Jack zipped up his jacket and sat down on the picnic bench next to him. “What’s the matter, Dad?”
His father smiled. “Nothing’s the matter. That’s what I want to talk to you about.”
“Okay, now I’m confused.”
“You’re one hell of a wholesaler, son. Your sales are fantastic and now with your recent engagement to Sabrina, the board is extremely pleased. I’m happy to tell you that you will be the new National Sales Manager. Congratulations.”
Jack blinked, slowly letting his father’s words seep into his brain. When it finally registered, his pulse kicked up and his breathing became labored. Jack had done it. He had finally gotten the promotion. What he’d wanted from the very beginning. It was almost too hard to believe.
He grinned at his dad. “I’m really getting the job?”
“Yes, the promotion and the girl, apparently. You’re a lucky man,” he said, slapping Jack on the back.
Yeah. He was a lucky man. Damn lucky. But only because after that incredible kiss they’d just shared, he knew there would be no way Sabrina would ever go back to David. She was almost Jack’s. But not quite. There was no doubt by the end of this evening, she would be, though. He stood, wanting to share his good news with her.
“Thank you, Dad,” he said, shaking his father’s hand. “This means a lot to me.”
“You’re welcome. Too bad you’ll have to tell Sabrina later.”
“Right, I—” Jack frowned. “Later?”
His father nodded. “Because Sabrina isn’t here, remember? You never told me she suffers from bad headaches. Poor thing did look pale when she left.”
“Uh, right. Headache. I—I forgot she left,” he lied.
Jack’s mind raced. There was no way Sabrina had a headache. In the span of thirty minutes? So why the hell would she just pick up and leave—and worse, without telling him? A feeling of dread began to unfurl in his stomach. Something must have happened. And he had to find out what.
He turned to head into the house. “Thanks again, Dad. I, uh, am going to go help Laurie too.”
“Jack,” his father called out as he reached the last step.
His anxiety level through the roof, he spun around to face his dad. “Yeah?” he huffed.
“Everything okay between you and Sabrina?”
Jack forced a smile. “Everything’s fine.”
He hoped.
Jack opened the door and scanned the street for Sabrina’s car, hoping she’d come back. “What did you say to drive her off like that?”
His sister’s mouth dropped open a full five inches. “Me? I didn’t say anything. I like her.”
“Then why did she leave without saying good-bye to me?”
She snorted. “Well, obviously you did something. It must have been a whopper, too. Stay here and give her time to cool off.” When he still looked skeptical, she added, “Trust me, I know women. I happen to be one.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right,” he mumbled. Jack sat down on the step and rubbed his forehead. He couldn’t make sense of her leaving. He tried calling her but she wouldn’t pick up. Finally, he sent her a text asking if she was at least okay. All he got back was: I’M FINE. WILL SEE YOU MONDAY AT WORK.
Monday? He’d hoped to spend the weekend with her. He thought Sabrina understood that she was becoming important to him. They had fun together. She had accepted his mother’s ring and had kissed him, really kissed him. In fact, he was convinced she hadn’t even thought about old what’s-his-name today.
What went wrong?
“Wow, Jack.”
He pulled himself out of his misery and looked up at Laurie. “What ‘wow, Jack’?”
“You’ve got that melancholy woe-is-me look. I wouldn’t have expected you to become such a softy when you finally fell in love with a woman.”
He stared at his sister, trying to register her words. Fell in love? Me?
Laurie chuckled. “You look surprised.”
Yeah, he was.
“It’s refreshing to see this side of you,” she commented. “But I guess love is a powerful emotion. Personally, I became a klutz around Michael. Oh, and the dinners I burned because I was so nervous cooking for him. You just never know how falling in love will affect you.”
Jack’s heart thudded. Twice.
He was in love with Sabrina.
It all made sense. How he felt when she was in his arms. The way he couldn’t get her or her bossy opinions out of his mind. The way he wanted to personally hospitalize her pansy of an ex-fiancé. He quit meat because of her.
