Meant for Love

by Christine Kingsley

  “You cocky little—”

  He put a finger to her lips and smiled mischievously. “Don’t say something you’ll regret. You wouldn’t want me to have to prove you wrong again.”

  And with that, she was effectively rendered speechless, her mouth hanging open slightly at his implication.

  Jesse laughed, apparently not phased at all. “And that, I believe, is my cue to get back to work.” He promptly lifted her up again as if she weighed nothing and deposited her back on the couch, then gave her a wink and disappeared through the front of the office leading out into the store.

  After a moment, she gathered her wits about her enough to try to get some work done. There was a lot involved, after all, to get a clothing boutique up and running, even if she didn’t have to worry about such logistics as location and overhead.

  She spent most of the day wrapped up in becoming more familiar with the finer details of ordering stock and merchandising. It really wasn’t all that different that managing the details of the supply store. Retail was retail it seemed.

  In the middle of the afternoon, Maggie popped her head into the office. “Hey, sis. I’m here. Just let me run to the restroom and I’ll be ready for you to put me to good use.”

  Lissa smiled and waved her off, then wrapped up what she was working on. Lanie had arranged for Micah to consult on the business aspects of fashion, but Lissa had roped Maggie into helping. Because who had a better handle on what was popular in western wear than the town’s very own budding fashionista? Plus, Jesse had agreed to count her help at the store as an internship she could use on her application to the fashion school she wanted to attend in the fall.

  She stood to stretch but gasped in surprise as strong arms wrapped themselves around her waist from behind and warm breath caressed her ear. “I’ve been thinking all day, and there’s something I wanted to ask you.” He nuzzled the sensitive skin of her neck.

  Closing her eyes and relaxing into Jesse’s embrace, she forgot all about Maggie until she heard the squeak come from the doorway. Jumping in surprise, Jesse dropped his arms and whirled around at the same time as she did to find Maggie staring at them, eyes huge, hand lifted to her gaping mouth almost comically.

  So far, no one knew about them—whatever they were—except Cassie and Jack, and by the way Jesse’s back visibly stiffened and his face became unreadable, she wasn’t sure he wanted them to. Not liking the stab of pain she felt at that, she rushed to smooth the situation over, hoping that Maggie would have the presence of mind to catch the hint.

  “Let’s get down to business,” she said, her voice artificially high and cheery. “Jesse, I’m sure you have things to do if you don’t want to be bogged down by the details of clothes shopping.”

  She hurried over to where Maggie stood still like a statue, other than the wide eyes that kept flitting from her to Jesse and back again. Gripping her arm, she forcibly pulled her over to the desk and sat her down in the chair. Turning to face Jesse, she tried to get a read on him, but he was keeping his face carefully blank. With an attempt at what she hoped was a reassuring smile, she tried again. “Unless, of course, you want a say in what clothes we order for the store?”

  “Uh, no, um, no thanks,” he stammered. So he was rattled that they’d been discovered. She felt a wave of dismay. Yeah, she was definitely an idiot for doing this to herself. Well, it was too late to be helped. She’d told him she’d take what she could get, and apparently a public relationship wasn’t one of those things.

  Sighing internally, she kept the smile on her face and shooed him away. “I think we can take it from here then.”

  He abruptly turned on his heels and stalked toward the door leading to the storage building, throwing a quick, “Nice to see you, Maggie,” over his shoulder as an afterthought.

  Lissa closed her eyes and took a calming breath, dreading what she knew would come next.

  “Maggie,” she began, turning to face her youngest sister, “it’s not what you think.” Hell, it’s not even what I think.

  Maggie reached for the other chair and pulled it up, gesturing impatiently for Lissa to sit. “I’m pretty sure what I just saw was exactly what I think. You and Jesse? Oh my God, Lissa. Since when?”

