She was probably waiting for him to apologize. He cleared his throat a bit and that seemed to bring her to life. She leaned forward so her elbows were on the table and she fixed her gaze directly on him. He tried not to notice the way her V-neck T-shirt inched down, revealing just a hint of cleavage. She raked her hair back and her blond curls spilled over her shoulders in a haphazard way—he had a momentary flash of what she would look like in bed in the morning with tousled hair and a sleepy smile.
But she was not smiling now and her blue eyes were terrifyingly direct. She seemed to see everything about him. Was it his imagination or was she looking into his soul?
Okay, now he was officially psyching himself out. Be a man and apologize already. He sat up a little straighter in his chair. “Look, Holly, I just—”
At the same time, Holly started, “Jack, I think I owe—”
They stopped and shared an awkward laugh.
The waitress arrived with their bottle of wine and they waited in silence as she poured two glasses. Jack all but lunged for his when she was done.
When she walked away he tried again. “I’m sorry I left you that night.”
“I’m so sorry I ran away that night,” Holly blurted out at the same time.
He was sure his look of surprise matched the wide-eyed shocked on Holly’s face as they each registered what the other had said.
“Wait, what?” he said.
“You left me?” Holly repeated.
They stared at one another again. She ran away? So she hadn’t been waiting for him to come to her bed that night? All this time he’d been picturing her lying there on the bed, perhaps naked, depending on the particular daydream, waiting for him to return once he’d gotten protection but she—
“You never came back that night?” He couldn’t tell if she sounded angry or amused. Or both.
He shook his head. He opened his mouth to speak but was stuck on where to begin. How to explain that he had never wanted a woman more than he’d wanted her that night. The kiss they’d shared had been so hot, she was so passionate. But the moment he’d stepped out of her guest room at the villa and into the bracing night air, the reality of what he was about to do hit him. He was going to seduce his friend’s sister, a sweet, innocent young woman who’d had too much champagne and was high on wedding romance. He knew he couldn’t go through with it no matter how badly he wanted her. “I had a crisis of conscience,” he said. One of her brows arched mockingly and he added, “You weren’t waiting for me?”
She shook her head and her lips were twitching upward. Amusement seemed to be winning out. “I guess you could call it a crisis of conscience.”
Their eyes met again and this time they both burst out laughing.
“So you’re not mad at me then?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Not as long as you’re not mad at me.”
He reached a hand out across the table to shake on it. “Friends?”
She slipped her hand into his to shake on it and he knew then he’d made a mistake. The touch of her warm little hand was all it took to be overwhelmed with awareness of this woman. She jerked her hand back quickly. Had she felt it too?
They sipped their wine for a moment and then she looked up at him with an adorable little wiggle of her nose. “Hey Jack, what are you doing here?”
* * * *
Holly watched Jack toy with his wine glass. Comprehension dawned—Mister Too Cool for School was actually nervous. She’d thought he was here to here to give her hell for running away on him but now she was even more intrigued. She leaned over the table and caught his eye.
“If Ivy and the baby are okay…” she prompted.
“Well, uh,” he paused as a steaming tray filled with entrees passed by their table. “Are you hungry? I’m hungry. I’m going to grab us some menus.”
“Um, okay,” she drawled. She wasn’t trying to be rude, but really, finding the guy she’d jilted a month earlier in a foreign city, in her hostel of all places…well, it was a tad disconcerting.
She was still coming to grips with the fact that he hadn’t returned to her bedroom that night. She could still feel the nervous anticipation as he’d walked out of the bedroom, promising in that sexy voice of his that he would be right back. She was lying there, clothed but thoroughly disheveled, and more turned on than she’d ever been in her entire life. She had been so excited for what was to come—and then it had happened. Panic struck. The sound of her heartbeat warred with the whirring of the overhead fan. She’d landed in the world of reality with a thud and she was overwhelmed. And then she did what she’d always done best. She ran.
And all this time she’d thought that he’d come back to her room only to find an empty bed and her favorite pair of earrings that she’d accidentally left behind. But no, he had left her there. What if she hadn’t fled? She would have lain there for hours wondering what had happened, what had gone wrong…maybe she should be pissed.
She tried to cling to the anger but she couldn’t make it stick. It seemed the height of hypocrisy to be angry with him for something she’d done as well. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a little hurt, whether it was rational or not.
She watched Jack trying to get the waitress’s attention. He still hadn’t answered her. Had he really come all this way to apologize?
Ugh, that was equally embarrassing and sweet.
Or maybe…maybe he was just looking for an excuse to see her again. Maybe he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her either. What if he too had been fantasizing about that night, wondering what would have happened if they’d seen it through. If they hadn’t run.
She had a flash of his hands on her, caressing her through the gown as his lips moved over her neck, her shoulders. Maybe he’d spent the past month reliving that night too. A wave of heat coursed through her, so intense her mouth went dry.
She took a sip of the wine. She should probably eat some dinner before she drank much more.
