The Matchmaker's Happy Ending: Boardroom Bride and Groom

by Shirley Jump

  But he said he had quit, walked away. Then returned to do things his own way. Did that mean he had changed? That other businesses weren’t being hurt like her father’s? That her biggest argument against him was fizzling?

  “I guess we never outgrow the need for a parent, huh?” he said.

  She heard the echoes of her own loss in his voice, and it muddled the issues. She wanted to hate him—

  And instead commiserated with Jack, this complex, layered man who had gone through so many of the same hurts as she had.

  “Jack! Jack!” A blonde waved at them from a few feet away. A dark-haired man stood beside her, loaded down with a diaper bag, two lawn chairs and a small cooler.

  Jack grinned, then got to his feet and put a hand out to Marnie. “Come on, let me introduce you to my cousin Ashley. She’s the mom of the talented musician we’re here to see.”

  “Oh, I don’t think I should...” she said.

  “I promise, they won’t bite,” he said, then took her hand and hauled her to her feet. So fast, she collided with his chest. He grinned and held her gaze for one long, hot moment. “Though I can’t promise I won’t.”

  A delicious thrill raced through her veins. Marnie released Jack’s hand and bent down to straighten her skirt, and break that hypnotic connection. “Uh, maybe we should hurry because the concert’s about to start.” Anything to get some distance, some breathing room.

  But then Jack took her hand again to help her as they picked their way among the lawn chairs and blankets and people on the lawn. He shifted his touch to the small of Marnie’s back when they reached his cousin. “Hey, Ashley,” he said. “This Marnie. Marnie, this is my cousin Ashley and her husband Joe.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Ashley said, shaking hands with Marnie. Her husband echoed the sentiment, then nodded toward a little girl running across the back lawn.

  “I’ll be back. Have to go catch a runaway toddler.” Joe lowered the things in his arms to the ground, then headed off at a light jog. Ashley unfolded the lawn chairs and placed them on either side of the cooler and diaper bag.

  “I hear you have a talented son,” Marnie said.

  “Jack likes to brag about him, but yeah.” Ashley’s face lit with a mother’s pride. “We think he’s pretty amazing. And thank you, Jack, for making the time to be here.”

  “You know I’d never miss something like this.”

  “He’ll be thrilled you came.” Ashley gave Jack’s hand a squeeze. “You’re a great godfather.” Then she turned to Marnie and grinned. “If the way he treats his godchildren is any indication, this one’s going to be a great dad. Just in case you were wondering.”

  Marnie’s face heated. “Oh, he and I, we’re not...together.”

  “Pity,” Ashley said. “Because I’d love to spoil Jack’s kids rotten. Maybe even buy them a drum set for Christmas, like he did for our kids.”

  Jack chuckled. “Hey, that drum set led to him being on that stage.”

  “True. But next time, I’m letting my kids sleep over at your house when they need to practice.” Ashley laughed.

  The warmth and love between the cousins mirrored the camaraderie Marnie had with her own family, and again showed another dimension to Jack Knight. A man who loved and was loved, not the man she’d vilified for years. Her resistance lowered even more.

  The three of them talked for a little while longer, then Jack took Marnie’s hand. “They’re about to start,” he said. “We better get back to our spot.”

  Joe returned with a tow-headed toddler in his arms. “She says she wants Uncle Jack.”

  The girl scrambled out of her father’s arms and up into Jack’s. “Uncle Jack, are you comin’ to our house later? Mamma made cake.”

  “Cake, huh?” Jack beeped the girl’s nose. “Is it as sweet as you?”

  She nodded. “Uh-huh. It’s chocolate. With bubber dream.”

  “Buttercream,” Ashley corrected, moving to take her daughter and hand her a juice box. “Bad for the hips and the heart, but oh, so good.”

  Jack chuckled. “Sure. I’ll stop by tonight. And I might just have a surprise if you’re good.”

