by Bella Andre
He shot his sister-in-law back his own clear message: Trust me, I’m working on it.
“I’d love to know how you and Max met, Claudia.”
“I was dating Max’s best friend, actually. It was all very scandalous, and we both tried to fight what we felt for each other for a long time, because we didn’t want to hurt anyone. But eventually, neither of us could fight what was meant to be. Even if it meant hurting someone we both cared about.”
As Max and Ethan came into the kitchen, Claudia told them, “I was just telling Mary how we met.”
“Have you gotten to the stolen kisses part yet?” Max asked as he leaned down to give her one.
“I love hearing tales of true love,” Mary said with a small smile. “My mother and father are like that. There’s nothing they wouldn’t do for each other. Nothing they wouldn’t support each other in.”
The longing on her face had Jack nearly moving to pull her into his arms and kiss her, too, in front of everyone. And he might have if Ian hadn’t poked at his cheek and said, “Thirsty.” Knowing that kissing Jack in public—especially in front of his family—was the last thing Mary would want to do, Jack knew it was something he had to resist…for now.
Meanwhile, Ethan was leaning against the doorjamb looking extremely cynical about the scene in front of him. His divorce had been finalized last year, and since then, he had been burning even more midnight oil on the road looking after his business.
“Too bad William isn’t here tonight,” Ethan said. “He and I could raise a toast to the happily single.”
The implication was clear: Everyone thought Jack and Mary were dating. Her eyes met his and, instead of clarifying things with his family, she let her mouth curve up just the slightest bit at the corners. The air was knocked straight out of Jack’s lungs.
Did this mean she was finally ready to be more than friends who stole kisses from each other at every possible opportunity? And if so, what had changed her mind?
Mary changed the subject as deftly as she rolled out the dough. “The four of you must have been quite a handful for your mother.”
Max grinned. “Mom looked so delicate and pretty, but she never let us get away with a damned thing.”
“I got away with plenty,” Ethan countered. Although, a moment later he rubbed his right ear and admitted, “I still get phantom pains sometimes from the way she would drag me to my room.”
“What about you?” Mary asked Jack.
He gave her an innocent look. “I was an angel.”
Her blue eyes flared with heat for a split second at his use of the endearment that always spilled from his lips when he was kissing her, but then she shook her head and said, “I doubt that.”
“You’ve got this joker figured out,” Ethan said with a laugh as he sat down at the table with his brother and sister-in-law. “How many times did you nearly burn the house down with one of your inventions gone wrong, Jack? The way I remember it, the fire trucks used to patrol our street on a regular basis, just in case.”
Ian looked up at his uncle, his voice solemn as he informed Jack, “Fire trucks are red.”
He kissed his nephew on the nose. “They sure are. And what do you want to bet that’s the same color your shirt’s going to be after we eat spaghetti tonight?”
Spending time with Ian when he could during these past eighteen months had made Jack realize how much he liked kids. But it wasn’t until he’d met Mary that he’d begun to wonder what it would be like to have his own children.
“Spaghetti!” Ian bounced in Jack’s arms as he shouted out the word, and all of them chuckled, the boy’s happiness contagious.
A short while later, Mary cut the pasta she’d rolled out into thin slices and dropped them into the water already boiling on the stove. Max sat down to give his wife a foot massage. Even though she looked as if she was in heaven, Claudia said, “Are you sure you don’t need any help with dinner, Mary?”
“I love to cook. It’s one of those things I didn’t get to do enough of, bouncing around from hotel room to hotel room over the years.”
Mary started on a simple sauce by quickly cutting up the fresh tomatoes Claudia had brought over. Jack’s sister-in-law asked, “Do you have any exciting projects lined up after your campaign with Jack comes to an end?”
“Actually,” Mary said as she lifted her gaze to Jack’s, “I’m trying to figure that out as we speak. I’ve been on the move for so long that I'd like to set down some roots for a while.”
“The exotic destinations. The clothes. The shoes.” Claudia sighed with just the slightest bit of envy. “It sounds so glamorous.”
“Yes, I have been really lucky to have seen the world and to have worked with some truly amazing photographers and designers and makeup artists. It was what I always wanted.”
Jack could see that Mary didn’t want to disappoint Claudia with the truth that he saw more of every time he watched her work. The hours were long, the lights were bright and hot, and she had to be beautiful on command every single day without fail, regardless of what was going on in the rest of her life. So while her job had more glitz and glamour than most, that didn’t mean it wasn’t hard work.
Knowing she’d never say any of that, he told his family, “Mary is so good at what she does that she makes it look deceptively easy.” Never having been in a TV studio before, Jack had been fascinated by the process, the machines, and the people who ran them, and he explained what he’d seen to his family.
Blushing from his compliment, Mary turned her attention to the sauce simmering on the stovetop. Jack could tell that his siblings were blown away by her. Not only because of her stunning beauty—he still lost his breath every time he looked at her and had come to realize he always would—but also because she was as comfortable in couture as she was playing with a child and making dinner for a group of people she’d only just met.
