Headed for Trouble - By Suzanne Brockmann Page 0,54
chest, and he knew—without a doubt—that he was not going to leave here without at least a promise that she’d think about giving the two of them a solid try.
“Okay, maybe the ring was too much too soon,” Jack told her as she hung up the phone. “We’ve got a month. Let’s see each other.”
“See?” she asked, eyebrows raised. “Or have sex?”
“The two are not mutually exclusive,” he pointed out. “Frankly, I’d like very much to take you to dinner every night and then back to my place to—”
“And you seriously think it’s just the ring that’s too much too soon?”
“I’m just saying,” Jack confessed. “If I had my way, we’d be on a plane to Vegas tonight and you’d be my wife before I—”
“Stop.” She cut him off again.
“I know the attraction’s still there,” Jack pushed harder. “You can pretend all you want that it’s not, but I know, Arlene, so—”
“I’m not denying the attraction. I’m just …”
“What?”
“The timing’s not right.” But now Arlene wouldn’t meet his gaze. In fact, she turned away. “I need to call Maggie, and tell her to get home.”
“You want to take it slowly,” Jack persisted. “We’ll take it slowly. Although not too slowly, because you’ve only got a month and—”
But Arlene had apparently dialed Maggie’s cell phone, and she now spoke to the girl. “Get home.”
Jack could hear the higher-pitched sound of Maggie’s voice, coming through the speaker of the phone. Arlene cut her off. “This isn’t a game, Maggie. This is my life. And Jack’s life. And you had no business …” She shook her head. “No. No. I’m not going to argue with you. You get home and—No, you can’t speak to Jack,” she exhaled on something that sounded like laughter but was, in fact, disbelief. “Get. Home. Now.”
She cut the connection, turned back and aimed her fury at Jack. But it was mixed with despair and that was what came out when she spoke. “Please,” she begged him. “Please. Just … go.”
He nodded and got to his feet. “Can I see you tomorrow?” he asked. “See. Not have sex. Although do let me know if you change your mind.”
The look she gave him was so black, he immediately backpedaled. “I’ll stop with the teasing,” he said. “I’m kidding when I say things like that, okay?”
She shook her head, half laughing again, but also rolling her eyes in exasperation. “There’s no point in—”
“Spending a pleasant afternoon with a friend,” he finished for her. “There’s always a point to that. Let’s have lunch. We can drive out to Baldwin’s Bridge, eat down by the marina.”
“Don’t you work?” she asked.
“All the time,” Jack said. “In fact, I’m writing an article on Governor Patrick’s reinstatement of the Massachusetts Film Council. I’ll finish it tonight, have tomorrow completely free. Come on. We can walk on the beach, stick our feet in the ocean.”
She was wavering. “I don’t know.…”
“Say yes,” he whispered, his hope growing into something real, taking root in his stomach, in his soul. It was that hope that made him reach for her, and he slid his hand into her hair, his palm brushing the smoothness of her cheek, her curls soft between his fingers as he held her there, leaning in to caress her lips with his own in the briefest of kisses.
He wanted, more than anything, to crush her against him, to kiss her the way he’d kissed her that magic night in Copley Square.
But he didn’t. He stepped back. He let her go.
“I’ll call you later,” he said. And he made himself walk out the door.
CHAPTER FIVE
Jack had left that stupid diamond ring behind.
As Arlene stood in Will’s living room, waiting for Maggie to come home, she knew she couldn’t leave that jeweler’s box sitting there, open like that. It would only fuel her daughter’s fantasy.
And at the same time, she didn’t want to touch it.
She didn’t want to get a closer look, and be tempted to do something stupid.
Like try it on.
She picked it up, briskly snapped it shut and was trying to figure out where to stash it when the door buzzer sounded again.
She jammed it into one of the deep recesses of her slouchy, oversized carry-all, then went to the door, hoping that Maggie had again forgotten her keys, but knowing that …
Yeah. It was Jack standing out there again. No doubt he’d come back for his ring.
But when she opened the door, he apologized.
“Sorry to … I just, uh, I wasn’t even down the stairs when