  The little girl straightened and nodded, as solemn as a judge. “Imma good girl.”

  “Of course you are,” he said quietly. Then he ruffled her hair. “Okay, good girl, watch your brother. I’ll see you later.”

  Marnie and Jack walked back over to their blanket, and took their seats again. “Your family was really nice,” she said. And they were. She had liked them, a lot.

  “Thanks. I never had any brothers or sisters, so my cousins are like my siblings. Most of them still live in the area, and I see them pretty often. If I ever have a kid, I’m calling Ashley and Joe for advice.” He sent a fond look in their direction.

  “She’s adorable.”

  “She’s four. Smart as a whip, and a bottle full of sass, according to her mother, but yes, adorable.”

  Jack’s face showed the soft spot in his heart for his cousin’s children. For his family. It drew her in, even as she tried to keep distance between them. Marnie kept her hands away from his under the guise of eating, but really, it was because it had become far too easy and natural to connect with Jack. To let down that wall, to let herself...be.

  To fall for him.

  “How’s your sandwich?” Jack asked.

  She jerked her attention back to him. “Oh, uh, perfect.” And it was. Low-key, easy, simple. Marnie found herself giving in to the relaxing day, the bucolic setting, the contentment of good food. Just the two of them—okay and three hundred other adults and kids—enjoying a lunch outdoors. The first band began to play, and both Jack and Marnie sat back and listened, while they ate their sandwiches and sipped the wine. As the first song edged into the second, then the third, she started to truly enjoy herself. Maybe it was the sunshine. The food in her belly. The wine. But by the time the second band came on the stage, Marnie was leaning on her elbows, with Jack so close, she could feel his shoulder brush hers every once in a while. She didn’t move away. She wasn’t sure she could if she wanted to.

  “This is my cousin’s school coming on stage now,” he said, turning to speak to her.

  She pivoted at the same time, which brought their mouths within kissing distance. Heat ignited in the space between them, and her gaze dropped to his mouth. Anticipation pooled in her gut.

  The band launched into an up-tempo jazz selection. Marnie jerked back, clasped her hands in her lap and concentrated on the music. Not on almost kissing Jack.

  The quartet played plucky notes accented by a soft touch on the drums, and occasional taps of the high hat. It was a simple group, with drums, a bass, a sax, and a piano. The players would look up from time to time, grin at one another, and then play through a complex section of the music. The last few notes tapered off and applause began to swell.

  “They were terrific,” Marnie said over the sound of their clapping hands. “Which one is your cousin?”

  “The pianist.” Pride beamed in Jack’s features. “He’s a great kid. Really talented. He’s applied at Berklee, and he has a great chance of getting in.”

  “I can see why.” She sat back as the band exited the stage, and made room for the next one. “I wish I had even an ounce of their musical ability. I couldn’t carry a tune if you taped one to my mouth.”

  He chuckled. “Oh, I don’t know about that. You have such a pretty voice, I bet you can sing.”

  She put up her hands to ward off the possibility, but the compliment warmed her. “My sister Kat, who became a graphic designer, got all the creative genes in the family.”

  “I think matchmaking is pretty creative, don’t you?”

  “True.” She leaned her head on her shoulder and studied him. “What about you? Any creativity in those genes?”

&
nbsp; He grinned. “Depends on what kind of creativity you’re looking for.”

  Her face heated—God, what was it with this man, turning her face red all the time—as she realized the double entendre. “I meant the ones in your DNA, not the bedroom kind.”

  “I know.” He leaned over and ran a finger over her cheek. Her pulse skittered. “I just like to see you blush.”

  Oh, my. This man hit all the right buttons, and as much as part of her cursed him for doing it, another part liked it. Very much. She’d dated men, but none had knocked her so off-kilter, leaving her breathless, distracted, wanting.

  When he looked at her, she felt beautiful. When he smiled like that, she felt sexy. And when his voice lowered like that, it set off a chain reaction of desire deep, deep inside her body.

