Prints Charming

by Rebeca Seitz

  “Never a dull moment, it sounds like,” she said, and he chuckled.

  “You said it.”

  “Where did you get Major Carter, anyway? Have you had her long?”

  A shadow crossed his face. “Long story. Definitely longer than the”—she watched him steal a glance at the clock on the wall—“fifteen minutes we have before the show.”

  She shook her head. “Okay, then tell me about your sister.

  I already know she can set a mean table.” She smiled and relaxed as the tension in his shoulders left.

  “Meredith can be an hourlong story herself, but the condensed version is that she’s amazing. I think you’d like her a lot.” Jane took another bite of bread that melted in her mouth.

  “Mom and Dad adopted her when she was eight. Man, we hated each other that first year.”

  Jane chewed and swallowed. “How old were you when they adopted her?”

  “Ten. She’d been in and out of foster homes for five years. Her birth mom died when she was three. They’d been living on the street. You’ve probably seen stories like hers on the evening news.”

  “Oh, how awful.”

  “Yeah, but she was so young that she doesn’t have much memory of it, thank goodness.” He looked up at her and put his fork down. “I still remember the day we decided to stop hating each other and start being siblings. It was recess, and we were both out on the playground. She’d only been with us about six months.” He took a sip of water, and Jane waited.

  “This kid came up to her and started yelling, calling her names, making fun of her for being an orphan. I couldn’t help it; I just saw red. I went over and kicked the kid. Next thing I knew, we were all sitting in the principal’s office, me holding a napkin to a bleeding lip and the other kid with a nasty black eye forming, just waiting on our parents to show up.” Jake shook his head at the memory.

  “Mom got there, took one look at us, and marched us out to the car. I thought we were in major trouble. She didn’t say a word the whole way home, but as soon as we’d gotten into the garage, she turned around in her seat and stared at us with this look I’ll never forget as long as I live. She said, ‘Jacob, you know that we do not use fists in this house to solve disputes. However, sometimes a body is just too dumb to listen to words. Congratulations, son. It seems as if you know the difference.’”

  Jane laughed.

  “I sat there for a solid minute trying to make sure she wasn’t going to come back and ground me.” He sat back and wiped his mouth with the napkin from his lap. “But then Meredith reached over and took my hand, and I looked at her. And suddenly she wasn’t just some kid that had come to live in our house. She’s been my sister ever since.” He pushed back from the table. “And that’s enough of my boring stories. Let’s go have some real fun and smash some CDs.” He stood up. “Okay with you if we save dessert for after Stargate?”

  “I guess.”

  “That way I know you’ll stick around for the whole thing.”

  He leaned over the table and grinned devilishly at her, wiggling his eyebrows. She laughed and stood up as well.

  “I’m sticking around for the spilling later,” she reminded him. “I want to hear the story of Major Carter.”

  He grimaced, and she realized just how little she knew about him. “Right.” He turned and went into the kitchen, coming back out with the red bag. “Let’s go destruct!”

  “Okay, but let me grab my camera first. I was running late and forgot it. This is definitely going to be a scrapbooking moment.”

  “Oh, right, you said you scrapbook.” They stepped into the breezeway.

  “Mm-hmm. Helps me stay sane. I can’t believe you even know what it is.” She inserted her key into her doorknob and opened the door, gesturing for Jake to come on in.

  “In addition to setting a perfect table, Meredith also scrapbooks. She’s always the one snapping pictures every time the family gets together.”

  “Yeah, well, when you’re old and gray, you’ll be happy she captured the youthful you on film.” She grinned at him and picked her camera up off the shelf in the living room. “I’m good. Let’s go smash!”

  She followed him out to the pond and watched as he stacked the CDs up on one of the big gray rocks at the pond’s edge. When he had them just so, he walked back over to her and ceremoniously handed over the miniature sledgehammer.

  “Your weapon, m’lady.” He bowed before her.

  “Why, thank you, kind sir.” She curtsied and grabbed the tool as he took the camera from her hand and snapped a few pictures of the stack. Walking over to the CDs, she knelt down and looked at them. Such harmless little things, all shiny and innocent. To think this was the avenue by which her husband had turned her life upside down. She heard the click of the camera shutter and glanced back at Jake. She felt a little silly as she raised the hammer and smashed it down on one of the stacks. Bits of CD flew everywhere. That felt good.

  “Hit ’em hard!” Jake cheered from the sidelines, snapping away as she raised the hammer again, bringing it down with enough force to jar her arm.

  “Show ’em who’s boss!”

  She hit the third stack and felt the satisfaction flood her body at the sound of cracking CDs. Should have done this a long time ago. She raised the little hammer again and again, pounding the CDs into oblivion.

  Pain shot up her arm, and hot tears coursed down her cheeks, though from her arm or her heart she couldn’t say. Now that she had started, she couldn’t seem to stop. Startled geese flew off the lake, honking at her as she slammed every little tiny bit of silver left on the rock. She hit the rock harder and harder, scaring herself with the depth of her own pain until Jake’s arms came around her from behind.

