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“She certainly does,” Jordan said, startling them both. He stood at the kitchen door, holding a stack of plates and silverware. “I’ll put these in the dishwasher.”
He seemed full of suppressed energy and Nicole decided it was just as well to let him have something to do.
As part of her own research she’d gone online to read the last two months of Jordan’s columns, available on a number of major newspaper websites. In them, he’d lauded the pleasures of the tropics, with mentions of Hawaii where he had a vacation place. They gave the impression he was a laid-back guy with a sardonic wit, but there was nothing laid-back about Jordan. Even now, putting the dishes into the washer, he was as precise as if he’d written a manual on the subject. Jeez, he even rinsed the plates and silver, while she just tried to put things in so they didn’t hit and break.
On the surface, inviting the Masters family to dinner hadn’t been logical. They were barely acquaintances any longer, and had never been friends. Now she mostly felt bad for Chelsea, who plainly struggled with self-confidence.
Suspecting Chelsea wasn’t eager to have too much “alone time” with her brother and sister, Nicole had invited everyone to dinner to “inaugurate” her new barbecue. But her motives weren’t entirely altruistic…she’d mostly done it to ensure she and Jordan had other people around the next time they saw each other. This way they could slide over the awkwardness of a kiss that shouldn’t have happened.
He finished loading the dishwasher while she put spoons and napkins on the tray with everything else. Without a word, Terri picked it up and carried it outside.
Jordan’s forehead was crinkled with tension, his jaw tight.
“Something wrong?” she asked lightly, hoping he had enough sense to avoid mentioning the previous evening.
“No, it just seems strange for us to be here, so far from Los Angeles and so many years since we were kids.”
“Odd things are often the rule, rather than the exception. Once I ran into one of my college professors in London. I had no idea she’d be there, but she had flown in for a conference on international corporate relationships and was sightseeing.”
“That fits. The biographical material said you’d earned your degree in business administration—if they got it right.”
Apparently he remembered what she’d said about inaccurate research.
“That’s right,” she confirmed, “with a minor in finance.”
“Then running a business was always your plan?”
The coffeemaker had finished, so Nicole poured the coffee into an insulated carafe. “No, but I had to choose something to study. Business and finance interested me. Does that seem equally strange to you?”
“I might have expected you to choose the arts or develop a perfume or makeup line. Or perhaps clothing design.”
“Dressed by George, you mean?” she asked lightly.
He grinned. “That would be a catchy label—even better if you were British.”
“My parents came up with it. They suggested I try design as an alternative to a talent agency.” She frowned.
“Something wrong?”
“I still don’t want my mom and dad to be part of the articles. I know I’m the one who mentioned them, but I didn’t invite you to dinner as the reporter writing a story on me. You’re here as Chelsea’s brother.”
Jordan crossed his arms over his chest. “Yet our families form part of who we are and the choices we make.”
“Maybe, but how would you like the spotlight turned on you and how your family has affected your life choices?”
A tight expression crossed his face. “I wouldn’t.”
“And in the average article on a successful businessman, his parents’ influence probably would not be brought up in an interview.”
“You think women are treated differently?”
Nicole rolled her eyes. “You know they are.”
“I’m not claiming that’s how it should be.”
“Then don’t drag things into this that you wouldn’t if I was a man.”
Though the conversation shouldn’t have been provocative, it was becoming that way. The importance of women’s rights and equality didn’t change the reality that they’d kissed the previous night…or that a part of her wanted to repeat the experience.