  “Mags, you have to listen to me. Please don’t breathe a word of this to anyone. Especially Mom.” Ugh. She squeezed her eyes shut, knowing that was like asking the sky not to be blue. Winters women possessed some gene that prevented them from keeping anything to themselves. And when her mother got wind of it, the whole town would know. Gossip wasn’t limited to people outside the Winters household. Of course, her mother would never do anything maliciously. She would see at as the bragging of a happy and proud mother. Ugh, again.

  “Um, Lissa…” Maggie knew as well as she did that keeping a secret like this would be too difficult.

  “Please. If you care anything about me, just let me tell people in my own time.”

  Maggie leaned forward, eyes glowing. “So there is something going on between you.”

  “Yes. No. I don’t know.” She buried her face in her hands. “I really don’t know. It’s complicated.”

  “How cliche, Lissa, really.” But she put her hands on Lissa’s shoulders and squeezed. “I don’t know whether to be happy for you or what. I know you’ve felt something for him for a long time, but it doesn’t seem like this is quite what you’d hoped for. At least as far as I can tell.”

  She looked up at her baby sister and saw that she was pretty wise for someone so young. Then she processed her words. “What do you mean I’ve felt something for him for a long time?” She eyed her suspiciously.

  “Oh, come on. I’m not blind. Or deaf.” She had the decency to look a little sheepish. “I’ve listened in on more than one of your conversations with Lanie.”

  “Maggie!” But she couldn’t really be surprised. Monkey see, monkey do. Laughing, she added, “That figures.”

  “But Liss? I won’t say anything. Not until you tell me I can.” Maggie grinned, showing the dimple in her left cheek, and Lissa felt halfway certain that she could trust her to keep quiet. And that was saying something.

  They threw themselves into work after that, browsing through catalogs and websites of wholesale designers that they were looking to partner with. They hadn’t decided just yet how upscale the boutique would be, but Lissa was feeling pretty strongly that it should be something that appealed to all tastes and budgets. It was Willow Valley, not New York.

  Several hours later, when all the clothes were looking the same to Lissa, they decided to be done for the day.

  Maggie threw some of the catalogs she’d brought into her bag. “I’ll look at these some more before we get together again, but I have to go get a shower and get cleaned up for my date now or I’ll end up missing it altogether.”

  “Oh, is this they guy you’re going to the prom with?” Lissa hadn’t even caught his name at dinner the other night.

  “Oh, no,” Maggie exclaimed, waving her hand dismissively. “I’m going to the prom with my friend Pierce. Tonight I’m going out with Caleb.”

  Lissa shook her head. If she had been stuck on one guy forever, her little sister was the exact opposite, never getting serious about anyone. It was probably for the best, though. No sense in getting wrapped up in someone when she was leaving for school before long anyway.

  “Well, have fun. But be careful, you know” she warned, feeling like a prim grandmother.

  Maggie just laughed, then was out the door. Lissa sat still for a moment, staring at her blank computer screen, wondering if she should find Jesse and tell him she was leaving, but after the awkwardness earlier, she wasn’t sure she was ready to face him. All week she’d been on edge that the little fantasy world she was living in would come to a firm close once Jesse thought better of it. After all, he kept insisting he didn’t want to hurt her, and despite what she’d told him, she knew how things ended up with people. There were only two ways a relationship could go, and he insisted th
eirs wouldn’t be a happily ever after. Perhaps Maggie seeing them earlier had been just what he needed to push her away again.

  Lissa angrily poked the power button to shut down her computer, not sure if she was more upset at herself for putting herself in this position, or Jesse for being so ridiculous. She glanced at her desk and thought about straightening up a little, but with one look at the scattered mess, she dismissed the notion, knowing it would still be there for her tomorrow.

  She pulled her purse from the bottom drawer, then turned to leave, but stopped still at the sight of Jesse leaning against the office door watching her. How long had he been there? The firm set of his jaw looked to her as if he had made some type of decision about something.

  “We need to talk.”

  Of course.

  “Jesse, I don’t want to talk about this right now. It’s been a long day, and I’m tired.” That was true enough.

