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He gave a sheepish grin then shrugged. “Okay, I won’t. Sorry, I didn’t bother to go home first. Keith in the kitchen?”
“Yup.” Ronnie tossed her pen down and stretched her arms over her head. “Jag, this is Hannah. Hannah, this is another brother, Jagger. Hannah is helping us with some financial planning for the resort.”
“Nice.” A smile transformed his face from handsome to stunning.
Geez, these men were potent. She had a few male friends, but not ones built like these Bensons. Not ones that made her eyes bug, her tongue dry up, or her heart skip a beat.
“Good to meet you.,” Jagger said with an easy smile. “Hope Frick and Frack here aren’t driving you nuts. They tend to get a little silly.”
Ronnie flipped him off.
Hannah swallowed nothing since her mouth had gone bone dry. “No,” she croaked before clearing her throat. “They’ve been great.”
“Yeah, asshole, we got a shit-ton accomplished,” Ronnie added, after sticking her tongue out at her brother. “Seriously, Jag, you should be thanking her. We were getting so desperate, we thought about asking you for help.”
His eyes widened. “Shit. Thank you, Hannah. You’re my new favorite person.”
She couldn’t help but laugh as Mickie and Ronnie scowled at him. “Well, this is right up my alley, so I’m happy to help.” They made her feel so comfortable, it felt as though she’d known them for months instead of hours. Usually, she needed longer to warm up to new people, but the Bensons and Mickie had a natural friendliness and acceptance that made it easy to be herself around.
Well, not herself, since she was there under false pretenses. Her conscience tried to burst through the fun of the evening, but she fought to keep it out. Later tonight, she could let the guilt in until it made her sick, but now she had to stick with the plan, so no one grew suspicious of her motives.
God, she was a terrible person.
“Hey, Jag.” Keith strolled into the living room with a beer in each hand. After passing one off to his brother, he wandered over to the couch. “You gir—ladies about done?”
“Yeah,” Mickie said. She lifted her chin to accept a kiss from Keith. “I think we’re at a good stopping point. If I look at too many more numbers, my eyes will cross.”
“Agreed.” Ronnie hopped to her feet with her wine glass in hand. “I’m gonna grab a refill. Hannah, you want one?”
Usually one glass of wine was her limit as she didn’t have much drinking experience, but she was having fun and wanted to fit in. Plus, she’d finished her drink a while ago, and the one glass hadn’t stemmed her nerves. Every few seconds, she found her attention drifting toward the front door. Where the heck was her niece? What if JP didn’t come? Was he alone with Kayla? Hadn’t Mickie and Ronnie made a point of how he hadn’t even held his daughter? The thoughts wouldn’t stop, threatening to overtake the ease she’d found that evening.
“Yeah, sure. I’ll have another. Why not?”
“All right,” Jag said as he plopped down next to her. “I like the sound of that.” He stretched his arm along the back of the couch behind her head.
She stiffened. Across the coffee table, Mickie’s eyebrow rose, and a half-smile quirked her lips. “He’s single,” she mouthed, or at least that’s what Hannah assumed.
She widened her eyes and gave a subtle shake of her head. A peek at Jagger let her know his focus was on a conversation with his brother and, thankfully, not Mickie. “Stop,” she mouthed back.
The complications that would cause were mind-boggling. Plus, what the heck would she do with a man like Jagger? Hannah had been on a fair number of dates, but she’d only had one long-term boyfriend, and it’d been a few years ago. He’d been very dedicated to his church and planned to save himself for marriage. While Hannah wasn’t overly pious, her parents' rigid control and sheltering of her meant she had limited experience when it came to the opposite sex. Particularly the physical side of relationships.
A man like Jagger probably found a twenty-six-year-old virgin laughable. And it was in some ways, but it was also her reality.
Mary Anne lost her virginity at eighteen. At the time, she’d teased Hannah to no end about being a year younger and more experienced. Hannah had no illusions about leaving sex for marriage, but she rarely went against her parent’s wishes. Even if they’d never find out. Whether it was a lifetime of preaching from her parents about abstinence, STDs, unplanned pregnancy, rapists, and murders, or her internal hesitancy, she’d never gone much beyond heavy petting and giving a man a hand job.
After Mary Anne became sick, Hannah had often wished for a boyfriend. Someone to share her fears and struggles with. Someone to wrap his arms around her and let her cry out her grief over the unfairness of the situation. A few times, she’d even contemplated a hookup app just to get rid of her pesky virginity and feel something besides worry and duty for a night. But instead of indulging in those naughty fantasies, she’d gone in the opposite direction, doubling down on responsible behavior. Mary Anne’s reckless actions and her unexpected illness brought so much heartache and despair to their parents, Hannah felt the unspoken obligation to ease their minds in whatever ways she could. If that meant giving into their ridiculous demands even more than usual, then that’s what she’d done. Hence flying to Vermont and deceiving an entire family of really decent, kind, welcoming people.
