worked to glide over it with a laugh and a witty comment. But after the sweet intimacy of lovemaking, her emotions were close enough to the surface that she said, “It’s a good thing then that I have a big bag of model’s tricks to make myself perfect again.”
Surprise jumped into Jack’s eyes at her defensive tone. “What’s wrong? What did I say?”
Her looks had been her ticket to adventures all over the world and a glittering career that had exceeded any expectations she’d had as a girl full of dreams. Even so, sometimes she hated the fact that keeping that ticket valid meant she had to spend so much time on keeping up her appearance. She’d never owned a pair of sweatpants. She’d never gone out for a cup of coffee without at least some mascara and lipstick.
She would never take what she had for granted, but if she had known the price it would come with—not just losing her mother’s love but this endless focus on perfection—she might have walked more slowly through that childhood door into her adult life.
Despite everything they’d shared since last night, did Jack only want to see the perfect version of her? Mary had to close her eyes against a bolt of pain that hit her at the thought.
A moment later she felt Jack’s gentle caress on her cheek.
“Don’t shut me out, Angel. Not now.”
She’d been brave enough to give him her body. Knowing she should have the courage to answer his questions now, she made herself meet his gaze head-on.
“You’re right that almost no one has ever seen me looking like this, or as anything less than the perfect model they’re expecting to see.”
“Then that makes me the luckiest man in the world. Which,” he added with a sexy grin that made her heart skip a beat in her chest, “I already knew.”
But wait—what had he just said?
“Lucky?” she repeated. “But my hair is knotted and my makeup has rubbed off all over the pillowcase.”
“Every time you’ve been in front of a camera, I’ve been stunned by your beauty and by how well you do your job. But getting to see you now, a little messy, all of your stunning features a little out of focus while you’re still catching your breath from making love with me—” He picked up one of her hands and put it over his breastbone. “It does something to me. Right here.”
Feeling his heart beat strong and steady against her palm steadied hers, too.
“You’ll always be beautiful to me, Mary. Especially now.”
His sweet words meant more to her than any jewel, than any expensive gift, than any poetic words possibly could have.
No one but Jack had ever truly wanted her the way she really was.
“You’re right,” she murmured as she wrapped her naked limbs around his, “breakfast can wait.”
* * *
Unlike most models, Mary ate a healthy diet. Part of staying slim enough for the camera was genetics. The other part was that she loved being in motion. Walking, swimming, dancing…making love. Besides, she loved eating too much to ever consider giving up delicious food.
But as she sat at her breakfast table across from Jack an hour later, she couldn’t manage even the tiniest bite of the eggs, crisp bacon and toast he’d just whipped up for them while she’d spoken briefly with Janeen on the telephone. Mary supposed it stood to reason that a bachelor in his early thirties would have to know how to cook or else he might starve, but this was a breakfast that under other circumstances she would have wolfed down.
She’d loved every second in Jack’s arms. He’d made her feel cherished and safe while giving her pleasure she’d never known before. She’d never been with a man like Jack, one who held nothing back, and gave even when he couldn’t guarantee getting anything in return for himself.
And yet, somehow, she still wasn’t sure what her next step should be…and she hated herself for it.
But just because she was horribly afraid he was going to hate her, too, that was no excuse for ignoring the two-thousand-pound elephant in the room. She’d never been a coward and she wouldn’t start now, not when she had far too much respect for Jack to willfully hurt him.
“You mean so much to me,” she began in a soft voice as she twisted the napkin on her lap, “and last night was incredible.”
Her breakfast table was small enough that he could easily reach for her hand. “Being