Been There Done That (Leffersbee #1) - Hope Ellis Page 0,102

time she’ll see you for what you are.”

“Unless you have official business with me, get out of my way.” I looked back at his grip on my elbow. “And I’d move my hand if I were you. Wouldn’t want there to be any misunderstandings.”

I wouldn’t have imagined Jackson capable of the threat I now saw glittering in his gaze. He stepped toward me, gaze hard. “I’m always gonna be there for Zora. She’s making a mistake with you, and you’ll prove me right on that count. But if she calls, I’m going to come running.”

I didn’t bother to mask my contempt. “Get the fuck out of my way.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Zora

I’d almost topped my highest score in Tetris when the door swung open in a wide arc, admitting Nick.

I wasn’t surprised. A part of me had expected his arrival. And even in the midst of all the hurt and shock of the previous days, I wasn’t all that disappointed to see him.

Best not to examine those feelings too closely.

My common sense took leave as I took him in, once again unexpectedly framed in a doorway. My mouth watered as I took in his large frame, now resplendent in dark formalwear. Impeccable tailoring followed the lines of his barreled chest, broad shoulders, and muscled thighs, exploiting his uncivilized roughneck build. My gaze caught on the tanned skin of his throat, crawled upwards to the prominent cords of his neck. His bearded had thickened.

I wondered how that beard would feel against my face.

I wondered how that beard would feel against other body parts.

Help me, God.

Teenage Zora had once dreamed there’d be an evening like this, with Nick and I dressed to the nines, married. I’d imagined the landscape of our future lives as one endless ball, an endless slow dance of love and sensuality.

And now, all these years later . . . here we were. Two greatly changed people, searching for any clue on how to surmount the distance of so many years.

Nick’s gaze traveled over my seated form. He held a glass of white wine in one hand, a snifter of a dark liquid in the other. His mouth opened, then closed.

“You’re beautiful.”

“Thank you.” I made a last desperate yank at my neckline.

“I mean it. You’re stunning, and you always were. But there’s no escaping your beauty tonight. It’s overwhelming.”

“You look pretty too,” I said shyly. And you look like a tree I’d like to climb. Again and again. A beautifully suited tree. I’d like to scratch my itch on your bark.

“How did you know where to find me?” The tenor of my thoughts betrayed me, coloring my voice with an unexpected huskiness.

Nick’s brows lowered, his head tilting ever so slightly. He gestured with the wineglass he held, kicking the door closed as he pushed off the doorway.

“I thought you might like a drink. I know you hate these things. Thought that might not have changed.”

He raised an eyebrow at the stacks of chairs on either side of me. “You mind if I join you?”

I lifted a shoulder. I’d been delighted to find the adjoining room empty. The sliding partitions on this side created a smaller conference space. Chairs formed regimented lines on either side of an aisle. I’d dragged a chair to the corner of the room and planted myself among the towering stacks, happy to take refuge in my phone. Proceedings from the ballroom were still audible through the partition wall. Registering the band’s transition to a new Motown hit, I’d reasoned I could easily keep track of the program’s progress.

Nick stood directly in front of me, apparently awaiting my verdict.

“Sure, you can join me. But I don’t want you to miss out. Isn’t this your element?”

He handed me the wine glass, along with the snifter. “Hold these, would you?”

I accepted both, unable to tear my eyes away when he shrugged out of his jacket and wrestled a chair from the top of a stack.

I redirected my eyes as he settled the chair nearby and draped his jacket over the back before he sat. His long legs extended toward me, his knee grazing mine.

My fingers itched to restore order to the thick, unruly strands of his dark hair.

“I don’t know if it’s my scene. It’s business. Necessary evil.”

“So I’ve learned. Getting older is all about realizing you can’t escape those necessary evils, isn’t it?”

“Whiskey’s mine. You keep the wine.” He leaned forward, fists clenched over his knees.

I took a hesitant sip from the snifter, grimaced at the bitter bite. “Yeah, that’s