“I’m in love.” Equal parts panic and wonder engulfed him.
“With the woman you’re engaged to be married to? I would hope so,” Laurie mocked.
Jack slowly nodded, realization sinking in deeper and deeper. Yes, he needed to spend the rest of his life with Sabrina. He actually wanted to marry her. For real. And he needed to tell her.
“Yeah,” he breathed. “I’m really in love.”
The corners of his sister’s mouth lifted with amusement. “Well, duh.”
Chapter Thirteen
Jack’s heart slammed against his ribcage as he approached Sabrina’s door. His nerves were getting the better of him, but he couldn’t waste another second. He had to let Sabrina know how he felt.
A glance at his watch told him it was almost noon. The same time as yesterday when he had shown up at her door to invite her to Thanksgiving dinner with his family. Before he realized how much he wanted to spend the rest of his life with this woman. Now all he had to do was knock and tell her. Instead he just stood there, his arms paralyzed at his sides. He studied the grain in the wood door, psyching himself up. A second glance at his watch told him he had wasted two minutes.
Okay, stop being a putz. This should be a piece of cake. He’d faced many a surly stockbroker during his business travels and had always convinced them to use Brenner Capital investments. Obviously he’d have no trouble convincing the woman he loved to marry him for real.
He imagined she’d look at him with those incredibly beautiful blue eyes, her glossed full lips parting in surprise. She’d be thrilled to see him and give him one of those shy smiles that would always twist his gut—the way she’d looked at him yesterday when he’d shown up at her door.
He’d tell her he was sorry for what he had done to cause her to leave his sister’s house. Sabrina would forgive him—being the sweet, compassionate woman she was—and he’d pull her into his arms and kiss the breath right out of both of them. I love you would spring from his mouth, and she’d scrap whatever plans she had for the day—for the better half of the century—and spend it making love with him instead.
That did it. The image of Sabrina lying in his arms was all the confidence-bolstering he needed. His arm shot out and he knocked.
Sabrina answered the door immediately, as if she’d been expecting him. Or more likely someone else, because although she wore the surprised look he expected, she was far from happy to see him. In fact, many emotions seemed to flicker over her face in that brief second, but he was pretty sure none of them was joy—at least as best as he could see, since she only cracked the door open three inches. The confidence he’d always prided himself on slipped a notch.
“Jack, what are you doing here?”
Oh, man. Not even a hello. His confidence slipped another notch.
“I wanted to make sure you were okay. ” He smiled at her, hoping she’d smile too and invite him into her apartment—then into her life. None of that happened.
He cleared his throat. “And I wanted to apologize for whatever I did to make you run off.”
The line of her mouth didn’t bend, and he still remained standing in the cold, empty hallway. If his confidence fell any further, he’d trip on it.
“You didn’t do anything out of the ordinary,” she said. “I figured I fulfilled my part of the bargain long enough.”
Bargain? Did he misinterpret their kiss yesterday? He suddenly became tongue-tied.
The situation was not going down as he’d planned. She hadn’t even removed the chain on her door yet.
“We need to talk. How about letting me in?”
Sabrina paused, then with a small sigh lifted the chain from the door and swung it open. He was slightly disappointed she wasn’t in those baggy pajamas of hers this time, but she looked good. Too darn good for wearing jeans and a red turtleneck, almost like a schoolgirl with the way her dark hair was smoothed and tucked into a matching headband. So tidy and orderly. So Sabrina. It made his hands itch to pull her close and rumple her all up.
“Jack, I really don’t have a lot of time. David will be here soon.”
“David? What the hell does he want?” She flinched, and he realized too late that he had shouted the question.
She looked at him without her gaze quite reaching his own. “Well, our plan obviously worked, like you said it would. David wants to get back together.” She hesitated. “Isn’t that great?”
