Brenda Jackson The Westmoreland Collection: ZaneCanyonStern

by Brenda Jackson

  “Yes, you were, and I noticed you’ve been smiling all morning. Something happen last night on your date with Stern?”

  JoJo lifted a brow. “It wasn’t a date. We merely went to a movie. And who told you about it?”

  “You did. Don’t you remember?”

  In all honesty, she didn’t. But there was a possibility that she had absentmindedly mentioned it because it wasn’t unusual for her and Stern to go out. “No, I don’t remember, but it doesn’t matter. This is Wednesday, our busiest day of the week, and I intend for it to be a good day.”

  “So if it’s not Stern putting a smile on your face, it must be because you know that Walter Carmichael is here today.”

  “Is he?” she asked, wondering why her body wasn’t reacting. No increase in her pulse. No deep pounding of her heart. No unsteady breathing.

  “Yes, he’s in Beeker’s bay. He looks good as usual.”

  “Why is he here? He doesn’t have a tune-up for another three thousand miles.”

  “Something about a tear in the leather seat on the passenger side. I heard him tell Beeker it was caused by the buckle from some woman’s boot. He wasn’t too happy about it. I guess you should go out and say hello to your soon-to-be Boo.”

  JoJo wiped the grease from her hands before grabbing her clipboard off her desk. She then smiled over at Wanda. “I think I will.”

  Moments later, JoJo entered the bay where Beeker stood talking to Walter Carmichael. From Walter’s profile she saw similarities between him and Stern. Both were tall, well-dressed and handsome. But that’s where the similarities ended. Although Stern wore serious expressions a lot of the time, he had a smile that snuck up on you. Stern’s smile would curve the corners of his lips and practically take your breath away. She’d seen Walter Carmichael smile only once and that’s when she had complimented him on how well he took care of his car.

  Both men glanced up when they saw her and she smiled in greeting. “Hello, Mr. Carmichael. Glad to see you again.”

  “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the tear in my seat,” he said, sounding annoyed. “I’m just glad you have a good upholstery team. Beeker assures me the seat can be repaired as good as new.”

  “Then I’m sure it can be.” JoJo knew she wasn’t looking her best. She was wearing her work uniform, work shoes and a cap, but still...the man wasn’t giving her a sideways glance. She decided not to let it bother her. On Saturday night he would see that she could clean up really nice.

  “Well, if you need anything else, let me know. We appreciate our customers.”

  She really hadn’t expected him to say anything in return, but it would have been nice to hear something like...thank you. Instead, he turned back to Beeker and began discussing another car-related issue, dismissing her.

  She broke into the conversation, saying, “Well, I’ve got work to do. Have a good day, Mr. Carmichael.”

  Instead of responding, he merely nodded, dismissing her again as he continued his conversation with Beeker. Seeing he had no interest in her whatsoever, she left Beeker’s bay to return to her own. She’d seen the work log; it would be a long and busy day. She didn’t have time to be annoyed with a man who wasn’t interested. But she hoped she would get his attention when he saw her Saturday night.

  Eight hours later, feeling totally exhausted, she entered her home through the garage. As soon as she reached her bedroom she snatched the cap off her head, stripped off her clothes and headed for the bathroom to take a shower. After that, she would rest up a minute and then throw on something casual before heading out to meet with Pam.

  Instead of driving the distance to Westmoreland Country, which was on the outskirts of town, she was meeting Pam in downtown Denver. Pam was going to be in town checking out an empty building she was thinking about purchasing for the acting school she wanted to open. She already had one such school in Wyoming, where she used to live, and she wanted to start another one here in Colorado. She and Pam would have dinner together at Larry’s, a café around the corner from the potential school building and a short drive from where JoJo lived.

