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“Aren’t you on a honeymoon?” I asked him, slanting him a heated look that screamed,“Why are you even here?”
“I am … but hey, I’m allowed to get a break, am I not?” Ryan asked.
“You just got married,” Jack and I chorused as we both looked at Ryan.
“Why would you need a break?” I queried, wondering what my brother was up to with his hotshot model wife. Their wedding secret was the talk of the town a month ago, and I had attended but still managed not to run into Jack, surprisingly, since he was away for a trip in Jeddah and couldn’t make it.
What kind of person misses his best friend’s wedding because of a vacation?
Ryan and Jack probably had an understanding that I wasn’t aware of, because Ryan wasn’t pissed he didn’t make it.What a bond,I thought as I listened to my brother talk about him and his wife some more before Ryan got on his feet and walked away to get himself a cigar.
“I didn’t expect to see you tonight,” Jack said the second Ryan left us to ourselves.
“Neither did I,” I said, meeting his gaze squarely for a second before diverting my eyes and running the tip of my tongue over my lower lip.
Jack leaned back on his chair and rubbed a finger over his lower lip for a bit before he smiled again. “What’s funny?” I asked, suspecting he was thinking about something mischievous.
Jack shook his head slowly and lifted his right shoulder in a shrug. I noticed his shirt was unbuttoned at the top, and I caught a glimpse of his smooth, pale skin. “Nothing,” he answered. “I just realize you’ve changed a lot, and it’s not a bad sight to look at.”
I rolled my eyes and picked up the glass the bartender had refilled for me. “Don’t even think about it, Jack Muller,” I said as I swung its contents down my throat and leveled him a stern look, even though my insides were tingling and burning just from his looks.
It’s the whisky,I told myself as I continued. “Don’t even think about flirting with me.”
“Flirting?” he laughed, then dropped his tone a notch. “We both know we’ve gone past the flirting stage, Nina Pierce … we go way further back than that.” The right corner of his lips tipped in an outward smile again, and his gaze landed on my lips for a second, but I pulled my head on straight, ignored him, and rose to my feet.
No way, Nina.I cautioned my nerves before they could start a spiral and make me shiver for Jack Muller all over again.
Thenextmorning,Iwas certain I had Jack Muller out of my system after I spent the night remembering the last time I saw him. Our relationship could be best described as a strange one. Jack and I could never get along, even though he was my brother’s best friend, and I liked to think that it was best that way.
I couldn’t tolerate his smug smile anyway, so what was the point?
The only problem was that same smile replayed itself every second in my head since I saw him last night.
“Hey, Nina, you ready for the shoot?” I turned to see Lisa Stanley, the director at the photoshoot today, standing behind me.
I smiled at Lisa and nodded. “Yes, I’m ready.”
“Good, because our star has arrived.” She squealed a little before leaving me in the studio again, and I lifted my camera from my neck, stared at my lens, and adjusted my focus to get a shot of the background we were about to use.
Our shoot today was for the cover of my company’s magazine, Page Six, and I was told it was an exclusive shoot with a billionaire here in Denver they were interviewing. I didn’t know who it was yet, but I was expecting this client to show up anytime from …
“Nina?”
I froze when I heard Jack’s voice behind me.It can’t be him, right? What’s he doing here? Why is he everywhere?
I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath as he called again. “It’s you, Nina. I recognized you from the entrance. What are you doing here?”
His question went unanswered because I couldn’t stop myself from taking in his full looks. I always thought Jack looked good in suits, but today, he looked even better. His dark, sleek hair was styled to perfection, and the thick, spicy tobacco aroma of his cologne already tickled my senses just like it did that night.
The black, three-piece designer suit he wore was custom tailored for him. The look reminded me of a photo of him in the gossip columns I followed over the last year.
Everyone always wanted to have a piece of Jack Muller. They either wanted to pick his brain about his successful business rules or go to dinner with him. The latter always seemed to work out well for him, as I didn’t think there was any woman Jack had never been able to get.
I heard the thuds of his footsteps as he walked around me, then bent forward a little bit so he was on the same height level as me.
“You’re in charge of the shoot?” he questioned with a cute smile.
“Why are you everywhere?” I asked through clenched teeth as I opened my eyes and looked at him.