  “No, you need to hear me now before I talk myself out of this.”

  The nerve of the man! Whether she’d gotten herself into this or not, he still didn’t have to be so matter-of-fact about it. Like her feelings weren’t at stake here.

  She stalked right up to him poked her finger in his chest. “I said I don’t want to talk about it.”

  He grabbed her wrist and twisted it around her back, using it to pull her even closer to him. “What makes you so sure of that?” He lowered his head toward her, so close that she could smell the hay and scent of other earthy things that he’d been working around all day in the storage building.

  “Um, you don’t want to talk about Maggie? I mean her being here? Earlier. Seeing us together, I mean?” She was having a hard time speaking clearly, so distracting were his lips as he lowered his head closer to hers, shaking it slightly.

  “No. Well, not exactly. Though it did give me more reason to think about what I wanted to ask you earlier.” She’d completely forgotten that he said that before they were interrupted that afternoon. He pulled back slightly from her, and now he was the one to look hesitant and uncertain of her.

  “I’ve been thinking. While it’s nice to have you all to myself right now, I’m getting a little tired of only seeing you here, at work. And while I’m not complaining about the added enjoyment of work, knowing I get to kiss you whenever I feel like it, I want something else.”

  “Something else?” she echoed, not following him at all.

  He must have seen the confusion on her face because he heaved a big sigh. “I’m not saying this right. For some reason, even though I’ve done this a million times, it’s different when I say it to you.”

  She raised her eyebrows at him. “Spit it out, Kincade. My brain is too tired to figure out what you’re getting at.”

  He laughed, pulling her closer, and pressed a soft kiss to her nose. “What I’m saying, Lissa, is I’m trying to ask you out on a date, and apparently I’m getting it terribly, horribly wrong.”

  A date? That was the last thing she’d expected, but it filled her with warmth, like a mug of hot chocolate on a snowy day. And she wanted to drink it up as he stared down at her, not a little embarrassed and uncertain.

  “A million times, huh?” she teased, and he gave her a bewildered look. “Well, Jesse Kincade, for a man who’s asked out that many women, I don’t know how a single one of them ever said yes if that’s the way you go about it.”

  “Hell, just put me out of my misery now.” He pulled back from her and grinned, then rolled his eyes sardonically. “I should have known you’d be the one in a million to give me grief about it.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Lissa reached up to give him a perfunctory pat on the cheek.

  “Yes or no, Lissa.” He grew suddenly serious. “This is actually the one time in a million that I really care what the answer is.”

  Heart thoroughly melted, she reached her hand further up and tangled it in the back of his hair, pulling him back down to her and pressing her lips to his. His were warm and welcoming. “Yes, you crazy cowboy,” she whispered against his mouth, wondering how he could ever doubt that someone would say yes to him.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Jesse double checked for what felt like the hundredth time to make sure that he had everything packed for his date with Lissa. He was sitting outside her apartment building across from the town square, ready to go get her, but he was a bundle of nerves. He felt really ridiculous. After all, he had been on countless dates with many women. But he knew this was different. Just as he had admitted to Lissa on Friday.

  He hadn’t seen her yesterday, and the anticipation of being with her again after two days had him anxious to run up and grab her and get the afternoon started. He hoped she liked what he had planned for them.

  It was hard to believe how much had changed in just a week. He still had so many doubts as to the wisdom of what he and Lissa were doing, knowing that it could never go anywhere and that one or both of them were bound to end up hurt. But he couldn’t stop himself from wanting to enjoy this. She thought she had convinced him that she was content with taking what she could get from him, but he knew deep down that she was fooling herself. Still, he was enjoying being with her far too much to put a stop to it just yet, despite the knowledge that they would both suffer for it in the end.

  Not wanting to dwell on melancholy thoughts when they had such an exciting afternoon ahead of them, he jumped from his truck and walked up to her second-floor apartment and rang the bell. In under a minute, she flung the door open and was rushing out to meet him, a beautiful smile on her face.