Even more amazing, she didn’t seem to notice the effect she had on people. There was no vanity. No efforts to impress. She was simply being herself.
And he was in love with her.
Jack squeezed Ian a little too tightly as the realization hit him hard in the solar plexus. The little boy tugged on his hair to get his attention.
“Uncle Jack-Jack okay?”
He pressed a kiss to the little boy’s cheek, then shifted his gaze to Mary, who had looked over at them when Ian asked his question. “I’ve never felt better.”
“Hey, Jack,” Ethan said as he got up from the kitchen table, “come help me set the table in the dining room.”
Jack passed Ian to Max, and when they were in the dining room with the door closed, Ethan handed him a stack of plates. “I'm still trying to work out how my engineer brother who’s had his head stuck to a motherboard his whole life has landed one of the foxiest models on the planet.”
Jack shot his brother a warning look, his fingers curling hard around the edges of the plates. “Mary is a hell of a lot more than just a foxy model.”
“Sure she is,” Ethan quickly agreed, “but the fact is, she’s way out of your league. You might have gotten lucky catching her eye, but you’re going to have to count on more than luck to keep her.”
Nothing like family to rub in the truth, was there? “Nice to know you’re on my side,” Jack muttered.
When he looked up, Ethan was grinning at him. “Does she have any sisters?”
“No.” Thinking of the young models living with Mary, he added, “And before you ask, I’m not going to introduce you to any of her friends, either.”
“Times like this make me wonder why I ever bothered to cover for you with Mom when we were kids,” Ethan said as he dropped silverware beside the plates Jack had laid out on the table.
But even as they continued to razz each other, Jack could read the subtext of their conversation loud and clear: Even if Ethan couldn’t understand how the engineer and the model could fit so well together, his brother was happy Jack had found Mary…and he hoped things would work out f
or the two of them.
* * *
Spending time with his family had always been Jack’s favorite pastime, especially when, as adults, his brothers’ jobs and moves around the country meant they didn’t get to see each other nearly enough. But tonight, while he’d enjoyed catching up with everyone, Jack realized he was looking for excuses to leave so that he and Mary could be alone. And when she tried to hide a yawn behind her hand and he realized how beat she must be from her long day in front of the TV camera, not to mention making dinner for all of them, he pushed back from the table.
“Time to call it a night, folks.”
Ethan looked around at his once-pristine home in dismay. Between the meal and Ian’s fort made out of the cushions on his couch, his place was a mess.
“What am I supposed to do with all of these dirty pots and pans and dishes? My cleaning lady won’t be back for another few days.”
Max grinned at him. “We’ll stack them real neat by the sink for you.”
A while earlier, Claudia had tucked Ian into the middle of Ethan’s big king bed with pillows propped up on each side of him so that he couldn’t roll off and hurt himself. Claudia began to slowly stand to go get him, but when Mary offered to rouse him instead, Claudia nodded sleepily and tucked herself in tighter against Max.
From where Jack was standing in the living room, he could see Mary get to the master bedroom doorway then stop in her tracks. Wondering what had her halting, he moved down the hall.
“Mary?”
She held her finger to her lips, then pointed to the bed. Ian was sprawled on his back, three of his four chubby little limbs spread wide. His thumb had found its way into his mouth, and his cheeks were pink from drying spaghetti sauce and the exertions of sleep.
Jack had been careful all night long to keep what was between them private. He hadn’t touched Mary. Hadn’t dragged her against him for a kiss. Now, he threaded his fingers through hers and lifted her hand to his lips.
She stared into his eyes, and what he saw in hers made his chest clench with love again, even tighter, even stronger this time. “Claudia and Max are waiting for me to bring him out.”
Reluctantly, Jack let her hand go and watched her sit gently on the bed beside Ian. She stroked his hair back with a soft touch so that the little boy wouldn’t wake too quickly, and Jack wasn’t surprised when the first thing his nephew said after finally opening his eyes was, “Pretty.”
Mary smiled down at him. “Your mommy and daddy miss you. Can I take you to them?”
When the little boy held out his arms and Mary lifted him up and buried her face against his warm, soft body, Jack’s heart skipped more than just one beat.
Chapter Eleven
The night was so clear that the stars seemed to be putting on a show in celebration of the beautiful San Francisco winter weather. Mary couldn’t remember the last time she’d enjoyed an evening so much, and she didn’t want it to be over yet.
After saying goodbye to his family, Mary turned to Jack with a smile. “What do you say we walk off some of that pasta?”
She’d never felt so comfortable—or so completely alive—with anyone else. It was just as natural to laugh and talk with Jack as it was to enjoy the quiet night as they made their way down the city sidewalk.
“Your family is wonderful,” she said as she linked her fingers with his.
“They obviously feel the same way about you. Claudia was clearly thrilled about no longer being the odd woman out with all of us boys. And she'll never forget that you made dinner so that she could put her feet up for a little while.”
“Your brother and his wife seem so happy together.”
“They definitely are now, although like Claudia said, it was a pretty big mess at first. Max was a basket case, falling in love with her while she was engaged to his best friend. He was pretty badly torn up about it. I spent more than a few nights closing down the bars with him back then.”