  JoJo had worked on a total of eleven cars today, doing various things, from changing the oil to installing a couple of alternators, and she was bone-tired. She could barely keep her eyes open when she stepped into the shower. However, once the water hit her face she felt more alive. All day she had been too busy to think about that kiss she’d shared with Stern last night, but on the drive home, and now, she couldn’t get it out of her mind. Warm sensations flowed through her just thinking about it.

  Of course she’d known she lacked knowledge in certain sexual areas, like kissing, but even without a wealth of experience she didn’t think it got any better than it had been with Stern. The man’s kiss made her body quiver inside. There was no doubt he was an expert. She didn’t want to think of the number of women he’d kissed to reach that status. The idea of the many women Stern messed around with had never bothered her before, so why was it bothering her now?

  She knew the answer, which was why she’d created this plan in the first place. She needed a diversion, even if that meant going after someone like Walter. She hoped he’d just been having a bad day and that his attitude today wasn’t the norm.

  After drying herself off, she quickly went to her closet to pick out something to wear and suddenly noted that her wardrobe contained mostly blouses, T-shirts and jeans. She owned a few pairs of slacks and a couple of pantsuits—black, brown and navy. But no dresses. Whenever she had to attend a formal event, like a wedding or a funeral, she wore a pantsuit.

  At the hunting lodge, one of Stern’s suggestions had been for her to show off her legs. That meant a shopping trip. She would bring that up with Pam when they met.

  A part of her was getting excited about all of her plans and the upcoming weekend. In the end, she hoped all of these changes worked out in her favor.

  * * *

  Dillon stuck his head in the door. “You’re still here?”

  “Come in,” Stern called out as he leaned back in his chair. “Yes, I thought I would work late to catch up on a few things. I see that we’ll be closing the Harvey deal next week.”

  “Let’s keep our fingers crossed that it really happens this time. Karl Harvey has postponed signing this thing too often to suit me. It will be great if we finally get that tract of land in Minnesota. According to Riley, we already have a potential investor who wants to build a medical complex there.”

  Stern nodded. “I know why I’m still here at this hour, but what’s your excuse? It’s almost six o’clock.”

  Dillon smiled. “I’m meeting Pam later. She came into town to meet with the owners of that warehouse.”

  “The one she wants to turn into an acting school?”

  “Yes, and then later she’s meeting with JoJo at Larry’s.”

  Stern raised a brow. “JoJo?”

  “Yes,” Dillon said, coming into the office, closing the door behind him and taking the chair in front of Stern’s desk. “Something about beauty tips or a makeover or something.”

  Stern tensed at the thought of JoJo moving ahead with her plans. “Dil, can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “If your best friend asked a favor of you, would you do it?”

  Dillon was thoughtful for a minute before he said, “Depends on what the favor is. I won’t break the law for anyone.”

  “It doesn’t involve breaking the law.”

  “Then I’d make sure it wouldn’t be immoral, unethical or harmful to anyone. If all that works out then yes, I would do the favor.”

  Now it was Stern’s turn to be thoughtful as he built a steeple with his fingers. “But what if this favor could change the dynamics of your relationship with your best friend?”

  Dillon didn’t say anything for a long moment. �
�In that case, I would think long and hard about whether or not it was what either of us wanted or could handle.”

  * * *

  JoJo smiled when she walked into Larry’s and saw Pam had already been seated. As always, Pam looked radiant. JoJo could see how Dillon had fallen in love with his wife so quickly.

  “I hope you haven’t been waiting long,” JoJo said as she gave Pam a hug before sliding into the chair across the table.

  “Not at all. I took the liberty of indulging in a glass of wine. It’s been one of those days.”

  “Tell me about it,” JoJo said, grinning. “I was under the hood of eleven cars too many today.”

  “But you enjoy your work,” Pam said.

  “Immensely.”

  Pam smiled. “And from your phone call I understand there’s a man you’re trying to impress?”

  “Yes.” JoJo paused when the waiter came to take her drink order. When he left she said, “I have a good idea where he will be this Saturday night and I want to go there, looking totally different than I do when he sees me at the shop. In other words, I want a grand entrance that will knock off his socks. Can your guy do that?”

