by Sam Destiny
“And even if you had started flipping through everything I have on there, I don’t have anything to hide.” He didn’t add that he simply had no life or many hobbies to spend his time with when he was not working.
“I… uhm… yeah. So, my friend didn’t answer her cell. Maybe she will call back once she sees the number on the display. Her name is Hilary. Just tell her to get me and…”
“I’m gonna stay with you until that friend of yours is here. Can I invite you for a coffee?” Jazz asked and she dug into her pockets, starting to count her change. He reached out, placing his hand on top of hers, noticing how much he enjoyed touching this girl.
“Inviting you means I pay,” Jazz grinned and she blushed again. He liked chasing the paleness from her cheeks.
She eyed his dog tags, no longer focusing on his face and Jazz couldn’t help but wonder how it would feel if he’d pull her in his arms now. It had been too long since he had been close to a woman. Actually it had been too long since any girl had caught his interest really.
“I’m Jazz,” he said, figuring he might as well introduce himself. “I mean it’s Jesse, but my friends call me Jazz,” he corrected. It had obviously been too long since he had met new people outside of the Army if he couldn’t even manage a proper introduction anymore.
“I’m Tessa,” she replied, giving him a warm smile. ”Jazz as in Jazz music? Are you a fan?” she wanted to know and he shrugged, burying his hands in his pockets while looking around. He spotted a food stand and realized that maybe coffee wasn’t exactly what Tessa needed.
“Would you actually prefer food to coffee? You said you had a long day already,” he offered and she shook her head while he shouldered her bag.
“I can carry that myself, you know?” she protested, reaching out to brush the sling off his shoulder. A shiver went through Jazz as her hand touched him. Even through the material of his t-shirt he still felt her ice-cold hands.
“Hold on,” he mumbled, grabbing both her hands and rubbing some warmth back into them. They were tiny compared to his and Jazz couldn’t resist letting his thumbs brush over Tessa’s knuckles.
“Are you doing this solely because you’re a soldier and your country says to help people in need or are you actually that nice?” she asked. He looked up, wondering how best to reply when he saw her wink at him. Tessa was teasing. It made him smile right back. Getting her warm seemed to wake her up a little.
“I don’t know, I saw this mess on the floor and thought I could just do something social for the day,” Jazz teased back and she pulled her hand from his, playfully pushing at his shoulder.
“I’m not a mess!” Tessa insisted while walking next to him. He laughed and she took a deep breath, looking as if she was finally starting to relax.
“You know, since you’re here to watch my bag, would you mind if I go and freshen up a little?” she wanted to know and he shook his head.
“I’m gonna go and find us a table. Anything you want to drink?” Jazz wanted to know and Tessa shrugged.
“A coke,” she said, leaving his side then. She hadn’t been gone more than a minute when his phone rang with a number he didn’t recognize.
“Jesse Connor?”
“This is Hilary. Who the fuck are you and why are you calling my number?” the girl on the other end asked and Jazz had to laugh. She sure had spunk.
“You must be the blonde chick’s friend.”
“Tessa?” Hilary asked, her voice suddenly high pitched. “Is she okay?”
“She’s okay. In fact, she’s pretty fine. Her phone doesn’t work, and she needed to tell you she’ll be there earlier,” he said, looking at his watch. “She’ll land in an hour or so. I offered her my phone, but she couldn’t get a hold of you. Now she’s already in the air, I guess…” Lying was a sin, Jazz knew that, but he had some more time to spare and he liked spending it with Tessa.
“Okay. Thank you for letting me know. If you did anything to her, like hurt her or stole from her or something, I’ll find you. I know people who can trace your phone. You won’t have a quiet night if something’s wrong with Tessa, Jesse Connor,” the girl, Hilary, threatened and Jazz pressed his lips together, trying not to choke on his laughter.
“Yes, Ma’am. I promise she’ll be warm and well fed once you meet her,” he replied in the most serious tone he could muster, then he hung up. Jazz sat down at a table, waiting for the girl that, unfortunately for her, lucky for him, would be spending some more time at his side.
