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Pacing the perimeter of my small living room only makes my heart race faster and my belly fill with worry bubbles. I want our first night together to be honey, not carbonated soda. The thought of discovering Jack’s body while he explores mine starts a slow burn in my chest that’s only going to be put out by one thing.
When Jack’s contact,J, blips onto my phone, I want to dance, but I promised myself I’d show restraint. I run a hand through my hair to let him wait through a few rings on his end. Jumping into anything beyond casual with Jack has red Post-it flag warnings all over it. He already confessed, per the PR department’s edict, his brand must be Mr. Available, and I don’t want to touch another secret relationship with a ten-foot flaming pole.
Think fun, Gilly. A light and fluffy fling.That’s doable.
“Hey.”
Jack’s whisper is strained. “Before I say what I’ve got to, know that I’ve not changed my mind about you in any way.”
My heart squeezes to the size of a lentil.
“I can’t come for you tonight.”
Shit. I’m going to cry. “Oh?”
“I’m stuck with a drunk Norwegian locked in my bathroom.”
Now I’m pissed. “What the hell?”
He growls. “She got to feeling dizzy halfway back to Waterville. I pulled over twice so she could walk a bit and get fresh air.” She’s at his house. His little cottage.Damn it.“If I’d taken her back to the hotel and had to help her up to her room weaving and giggling—”
“There’d be a thousand pictures.”
“At least. Niks is new to the game. If I don’t protect her, Meg will have my balls on a platter.”
Suspicion raises a row of knots along my spine. “How is she now?”
“Dunno.”
“Is she vomiting? Collapsed on the floor?” My guess is that she’s using his bathroom mirror to freshen her makeup and hair.
There are a few beats of silence and then I hear Jack knocking. “Niks? Everything all right, love?”
Did he have to call her love? I hug knees to my chest and take a mental count of how many times I’ve heard people use that endearment since I set foot in Ireland. Often. Still, it turns my stomach to hear Jack use it on Niks.
I hear the muted sound of a door opening followed by Niks’s singsong voice and giggles answering Jack. Happy drunk then, nowhere near passing out drunk. Happy drunk is horny drunk. I can’t shake the suspicion that Niks may be angling for a larger role in Jack’s life.
Is this my reward for giving in to the possibility of Jack? For once, I go for what I want, and fate gives me an immediate ass-kicking.Well, hell.If I needed any more proof I was heading down the absolute wrong path, here it is. Competing with Niks is absurd. I’ve got to work with the woman. Instead of being a roadblock, I’ll move out of her way.
“Gilly?”
“Tell Niks to feel better. Goodnight, Jack.”
“Don’t go.” My finger hovers over the red disconnect dot on my phone, but I don’t touch it. His voice is muted as if he’s cupping his hand around his mouth. “Damn it, Gillian.” A second later, I hear a door slam followed by the whine of wind. Jack must have gone outside. “Don’t you know you’re the only woman I want in my bed?”
“She’s in your bed?”
A huff of frustration blasts through the phone. “No one’s sleeping in my bed tonight but me.”
I hear Niks’s muffled voice calling out Jack’s name.
His response to her is terse. “I need a bit longer out here.”
No matter what Jack says, Niks is clearly interested in him. The show has bonded them, and the woman shamelessly came on to Jack at dinner. How can he be unaware that she does want to be the woman in his bed? Even nice needs boundaries. Why isn’t Jack setting some with the woman he called his “pal”? Maybe it’s time to pinch myself and wake up from this Jack O’Leary dream. Sliding back into any version of the tangled personal life I just crawled out of pokes at the fresh scars Treat left. Self-preservation warns me not to be a fool-me-twice kind of gal even with someone as sweet as Jack.
There’s an edge to his tone as he breathes into the phone. “Gilly, I don’t want to lose ground with you over this. Niks is here because she feels comfortable with me. Nothin’ more.”
“You should go deal with Niks. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I hang up to the sound of my name being hissed into the phone.
