by Jennie Marts
“Oh.”
She was leaving. And would be gone overnight. So no dinner date. No dinner at all.
He tried to shake it off.
Obviously this meeting was important. And it’s not like she would conjure up a meeting with the National Women’s Hockey League in Canada just to avoid going out to dinner with him. He offered her a supportive smile. “No problem. That’s easy. I love your dog. He and Maggie will have a great time playing together.”
“Well, I also got a call from the flooring company, and they said they had a cancellation this afternoon and could come out and lay my carpet today if someone was going to be here. Is there any chance you could let them in when they show up? It’s okay if you can’t. I mean, I really would love to have the carpet installed today, but I know I’m already asking a lot by asking you to take care of my dog.”
“It’s fine, really. It’s no big deal to take care of Winston, and I’m happy to let the flooring company in to lay the carpet. I’d planned to work over here today anyway, so it’s not really an inconvenience.”
Except now she wasn’t going to be here.
She pulled a key ring from her pocket and handed it to him. “Here’s the key to the house. Just lock up when you leave. And seriously, Jack, thank you. You are the best friend a girl could ever ask for.” She hugged him again, throwing her arms around his neck.
Having her body pressed against him like that, her breasts pressed to his chest and the smell of her hair surrounding him, being a good friend was the last thing he wanted to be.
He wanted to turn her around and press her back up against the wall and kiss her senseless. Then carry her up to her bedroom and strip her out of her clothes and spend the afternoon giving her everything she could ever imagine asking for.
His lungs constricted at the heady thought, and he took a deep, slow breath, trying to control his asthma and ward off an attack.
A horn honked outside. She let him go, dropping a quick kiss on his cheek before she grabbed her bags and headed for the front door. “That’s my cab. I gotta go. You know where everything is. Heck, you unpacked most of it. You have my cell—call me if you need me. Or I’ll call you when I land. Thanks again.”
He watched her jog to the cab and throw her bag in the open trunk. The cabbie opened the back door for her, but she turned back to him before she got in, a pained look on her face. “I’m sorry about our dinner plans. Will you take a rain check?”
He nodded. “I’m counting on it.”
She grinned—a beautiful smile that told him she hadn’t forgotten. And that she still wanted to buy that dinner for him. She gave him a quick wave then slid into the car.
He watched the cab drive away then shut the door behind her. The room was suddenly quiet. Too quiet.
The only sounds were the hum of the refrigerator and the small whine of Winston as he put his paws on the front window and watched Murphy’s cab disappear down the road.
“Yeah, I know how you feel, buddy. I’m gonna miss her, too.” Now that she was gone, he pulled his inhaler from his pocket and inhaled a quick puff.
He looked around. The room glowed a sunny yellow in the morning light, making it seem bright and cheery. Although it seemed less cheery now that Murphy was no longer in it.
The freshly painted walls were lined with the still full boxes of her purchases from Sunday. They hadn’t had a chance to set up all of the equipment yet.
He was struck with an idea and crossed the room to the boxes. “You better settle in, boy. It looks like we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Ten hours later, he was still working. The flooring guys had come in and laid the carpet, and his mom had brought him over some lunch earlier in the day.
He’d enlisted his dad’s help, and they’d brought in the new furniture and set it up according to Murphy’s plans. He’d stripped off the plastic and taken all of the packaging from the new items out to the garage.
The room looked good. It looked great. He couldn’t wait to surprise her with all they’d done.
His phone vibrated, and he dug it from his pocket, his heart lifting at seeing Murphy’s number. She’d texted him several times throughout the day, letting him know that she’d landed and how the meeting was going. Every time he got a text, a giddy feeling ran through him.
Dang. He felt like a junior high kid, his palms a little sweaty, and nervous just hearing from her.
He took a deep breath and cleared his throat, affecting his best ‘cool’ voice. “Hey, Murph.”
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re there.”
“I’m here.” He sank to the floor, sitting on the new carpet and leaning his back against the wall. “I’m at your place. The carpet looks great. I didn’t think you’d pick fuchsia shag, but it’s kind of cool.”
“What? It’s fuchsia shag?” Her voice rose an octave, and he broke into laughter.
“No, I’m just kidding. It’s the cream-colored stuff you had the carpet sample of. It actually looks great. Really goes with the minion yellow walls.”
“Whew. Don’t tease me like that. I’ve had a crazy day.”
“Yeah? Crazy good or crazy bad?”
“Crazy good. So good. I’m beat, but things went really well today. Do you have time to talk? I’d love to tell you about the plans they’ve got for us.”
He smiled, loving the enthusiasm in her voice. “I’ve got all night. Tell me everything.”
She told him how the meeting went and about all the key players involved in making decisions about the team. She described the plans they’d laid out and the strategies they’d put in place for the next several months to try to merge their team into the league.
“Sounds like everything is falling into place,” he said, genuinely pleased for her. He tried to push aside his concerns about how much she’d be traveling and how he might not have the chance to see her as often as he liked. He knew how much time his brothers spent on the road and had to expect she’d be doing quite a bit of the same kind of traveling.
