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Chapter One
“Christ, I’m late again,” Jensen grumbled. When the hell wasn’t he late? He could never get anywhere on time. His mom always said he’d be late to his own wedding one of these days. He’d been late for the board meeting that morning too; emphasis on the word bored. Now, he was headed to lunch to meet with a few colleagues and he was already ten minutes behind. Jensen had been too busy reading the daily stock quotes to pay any attention to details like time.
Hell, once upon a time, reading the stock market report was actually something he enjoyed; now it barely held his interest. In fact, boredom seemed to be his constant companion of late. He had no idea how that had happened. It wasn’t all that long ago everything seemed to be going his way. A good job to keep him jumping during the day and a few stimulating women to occupy his nights. Suddenly, he’d become totally uninterested in all of it. He needed a change; that was the problem. Something exciting. Even his dates weren’t all that remarkable. It was a sad day when the women in his life couldn’t keep his attention. Jensen vaguely wondered if he’d hit some sort of midlife crisis. He sure as hell hoped not, considering he was only thirty-five.
Jensen continued to contemplate the dull path his life had taken as he walked along the sidewalk of the busy downtown street of Innocence, Ohio. It was noon on Friday, and the sun beat down hard. A trickle of sweat ran the length of his spine, making him wish he’d gone without the jacket and tie. When his cell phone beeped, signaling a text message, he pulled it out of the pocket of his white dress shirt and glanced at the screen. Camille—he recognized the name immediately.
He’d dated the pretty brunette a few times, but they had so little in common that the relationship just sort of died before it really had a chance to get off the ground. Her message asking to meet for drinks surprised Jensen. He hadn’t heard from her in weeks. What was he supposed to say? That her thoughts on the proper makeup foundation held little interest for him? He started to tap out a polite no thanks as he stepped off the curb to cross the street to his favorite deli when out of nowhere someone grabbed him from behind and yanked. Hard. Jensen tripped backward over the curb and landed hard the sidewalk.
“What the—” The blaring horn of a semitruck cut him off midcurse as it barreled down the street directly past where Jensen had been standing only seconds before. “Shit.” He had the wind knocked out of him, but at least he was alive.
He rose from the street and assessed the damage to his navy blue suit, and decided it would be retired to suit heaven. That wasn’t altogether a bad idea. He hated the damn thing. It was too tight through the shoulders, and he’d been meaning to replace it anyway.
“Dude, you almost bit it,” a tall, lanky teenage boy said, his eyes round as quarters.
“Yeah, no kidding.” Jensen rubbed a hand over his face. “Did you see the person—”
“There.” An older woman pointed to the left. “The woman climbing into the SUV. She pulled you back just in time. I’d say you owe her a thank-you, young man.”
Jensen glanced around and spotted a small, curvy blonde getting into a red Jeep Cherokee. He quickly memorized the license number. It was part of his job to remember numbers, and he was damn good at it. Jensen made a mental note to call Janice, his cousin at the BMV, as soon as he arrived at the office. With some persuasion, maybe she’d tell him the owner of the Jeep. “You’re right, I do owe her,” he replied as he wondered at the woman’s quick reaction. His distracted dumb ass could’ve been splattered all over the blacktop if not for her.
Jensen smiled. Maybe this was the wake-up call he’d needed to kick his butt in gear and liven up his life. A shame it took a brush with death to get him to reevaluate his situation, though.
“So, tell me again what happened?”
Jensen sighed as he lined up his cue stick for the shot. After work, he’d stopped off at his apartment to change into jeans and a T-shirt before heading to his brother Jason’s house. They’d been drinking beer and playing pool for a good hour when he’d decided to tell Jason about the woman who’d yanked him to safety. Unfortunately, the nosy shit wouldn’t let it go. How many times was he going to have to go over it? “Look, I walked out in front of a semi and lived to talk about it. Period.”
“Lived to talk about it only because a cute blonde tossed you on your ass,” Jason said as he fought back a chuckle. “She must have been some woman. Hell, at six foot one and full of muscle, you aren’t exactly a shrimp. How’d she manage to get you down?”
The ball went left of the hole, and Jensen cursed. Jason was already two games ahead, damn it. If Jensen didn’t stop thinking about the woman in the red Jeep, he’d lose this one too. For some crazy reason, he couldn’t get her out of his head. “I told you, she yanked, and I tripped over the curb.” He paused, then added, “And you’re getting way too big a kick out of this. I could’ve died if it hadn’t been for that woman.” Jensen took a swig of his beer. “Which is why I intend to find her and thank her.”
Jason cleared his throat and quickly looked over at the pool table. “Yeah, that’s why you want to find her. To thank her.”
Okay, so the woman intrigued him. He could never hide anything from his brother. They were only a year apart in age, but they might as well have been twins. Same close-cropped, dark-brown hair, same blue eyes and the same ability to read each other like a friggin’ book. Sometimes it was annoying as hell. “Kiss my ass.”
“You aren’t my type.” Jason winked. “And, just for the record, I’ve told you a million times that you suck at multitasking, and you’re really bad at texting and walking. Or texting and doing anything at all, for that matter. You’re going to get yourself killed one of these days.”
Jensen frowned. “What are you talking about? I multitask all the time.”
His brother’s blue-eyed gaze turned serious. “When it comes to math figures or dealing with money and all that bullshit, yeah, you can multitask like nobody’s business. Hell, you’re a regular Einstein in that area. But normal everyday stuff like walking and chewing gum at the same time? No, dude, you suck at that.”
Jensen eyed him before tilting back his beer bottle and finishing it off. “You’re probably right, but it’s more than that. Lately, I’ve been more than just distracted. I don’t know, I’m bored. My life is dull.”
Jason quirked a brow as he called the left corner pocket for the eight ball. “You mean being a financial analyst isn’t giving you wet dreams anymore, huh?”
“Christ, it’s all I can do to stay awake all day.” When Jason made the shot, winning yet again, Jensen shook his head and tossed his stick on the table. “What about you? Is being an IT manager everything you thought it’d be?”
Jason put down his own pool cue and leaned against the table. “It’s not all bad, but it’s not quite enough anymore. I think part of the problem is I’m tired of taking orders from assholes. I want to be my own boss, you know?”
Jensen swung his gaze toward his brother. “So, what do we do about it?”
Jason crossed the room to the refrigerator and took out two more beers. He handed one to Jensen, then popped the top of the other and took a long drink before saying, “Start our own business.”
“Seriously?” Jensen’s interest perked up. “Doing what?”
