Mathias reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “You know she’s fine, right? And it’s not like she’s with someone we don’t know.”
Renee smiled and leaned toward Jasper. “Pallas and Carol share a nanny. With their kids only ten days apart in age, it makes sense. The woman is terrific and does a great job, but they’re both uncomfortable being away from their babies.” Her tone softened. “You know what new moms are like.”
He nodded rather than say something along the lines of “not really.” He knew even less about young mothers than women in general. His stint in the army had given him a range of skills that could be useful in a wartime situation but they hadn’t been much on training him for life with regular people. As for that small town where he’d grown up...well, that was eight lifetimes ago.
He studied Renee, taking in her freckles and the cute way her nose turned up a little at the end. She had green eyes—although hers were more gray than his. There was something about her smile he liked. If he were to describe her in a book he would probably mention her long bangs and...
And what? Her height? Her eyes? The shape of her mouth? Did anyone care about that kind of crap? Dammit—he was a number one New York Times best-selling author and he couldn’t describe a woman? His career was obviously over.
He pushed that thought away. He would dwell on his inability to write later. Tonight was about having a good time.
“What’s the game?” he asked as several of the servers started passing out board games. “Ah, Monopoly. Excellent.”
Carol picked up the piece of paper that had been left on the table. “Traditional rules,” she read. “Whoever has the most money at the end of an hour goes on to the next round. After that, rounds are thirty minutes.” She glanced at her teammates. “That sounds easy enough.”
Renee nodded and turned to Jasper. “While you were gone, we had a Monopoly Junior tournament and odd number rolls didn’t count. Things got quite heated.”
“I’ll bet.”
Her conversation was completely normal. He must have imagined whatever had happened before. Only was she leaning toward him or was he imagining it?
They unpacked the game and chose tokens. Mathias counted the money and passed the right amount to everyone, then they rolled to see who would go first. As usual, Jasper rolled the highest number and got to start. He rolled double sixes, followed by a five. He bought the Electric Company property, then collected two hundred dollars from the Community Chest card he drew from the top of the stack. Carol was on his left, so he handed the dice to her.
She stared at him. “I’d forgotten what it was like to play against you. I don’t think I like it.”
He flashed her a smile. “What can I say? I’m a lucky guy.”
She made a huffing sound and rolled a seven. “How did the cleanup go yesterday?” she asked Renee.
“We are back to normal. The water is gone, everything is dried out and there’s not really any serious damage.” She glanced at Jasper. “We had a little accident at the firefighter wedding on Saturday night. Someone bumped the hose fountain and nearly flooded the place.”
“What’s a firefighter wedding?”
She took the dice from Mathias and rolled. “Weddings Out of the Box does theme weddings. In this case, the theme was firefighters. The wedding colors were red, yellow and orange. The flower girl carried flowers in a fireman’s helmet. That sort of thing.”
“People do that?”
Renee grinned. “Jasper, you’ve driven by Weddings Out of the Box. One side of the building looks like a Tuscan villa and another looks like a castle. What did you think was happening there?”
“I thought Pallas was quirky.”
“Theme weddings are big business,” she told him. “There are the usual ones. Princess, pirate, weddings based on books or movies. This fall we’re having a Halloween wedding, a football wedding and an apple wedding.”
“What’s an apple wedding?” he asked.
“They’re apple lovers.” She laughed. “It’s kind of hard to explain.”
An apple wedding? Was that really a thing? He felt as if there was a whole world out there, about which he knew nothing. First women and now weddings. He needed to work on his life skills education.
Mathias rolled the dice and then moved his token. “I’m going to make a quick call to our nanny,” he said, then shrugged sheepishly. “Like we said before, it’s the first time we’ve left Devon at night, so...”
“You should absolutely check in,” Renee told him. “You’ll feel better.”
Carol watched him go. “It’s funny. All the things I worried about before we had Devon haven’t been a problem. Instead there are so many other things to worry about. Like leaving her alone.”
Renee patted her arm. “It will get better. You’re a terrific mom. She’s lucky to have you.”
“Thanks.”
Jasper looked at Renee. “Do you have kids?”
“Me? No. I’m not married.” She flushed slightly. “Not that you need to be married to have children. I wasn’t saying that. Or judging. I just mean...” She cleared her throat, lowered her gaze, then looked at him. “Um, no. You?”
He shook his head.
Okay, there was something going on with her. He was sure of it. Fairly sure. Reasonably sure, at least. He really had to get out more. He hadn’t felt the need before, but being around people again made him aware of his solitary state. Not to mention the lack of sex in his life.
He looked at Renee. She was small, but everything was in the right place. She had a sense of humor and he liked her smile. What were the odds she was looking for a brief but satisfying fling that would go absolutely nowhere?
Mathias returned and took his seat. “Everything is fine,” he told Carol. “Devon’s asleep and nothing is wrong.”
Their eyes locked. “I want to go home,” Carol said softly.