While all of the Sullivan men had the same rugged good looks, each of the brothers she’d met tonight had very different personalities. Max had been the easygoing one. Ethan was sharper, darker somehow. And Jack, well, not only was he brilliant and focused, but he was also the only one who made her heart beat hard and her lips tingle with pleasure even before he’d pressed his mouth to hers.
She’d loved seeing how close Jack was to his brothers. And despite the differences and the disagreements four brothers that close in age must have had over the years, it was clear that they’d do anything for one another. What’s more, tonight she’d felt as if he’d welcomed her into his family without any reservations whatsoever…whereas she’d been so afraid to let him do more than kiss her.
“They’re all so proud of you.” Every time his invention had come up during dinner, his family had been extremely supportive and excited.
“My brothers have all been really successful with their careers, but they never tried to get me to leave my dusty garage. I guess they figured if my vision didn’t end up working out, they knew I could come to them for help.”
“That’s why you never needed to,” she marveled, “because you really did know they’d always be there for you. No matter what.”
“Always.”
“When I was a little girl I thought that, too, about my own family. But—” Not wanting to ruin a perfect evening with self-pity, she tried to brush away her comment. “Listen to me, sounding like I’m still that little girl when it’s been long enough for me to have gotten over it by now.”
Jack squeezed her hand. “We all want our families to approve of us and the dreams we’re chasing.”
“Why aren’t you married already, Jack?”
Mary gave a slightly embarrassed laugh. She hadn’t meant to blurt that out, but when he kept saying such sweet things, she simply couldn’t understand why he hasn’t already been snapped up.
“That didn’t come out quite right. I just meant that not only have you got two great examples of happy marriages between your parents and your brother, but, at this point, most men would be running away as fast as they could from their weepy dinner date who can’t seem to get over something that happened when she was a teenager.”
“Even though I can see that my brother Max is happy, and that my parents have something really special with each other, it never occurred to me to look for a wife or to start a family. Not when work always came first.”
“That makes sense,” she agreed. “The timing has to be right—otherwise you could end up losing the woman you’re supposed to be with, like Max almost did.”
“You know what?” Jack stroked his thumb over her palm, sending shivers through her that had nothing to do with the cool night air. “I don’t think bad timing is the entire answer anymore.”
Her senses came completely alive as she asked, “It isn’t?”
“Now I know that when I meet the right woman, I won’t have any problem at all making time for her. In fact,” he said as his gaze locked on hers, “it will be the most natural, easy thing in the world to put her first.”
Her heart fluttered in her chest as she realized they were standing at the base of her front steps. And as she drank in Jack’s rugged beauty in the winter moonlight, Mary couldn’t stop thinking about what Claudia had said: “We both tried to fight what we felt for each other for a long time. But eventually, neither of us could fight what was meant to be.”
Why, she had to ask herself, was she still fighting so hard against what she’d felt for Jack Sullivan from the first moment she’d set eyes on him?
What if they were meant to be?
“I don’t want to say goodnight yet,” she whispered.
“Neither do I.”
Jack put his arms around her and pulled her in tight to him so that his face was buried in her hair and her cheek was pressed to his broad chest. She could have stood in the circle of his strong arms until sunrise.
But she wanted more.
Which meant that she would finally have to be brave enough
to risk not only her body…but her heart, too.
Lifting her face from his chest, she remembered what he’d said to her the first and last time he’d been to her home: Next time you invite me in, I’m going to make love to you. A shiver of need ran through her as she looked up at him.
“Come inside, Jack.”
His dark eyes flared with heat and so much desire it took her breath away. But he didn’t make a move for the door.
“The campaign isn’t over yet, and I made you a promise.”
“I love that you’re willing to stick by the promise you made to me, no matter how hard it is to do that. But I don’t need that promise tonight, Jack. I just need you.” She’d made the rules, and now she was the one tossing them away, at least for one night.
Despite how much he obviously wanted to come inside and make love to her, he didn’t move from the step he was standing on. “Be sure, Angel, because once I come inside and your front door is closed, there's going to be no turning back tonight.” His hands tightened on her. “Not for either of us.”
She could have tried to lie to herself by believing this was all just about sex, that she and Jack were simply going to take the night to let their attraction come to its inevitable conclusion. But Mary had never been a convincing liar…and deep inside, a voice that had been silent for far too long told her that making love with Jack would, instead of being an ending, be the beginning of something so much better, sweeter and more amazing than she’d ever dreamed.
“After watching you with Ian—” Emotion swept through her again as she thought about how sweet Jack had been as he’d held and played with the toddler. “You were so good with him, and he obviously trusts and loves you so much.
“Watching you with my family had me feeling the exact same things. Wanting you, needing you has kept me up every night since we met.” She could nearly taste his lips on hers, but instead of kissing her, he said, “But you need to know that I’m going to want more than just one night.”
Yet again, he was the most honest, straightforward man she’d ever known. Instead of sweet-talking her into rushing to open her front door so that they could fall into bed, he was giving her every reason to push him away again by asking for too much, too fast.