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Jack’s frown deepened, but her words struck a chord. “Okay, so maybe I have broken some hearts.” He hesitated before adding in a softer voice, “I’m sorry if one of them was yours.”
She waved him off. “Oh, please. We both know who had my heart.” A bittersweet smile curved her lips. “I always thought that if I waited long enough, one day he’d come around, you know. And now he’s gone and I’m staring down thirty-four alone.”
Jack dug his hands into his pockets. “I’m sorry, Stella. Antonio was an idiot.”
“He was married to The Fiorini Group, just like you.” She sighed. “Forget it. The point is, waiting is for suckers. Life is for the living. If you want this, then go for it.”
They’d looped around through the trees and found themselves with the food trucks in view again. A breeze whipped up, clearing Jack’s thoughts as it rustled through the spring leaves. Stella was right and he suddenly wasn’t confused anymore. He was excited in a way he hadn’t been in years, as if he’d been given an unexpected—and very precious—gift.
Stella reached up, enveloping him in a long hug that smelled of cocoa and sugar. “I think I’ll make gingerbread tomorrow. Your favorite,” she whispered in his ear.
He laughed. “That’s just so I’ll come back and tell you the gory details, isn’t it?”
“Well, I do love details. The gorier the better.” She batted her eyelashes innocently and bounded back to the Stella’s Sweets truck.
As he turned to make his way back home, exhilarated, Jack was aware of the sun on his face and the blood surging in his veins, reminding him that it was good to be alive. He pulled out his phone and typed a text to the nameless girl he’d arranged to meet after the board meeting. Sorry. Have to cancel. Something came up.
The deal was done. Once Jack Bennett was in, he was all-in. No hesitation. No distractions.
He found Eva’s name and thumbed in a text to her. Meet me at the Sky Deck tonight at 9. Don’t be late.
He wished he could see the look on her gorgeous face as she read the text. She had no idea what she was in for or the worlds of pleasure that awaited her.
Chapter 4
At nine on the dot, Eva fluffed her hair, ran her tongue over her front teeth, and stepped out of the elevator onto the Sky Deck.
A few people milled around t
he patio, illuminated by antique gas lamps that glowed warmly from various places across the roof bar. She could only see outlines of bodies, really, but that was enough. She’d admired him from afar for so long, she’d grown to be an expert on the particulars of Jack Bennett. She could spot him a mile away on a cloudy day but not one of the figures present had Jack’s broad, powerful, six-foot-five form.
Don’t be late, she thought bitterly, recalling his text to her. And yet he was late for a second time in the same day. It wasn’t like him. Jack was always the first one at the office.
That’s business. Maybe he doesn’t bother being on time for the women in his life, the ones he uses and discards like toilet seat covers.
A flash of doubt seized her for the thousandth time that night. Earlier, she’d been settled in for a night at home, reading, while her cats cuddled around her.
Then came the text. The text that would change everything.
She’d read it a thousand times, expecting to find new meaning in the words. Maybe by Meet me at the Sky Deck tonight at 9. Don’t be late, he’d really meant, No thank you go away forever or You are crazy and should have your head examined.
But eventually she’d settled on one alarming conclusion: Jack was up for her challenge.
Holy crap. She’d done it.
At the time, with her glasses on and her yoga pants covered in cat hair, she hadn’t felt like the sexiest woman on Earth. It had taken a call to Georgie to psych her up for this meeting. She’d gone back and forth, alternately sounding like a twelve-year-old who’d been asked on her first date and a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Georgie finally had to talk her down from the ledge. “Repeat after me: I’m Eva Fiorini. I am a sweet, generous person who loves animals and small children and would do anything for a friend. I also own my own company, am smoking fucking hot, and Jack Bennett is lucky to be going on a date with me.”
Lucky to be going on a date with me. Lucky to be going on a date with me.
As she dressed—settling on a silk blouse and pencil skirt, something that looked effortless, despite the hour she’d spent choosing it—she repeated the phrase until her lips hurt. Her entire body buzzed, flushed warm in places, a sea of cold gooseflesh in others, at the thought of what was to come. At times she had to hold the edge of the bathroom sink for support.
Jack Bennett and her. Her and Jack Bennett. This is really happening.
The air was chillier up on the rooftop, but Eva was too preoccupied to care or notice the breathtaking view of the Hudson and all the twinkling lights of the city. Making her way around a table of gaping guys, she sighed. She’d told Jack she didn’t mind being ogled, but the truth was, she didn’t like men looking at her. There was only one man who mattered, one man she wanted to stare at her with that hungry look in his eyes. For so long, she’d only cared what one man thought.
But standing there, alone, her date nowhere in sight, it was obvious that where she was concerned, Jack didn’t think much.