The waitress handed them their menus and it was all Holly could do to concentrate on the words. Her mind couldn’t seem to focus; it was too busy obsessing over the man sitting across from her. When the server came back to take their order, Holly picked the first item that caught her eye and handed back the menu.
Alone once more and without the distraction of food, Holly and Jack squared off. Holly forced a smile despite the butterflies that threatened to overtake her stomach. If there was one thing she knew how to do it was fake confidence no matter how bizarre the situation. “So tell me, Jack, you didn’t really come to my hostel just to apologize, did you?”
One side of his mouth turned up in a grin that made the atmosphere seem a million times thinner. There was not nearly enough oxygen in this restaurant. He’d been thinking of her, too. That was it. He had come after her. She couldn’t name the emotion that was wreaking havoc with her senses, making it difficult to breathe or see or hear. It was excitement and fear and lust and nerves all rolled into one.
“So the reason I’m here,” he started. “Your sister did send me. Er, I mean, I offered to come here on your sister’s behalf….”
Jack’s awkwardness made Holly’s anxiety increase a million times over. Toying with the napkin in her lap, her voice came out sharper than she intended. “Just spit it out.”
“Benjamin’s conference is in Paris, Texas, not Paris, France.”
Holly’s blood ran cold at Benjamin’s name coming out of Jack’s mouth. She sat in stunned silence for a moment as the rest of his words made their way to her fuzzy brain. Guilt was the first emotion to deliver a sucker punch. Here she’d been daydreaming about Jack while she was supposed to be hunting down her soon-to-be fiancé for a romantic surprise. What kind of almost girlfriend did that make her? A terrible one.
And then the rest of the sentence clicked into place in Holly’s brain. Humiliation washed over her in a tidal wave. She struggled to catch her breath. Oh no. Not only was she an idiot of the first order but this man—Jack Everett, of
all people—knew it. He knew that she was here chasing after the man she couldn’t even call boyfriend. How much had Ivy told him?
“Oh God,” she muttered. She picked up her glass and took a gulp of wine.
When she set it down she found Jack watching her with…ugh, was that pity? That was not acceptable.
She took another large sip of wine and forced a grin. “Guess that’s what I get for being romantic,” she quipped. “So how did Ivy know that—”
“Your mom.”
“Right, of course.” She’d never fully understood the desire to be swallowed up by the ground until that moment.
Jack picked up a fork and toyed with it. “Ivy wasn’t sure when you would call again or check your emails and she didn’t want you running all over Paris on a wild goose chase.”
Holly had to laugh at that. That was exactly how she’d describe her day. She’d been on a wild goose chase to find a wannabe boyfriend who wasn’t there. Jack seemed to loosen up considerably when she laughed. He was grinning at her as he reached for his glass. He was probably just relieved she hadn’t burst into tears at the news.
“Thank you,” she forced herself to say. “For going out of your way to save me from…” Save her from, what? Herself? Heat rose to her cheeks. There was no sign of pity in his eyes but she was certain she felt it oozing from him under the guise of good intentions.
“No problem, it wasn’t out of my way.”
“Well, I guess it was my good luck that you were in Paris during my time of need.”
She forced a smile. He was lying. She wasn’t sure how she knew but it was obvious. He was a good liar but she was better. She’d been able to see through his charming little white lies from the first moment they’d met, when he’d introduced himself to her at the rehearsal dinner. He’d told her he loved weddings and she’d called him out on the lie.
She almost called him out on this lie but stopped herself. She appreciated the lie for what it was—he was trying to make her feel less pathetic.
Nice try. The reality of her situation was slowly sinking in and she tried not to let the horror show on her face. Her stomach roiled and for a moment, she thought she might be sick. She had blown so much money to come here and it was all for nothing. Plus, she’d missed out on another chance to win Benjamin over. And now, all the world—well, her family and Jack, at least—had witnessed her desperation. And that’s what it was. Desperation. Up until that point she had been able to convince herself that it was a romantic gesture but now…
“Are you all right?” Jack asked.
Holly’s head jerked in a nod and she took another sip of wine. The waitress set down some bread and she lunged for it. She needed to sober up otherwise she would never be able to control the emotions that were threatening to eat her alive.
“So this Benjamin guy—” Jack started.
Holly winced. “I’d rather not talk about it.” She was embarrassed enough, the last thing she wanted to do was talk about her infatuation with Benjamin…and certainly not with Jack, of all people.
“Fair enough,” Jack said. “But I really am glad I got an excuse to see you….”
Truth. She could be a human lie detector around this guy.
“I’m glad we had a chance to clear the air about…that night,” he finished.
That night. There it was again, larger than life in her mind, like an incredibly vivid dream that lingers long after you wake.
“Me too,” she said. “I mean, we’re going to be seeing so much of each other.”
“Right, between Danny and Ivy and now the new baby, we’ll be seeing each other all the time.” Holly’s heart rate picked up speed. He was right. There was no escaping it. Jack would be a constant in her life.
He looked so eager to make things right, to make her happy, that she went along with the jovial attitude. “At major holidays and life events, at the very least,” she agreed.