“Thank God. Me, too.” Mathias sprang to his feet. “Sorry about this, but it’s a baby thing.”
Renee waved her hand toward the door. “Go be with your beautiful baby. Great progress was made tonight. Next time you’ll stay the whole first hour.”
Carol laughed. “Thanks for understanding. See you at lunch tomorrow.”
“You will,” Renee told her.
Seconds later, they were gone. Jasper looked at Renee. “I guess the odds of one of us heading to the finals just went up.”
“They did.”
She held his gaze a second past what he would consider normal, friendly interaction, shifting them into the maybe I’m interested category. Or was that just wishful thinking on his part? He really had to get this whole man/woman thing figured out. At sixteen, being socially awkward could be considered a little charming. At his age, it was pathetic.
“Monopoly is less fun with just two players,” he said. “Could I buy you a drink instead?”
* * *
RENEE TOLD HERSELF there was absolutely no pressure. Jasper had invited her for a drink and she had said yes. Big whoop. Men and women met for drinks hundreds of times a day and it was all completely normal. Boring even. Only sitting across from Jasper wasn’t anything she would describe as normal, and it could never be boring.
For one thing, the guy was hot. He was tall, with broad shoulders, but more than that, there was an air of casual strength about him. As if he could handle himself in any situation. Should scary-looking bad guys burst into the place, Renee knew Jasper would handle the situation. She, on the other hand, would run screaming into the night. Or hide. Or faint.
He also had that hint of slightly wounded male about him. He’d been damaged in his past and it showed. It took a stronger woman than her to resist that kind of yumminess. Although this was just a drink, she reminded herself as Jasper walked over to small corner table they’d moved to. He set a cosmo in front of her before taking a seat
across from her and picking up his gin and tonic.
He took a sip, studying her over the glass. She had no idea what he was thinking, nor did she know what to say. Nerves gripped her tightly, making her feel awkward. She hadn’t been on a date since moving to Happily Inc, and before that she’d been getting over a shattered heart, and before that she’d been in a nearly three-year relationship, and before that...
“So, how was your book tour?” she asked brightly, hoping the question and his answer would distract her brain. “You were gone a long time.”
“I was. My publisher tried something new, sending me out in an RV.”
“I’d heard something about that but I thought maybe people were kidding. You really traveled the country in an RV for a month?”
“Three,” he said with another one of his sexy smiles. “Before that I spent a few weeks in Europe. Traveling more conventionally.”
“You must have a lot of fans. I knew you were a successful author, but you’re internationally famous.”
She meant the words to be teasing, but didn’t think they came out that way. Probably because she hadn’t actually put together who Jasper was. In her mind, he was the slightly mysterious, former military guy who kept to himself and provided plenty of take me now, big guy fantasies. Apparently he was a little too close to, say, Chris Pine territory for her purposes.
Not that she was going to smile brightly and offer a night of hot sex. Because while everything went fine in her head, in real life, there were serious pitfalls. Hysterical laughter followed by a look of extreme pity. Not that Jasper seemed like the hysterical laughter type. But the pity was a real possibility. Or revulsion. That would be depressing and she wasn’t looking for another boy-girl setback.
The smart decision would be to enjoy the drink, pretend she’d never once undressed him with her eyes and retreat to her charming apartment where she would tell herself she didn’t care that she was never going to have sex with a man again.
“I’ve been lucky,” he said easily. “The books have to work for people, of course, but there are a lot of authors who struggle in obscurity. I had breaks early on.”
“Like I said—internationally famous. What’s touring like? Is the Europe part different from the US part?”
“Very, especially with the RV. Here I was able to drive from place to place. I’d park near a big city, then head in for the events. Sometimes I’d do a morning show, or drive-time radio. I might have media interviews during the day or drop in to a few bookstores and sign stock. In the evenings I would have organized book signings where I’d talk for a few minutes, take questions, then sign books. Then back to the hotel or RV and start it over in the morning.”
“That’s less glamorous than I thought. What about in Europe?”
“That’s a different schedule. I would arrive in a city, usually in the morning, have lunch with whomever the publisher wanted me to meet, do media, then have a signing, followed by a late dinner. Get up in the morning and drive, fly or take the train to the next city and do it all again.” He flashed her another smile. “All while not speaking the language. It’s an endurance sport.”
“It sounds like it. What’s the best part?”
“Meeting the readers. It’s hard not to like people willing to line up to tell you how much they love what you do.”
“I hadn’t thought of that. I get the occasional thank-you note, but there’s never been a line.” She picked up her drink. “Anyone creepy? Didn’t Stephen King write a book about a crazed fan?”
“Yes, and we’re not going to talk about that.” He chuckled. “There are fans who know way more about my books than I do and want to talk themes and what I could do instead. Sometimes readers want to give me story lines, which I have to sidestep because of potential legal problems.”
“Your life is really interesting.”