Tessa walked into the bathroom, taking the first chance to bury her nose in the hoodie. God, that guy had a heavenly scent and then, beneath that, lay his very own unique one: clean, male, tempting. After her short moment of crazy she walked over to the mirrors and froze. He had called her a mess and it was scarily true. She looked like hell with her hair all messed up and her skin totally pale.
Sighing, she was glad her makeup wasn’t gone with everything else. Tessa brushed her hair, pulled it in a ponytail and then brushed up on eyeliner and mascara before quickly trying to add some color to her complexion by pinching her cheeks.
The dark haired guy that had literally run her over was a dream: clear blue eyes, almost black hair and the typical out-of-bed-look she guessed him to have perfected during years of practice.
She had seen his dog tags and was pretty sure that he was a military guy. It also explained why under his plain shirt muscles bunched whenever he shifted her bag while carrying it. Tessa seriously needed to tell herself to act normal about every ten seconds because she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
Even though she was exhausted, she felt a lot more awake and alive than before Jazz had shown up. Which reminded her that he never answered the question concerning his nickname. Not that it should interest her, but … she was intrigued. He was selfless, which showed by him giving her his hoodie so she wouldn’t freeze, and he was a clearly a flirt, but that wasn’t all. There was something in his eyes that made her feel special even though they didn’t know each other at all.
No matter how ready she was to meet Hilary and the rest of the girls, she couldn’t deny that she liked being around Jazz. Her cheeks warmed every time he caught her watching, and her heart skipped a beat whenever he smiled.
Deciding to make the best out of the time she had with him, she left the bathroom, a little more satisfied with a look that was a lot less messy.
Jazz was typing on his phone when Tessa settled down across from him and he looked up, staring for a second. With her hair pulled back in a clean ponytail, and some color on her cheeks she looked … different. Good different. Even prettier than before. Her lips were pulled into a smile and her eyes looked a lot less exhausted than before.
He always had thought that freshen up was just a way to say one had to use the toilet, but now, seeing Tessa like this, Jazz knew that it was much more than that.
“You know, if you’re cold, I can give back your hoodie. I don’t want you to think I intend on keeping it.” She smiled a secret smile as if he had missed a private joke, but it was nice. She was nice.
“I ordered you a coke, but I think you need to eat,” Jazz explained, pocketing his phone. He had turned it to silent in case that crazy friend of hers would call again to threaten him.
“Burger… I want an American Burger,” she said, sounding as if the thought alone filled her with pure bliss, right before her expression turned to one of horror. “I mean, salad. Of course I’ll take a Cesar salad,” she corrected and Jazz picked up a brow while her eyes stayed glued to the bacon and cheeseburger on the menu.
The waitress came and he looked at Tessa before turning to him. “We’ll take two bacon cheeseburgers,” he grinned, his eyes trained on the pretty blonde across from him. The thankful smile Tessa gave him turned his insides warm.
“So, Jazz … again, why do they call you that? And … thank you.”
He groaned because he had hoped he could avoid that topic, but she just gave him a questioning look.
“I used to be in a Jazz band in high school. It gave extra credit and I needed that. I played the Jazz guitar, which wasn’t bad, but we had orange costumes and trust me, orange does not look good on me. When I joined the Army, a guy in my barracks recognized me, called me Jazz and it stuck ever since. Luckily, barely anyone remembers where that name comes from,” he explained, playing with the corner of the menu while Tessa looked at him in silence for a moment.
“I doubt any color looks bad on you,” she replied, leaning forward in her chair. “Plus, I’m sure that playing any guitar made you quite the ladies man,” she winked and he couldn’t help but enjoy her sweet flirting.
“Would you fall for a guy with a guitar?” Jazz asked, giving the attention right back and Tessa grinned.
“Depends. Does he know how to play it or does he only carry it around?” she wanted to know and he laughed.
