Headed for Trouble - By Suzanne Brockmann Page 0,60

He tugged her close enough to reach out with his other hand and push her hair back from her face, his fingers warm as he tucked her curls behind her ear.

“Thank you,” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow. How about I pick you up at nine?”

Arlene had to laugh. “For lunch?”

“Gotta get there early to get a table on the deck,” Jack told her. “I’ll bring coffee for the ride. Large, but half decaf, skim milk, one sugar, right?”

She blinked at him. “I can’t believe you remember that.”

Jack shrugged. “In love with you for seventeen years.” He laughed. “That’s getting easier to say, which is a little scary, I’ve got to admit.”

And there they stood. Arlene gazed up into his eyes as his familiar smile quirked at the edges of his generous mouth. It was the uncertainty she saw there that made her heart beat harder. As much as he tried to pretend otherwise, he wasn’t as cocksure as he often seemed.

“I guess I’ve kinda gone all in,” he told her.

“Dark roast,” Arlene said, still holding his gaze, “black, three, count ’em three, Sweet’N Lows. That stuff is going to kill you, Jack.”

He laughed, but then narrowed his eyes at her. “So what are you saying?” he asked. “That you’ve been in love with me for seventeen years, too?”

She shook her head no. “Twenty,” she said and he laughed his surprise. She could tell from the sudden heat in his eyes that he was seconds away from grabbing her and kissing her, so she put her hand on his chest to keep him at a safe arm’s length. “But I’m pretty sure I was only in love with the idea of you,” she admitted. “You know, my big brother’s super-hot best friend. I guess I’m willing to take a little time to see how the real you compares.”

And with that she took her hand away.

But Jack was wary, clearly afraid to push his luck, so Arlene stood on her toes and brushed the softness of his lips with hers.

“Yesssss.”

Jack smiled down at Arlene, the laughter lines around his eyes crinkling. “Was that Maggie or me? Because it was exactly what I was thinking.”

She pushed him toward the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Nine o’clock,” he verified as he opened the door. Arlene had to laugh. “Sure. Why not?”

He went through the doorway, but stopped in the hall to look back at her. “Huh,” he said. “This is kinda weird. I’m happy, yet I appear to be awake.”

It was, without a doubt, one of the sweetest, most romantic things anyone had ever said to her. “See you tomorrow,” Arlene said past the lump in her throat.

“Don’t be too hard on Maggie,” he told her.

And with that, he was gone.

CHAPTER TEN

Robin carried Jules’s overnight bag into their house.

“We should make a point to spend more time with Maggie,” he told Jules as he followed him into the kitchen. “You know, next month, after Arlene goes back. I’ll invite her to the set. It’s good to keep busy, be distracted. Not that it really helps—although it does help pass the time.”

Jules put the pizza they’d picked up on their way home onto the kitchen counter. “It’s still really hard for you, isn’t it?” he asked. “When I’m gone.”

Robin shrugged. “It is what it is. Although I definitely prefer it when you spend four weeks in California. As opposed to a war zone. That really sucks.” He crossed to Jules’s side of the center island. “Let’s eat. Later.”

His smile was pure sex, but Jules had more to say.

“I’m away a lot.”

“Yes, you are, babe. Just make sure you keep coming home,” Robin said, taking him by the tie and tugging him toward the back staircase that led to their bedroom.

But Jules couldn’t promise this man that he’d married that he always would come home. Or that it wouldn’t be in a body bag.

“I hate the idea that I’m doing to you what Arlene is doing to Maggie,” he admitted, even as he followed Robin up the stairs. “She’s got no real choice. But I do.”

“No,” Robin said, turning to face him, right there on the stairs. “You don’t. You wouldn’t be happy doing anything else. I would never ask you to—”

“I know.” Jules kissed him. “But maybe you shouldn’t have to ask.”

Robin smiled into Jules’s eyes. “You must really love me,” he said, and the tenderness on his face took Jules’s breath away. “Because we have this exact conversation every time you get back from