“No, it’s not. Ninety percent of the time I’m sitting at a computer, trying to figure out what to say next. It’s a lot of hours by myself, sometimes with swearing.”
She liked him, she thought with some surprise. She hadn’t really spent time with him before, so had filled in the blanks with her own fantasies, which were more about his body than his personality. It was nice to know there was an actual person behind the gorgeous eyes.
Funny how she’d been thinking about him on and off for the past couple of days and tonight he’d walked into The Boardroom and sat down at her table, as if fate were stepping in.
“Tell me about the apple wedding,” he said, leaning toward her. “No one dresses up in an apple costume, do they?”
She laughed. “No. I promise, nothing like that. An apple wedding is more like a Christmas wedding. The theme inspires the decorations and the colors, not the clothing. Let’s see. The bridesmaid dresses are apple green, there are crab apples in the bouquet and the floral arrangements on the tables. The signature drink is an apple martini. That sort of thing.”
He stared at her, his expression blank. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“What’s confusing?”
“All of it. I get the bridesmaid dresses. I’ve seen women in those before. But the rest of it? You’re speaking a foreign language.”
“What about all the weddings you’ve been to?”
He took another sip of his drink. “I haven’t. I joined the army when I was eighteen. None of my friends were even thinking about getting married then. I got back for a few visits, but no weddings. After my dad died—it was always just the two of us—I never went back. My military friends went home to get married and I usually couldn’t get leave.”
Now he was the one speaking a foreign language. “You’ve never been to a wedding?”
“Nope.”
“That’s not possible.”
“It’s no big deal.”
“It’s a rite of passage. It’s how this town supports itself. Happily Inc is a wedding destination town and you have actually never been to a wedding?”
“Pallas and Nick got married in Italy and I was gone when Carol and Mathias got married.”
She stared at him. “Come by Weddings Out of the Box sometime and I’ll show you a video,” she told him. “They’re all variations on a theme, so once you’ve seen one, you’ll be wedding literate.”
“But not fluent?”
His voice was low and teasing. It sent ripples down her spine and made her wish she was the kind of woman who could look a man in the eye while inviting him back to her place. But she wasn’t and she couldn’t. She might want a let’s get naked night with Jasper, but the truth was she’d never once had sex with a man she wasn’t half in love with and it seemed unlikely she could find the skill set to change that now.
“I think fluency is a ways off,” she said lightly, hoping he couldn’t hear the disappointment in her voice. As he had no idea what she was thinking, the emotion would only be confusing and misleading. Man, even without a relationship, the whole boy-girl thing was really hard to navigate.
“You help brides plan their weddings, right?” he asked.
“Yes, although it’s better when the groom is involved, too. Weddings Out of the Box is a wedding venue. We specialize in theme weddings. We’ve done princess weddings and cowboy weddings and apparently the world’s greatest alien wedding based on a computer game, but that was before my time.”
“Interesting.”
She wasn’t sure it was, but it was nice of him to say it.
They looked at each other, then away. Silence stretched between them, grew awkward, got bigger and started making Renee uncomfortable. Crap, crap, crap, this wasn’t going to work. Who was she kidding? She was only confident in limited situations—like work. She was never going to be the kind of woman who could tell a guy she thought he was attractive and ask if he would like to have his way with her. Which left her sad and depressingly aware of the fact that she might
never do the deed again, which made her want to stomp her foot. Or cry.
Neither response would go over well in public, so it was definitely time to go home. She looked at Jasper.
“It’s getting late. Thanks for the drink. I had a nice time.”
He studied her for a second before nodding. “I did, too. Let me walk you to your car.”
They went out into the night. It was mid-September, so still warm, but they’d passed through the burning heat of summer. In a few more weeks, there would be an actual nip in the air. At least in those hours close to midnight. It rarely got cold-cold in Happily Inc.
They walked to her black Mini with the white racing stripes on the hood. A silly car, to be sure, but one she loved as much as she could love a car. It was cute, it was zippy and with the back seats down, it held as much as she needed.
“This is me,” she said lightly.
Jasper glanced from the car to her and back. “It suits you.”
She smiled. “Thank you. I try to be worthy of its sassiness, but I don’t always succeed. I suppose that’s a metaphor for my life. I want to be wild, but I’m not quite sure how.”
“You mean that?”
She looked up at him. Literally. With them both standing, she was aware of how tall he was, how strong. He exuded power and confidence. He was all things male and maybe that should have scared her, but it didn’t.
“Renee?”
“What?”
“You didn’t answer the question.”
“There was a question?”
One corner of his mouth turned up. “I may be reading this all wrong, but just in case I’m not...”
He put his hands on her waist and pulled her toward him. The move was unexpected and she would have instinctively resisted, only there was something about the feel of his hands and her growing sense of anticipation. Because he was holding her exactly like a man holds a woman he means to kiss and kiss well.
Meant to Be Yours Page 3