  When JoJo had talked to Pam yesterday, Pam had said the guy she used as a hairstylist could also do wonders with makeup. He wasn’t heavy-handed and applied just enough to reveal a woman’s inner beauty.

  “Absolutely. Ritz is fabulous and I would love for you to meet him.”

  Excitement poured through JoJo veins. “I’d like that.”

  “So you want me to make the appointment?”

  “Yes. Please.”

  Pam beamed. “Consider it done. And you’ll probably need a manicure and pedicure. Even a wax.”

  JoJo tried not to frown as she wondered if Walter Carmichael was worth all the changes she was about to make.

  “And what about an outfit?” Pam interrupted her thoughts to ask.

  The waiter sat JoJo’s glass of wine in front of her. She took a sip. “Stern thinks I should wear a dress.”

  Pam lifted a brow. “Does he?”

  JoJo nodded. “He said I have a great pair of legs and that I don’t show them enough.”

  “Interesting,” Pam said, looking at JoJo over her glass of wine.

  “In fact, the entire makeover thing was his idea.”

  “Was it really?” Pam asked.

  “Yes.”

  Pam didn’t say anything for a few moments, as if she was giving JoJo’s words serious thought. “Well, I’m free on Friday and I’d love to go dress shopping with you. I know just the boutique that might have selections that would interest you. And, if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask Chloe to join us. She’s sort of a fashion expert.”

  JoJo knew that to be true. Chloe was married to Ramsey Westmoreland, the oldest of Stern’s cousins. Chloe also was editor in chief of a national bestselling woman’s magazine. “I think that will be wonderful!”

  “Then I’ll check to see if she is available. How early can we get started Friday morning?”

  JoJo lifted a brow. “Friday morning? I thought it would be something we could squeeze in after I get off work.”

  Pam shook her head. “I wouldn’t advise limiting yourself to those hours. Usually when you’re shopping for just the right outfit it can take the entire day.”

  The entire day? JoJo couldn’t imagine such a thing. “Well, okay. I’ll divvy up my work orders with the other guys on Friday so I’m free the whole day.”

  “That’s wonderful!”

  JoJo took another sip of her wine. She was starting to wonder if getting a new outfit and a makeover was really wonderful or not.

  Five

  It was close to nine o’clock when Stern drove out of the parking garage connected to Blue Ridge Land Management. He felt good about the work he’d completed. He had cleared a number of files off his desk and the few cases remaining would be finalized before the week ended.

  As he steered his car toward the interstate that would take him to Westmoreland Country, his thoughts shifted to JoJo. Although they didn’t indulge in long telephone conversations every day, the norm was for him to call her at least once to see how she was doing. He had deliberately not called her today because the last thing he wanted was for her to bring up their kiss last night—or his offer to help her improve on it.

  Stern knew JoJo better than he knew anyone, and he of all people understood the depth of her innocence when it came to men. In all the years he’d known her, she’d only had one crush on someone—Frazier Lewis in the eleventh grade. Frazier had been well-known around school, a popular athlete and ladies’ man—and, as far as Stern was concerned, a real jerk.

  Frazier had pretended to return JoJo’s affections long enough for JoJo to install running boards and state-of-the-art speakers into his truck. But once he’d gotten what he wanted, she hadn’t been good enough to be asked to the prom. Frazier had asked Mallory Shivers instead. And if that hadn’t been bad enough, Frazier had bragged about how he had used JoJo to help with his truck. Otherwise, he’d said, he would never have given her the time of day. She wasn’t his type. She wasn’t pretty enough and he’d even called her a grease monkey.

  Frazier had ended up regretting his words when Stern whipped his behind after school. To this day, Stern doubted JoJo knew about the butt-whipping he’d given Frazier. Now, he hoped history wasn’t about to repeat itself.