“Right. So I’m glad we had a chance to clear the air,” he said again.
She forced a bright smile. “And thank God we didn’t…you know.”
He blinked at her in surprise for a moment before quickly agreeing with her a little too wholeheartedly. “Yeah, I mean…yes. Absolutely. So true. That would have made things really…complicated.”
“And awkward,” she added.
He nodded as he reached for the cheese plate the waitress set down. “Oh definitely. So awkward.”
She told herself she should not be offended that he was so enthusiastically happy they didn’t have sex. She’d said it first, after all. But still. His eager agreement wasn’t exactly good for her ego.
She raised her glass, “To the best mistake we ever avoided.”
He clinked his glass against hers, “Amen to that.”
* * * *
The relief Jack felt at having gotten the apology off his chest was tempered by the fact that it had apparently been completely unnecessary.
She had left him.
He watched her tear apart the bread and shove a piece in her mouth. He didn’t know whether he should be relieved or angry. Though he was glad he hadn’t hurt her feelings, his ego was more than a little bruised. He had been so sure she was into it—into him. He thought they’d had something special that night and now it turned out she’d run away from him as soon as his back was turned.
The waitress headed toward them with steaming plates of food and Holly’s eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store. She was more beautiful than he’d remembered. He’d started to think he was exaggerating her charms, but then he’d spotted her in the dingy hostel. His memory hadn’t done her justice. No picture or mere memory could capture her larger-than-life charisma or her zest for life. She practically glowed with an innate joy, a youthful excitement that had nothing to do with age and everything to do with the way she viewed the world around her.
And then there was the fact that she was just plain hot. She had killer curves, wild blond curls, and big blue eyes…eyes that were currently ogling the meat and cheese selection the waitress set before them.
Everything about this woman screamed sweetness and light. She was the type of woman you take home to meet the family. She was clearly long-term girlfriend material, it was no wonder she’d run from him that night. Isn’t that why he’d fled as well? They both knew that she deserved better than him.
The food had arrived just in time. He was starting to think of ways to bring up Benjamin again but he was saved by the distraction that food provided. He didn’t know how much he really wanted to hear about this other man. Clearly Holly had feelings for the guy but did he really need to hear the details?
Ivy didn’t like Benjamin, that’s all he needed to know. Ivy had good judgment in men—after all, she just married one of his best friends. If she didn’t think Benjamin was good enough for her sister, neither did he.
Of course, Ivy hadn’t come out and said she didn’t like him but he knew his friend well and it was obvious that she had her misgivings. That was good enough for Jack to thoroughly dislike him.
He knew how to scare off other men and, even better, he was an expert in the art of distraction. He would just have to take Holly’s mind off of the loser so she could find someone worthy of her awesomeness.
All the better that he’d come here himself. Even though “here” was Paris, a city he’d been avoiding for the last few years, ever since his brother and sister-in-law moved here for Robbie’s new job.
He couldn’t think about Robbie right now. Things had gotten so strained between him and his older brother that he didn’t know where to begin to make things right.
But Holly—he could make things right for her.
She looked up then, as if just realizing that there was a world beyond the food on her plate. She was adorable when she was voracious. A bit frightening, but adorable.
“I was really hungry,” she mumbled around a mouthful of food, a slightly sheepish look on her face.
“Feel better?” he asked.
She rolled her eyes in ecstasy. “Much.” He refilled their wine glasses as Holly settled back in her seat, clearly more at ease now that she was fed.
“So how long have you been in Paris?” she asked.
He fiddled with the fork on his plate. “I just got here today,” he said. He knew where this was going.
Her brows furrowed together as she studied him and he was uncomfortably aware of the intensity of her stare. Why did he have the feeling she could see right through him?
Her eyes narrowed. “Wait, you didn’t come all the way to Paris just to find me, did you?”
He opened his mouth to say no but stopped with his mouth open. Somehow he knew she would see right through his lie.
“Yes,” he admitted.
He thought for a moment that she would ask why but she didn’t. Perhaps she was just as averse to rehashing their apology conversation. He figured neither of them came out looking great in that debacle.
“I’d assumed you were here for business. Or for pleasure, maybe.” Her voice was soft and for a moment her eyes didn’t meet his. There was a vulnerability there that he’d never seen before. She looked…embarrassed. Or hurt, maybe. The expression was there and gone so quickly he wondered if he imagined it. Then her gaze met his again and for one crazy moment he was certain she could see everything—every lie he’d told, every friend he’d let down, every heart he’d broken.
Her next question cut into that disturbing train of thought. “Do you like Paris?” she asked. Her head was cocked to the side and he again had the uncomfortable sensation that she would see through any lie or evasion.
He let out a sigh, “Not really, no.”
Her eyes widened in surprise but she didn’t give him a hard time, which he appreciated. Most people he knew would try to sell him on the romantic city’s illustrious charms or go on and on about the amazing food. He knew all of that. His aversion to the city had nothing to do with the city itself.
The Accidental Boyfriend Page 4