  She jerked around to a sitting position, drawing her knees up to her chest. “Oh, look, the next band is on stage.”

  Was she that desperate for a man in her life that she’d fall for the one man who had helped ruin her father?

  Or that scared of falling for someone who turned her world so inside-out? Being with Jack was like racing down a track on the back of a runaway car. And that was the one thing that made Marnie want to bolt.

  A few minutes later, the concert was over, and the attendees began gathering up blankets and lawn chairs, and start trekking back across the grassy lawn to their cars. The skies had begun to darken, and in the distance, Marnie heard the low rumble of thunder. “We better hurry,” she said, “before we get caught in the storm.”

  But even as she bundled up the blanket and helped gather the remnants of their lunch, Marnie had a feeling she’d already gotten caught by a storm. One made by Jack Knight.

  * * *

  They didn’t move fast enough.

  A second later, the thick gray clouds broke open with an angry burst of wind and water, dropping rain in fast sheets over the Esplanade and the hundreds of people scrambling for their cars. Jack grabbed Marnie’s hand. “Come on, let’s go!”

  They charged across the grass, weaving through the other people, as the rain fell. Finally, they reached the car, and collapsed against it in a tangle of arms, legs and picnic supplies. “Wait!” she said. “I dropped the blanket.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get another.” He fumbled in his pocket for the keys, then unlocked Marnie’s door. A second later, they were both safe inside the dry car. He took the picnic supplies from her and tossed everything onto the back seat. The leather seats would probably end up ruined, but right now, Jack didn’t care.

  Even with the rain, the day had been one of the best he could remember having. All his life, he’d sucked at personal relationships, putting the people in his life on the sidelines while he concentrated on work. He’d worried that he’d be his father’s son with women, too, that he would leave a trail of broken hearts to match the trail of broken companies.

  No more.

  For the first time in forever, Jack wanted to try harder, to be better, for himself and with others. He didn’t want to just give back to companies, or connect with business owners, or repay those his father had hurt, he wanted to do the same turnaround with himself. He used to think that if he could just make amends for his father’s choices, he would be complete. But now he wanted more.

  He wanted everything his father had never appreciated. The white picket fence, the two kids, the dog in the yard. The woman who greeted him with a smile at the end of the day.

  Marnie had brought that out in him. She was a challenge, a puzzle, one he wanted to solve. He had a feeling this complex, beautiful woman would keep him on his toes for a really, really long time. And oh, how he craved that.

  Craved her.

  Marnie shook her head, then swiped off the worst of the rain. Even soaking wet, she looked amazing. Water had darkened her lashes, plastered her hair to her head, and soaked the pale yellow shirt she wore, until it outlined every delicious inch of her torso. She leaned down and plucked at her skirt. “God, I’m soaked. Maybe we should hit a Laundromat and throw ourselves into a dryer.” She glanced up, and caught him looking at her. “What?”

  Desire pulsed in his veins, pounded in his heart. Coupled with the darkened interior of the car, the intimacy of the black leather seats, and the rain drumming a steady beat on the roof, it seemed as if they were the only two people in the world.

  “You’re soaking wet,” he said.

  She laughed. “I know. I said that.”

  “And still one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen in my life.” That caused another blush to fill her cheeks. Damn, he liked that about her. A touch of vulnerable, mixed in with the strong. He reached out, brushed a lock of hair off her cheek. It left a little glistening trail of water, and before he could think better of it, he leaned across the console and kissed that line, kissed all the way down her cheek, until he moved a few millimeters to the left and caught her lips with his.

  “We...shouldn’t do this,” Marnie whispered against his mouth.

  “Okay,” he said, then kissed her again. She tasted of wine and vanilla and all he wanted right now was more, more, and even more of her. He slid one hand up, along the smooth side of her blouse, then around the curve of her breast. The thin, wet fabric offered almost no barrier against the lace edges of her bra, the stiff peak of her nipple.