“Cheeky. I can play the guitar. I just don’t do it a lot anymore. My life changed and playing guitar was something I just stopped doing because other things had taken precedence,” he told her, sobering a bit. None of those things had been outside of his work life though.
“How can you stop doing something you love just because life’s busy? It should never be too busy for things you love,” Tessa told him and Jazz had to admit that she had a point, but his career was simply the thing that mattered most to him.
“So, what do you do?” he wanted to know, hoping like hell she wouldn’t say anything including the word ‘boyfriend’ now. Not that it mattered because once her friend would pick her up she’d be out of his life. Still, he didn’t want to hear she was taken.
“Books. I read like crazy. It gives me a chance to escape the world I know. But then, now I’m here! California! I thought I’d never reach it! This is…” She trailed off, but he could very well guess the second ‘crazy’ in that sentence.
“Yeah, it certainly has been an eventful day for you,” he agreed just as the waitress placed the food on their table. Tessa dove right in and Jazz couldn’t help but watch her eat. Even though it was clear that she was starving, she chewed slowly, savoring the bites. Watching her mouth he wished it would do other things than eat. The thought made heat creep into his cheeks, but Tessa just gave him a happy smile, pointing towards his burger.
Jazz hated girls that refused to eat. Of course, he liked them to keep at least a little fit, but his definition of thin still varied from the vast majority. A woman needed curves and even though Tessa was small compared to him, she was exactly right in his eyes. That was how a woman needed to look. Her blonde hair reached down her back in soft waves even while it was in a ponytail. His hoodie looked huge on her, but that didn’t make Jazz forget the glimpses of her body he had gotten earlier. She had curves in all the right places, and full lips. Her eyes shone brightly now and there was a twinkle in her eye as if she was thinking about doing something she shouldn’t. Additionally Tessa enjoyed her food, which he found important. Whenever he was on leave he loved to cook and it would be nice to…
He shook his head, reminding himself that he’d never cook for her.
“What?” she wanted to know, wiping her lips with a napkin.
Before he got a chance to answer though a scream made Tessa spin around.
“Tessa!”
He cursed silently. Her friend was early. And she wasn’t alone.
“Oh shit, this is going to get embarrassing. Are you ready?” Tessa grinned, then she pushed her chair back while Jazz got up, his manners forcing him to be polite.
Tessa hugged her friends, two more blondes and a brunette that scrutinized him.
“Hi! You all are here! Hi!” Tessa obviously was out of things to say, just letting the whirlwind of girls envelope her.
“Up in the air, huh? An hour late my ass,” a brunette hissed next to him and Jazz shrugged, grinning guiltily. “Who are you and what do you want?”
“I found her. She was freezing. Her phone doesn’t work. She needed to warm up and have some food,” he explained while Tessa’s eyes found him and the brunette. Hilary, Tessa had said.
“So you gave her attention, a sweater and a burger instead of telling her I’d be coming to pick her up? I could’ve been here hours ago,” Hilary snapped and Jazz shrugged.
“We both know that’s not true. And see the upside, she is seriously glowing right now,” he pointed out before realizing that this was maybe the wrong thing to say. Hilary squinted at him.
“Glowing,” she mumbled and he rolled his eyes.
“She looked like hell and after I heard her story, I’d say she had a day like that, too. I was just…”
“He’s Army. It’s programmed into him to help.” Tessa took his side, standing close enough to be reassuring.
“Okay. Let’s take you home. Where’s your luggage?” Hilary asked and Tessa shrugged.
“Miami, probably. Or LA, if I’m lucky. You guys go ahead, I’ll be right there,” she said gently, then gave her friends a reassuring smile. Jazz knew girls well enough to have no illusions about saying goodbye in private. And really, the girls stopped far away enough to not hear every word and yet close enough to actually see everything as Tessa turned back to him, looking up.
“Thank you for all you did,” she whispered quietly, stalling so obviously that his heart skipped a beat. She didn’t want to go any more than he wanted her to leave. When she reached for his hoodie he instantly stopped her.