Jack didn’t answer. He was way too stunned. But he imagined if he could croak something out, he would have told her it was about as great as a kick in the crotch. And about as unexpected as one, too. It left him standing there like an idiot, waiting for his tongue to shed a couple of hundred pounds so he could speak.
David wanted her back. Of course he did. What man in his right mind wouldn’t want her back? It was just that the whole time he and Sabrina had been putting their plan into action, Jack hadn’t ever really counted on it actually working. David didn’t love her. Not the way Sabrina deserved to be loved.
Damn. Jack shouldn’t have listened to his sister. He should’ve gone after her last night.
Gazing at her beautiful face, Jack searched for a clue as to what to say or do next. He noticed how tired her eyes seemed, almost as if she’d been crying. Tears of joy, he thought grimly. It made him want to break down and cry himself.
What was he supposed to say now? I know you have trouble believing anything that flies out of my mouth these days, but don’t marry the man you think you love. Marry me instead.
Yeah, that would go over real well.
What could he do? This was what Sabrina had wanted from the beginning, wasn’t it? She’d made that clear enough to him on many occasions. She believed fate had led her to David. As much as it killed him, he was going to have to suck it up and do the noble thing. The funny thing was he didn’t realize until now he had anything virtuous like that in him. No, he wouldn’t make trouble for her. He’d step aside and let her be happy, even if it meant his own misery. Even if it meant her marrying a jerk face man, getting pregnant, and having a bunch of tiny little baby jerk faces.
His jaw grew tight. It was affecting him like nothing ever had, so instead of wailing, he did the next best thing. He got angry.
“Congrats,” he said tightly.
She looked away. “Thank you.”
“So when did all this good news take place? Before or after you put your tongue in my mouth?” Why should he bother hiding his sour attitude? He had nothing to lose now. Sabrina had already decided he wasn’t the better man.
Her body stiffened like stone. “Do you have to be crude?”
“Sorry. I’m just trying to put the sequence of events together here. Because you had me fooled. I never guessed you still wanted David after last night’s kiss.”
Her eyes finally flashed to his, heated and firm. “Give me a break, Jack. I’m not as good an actor as you are. It wasn’t like that. David had been trying to get ahold of me all week. We finally talked this morning. The hospital has been pretty hectic lately.”
David talked to her this morning. And that quickly, they were back together. Jack wondered if he’d told Sabrina how he felt sooner, if it would even have made a difference. He was guessing not. Jack was just the side attraction. Dr. Too Good was the star of the show. He was an idiot to think she’d see something better in him and forget that fact.
“So he’s been busy at work, huh?” he asked. “A lot of people suddenly having heart trouble?” That didn’t sound so far-fetched. His own heart was suddenly experiencing some weird pangs, too. “Is that some kind of sign to you, too?”
She gathered her arms together and hugged herself. “I don’t want to argue about superstitions. There’s no point. I just want you to know that I’m really grateful to you for giving me a wonderful Thanksgiving and for all your help. Your…friendship has meant a lot to me. More than I can say. But we both knew the reasons we got into our agreement in the first place, and now thanks to you, David’s realized how he truly feels about me.” Sabrina paused and bit her lip. “Was there something else you wanted to talk to me about?”
Jack almost laughed out loud. She had no idea how close he’d come to making a fool of himself. How he’d almost declared love to a woman who wanted to marry someone else. He had to hand it to himself. When Jack Brenner decided to take the big plunge and fall in love, he did it right.
He heaved a frustrated sigh. “Yeah, I wanted to tell you that my dad is giving me the promotion I wanted.” He should’ve smiled when he told her that, but he felt dead inside. The news was pitifully secondary to what he’d really come to share with her.
Her face lit up with pleasure. It was the kind of reaction that tore at his insides, since it was for the wrong reason. “That’s so wonderful. Congratulations. Did you mention to him that we wouldn’t be getting married?”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry. I’ll figure out something to tell him and the board soon enough.”
