herself, she said, “Keep in mind, I’m not letting you go.”
Unable to resist, he bent and maneuvered them a small but crucial distance. One that changed a gentle forehead kiss into a fiery, no-holds-barred stunner of a kiss.
Everything disappeared. The street, the cold, the whistles and the horns. There was just Jenna with her death grip on his tux, meeting his tongue thrusts with her parries until they were both dizzy with lust.
And then...
“You want to carry that inside, fella? This is a public street you’re on.”
He only opened one eye, just in case the voice was in his head. But no. It was one of Boston’s finest.
He hated moving her away, but there was nothing to be done but to call Uber and freeze as they waited for their ride.