  His felt his pulse kick up a notch at the sight of her. She was wearing a cream-colored sleeveless dress with little flowers on it that fell to her knees, and his eyes lingered on the soft, pale skin of her legs. He was definitely a fan of warmer weather.

  “Ready?” Jesse grasped her hand and interlaced his fingers with hers.

  “Absolutely.” She beamed up at him, a picture of radiance and anticipation. “What do you have planned?”

  He hadn’t told her on Friday when he had asked her, as he was still not sure at that point what he wanted to do. He knew he wanted it to be something special, not just an ordinary date at the local diner. Or even at the Old Gin.

  “It’s a surprise,” he said, giving her a mysterious look.

  She laughed and elbowed him in the side. “Look at you, trying to be all romantic.” He merely smiled and walked her to the passenger side of his truck, opening the door for her and helping her in before getting in himself.

  Lissa hummed along to the country station as he made his way down the main road that led out of town and toward the surrounding countryside.

  “Now I’m really confused,” Lissa said. “I have no idea where you’re taking me.”

  “It won’t be long now.”

  They rode along in companionable silence, neither feeling the need to talk, and Jesse loved that they could just be together like old friends. He always hated how he felt the need to make insignificant conversation on a date. And while this was still a date, it felt so far from it and yet so much more than that.

  They finally pulled up, and he shut off the engine of the truck, watching Lissa’s face as she took in the landscape. Surely she had been here before, having lived in Willow Valley her whole life, but the look of delight on her face made him smile knowing that he had chosen well. He’d brought her out to Willow Lake, a small lake that was less than fifteen minutes outside of town. It was undeveloped and mostly uninhabited, lined with willow trees along the banks, and the quiet serenity it offered on a warm spring day like this one was exactly what he was hoping for.

  “Well, here we are. Come on.” He jumped from the truck, grabbed a blanket and picnic basket from the back and went to open her door for her, but she had already hopped out and was walking toward the edge of the lake, taking in the beauty of the green willow trees and blue sky that reflected off the shimmering lake. She looked devastatingly beautiful and it was all Jesse could do not to take her in h
is arms right then and show her exactly the feelings that she was stirring up inside of him.

  The thought gave him a start, and he tried to dismiss it from his mind, not wanting to make things awkward or spoil the light mood of the afternoon. He wanted to impress her on their first real date, but he didn’t think that was the way to go about it.

  “How many people have you brought out here before?” Lissa teased, her eyes twinkling in amusement. Even though she was joking, Jesse didn’t laugh.

  “None before today.”

  The smile wavered slightly, and he saw something in her eyes that he didn’t quite recognize. Or rather, that he didn’t want to acknowledge. Yes, he was doing something different with her, something that was special and unique that he hadn’t shared with anyone else. But he didn’t want to think about why.

  “Come on, there’s a field right over there.” He reached for her and placed his hand on the small of her back, and they started up a small hill that gave them an even better view of the lake. The hill was covered in wildflowers that were just starting to take over in the warm spring weather, and after a couple minutes, he found the perfect spot and spread the blanket out in the tall grass and set down the picnic basket. Then he sat on the blanket and reached up for Lissa to join him.

  He pulled her against his side, and they sat silently for a few minutes simply taking in the beauty of the day, but Jesse was more interested in watching her as she stared out at the lake then closed her eyes and tilted her head up toward the sun, basking in its warmth. The sun was already warming her fair skin, and he could see a slight flush across her shoulders and chest in the little spring dress she wore.

  “So, what do you have in the basket there?” Lissa opened her eyes and turned toward him expectantly.

  Startled out of his thoughts, he leaned forward and busied himself with unpacking the basket. He thought he’d done pretty well if he did say so himself. He set out some cheeses and fruits and a charcuterie assortment that he had picked up at the local deli. He also had a bottle of wine and two glasses. He made quick work of pouring up their wine, then lifted his in the air.