“Right.” She frowned. “Well, I guess you’ll be wanting this back.” She took his engagement ring from her pocket and held it out to him.
His misery was a lead weight. He stared at the ring, knowing that when he took it back his fantasy would officially be over. So he waited an extra beat before finally reaching for it. “Yeah, you don’t want David thinking he lost his chance. That I beat him to the punch.” She didn’t crack a smile, but then again he knew his joke was flat before it left his mouth.
“If you want me to be there whenever you break the news to your father, I will.”
“No. I got us into it on my own. I can get us out of it on my own, too. I’ll take him to dinner on Friday and tell him then.”
She nodded and silence fell between them. He took the opportunity to scan every perfect feature of her face, from her sky-colored eyes, to her short straight nose, to her full and beautiful mouth.
It was excruciating.
Things wouldn’t be the same and he wasn’t sure how much more he could stand. It was torture looking at her and knowing she’d never let him touch her again—real or pretend.
“I should go,” he finally said, reluctantly tearing his eyes away and walking to the door. He was halfway through it when she called his name.
He turned around, and she rushed up to him with wide, probing eyes. “This is good, right?” she asked. “I mean, we both got what we wanted.”
He waited a moment before answering. This final lie was going to be one for the ages. Sabrina didn’t need him messing up her plans, and he certainly didn’t want her pity.
“Yeah.” He fingered the engagement ring a moment, then slipped it into his pocket. “Looks like we both got exactly what we wanted.”
She nodded, her gaze falling to the floor. “I guess we did.”
…
“What’s the matter, darling?” David asked. “Are you feeling all right?”
Sabrina looked up from her left hand where David’s engagement ring now sat and fought the urge to throw up.
“I’m fine.” She tried to smile. “I just can’t believe this is happening.”
The reality of her feelings jarred her like a car alarm going off in the middle of the night, and she stared at the man across from her as though he were a stranger.
“Well, believe it.” David smiled, pulling her close. “I was a fool to think we weren’t right for each other.” Tilting his head, he kissed her fully on the lips.
She tried not to
stiffen, but feeling his mouth pressed against her own made it all too clear that something was different. It wasn’t like how she’d remembered his kisses. In fact, if she had to describe it now, it was a lot like kissing a pillow—soft, not totally unpleasant, but still a little…strange.
Oh, no. What had she done? She wasn’t in love with David anymore.
She was in love with Jack.
Two months ago she would have been doing an all-out full-on happy dance around her apartment at the mere hope of her and David getting back together. Now she only felt the raw sores of an aching heart—and on the verge of tidal wave after tidal wave of tears.
She’d been afraid her feelings for Jack were getting out of control and thought she’d done her best to protect herself. She even thought her feelings were skewed after seeing Jack this afternoon. But she was too late. David’s kiss and seeing his ring sit on her finger, with what felt like the weight of a bowling ball, made her realize it even more.
She pulled out of David’s embrace and resisted the urge to wipe her mouth. “Um, why didn’t you think we were right for each other?” she asked, trying to collect the gamut of emotions running through her system.
David raised his brows at her question and stared at her as though he didn’t exactly know the answer. He turned away and poured them both some wine.
She studied his back and didn’t blame him for not knowing. Maybe he’d felt back then what she was feeling right now. That what they had was just companionship but not a real connection. Jack had mentioned that, but she hadn’t wanted to listen to him at the time. She couldn’t accept his opinion that David wasn’t part of her fate. At the time, her judgment had made perfect sense. But now Jack had gone and thrown a monkey wrench into her beliefs.
Jack.
He’d seemed so selfish to her at first. But then she’d really gotten to know him. Although career-driven, Jack had a soft heart for his family. He’d been kind to her, too, and even had the ability to make her laugh—when she wasn’t ready to kill him. And now she’d fallen in love with him. The only problem was Jack didn’t love her, let alone want to marry her.
Fiance by Fate Page 17