“I brought my lunch today,” she muttered.
“Great. Bring it with you. We’ll eat in Freeway Park.”
Of course they would. She couldn’t say no now.
The rain in the forecast held off as Vanessa and Jeremy stepped onto the street at noon, but a low fog rolled in, casting the sky in muted shades of gray. Maybe this afternoon it would drizzle, but for now the world felt like a cocoon—cottony and soft.
“Hi, Victor,” she called as she passed the homeless man she’d met on her first day at work. His dog, Sunny, thumped her tail at his feet. Vanessa didn’t cross paths with Victor every day, but she’d taken to carrying dog treats for Sunny, just in case.
Victor raised a hand as she tossed the mutt a bite of food. “Thank you, Vanessa.”
“Of course. You catch any videos from spring training?”
Victor nodded. “Should be a good season.”
Jeremy’s eyes widened, but he made no comment until they stepped into the green oasis that stretched over 5 freeway. The fog damped the sounds of the outside world, and the noise of the traffic below rushed like a distant river. It was funny how when you added an extra element to an ordinary day, the feeling of everything could change.
Jeremy sat on a concrete bench, and Vanessa sank down next to him. “I didn’t know you were a baseball fan,” he said.
She pulled the Tupperware lid off her salad, but she couldn’t eat. “Sometimes the shelters show sports news on TV.” She shrugged. “It’s a safe topic.” Beside her, Jeremy unwrapped a sandwich and took a quiet bite. His silence felt like a judgment, so she set her jaw and continued. “I know I can’t save everyone, but I can treat them with kindness.”
Jeremy’s voice came out thick with emotion. “Oh, Heart, I wouldn’t expect any less from you.”
“Does that make me a sucker?” She couldn’t help the way her voice stretched tight, the defensive note that crept in.
Jeremy’s eyebrows drew together in surprise. “God, no. It makes you good. It makes you human. You look at other people like they’re worthy of love and attention.” He held up his hands. “I’m sure other people have given you opinions about the way you view the world, but I’m not here to judge you. I respect you. I don’t want to take anything away from you, and I wish I could get you looking at me with that same love and attention now.”
It was a good answer. Tears stung Vanessa’s eyes. She needed to stop crying in front of this man. One sweet line wouldn’t change the fact that he’d disappeared on her, gone cold.
Jeremy cleared his throat. “Speaking of people who are worthy. Did you get my gift?”
The package had come on Saturday night, hand-delivered, no less.
“Aren’t you a lucky one?” Bea had asked, handing her the box. She’d graciously left Vanessa alone to open the package, which had proved to be a very good thing the moment the enclosed notecard fell out.
“You deserve to wear silk. - J”
She drew in a quick breath. Was he sending her lingerie?
Her fingers had trembled as she’d lifted the tissue paper to reveal a midnight blue sleep set. The top had delicate straps and a scooped neckline that highlighted her décolletage. When she’d slipped it on—just to try it, just to know what the material would feel like against her skin—the fabric had skimmed her body with a sophisticated yet sensual effect.
It wasn’t lingerie—it was better. It was an outfit she could wear just for herself and feel beautiful, though she had a feeling Jeremy would peel it off her if she’d ever give him the chance. Not that she planned to. The man had more money than sense sometimes.
Vanessa swallowed a sip of water from the bottle she’d brought. It would be so easy to play nice, but she wasn’t about to forget what he’d done. It didn’t matter that today he wore a tie the same color as those clothes. That had to be purely coincidence.
“You didn’t need to buy me off. I wouldn’t have told anyone about us.”
Jeremy’s face hardened. “Is that what you think? That I bought you pajamas to tell you I don’t want you?” He shook his head, his voice rough. “That night in the hotel, it was…” His voice trailed off.
Yeah. She knew what he meant. She felt it, too.
Jeremy sighed. “I want to lavish you with attention.”
“Could have fooled me.” Between his silence at Yessir and his distance at the airport, they might as well have been strangers.
“I was trying to be…”
She cut him off. “Professional?”
Jeremy raked a hand through his hair. “Yeah. It wasn’t about you. It was about Yessir. They like to do things a certain way.”