“I hope so. I really want this to work. It’s all so new. They haven’t had a league like this before, and it’s amazing to be a part of it. But there’s also a lot of work involved. It’s exciting and fun, but it’s also kind of terrifying. You know what I mean?”
He knew exactly what she meant.
She’d just described how he felt about her—exciting, fun, and new, but also terrifying. And a lot of work involved. But it was work he could handle. Work that he wanted to handle. “I get it. And I think it’s awesome that you get to be involved in something that you’re so passionate about. I’m really proud of you.”
“Thanks. I’m proud of me, too. I’m not always the best at sticking to something. Like I’m a great starter—I can always come up with a fantastic new idea. But I’m not the best at finishing. Either because I lose interest, it’s too hard, or I just move on to the next thing. But this is different. This is something I really want. I’ve had so many different jobs, and I’ve moved so many times growing up, but hockey has always been the one constant, the thing that I really love. No matter where I go, I always find a league or a way to incorporate hockey into my life. And this time, I’m not quitting. I really want to see this thing through and make it a reality.”
“I can tell. I can hear the determination in your voice. And I do remember how much you loved hockey, even as a kid. You would practice with us for hours. It doesn’t really surprise me that you stuck with it as an adult. Plus, you’ve always been a little stubborn, so I believe you can do anything you set your mind to.”
“A little stubborn?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, just a little. Remember, I tutored you in algebra. But I swear you were determined to fail that class no matter how much I tried to teach you those equations.”
She laughed with him. “I almost did fail. But surprisingly enough, your tutoring is the only thing that got me a passing grade. I could actually hear your voice in my head using those silly word association games when I
took the final test.”
“Doesn’t sound like they were so silly if they worked.” A slight feeling of pride filled him that his tutoring had helped her pass the summer school class. They’d been studying for the final test that last weekend that he saw her. But he’d never heard if she’d passed or not. She must have taken the test right before she and her dad had left town. “And I guarantee you still use algebra today. You just don’t realize you’re using it. Like with cooking. Just calculating the new measurements to double a recipe of chocolate chip cookies is using algebra.”
“Oh my gosh, don’t talk to me about cookies. I’m starving. We were so busy today, I never had a chance to eat. I would give anything right now for some fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy.”
He laughed. Most people craved sweets when it was late and they were stressed, but she wasn’t in the mood for chocolate or frozen yogurt. No, it was after eleven, and Murphy was craving fried chicken and gravy. “You always were a meat and potatoes girl.”
“What do you expect? I was raised by a single dad and a widowed grandfather. Meat and potatoes were about the only two food groups they knew.” She let out a tired laugh followed by a soft sigh. “I miss him, ya know.”
“Yeah, he was a good man. He really loved you.”
“I loved him. Even though my dad’s new job meant I would get to see him more, which was great, I missed spending the summers with my grandpa. With you and your family. I missed you all so much after we moved.”
“We missed you, too.”
I missed you.
“It wasn’t the same around here after you left,” he told her. He hadn’t been the same. The things that had happened that summer had changed him, had influenced the way he acted around girls the rest of the time he was in high school.
He heard her yawn. “I’d better let you get to bed.”
“Yeah, I should probably go. I’ve kept you up late enough as it is.”
He didn’t care about how late it was. He’d stay up all night if she wanted to talk. “What time does your flight get in tomorrow?”
“Around six. It was the earliest flight I could back to Denver.”
“Do you want me to pick you up?”
“No. You’ve done enough. I’ll take a cab.”
“Really. It’s no big deal.”
“It is a big deal. Everything you’ve been doing to help me is a big deal. And I appreciate it. Offering to take care of my dog was the best thing you could have done for me. I owe you. If there’s anything I can do for you, just name it. I’ll do whatever you want.”
Hmm. Why did he hear sexual innuendo in everything she said to him? He could think of a few ideas of things he would want her to do, but he would never say them out loud. His cheeks warmed just thinking about them.
He cleared his throat. “You don’t owe me anything. I’m glad to do it.”
She yawned again. “We’ll continue this discussion when I see you. For now, I’m going to bed. See you tomorrow.”
“Good night, Murphy.”
“Good night, Jack.”
Murphy dragged her suitcase out of the trunk of the cab and passed the driver a twenty dollar bill. Her flight had been delayed and her cabbie had been a slower driver than her grandpa. Her feet hurt, and all she wanted to do was get home, take her shoes off, put her feet up and relax.
She glanced up at her house and caught her breath.
The lights on the main level shone through the windows, giving the house a warm and inviting glow. Her pulse quickened at the thought of Jack waiting inside.
Would he be waiting inside? Or would he have dropped Winston off and gone back to his own place?
She wouldn’t blame him if he did. The guy had been helping her with one thing or another from practically the first day she got here. She felt terrible for bailing on their dinner date the night before. But it felt like Jack had forgiven her.
Sometimes he seemed too good to be true. She wasn’t used to having a man treat her with such respect and care for her feelings. Gary had treated her well, but more like a possession that he wanted to show off versus the way Jack treated her as someone to be valued and cherished.
