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Without looking away, he took another drink. “Why are you here?”
“Here, as in your room? You dragged me in.” So, she was still stalling. Maybe it would work.
“I mean in Europe as part of this crew.”
She shrugged. “To be Jane Millionaire, of course.”
His lips quirked at her flippant tone. “Why?”
Every instinct told her to be honest, to give him the truth, or at least as close as she could manage. Damn. She really didn’t want to admit to the boring shambles of her personal life, but he’d see right through her if she tried to lie, and she preferred honesty anyway. The more she could stick to the truth, the less likely she was to trip up.
“Because my boyfriend decided to resign from his position in my life. My overrun-with-one-problem-after-another sister is currently engaged, and she seems blissfully happy for the first time in ages. I feel like a party pooper.” She looked away from his penetrating gaze. “Leaving California f
or six weeks right now is a God-send.”
“You were in love with this man?”
“What’s love?” She laughed to hide her pain. She had fancied herself in love with Dan once upon a time. She’d wanted to love him as she’d believed he loved her, and he had--as a best friend. Ugh. She hadn’t wanted another friend--she’d wanted a lover. Her gaze collided with Rob’s darkened one.
His expression remained unreadable for several seconds. She got the impression he wanted to ask more, but had decided to change the subject instead. “I read you played college ball. You were predicted to go Pro. Why’d you drop out?”
Just how much of her life had Jessie listed as her own? She’d said she’d fibbed a little, borrowing a few aspects of Jill’s life--not the whole thing. From what she’d encountered up to this point, Jessie had listed more of Jill’s history than her own. Why wasn’t she surprised?
“At the beginning of my sophomore year, my parents died and I had to take care of my sister. I dropped out of the university, got a job on the police force, and the rest, as they say, is history.”
“Is this the engaged sister you mentioned earlier?”
“Yep.” Jessie had danced around like a child with a prized toy when she’d shown Jill the diamond her latest beau had given her. That had been right before she’d begged Jill to pretend to be her. Although she was beginning to question whether she was pretending to be herself. Why had Jessie listed so much of Jill’s history?
“How much younger is she?”
Jill sighed. “Ten months.”
“Ten months?” His forehead creased. “And you had to drop out of school to take care of her? She would have been what? Eighteen? Nineteen?”
“She was eighteen, but she didn’t deal well with our parents’ death. She needed me, and I was there.” Jill shrugged and didn’t bother explaining the legal fiascos Jessie had landed in following their parent’s fatal car crash. Why bother? Things had worked out for the best. If not for Jessie’s minor transgressions with the law, Jill wouldn’t have seen the job posting on the police department’s bulletin board, wouldn’t have personally known the chief. Now, she couldn’t imagine any other career. Law enforcement was in her blood.
“I hope she appreciates the lengths you go to for her.”
If he only knew.
“Yeah, me too.” She finished her water in one swig. “Why did you leave so quickly earlier in the evening? Did I do something wrong?”
Oops. She hadn’t meant to ask that. But she did want to hear his answer. Her head still spun from his abrupt departure. One minute she’d been staring at a man moved with desire, the next she’d been retracing every minute detail, wondering what she’d done to scare him off.
He took a swallow of water and regarded her. “Your entrance was perfect. I left because,” he paused and quasi-shrugged. “I needed a drink?”
“Oh. A drink. Right.” Jill smiled at the way his eyes twinkled mischievously. Her gaze dropped to his bare, muscular chest and her stomach flip-flopped. Before she stuck her foot in her mouth by asking why he’d needed a drink, she stood. “Guess I should let you go back to sleep.”
“I wasn’t asleep.” Which explained why he’d heard her creeping around outside his doorway.
“It’s two-thirty in the morning. Why aren’t you in bed?” With me. Oh! Where had that last thought come from? If she wasn’t careful she was going to get herself into mega trouble yet.
“I was reviewing your portfolio, making notes on ideas for the show.” He nodded to a desk littered with papers, several bound notebooks, and a laptop that had a photo of Jessie on the screen. “The pictures you submitted really don’t do you justice, nor does the interview video.”
Do her justice? Jessie was the beauty queen, not her.
“I never photograph well.” Which was true enough. Her gaze lingered on the notebooks. Was one of them the transcript?