Oh, she remembered. Hadn’t Piers been the one to make him miss the second GROW meeting? As soon as he’d walked into the conference room, Vanessa had recognized his face from the photograph. Maybe Piers was a decent person, but she’d still stiffened when he’d smiled at her. Not that she would bring that up now.
She snorted. “I’m starting to think Amy was right.”
“Right about what?” Jeremy tensed beside her.
“That in this industry it’s easy to get caught up in the charms.” Yessir Unlimited obviously liked the charm, and Jeremy played right to them.
Something strange caught on Jeremy’s face. He seemed to want to know more, but he held himself back from asking. Instead, he shook his head. “Watch out who you believe. Amy has her own motives for saying what she’s saying.” But he wouldn’t tell her what those were.
“I have a rule,” Jeremy continued. “I try to keep my business life separate from my personal life.” He tapped a finger against his smirk. “If I recall, I said something along those lines when we discussed your return to X Enterprises. Obviously, I’m already starting to break my rules for you. But that meeting? It was…critical…that I draw the line.”
“Sure.” Vanessa drew a deep breath and gathered her courage. “But Jeremy, I told you about my background. I need stability in my life. Someone who’s going to be there for me. Whatever this is, you can’t just turn it off because work gets busy or something else comes up. That’s not going to cut it with me.”
She needed to say the words, but the reality of them—out loud and in the open—raised a cold sweat on her skin. What if he said no?
Jeremy was quiet for an excruciating minute before nodding sincerely. “I get it.” He sighed. “Before you my whole life was work. I’m still trying to find that precious balance you keep talking about.”
Would he have an excuse for everything? It was like all those years of smooth-talking buyers and women had supplied him with every possible answer, the right thing to say for each occasion. Already her resolve was fading.
“Nothing about you and me has ever been professional,” she grumbled, spinning her water bottle in her hands.
A smile crept into Jeremy’s voice. “Are you mad at me again?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Will you be mad at me if I picture you wearing those pajamas?” His voice grew thick. “That silky material sliding over your skin, cool until it heats against you.” His gaze captured her, dark with desire. She shivered involuntarily, her nipples pebbling under her blouse, her inner muscles clenching in delicious anticipation. What a traitorous body. “You’d be naked underneath, of course,” Jeremy continued. “Wearing a smile. Or maybe biting your lip. I want to be the only one who sees you in those clothes.”
She cracked. Well, shit. “Now I’ll be mad if you don’t.”
He pressed. “Did you wear them?”
“I—” She swallowed hard.
Yes. She had. Even though her better judgment railed against it, once she pulled on the clothes she couldn’t take them off. They were too pretty to pass up, and Jeremy would never know. But she wouldn’t admit that now.
She shook her head at him. “Why did you even buy those clothes? I thought I was a distraction.”
Jeremy smiled at her. “You are. I spend every waking minute either picturin
g your body or wondering what I’m going to do wrong that will make you mad. It’s a delicate balance.” She snorted, and Jeremy laughed. “So, where are we going this week?” he asked.
Vanessa jerked her head up. “What?” He may have apologized, but she wasn’t about to go anywhere with him except back to the office to finish out the day.
“To volunteer,” he clarified. “I figure since the GROW season was over we’d start something new.”
“Right.” Right. She had given Jeremy a free pass the week of their trip, but she wasn’t going to turn down his offer now. She didn’t know where this relationship was going to go—if it even could go anywhere—but maybe she could take it slow and see.
She spared a glance down his body, over the clean, pressed lines of his suit. She smiled as an idea bloomed in her mind. “I’ve got a dirty job for you. We’re going to need you out of those clothes.”
She smirked at the way his eyes widened, shaking her head at him. She wasn’t the only one who could tease. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Glass. We’re going to work with animals.”
Chapter 36
Jeremy suppressed a smile as Vanessa pulled her Camry into the empty spot next to his car the day after their conversation in the park. He had to admit, the Jag looked out of place next to all the Fords and Chevrolets in the animal shelter’s parking lot, but at least she knew which car was his.
As he opened her car door, he couldn’t resist the opportunity to tease her. “I’ll have you note for the record that I arrived first today.”
Vanessa made a face. “How did you not get stuck in traffic? We left the office at the same time.”
“Traffic evasion. It’s one of my many skills.”
“Hopefully not the same as tax evasion.”