She heard the dog bark as she opened the door then froze as she stared in shock at the inside of her house.
Both Shelties clamored for attention as they circled her legs, but she couldn’t get over the transformation of the room.
Wow. What a difference. She couldn’t believe it. She’d expected the new carpet to be in, but she hadn’t expected this.
The room was gorgeous. Her furniture had been brought in and placed exactly as she’d imagined. The television was in place above the fireplace and soft music played from the stereo that had also been set up.
“Welcome back.” Jack set down the book he was reading and stood up from the recliner. He glanced around the room, then tilted his head at her. “What do you think?”
“What do I think?” she stammered, barely able to get the words out. “I think it looks amazing.” She dropped her bag and crossed the room to throw her arms around him. “I can’t believe you did this.”
His arms wrapped around her, and he buried his face in her hair. “I’m glad you like it,” he said into her neck.
The feel of his breath on her skin sent delicious shivers down her spine, and she indulged herself in the sensation of being held in his arms, of the feeling of being welcomed home by a man that smelled amazing and made her knees weak.
“Like it? I love it.” She pulled back and gaped at the room, noticing for the first time the blanket laid out on the floor and set with the makings of a picnic. “I can’t believe you did all of this. How did you have the time?”
He shrugged. “Sleep is overrated.”
She laughed and shook her head. “It looks so great. The carpet is gorgeous, and the furniture goes perfectly. And I can’t believe you set up all the electronics.”
“That’s not all.” He pointed to the white box and the camera monitor on the wall by the door. “I also installed the security system and all of the cameras.”
A lump formed in her throat, and she fought back the tears that were forming as she peered over at him. “It was enough for me that you offered to let the carpet guys in. I never dreamed you would do all of this. It means a lot that you would take the time to do this. You went above and beyond.”
“I just want you to feel safe,” he said, his voice soft.
Her heart raced as he looked down at her, his expression sincere and his words forming a warm blanket around her.
His gaze swept to her lips. She caught her breath, anticipation building as she hoped for him to try to kiss her again.
He leaned forward, his breath tickling her cheek.
Her lips parted, eager to feel the pressure of his against them.
Instead she felt the pressure of a dog’s paws on her waist as Winston jumped up on her and let out a bark.
Pulling back, the moment lost, she let out a nervous chuckle as she bent down to ruffle the dog’s neck. “Sorry, boy. Did you think I was ignoring you?”
Maggie ran excitedly around her, both dogs vying for her attention. She knelt down and cuddled them both, giving them each scratches and hugs as she cooed doggie love words.
She smiled up at Jack, laughing as the dogs tried to lick her chin. “They sure act like they missed me.”
“They did.” A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “We all did. They’re glad you’re back, and so am I. Even if I’m not wiggling around trying to lick you. Er, I mean…you know.”
His cheeks pinked with color as he looked away.
Her own neck got a little warm at the idea of him licking anything of hers.
“Are you hungry?” he asked, thankfully changing the subject.
“Starving.” She stood, brushing the dog hair from her pants and pointed to the blanket. “Are we having a picnic?”
He offered her a sheepish grin. “Yeah, sort of. You don’t have a dining room table y
et, so I thought we could eat on the floor. Is that dumb?”
“No. It’s perfect.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. I already have all of the food. Just give me a few minutes to bring it out.”
“Can I help?”
“Nah. Just relax. I know traveling wears me out.”
She grabbed her bag and headed for the stairs. “I’m gonna take my bag upstairs and put on some shorts. I’ll be back in a minute.” She almost said that she was going to put on something more comfortable, but was afraid it sounded too cliché. Or like she was trying to seduce him.
But wasn’t he doing a little seducing of his own with the soft music and the candles and by having a carpet picnic? Or was he really just trying to be a friend?
The way he looked at her when she thought he was going to kiss her didn’t seem like a “friend” kind of look. It seemed more like an “I’d rather have you as my picnic” kind of look.
The thought of Jack tasting her lips or feasting on her body had her skin warming and her heart racing. She threw her suitcase on the floor and quickly changed into a pair of snug black workout shorts and a light yellow V-neck tee shirt. She took a few minutes in the bathroom to wash her face and freshen up from the plane ride.
She took a deep breath, then padded barefoot back to the living room, the new carpet feeling lush and thick between her toes.
Jack walked in from the kitchen holding a platter of fried chicken. “Didn’t you say last night you were in the mood for fried chicken?”
He set the platter on the coffee table next to the blanket. She could tell he was used to having dogs around. All of the food was on the table. And what a spread. Besides the chicken, he’d put out potato salad, rolls, and a bowl of fresh fruit.
“I did.” She loved the way he paid attention. Her mouth watered at the scents filling the air. “This looks delicious.”
He gestured for her to sit. “Dig in. I wasn’t sure what you wanted to drink. Beer? Wine? Pop? Water?”
“I actually hate beer. I think it tastes disgusting. But wine sounds good.” She settled on the pillow and picked up a chicken leg.