Page 14
Author: Bella Andre
But as desperate as she was physically to take things to the next level, Mary knew in her heart of hearts that though her body was ready, her heart wasn’t.
Forehead to forehead, they each worked to catch their breath. As a new rush of longing swept through her, Mary closed her eyes tight. Reminding herself that his partners could walk in at any moment, she took a deep breath, then lifted her lids to find Jack’s dark gaze on her.
His eyes were extraordinarily beautiful, a deep brown with flecks of green and blue throughout. He also had naturally thick eyelashes, the kind that women spent too much time and money trying to replicate with makeup. Up close like this, finally letting herself look her fill, she realized he had a small scar just at the top of his left cheekbone, and his nose looked as if it had been broken a long time ago.
As he’d said, no one was perfect, and his imperfections only made him more beautiful to her. He had the dangerously good looks of a heartbreaker, but the more time she spent with him, the less she believed that he could ever break anything, let alone someone’s heart.
Mary had told Jack the truth about Romain, but what she hadn’t admitted was that she’d been trying to put the pieces of her broken heart back together ever since the day her mother had disowned her.
When, she wanted to know, would she be ready to let the broken pieces go so that she could finally start over and be whole again?
As Jack gently helped her down from his worktable, he said, “There’s something I need to tell you. ”
Not sure she could yet trust her voice, she simply nodded for him to continue.
“I like you. ” He brushed a lock of hair away from her cheek, tucking it gently behind her ear. “More than I’ve ever liked anyone else. Much, much more. ”
Many times over the years men had declared their love for her, but Jack’s simple statement that he liked her was a million times sweeter.
When they’d been kissing on his desk, she’d felt like a naughty teenager. Her parents had been protective enough that she’d been an untouched virgin when she’d left Italy. Being with Jack made her feel giddy, as if she were having her first truly important crush with a boy she couldn’t stop thinking about.
Smiling, she said, “I like you, too. ” Needing to touch him again, she gently ran her fingertip over his left cheekbone. “Where did you get this scar?”
“My brother Max and I were playing hockey. He ended up switching to tennis after this. ”
“Is he the one who broke your nose, too?”
On a laugh that easily could have warmed her on the coldest night, he shook his head. “That was all me. You have to promise me you won’t laugh before I tell you how it happened. ”
She made a cross over her heart. “I promise. ”
“I walked into a wall. ”
She had to bite her lip to stop the laughter from bubbling out. When she was fairly sure she could speak without giggling, she asked, “How?”
One eyebrow raised, humor in his eyes, he said, “I was in college and had my first breakthrough with understanding how the Shockley Diode worked. I’d been up all night, and when I went to brag to Howie about my amazing accomplishment, I somehow missed the doorway. ”
It was either laugh or kiss him, and since she’d made a promise not to do the first, she happily gave in to the second. But before their kiss could turn to more, she made herself take a step back.
“Pictures. ” The word came out of Mary’s mouth slightly high-pitched and breathless. “I should show you the photos. Especially since Howie and Jack will probably be here soon, and I—” Oh, how she hated the way the words would sound, even though she knew she had to say them “—I wouldn’t want them to catch us kissing the way Gerry did. ”
When, she asked herself again, would all those broken pieces inside her finally begin to heal?
She also hated seeing the flash of hurt that moved across Jack’s face before he quickly erased it and said, “Right, we should look at the pictures. How do you feel about pepperoni and black olives on your pizza?”
Her stomach growled before she’d so much as opened her mouth to tell him she’d love that. Larry and Howie pulled up outside a few minutes later, and as the four of them ate pizza and drank beer straight from the bottles, they began making decisions about which pictures to use in the ad campaign. With Jack’s passionate kisses tingling on her lips all the while, Mary didn’t envy the three of them their easy camaraderie…because they made her feel she was one of them.
And she loved every second of being part of their team.
Chapter Nine
Jack had nearly walked into half-a-dozen walls after Mary left his house last night. He’d simply been too preoccupied thinking about her to pay attention to anything around him. The kiss they’d shared in his garage had blown his mind, but so had the cute way she’d valiantly tried not to laugh at him when he’d confessed how his nose had been broken. And then she’d amazed him all over again when she’d settled into pizza and beer with his partners as if she’d been hanging out with them since college.
At the same time, his chest ached a little bit when he thought about the way she was so intent on hiding their budding relationship. He understood why she was still wary of being with him, especially publicly, and why she continued to ask him to be patient with her. But all that didn’t stop him from wishing for more.
Today they were back in the studio to film a TV commercial for the campaign. The moment he walked in the door, Jack did a quick scan of the studio looking for Mary and saw her in conversation with a tall woman wearing all black, with thick, black-framed glasses.
My God, Mary was beautiful in the casual jeans and green sweater they’d all agreed she’d wear for the shoot, but not in any kind of artificial way. Her hair was loose and glossy, her mouth was the same shade of rose as when he’d kissed her, and her laughter could have easily fueled him through another week of sleepless nights.
