The Guy Next Door - By Lori Foster, S Donovan, V Dahl Page 0,77
hot guy, riding through town on a moped with her thighs on display! It’s absolutely humiliating!”
Gail was stunned. “You saw me?”
“Yeah. Me and everyone else. Luis called you a party girl.”
Gail sat up straighter. “He did? Really?”
“That’s not a compliment, Mother.”
Gail tried not to smile too much, because she knew she needed to address the cause of her daughter’s discomfort, but she was secretly thrilled with her new reputation. She’d been a lot of things in her life—book-worm, mommy, trusting wife—but never a party girl.
“Holly,” she said as gently as she could. “I appreciate your looking out for me. I really do.”
Her daughter shrugged.
Gail knew that Holly had never seen her mother as a sexual creature, because her mother hadn’t seen herself that way. Not for a very long time. It had to be disconcerting for her daughter, and maybe a little threatening.
“You know that you will always be the most important person in my life, don’t you?” Gail asked.
Holly picked at the paper label on her water bottle. “I know, Mom.”
“You need to be absolutely clear about that, honey, because it turns out I really like this dating thing.”
Holly looked up and blinked in surprise. Gail touched her daughter’s hand.
“Something’s happened to me here, Holly. I think I’ll be going back to Beaverdale ready to start living again. My life is going to be different, and I hope Jesse will be part of it. I want you to be okay with that.”
“Did I miss anything?” Hannah returned from the restroom, and she plopped back onto her spot on the bench. Holly glanced at Gail one last time and lowered her eyes. “Not a thing,” she said.
JESSE HAD A STRING OF surprises lined up for Gail, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so much fun in the pursuit of someone else’s happiness.
His buddy with the little house on a private beach up in Pirates Cove told him he was out of town but the house key was in the usual place. “Knock yourself out,” he’d said. “Beer’s in the fridge.” Lelinda had hooked Jesse up with her friend who ran the dress boutique, who helped Jesse pick out something he thought Gail would love: a deep red halter dress made of the softest cotton, with a full skirt that would hit her right above the knee—perfect for a night of salsa lessons. He’d booked her a ninety-minute massage, as well. And he’d reserved his favorite table at the Grand Café for her last night in town, an event he chose not to think too much about.
It gave Jesse pleasure to see Gail stagger out of her massage, a look of ecstasy on her face. Then he took her home and gave her cause for a few more. Their nighttime skinny-dip in Pirates Cove was a sensual heaven of warm water, soft touches and wet kisses. Later, on blankets spread out near the beach campfire, Jesse rolled with Gail, held her close and buried his face into the side of her neck when he pushed inside her. That’s when the realization went through him like an electric current—in a couple of days she’d be gone, the smell of her skin would be gone, her laugh would be gone. It seemed impossible.
Gail cried when she opened the box and found the red dress. She held it up to herself and twirled for him, trying hard to fight back her tears.
“I feel as though I’m in a dream,” she told him. “Thank you, Jesse. Thank you for being so kind, for making me feel so special.”
He’d taken her by the shoulders then and set her straight. “This isn’t about kindness, Gail. Meeting you is one of the loveliest surprises of my life. You are special to me. You are special, period. Don’t ever forget that.”
When he took her dancing at the open-air Latin music club, she became a focused and serious student, doggedly repeating dance steps until she got them right. With some encouragement—and a few mojitos—Gail managed to loosen up enough to simply enjoy moving to the music. Jesse thought she was more beautiful that night than he’d ever seen her—radiant, relaxed, her eyes shining with happiness.
It was hard to believe that the confident, booty-shaking party girl in his arms was the same woman he’d encountered on her porch only a week ago, tongue-tied, stiff as a board and self-conscious.
During a slow song, Jesse held Gail close, swaying slowly with her in a sea of dancing couples. He kissed