  When his fingers danced over it, Marnie gasped and arched forward. “Jack.”

  He’d heard his name a million times in his life. Never had that single syllable sounded so sweet. He opened his mouth against hers, and with a groan, deepened the kiss, shifting to capture more of her breast, more of her, more of everything.

  Her hands came up around his back, clutching at him, nearly dragging him over the console. Her kiss turned wild, ferocious, and that sent him into a dizzying tailspin of want, need. The rain pounded harder, thunder booming above them, lightning crackling in the sky, as the storm between them became a wild ride of hands and tongues.

  His fingers went to the buttons on her blouse, then stilled when he heard a horn honk, the rev of an engine. Damn. They were still in the parking lot, surrounded by other people. “We should take this somewhere more private,” he said. His breath heaved in and out of his chest.

  She drew back, her lips red and swollen, her breath also coming in little fast gasps. Her green eyes met his, held, then her breathing slowed. She shook her head. “How do you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “Get me to forget all the very good reasons I have for not letting you get close. We can’t do this, Jack. Not now, not ever. It’s...wrong.”

  “It sure felt right. And explosive. And crazy, and a hundred other things.”

  She sighed. “That’s the problem.”

  The rain began to slow, one of those fast-moving storms that passed almost as fast as it started. The parking lot cleared out, families going home to dinners in the oven, homework at the kitchen table. He put his hand on the ignition but didn’t turn the key. “Then why did you kiss me?”

  She bit her lip. “Because, for a little while, I forgot. And just...was.”

  “Forgot what?”

  But Marnie just shook her head and asked him to drive her home. He started the car, pulled out of the lot, and headed southwest. But as he watched the Hatch Shell get smaller and smaller in his rearview mirror, Jack had a feeling he’d lost more than just a blanket today.

  CHAPTER NINE

  JACK HAD RUINED HER.

  Ever since the walk to the neighborhood coffee shop and the jazz concert on the lawn, she’d found her office too confining. She’d spent more time outside in the last few days than she had all year, and as the morning wore on and the sun made its journey across the sky, Marnie got more and more antsy. She paced. She hummed. She fiddled. In short, she didn’t do a damned thing productive.

&nb
sp; Erica got to her feet, and grabbed Marnie’s car keys. “Okay, that’s it. I’m tired of you bouncing in place. Let’s get out of here and go grab something to eat. Preferably something chocolate and really, really bad for us.”

  “But I’ve got all this work—”

  “To do tomorrow. It can wait, especially considering you haven’t done much of it so far today.” Erica arched a brow, then grinned.

  “Why are you smiling about that?” Marnie ran a hand through her hair and let out a sigh. “All it does is put me further behind. I have this long list of clients waiting for me to find them a match. All these events to organize and—”

  “Step out of your comfort zone, Marn, and blow off work today. There are days when you are wound tighter than a ball of yarn, which is pretty much par for the course with you, oh, control freak sister. But these last couple weeks...” Erica shrugged.

  “What?”

  “These last couple weeks, you’ve been smiling and laughing, and...” Erica put a hand on her sister’s and met Marnie’s gaze. “Well, it’s been nice.”

  Marnie refused to give Jack Knight any credit for the change in her attitude. If anything, he’d made things worse, not better. Except...

  The walk through the quaint neighborhood and the jazz concert at the Hatch Shell had been fun. Even running in the rain had left her breathless, laughing. It had all been a huge step out of her comfort zone and oddly, she’d enjoyed it. What had he said to her the other day?

  You should let your hair down more often.

  Right or wrong, Jack Knight had gotten her to do exactly that in the last couple weeks. She’d slept better at night, worked better during the day, and the tension had eased in her shoulders. Maybe Jack had a point. She hated that he did, but he did.

  “So...who is he?” Erica asked.

  “Who’s who?”

  “The man who has you all atwitter. You’re like a girl in junior high.” Erica pointed at her sister. “There, that. You’re blushing. You never blush.”