“Keep it,” he mumbled and she took a deep breath, then smiled.
“Definitely will, Soldier boy. Thank you. I guess I should be leaving,” she announced and he knew she was right, but he wasn’t quite ready yet. His mind screamed at him to ask for her number, but those words didn’t cross his lips. She would be gone too soon anyways. Still…
“You are very welcome, little mess,” he winked and she slowly stepped back, turning around after waving slightly.
“Shit, Tess?” She stopped and he closed the gap between them. Even if they would never meet again, he needed to taste her at least once.
Framing her face he pressed his lips against hers, using her surprised gasp to push his tongue into her mouth. She kissed him back after her initial shock, making his head swim.
“Welcome to the America, Tess,” he whispered, then finally he let her go.
Tessa felt like covering her ears with her hands because Emma and Hilary kept talking over each other. Next to her Aimie gently patted her leg.
“Are you okay?” she wanted to know and Tessa slowly nodded. She was more than okay, but she sure couldn’t explain what just had happened. Jazz had kissed her totally out of the blue and she no way to start putting into words how that made her feel.
“I’m just … I was totally tired and an absolute mess and a very hot soldier just kissed me! I swear I feel as if I stepped out of a book!” And it was true. Tessa could already feel her cheeks hurting from the beaming smile that was plastered on her face.
Aimie was the quiet one of the group; which had been expected. Even though they never had met before in this combination, Tessa wasn’t worried about them all getting along just fine.
“You think if we go back he’ll kiss me, too?” Aimie teased and Tessa laughed quietly.
“I don’t think you’re a social case as much as I am, but you’re very welcome to try. Hils, stop the car, we need to go back. Aims wants a taste, too,” Tessa called out, seeing her friend blanch next to her.
“No, no, I was just … God, never. I mean … he’s a stranger and … no!” Aimie blushed the prettiest shade of scarlet, covering her face with her hands. Tessa couldn’t resist, leaning over to hug her friend.
“Don’t worry, she wouldn’t have done it.”
“I wouldn’t have done it so Aims can kiss him. Your guy. No girl should ever aim for someone else’s guy,” Hilary said a little too serious from the front seat, making Tessa pick up a brow in surprise.
“That wasn’t… I wouldn’t do that, either,” Aimie instantly called out.
“Oh, I know,” Hilary called from the front and still, Tessa knew there was something more behind that statement. Just the way Hilary had lost all humor on her face made it quite clear.
“Besides, it’s not my guy. He was just some soldier finding a case to help. Admittedly, he was damn handsome and so sweet and fun, but he’s American. I’m from Europe. I don’t know when I can squeeze in another visit to your beautiful country. So even if there would have been something, I couldn’t ever…”
“You already thought about what ifs?” Emma asked, turning in the front seat to look at her. Tessa only shrugged. She was a girl, and a girl’s brain easily went through all the options. Only in this case there were none.
“I just wondered what if I’d see him again while being here,” she said, trying to sound indifferent, but suddenly really wondering about that. Her heart skipped a beat and her cheeks heated another time because she could feel her lips smiling.
“He’s probably from the Army Base. It’s just twenty minutes from my house. You know, you can always walk up to the front gate and ask for … what was his name again? Jesse Connor?” Hilary asked from the front and Tessa instantly shook her head.
“Oh please. I’m going to be the joke of the base. He most likely already forgot the chick he kissed at the airport. No, thank you. Besides, I’m not here for the guys. I’m here for you girls! I’m so happy I finally made it.”
“Sometimes you find someone you haven’t been looking for. And trust me, Jesse found you,” Aimie mumbled and Tessa looked at her for a long moment.
“We didn’t exchange anything, so…”
“Except spit, you mean,” Hilary teased from the driver’s seat and Tessa rolled her eyes at her friend.
“Funny, very funny,” Tessa groaned while the others doubled over with laughter.
“And you have the best souvenir from the US ever,” Emma remarked, pointing at her chest. Oh yes, Tessa thought. She so had the best thing ever.