  “Hey, hey.” His voice was gentle as he took the hammer from her and set it on the rock. “I think you killed AOL.” She looked at the destruction around her, and the tears came even harder. He pulled her down to sit on the rock, speaking into her ear and rocking back and forth.

  “Really, the Internet as we know it is now dead.” She hiccupped and relaxed her back against his chest. “That’s better.

  Laughter is good.” He kept holding her and rocking until the last little tear squeezed its way out of her eye. She took a deep breath and sighed, pushing her long hair behind her ears.

  “Well, I must look a sight in those pictures.” How embarrassing. “I didn’t know how mad I was until I started smashing.

  Sorry about that.”

  “No apologies needed.” His head rested on top of hers, and she sighed. “I’m glad you feel safe enough to cry with me.”

  She turned a bit in his arms and looked up at him, not realizing until that moment the depth of her trust. And you barely know him.

  “Tell me about you.”

  He shifted on the rock a bit. “You want to be bored now?

  I thought we were going for fantastic date status here.”

  “Nice try, but not fair. I’ve told you my past.” She turned back to stare out across the lake. “Tell me yours. I’ve been blubbering on, and you still haven’t dumped your story on me. So, your turn. Were you a Chippendale in another life? Come on.

  You can tell me.”

  He threw back his head and laughed. She felt the vibration in his chest. “Oh yeah, that’s me, the original Chippendale.”

  “Okay, then tell me about your career as a hired assassin.

  You don’t have to name all your marks, just a few so I know you’re telling the truth.”

  “I probably couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn if I was standing ten feet from it with a machine gun.”

  “Well, then, what is it?” She pulled away and turned to face him on the rock, pulling her legs up in front of her to sit Indian-style. “What’d you do before you became the guy across the hall who listens to all my problems and captures my major life moments on film?”

  “I worked on computers all day and dreamt about the woman who would let me capture all her major life moments on
film.”

  “Oh, nice. Perfect Lines ?”

  “Nope, that one was me.”

  “So you’re not going to tell me?”

  “There’s nothing worth telling, Jane.”

  “How about letting me be the judge of that? Why’d you move here?”

  “I told you, I wanted a change of scenery.”

  “Which is code for ‘I’m not telling you the real reason.’ Right?”

  He sighed. “Which is code for ‘I wanted a change of scenery.’” He pushed a button on his watch, and the face lit up green. “Come on. Stargate starts in one minute.” He stood up and turned to go back to the apartment. She caught his arm.

  “Um, we have a huge mess out here that I don’t think the landlord will appreciate in the morning.”

  He looked around, seeming to notice the destruction again. “Oh, yeah. I’ll clean it up in the morning. Come on, dessert and Stargate are waiting.” He walked back toward the apartment, and she followed, picking up the camera from its spot on the grass and wondering at the real meaning of “change of scenery.”

  Jake headed to the living room as soon as they came inside.

  He sat down in one of the club chairs, taking Carter from her perch on its arm and settling the ball of fluff in his lap. The remote controls clacked together in their basket on the coffee table as he reached in and took one. He pointed it to the television hanging above the fireplace, and the theme music for Stargate SG-1 filled the room. Jane tried to ignore his change in mood.

  “So, how much do you know about the series?” Jake said.

  “Enough to know who the good guys are and what the Stargate is.” She let him change the topic, grateful to be back on a neutral subject. “Well, and to know that all guys watch it just to see Major Carter in action.” She laughed along with him.

  “Well, she is one of the more attractive women on television these days.”

  They settled into their chairs and turned their attention to the screen as the storyline unfolded. Despite her previous contentions, Jane found herself interested in the characters, silently cheering them on as they did battle with the evil G’ould. Ah, to live in a world where everything was so black-and-white, where the bad guys said they were bad guys, and the good guys won in the end. That’d be nice.

  Jake watched her from his seat. She had slipped down in the chair, curling her feet up under her in the process and laying her head on the arm of the chair. She would have to know about his past eventually, of course. But the way she looked at him took his breath away, and it was downright addictive. He doubted she’d look at him like that anymore when she found out how much he and her ex had in common.

  What was so intriguing about Jane Sandburg? He rested his chin in his hand and allowed himself to gaze at her more openly. Of course she was great to look at, that was obvious. Who wouldn’t want to stare at long black hair all day and wonder what it would feel like slipping through his fingers?

  But it wasn’t just that. There was something about her that made him want to take care of her, to talk with her, to argue with her, to just be near her. He’d even figure out a way to make Major Carter like that crazy mutt of hers if it meant he could be in her presence. His eye traveled over the beautiful skin on her neck to her sweater, and he smiled at the dog hair on her shoulder.

  This was lunacy. That had to be it. Who smiled at dog hair on a sweater? He had finally lost his mind.

  She laughed again at the screen, and his heart warmed at the sound of her happiness.

  This was too much thinking. More than once he had been accused of overthinking, and he could admit he was doing that very thing right now. There were plenty of hours in the day tomorrow to analyze the wisdom of his actions. Tonight should be spent enjoying sci-fi in the company of a very intriguing woman with curves in all the right places. He turned back to the screen as the show went to commercial.

  “How about I get us some dessert?”