Mary moved to go to her dressing room, and that’s when she saw him. She paused at the doorway and blinked hard several times, as if she was working to get her bearings again. Jack was glad to know he wasn’t the only one who got knocked off balance simply from being in the same room. Giving him a slightly flustered smile, she disappeared into her dressing room.
Although he wanted to go straight to Mary, Jack headed toward the director to introduce himself. “Thanks so much for working with us. ” He held out his hand. “I’m Jack Sullivan, one of the engineers who created the Pocket Planner. ”
“Georgina Callem. ” The director had a firm handshake and a serious face as she took her time studying him. “I’ve known Mary for almost a decade. I would do anything for her. ”
Jack didn’t check himself before saying, “So would I. ”
The woman’s stern mouth cracked just the slightest bit. “Good. Now stay out of my way today, and I think we’ll get along just fine. ”
No wonder Mary appreciated Georgina so much. He imagined that as a very successful model, she would have quickly grown tired of having people pandering to her. Clearly, she liked straight shooters.
Finally, Jack went to see the woman he couldn’t stop thinking about. “Good morning. ”
She was standing in the middle of the room looking as if she’d forgotten why she’d come in here in the first place. But the light in her eyes as she turned to face him told him that she was as happy to see him as he was to see her.
“Good morning. ”
The air around her shimmered differently today, and as he searched her face for clues, his heart leaped as he realized what it was: Much of the wariness she sometimes had around him seemed to be gone.
“Did you sleep all right after you got home last night?”
She seemed to war with herself before shaking her head. “No. ”
“Neither did I. ”
“The girls have all gone home for the holidays. It
was too quiet. ” Then, as her pretty skin flushed, she added, “But that wasn’t the real reason I couldn’t sleep. ” Honest desire reflected in her eyes. “You are. ”
Lord, he’d never wanted anything as badly as he wanted to pull her into his arms to kiss the fresh lipstick off her gorgeous mouth.
In a low voice, he said, “The only reason I’m not kissing you right now is because Georgina will skin me alive if I mess you up in any way. I’m not too proud to admit that she scares me. ”
Mary’s lips curved up as she took a step closer anyway and reached behind him to close the dressing room door. “I’m really good with makeup. I can fix it. ”
He would have had to be superhuman to resist that invitation and, since Jack was just a flesh-and-blood man, a split second later she was in his arms, and he was kissing her senseless.
Sweeter every time he tasted her, her scent and the feel of her soft curves in his arms had him nearly forgetting where they were as he spun them around so that she was pressed up against the door and her hands were in his on either side of her head.
Dragging his mouth from hers, he looked into her eyes to see they were soft and fuzzy with pleasure. “One of my brothers called this morning. Ethan is unexpectedly back in town for the weekend, and it turns out my brother Max and his wife and son will be here from Seattle, too. Unfortunately, William can’t make it in from the East Coast due to other commitments. Come with me after the shoot. I want you to meet them. ”
“That’s very sweet of you to ask. ” Her lips curved up into a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “But you’ve already been spending so much time with me. I’ll be fine on my own tonight. ”
His hands reflexively tightened over hers as she tried to let go. “There could never be enough time with you. ”
Her eyes widened and he silently cursed himself for saying too much too soon when the depth of his feelings was bound to scare her off instead of bring her closer. Somehow, he managed to slip his fingers from hers and take a step back to give her some personal space.
“It’s just that I wouldn’t want them to get the wrong impression,” she said softly, “or to think that I was leading you on, especially since I keep telling you we should keep our distance for the rest of the campaign. And then, at the same time, I can’t seem to stop asking you to kiss me. ” Guilt flickered in her eyes.
“You’ve been completely honest with me from the first moment we met,” he reminded her. “And I’ve been honest with you, too. ” He ran a rough hand through his hair. “So let’s be honest one more time, okay?” When she nodded, he said, “I’m not going to deny that I’d love to be able to tell them you’re my girlfriend. I hope to do that in the very near future. But, for tonight, I’m asking you to come meet my family as my friend. My very, very good friend whom I love to steal kisses from. ”
This time when her lips curved up, her smile was entirely real. “I would love to meet your family. ”
They were interrupted by a hard knock on the door that had them both jumping away from it a split second before it flew open. Georgina shot both of them an irritated look.
“You,” she said, pointing to Mary, “had better fix your hair and makeup, or people are going to think we’re shooting a love story rather than an electronics campaign. And you—” Jack was instantly reduced to feeling like a naughty little boy as the woman pointed out the door “—need to do a better job of staying out of my way today. ”
Barely resisting the urge to salute, Jack caught Mary’s eye as the director stalked out, and he was glad to see her gaze filled with barely repressed laughter.
* * *
Later that evening as they stood on Jack’s brother’s doorstep, Mary couldn’t wait to meet Jack’s family so that she could find out where a man like him had come from. He wasn’t only intelligent and sexy and wonderfully straightforward, he was also a gentleman who walked her home and noticed when she was getting tired in front of the camera. She had been invited to a half-dozen glitzy entertainment industry Christmas parties and she hadn’t wanted to go to any of them, so Jack’s invitation was perfect in so many ways.