  She still refused to tell him anything about the guy she was interested in, which made him uncomfortable. The last thing he wanted to deal with was JoJo crying in his arms the way she’d done after Frazier had dumped her.

  As far as Stern was concerned, nobody would mistreat JoJo and live to tell about it without feeling some kind of pain. Which was why he was determined to find out this Walter guy’s full name and where JoJo planned to hook up with the man this weekend.

  Stern shook his head as he merged into traffic on the interstate. Only JoJo would assume that teaching her the fundamentals of kissing would be no different than teaching her how to play checkers. She trusted him and knew he wouldn’t take advantage of her. But she didn’t fully understand the inner workings of a man’s body. Even with the best of intentions, a man could not just stop desiring a woman...even when that woman was his best friend.

  Stern would admit that he’d been pretty angry when he’d left Zane’s house last night, mainly because his cousin had tried pushing unacceptable thoughts into his head. It was only after he’d gotten home, showered and crawled into bed that Stern saw what had really taken place. His cousin hadn’t pushed anything into his head. Zane had only tried to get him to admit the thoughts that were already there. Thoughts that had been planted a while ago but hadn’t been watered and hadn’t sprouted. But somehow they’d now started to grow.

  And that was the main reason he couldn’t teach JoJo how to kiss. He had felt things, and, for a moment, he’d gotten so absorbed in the kiss that he forgot he was kissing JoJo. She’d made him lose his head, which wasn’t good.

  But even though he didn’t want to lose his head with her again, another part of him couldn’t forget Zane’s warning: if Stern didn’t do the teaching, then someone else would. The idea of JoJo locking lips with any other man grated on Stern’s insides and sent a shiver of anger up his spine.

  He was convinced that sudden spike of emotion was what made him push the button on his steering wheel to connect to his car’s operator. “Yes, Mr. Westmoreland?”

  “Connect me with Jovonnie Jones.”

  “Business or residence?”

  “Residence.”

  “Just a moment for the connection.”

  “Thank you.”

  It took less than a minute for JoJo’s voice to come on the line. Immediately, an unexpected shiver of desire rushed up Stern’s spine. He tightened his gut. What
the hell was that about?

  “Hi, Stern.”

  “Hi. You’re doing okay?”

  “Yes. I worked on eleven cars today, came home, showered then met with Pam for drinks at Larry’s. We talked about my makeover.”

  Yes, he’d heard about that meeting from Dillon. “How did it go?”

  “Okay. I have an appointment with Ritz, her hairstylist and makeup artist, on Saturday morning, and she, Chloe and I are going shopping for an outfit the day before, so I won’t be in the shop. Can you believe it might take the entire day just to find one outfit?”

  Yes, he believed it. He’d hung around the females in his family enough to know about their shopping sprees.

  “So what are you doing now?” he asked her.

  “Reading a chapter of this book you gave me before going to bed. Why?”

  He swallowed deeply. “I worked late tonight and just left the office a few minutes ago,” he said, already getting off the exit to go back toward town. “I figured tonight would be a good time to stop by and get you started with Kissing 101. Are you game?”

  He heard the catch in her voice when she answered, “Yes, I’m game.”

  * * *

  Less than twenty minutes later JoJo heard the sound of Stern’s car pulling into her driveway and she drew in a deep breath. A tiny shiver stirred her belly. He’d made this unexpected visit just so she could indulge in Kissing 101.

  Ever since she’d hung up the phone she’d tried to convince herself that his visit was no big deal. She needed to improve her kissing and he was willing to show her how it was done. It wouldn’t be the first time he had helped her improve a skill. When she’d wanted to be a better water-skier, he had taken her to Gemma Lake. When she had wanted to improve her violin playing, he had assisted her with that.

  Upon hearing the sound of Stern’s car door closing, she moved toward the front door and opened it just as he walked up the steps to the porch. He smiled and tilted the brim of his Stetson. “You look nice tonight, Jovonnie.”