  “I thought I had to wait until after the show.” Her smile was playful as she teased him.

  “Well, you’ve only made fun of the acting twenty-two times, and you had to have burned at least a thousand calories obliterating those CDs, so I’m rewarding you.” He got up from his chair and walked toward the kitchen. “I’m a bit disappointed; I was counting on more commentary from the peanut gallery.”

  “It’s the blood sugar. If you hadn’t withheld dessert, I’d be on my game.”

  “Ah, I see,” he called from the kitchen, picturing her smile.

  “Then you’ll have to stick around for Stargate Atlantis so I can see what I missed.”

  He tinkered around, fixing the desserts as fast as possible.

  In a moment, he came around the corner of the kitchen, a bowl in each hand piled high with chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream. Hot fudge sauce lay in a drizzle pattern over the entire concoction.

  She stood and took her bowl from him. “You must have a lot of faith in this cake if you think it’s going to make me sit through another hour of sci-fi.”

  He held out a spoon to her and, when she reached for it, pulled her to him. “It’s Meredith’s recipe.” He looked down into her beautiful eyes and read the welcome in them. “Yeah, I’ve got faith in it.” The thought of kissing her had dominated his mind all week. He let go of the spoon and ran his hand along the soft skin of her face, watching as her eyes closed in satisfaction and her head tilted upward to his. He set his bowl on the table at his knee. Took hers and did the same. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

  “You’re missing the end of Stargate.” Her mouth turned up at the corners, and he traced it with his finger, slipping an arm around her waist.

  “Something more important came up.” Her smile grew, and his heart kicked up its pace. “Thanks for coming tonight. I know sci-fi isn’t your thing.”

  She placed her hands on his chest and shrugged. “It wasn’t as bad as I remembered. You were right. Must have been the company.”

  He held her two hands in his one, pulling her a bit closer. Bending his head, he brought her knuckles to his lips and kissed them. “Then you’ll stay for Atlantis?”

  “I guess I could be persuaded.” He looked at her. The frantic pulse at her neck touched him in more ways than he cared to admit and reminded him to slow things down. He stepped back and picked up her bowl. Handing it to her, he said, “Then we’ll see if I owe Meredith an even bigger debt of gratitude.”

  She smiled and spooned some ice cream and cake into her mouth, closing her eyes in bliss. He stared, transfixed by the look of pleasure on her face. He definitely needed to keep ice cream around at all times. And cake. Lots of cake.

  “Mmm, this is my favorite dessert of all time,” she said.

  “Then you get as much as you want, provided you stick around for Atlantis.” He resumed his seat as she settled back into her own, then he forgot his own dessert as she took another bite and closed her eyes again to savor it. Oh, yeah. She could have the entire gallon of ice cream and every single morsel of cake in the entire apartment complex.

  Jane opened her eyes and looked straight at him. “Atlantis. Okay, I’m in. That’s the one where humans found the Lost City of Atlantis in some faraway galaxy, but they can’t enjoy it because some other alien or something needs to eat them. Is that right?

  “Something like that,” he said. “Sounds like you paid a little more attention to these shows than I thought.”

  “It was either listen to the shows or listen to Bill. I chose the one that had at least some small form of entertainment value. Bill is a great conversationalist, don’t get me wrong, but long diatribes on the history of the Stargate do not constitute a pleasurable evening.” She went back to her dessert. He noted her enthusiasm for chocolate again and then tried to remember what they were talking about.

  “So, life with Bill wasn’t a piece of cake?” Oops.

  She screwed up her face. “Isn’t it a cardinal rule not to talk about past relationships when on a first date? I’m sure
I read that in some magazine.”

  “I wouldn’t know. Cosmo isn’t on my bedside table.” He took a bite of the dessert.

  “Well, it’s a rule, and we’ve already talked about Bill at the smashing party.” She nodded her head toward the lake outside.

  “So no more about my past until you spill yours.”

  The theme music for Atlantis filled the room, and he turned to the television in gratitude.

  “How about I admit I have a past and we save it for our next date so we can enjoy Atlantis?”

  She was silent through the theme music, and he turned to find her watching him. “Jane?”

  She pointed her spoon. “Okay, I’ll let you out of it tonight. But don’t think I’m going to be so easily put off next time, mister. I don’t care how good the dessert is, you’re spilling. Got it?”

  “Got it.”

  chapter 16

  Saturday morning, Jane rolled her tote down the breezeway and to her car, still puzzling over last night at Jake’s. It definitely ranked at the top of her date list, hands down. But not knowing his past, or the reason he wouldn’t share it, was killing her. Welcome back to the world of dating.

  She opened the rear door of the Blazer and lifted the tote inside, reminding herself to run by the store for tape runners before going to Mac’s. Thank heaven the Sisters were getting together to scrapbook. Maybe if she told them everything Jake had said, they could guess what he was holding back.

  Her phone vibrated as she pulled out of the parking lot.

  “Jane Sandburg.”

  “Hi, Jane darling, it’s Sonya.” Jane rolled her eyes and tried not to panic. Between working on her ideas for Sisters, Ink and lost hours daydreaming about Jake, Sonya’s project had taken a back burner.