Jeremy’s mouth twisted in a grin. “No. Some things, at least, I do by the book.” The rest of the time he made up his own rules. “Next time, maybe you’ll accept my offer to drive.”
“Guess we’ll see.” Vanessa locked her car and led him toward the building’s front doors. “So there’s only one rule about working at an animal shelter,” she warned as they stepped into the lobby.
“Don’t step in dog shit?”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t fall in love.”
He didn’t plan to. The place smelled awful—a mixture of wet dog, cat piss, bleach, and tuna. The mournful barking of dogs echoed from inside the building and started the beginning of a headache behind his eyes. When Jeremy actually wooed and didn’t just fuck, his personal style veered more toward romantic walks by the water, intimate dinners, crackling fireplaces, and maybe even a bubble bath or two. Things that smelled good. Clean, even.
Still, he didn’t quite believe Vanessa. “Isn’t the whole point of an animal shelter for people to fall in love with animals?”
She nodded. “Absolutely. But if you fall in love every time you visit the shelter, you’ll get your heart broken. There are only so many animals you can adopt before you verge on crazy animal person.”
He shook his head at her. “I’m pretty sure if your apartment let you, you’d have a whole armful of cats running around.”
She gave a mock gasp. “Are you calling me a crazy cat lady?”
“In a good way.”
“I’m not sure that’s a thing.” She smiled at him, her gorgeous eyes flashing with mirth, and something in Jeremy’s chest relaxed. He’d hurt her, but she was still here today, looking completely edible in a faded gray T-shirt and a pair of ripped jeans that hugged her delicious ass.
The fact that he’d almost driven her away was too much. He was a confident man, and he almost always played his cards right. But Piers pulling that move, making him wait longer and jump through more hoops, made his mouth taste like black licorice. Jeremy was not interested in having a dick measuring contest with the man—he just wanted to finish this thing. And instead, Piers kept dragging it out.
Jeremy knew, as he stalked out of the Yessir offices last week in that spiraling rage, that he couldn’t take Vanessa with him into that dark place. Not after the way he’d seen her eyes light up because of him. He wouldn’t do it. But shutting her out had hurt her, too, just in a different way. He wanted Vanessa, and he was doing a shitty job of showing it. But maybe he could make it up to her. At least he was here today, slinging dog shit with her. Or not with her, as it turned out.
A woman with a face almost as kind as Vanessa’s directed Vanessa to the dog pens while she assigned Jeremy to the cats. Vanessa laughed at his crestfallen face, not realizing his disappointment wasn’t about the animals but about the fact that he wouldn’t be working with her. Spending time with Vanessa was the incentive here, and the obtuse woman blathering on about litter boxes stood between him and his prize.
Vanessa winked at him. “You’re fine. I’m sure you can handle some itty bitty kitties.”
Jeremy stopped himself just shy of making a comment about her pussy. He could still remember how it felt to drive his tongue into her, the way she’d gasped and writhed under his expert touch. After weeks of shutting himself off from women, the taste he’d had of Vanessa unleashed an insatiable hunger in him. But it wasn’t just sex he wanted. It was the woman in front of him in that unassumingly hot outfit. All of her. No matter how many times he’d fallen to his knees in front of a woman, there was no one else quite like this one.
Vanessa smiled before turning away. “I have faith in you.”
He wasn’t going to let her down.
Jeremy’s phone buzzed in his pocket to announce a new text message from Vanessa. Time’s up. Where are you?
He sent a reply and turned his attention back to the cat in front of him. He’d spent the last hour cleaning kitty litter, and he was positive his sense of smell would never be the same. As he’d worked, a small gray cat kept sticking his paw out of the cage and batting at Jeremy. By the time he untangled the cat’s claws from his shirt, Jeremy knew he deserved some one-on-one time.
He’d been suckered by an animal who weighed five pounds and played with his own turds.
God help him.
Vanessa’s voice sounded over his shoulder, soft and amused. “Oh, Jeremy, what are you doing?”
When he looked up from his spot on the floor of the adoption room, it provided just enough distraction for the cat to attack. Jeremy winced as the kitten sunk his teeth into the fleshy part of his palm. “Now Shark, we’ve already discussed this. My hand is not food.”
“I can tell you’re really getting through to him.” From this angle, Vanessa’s legs were enticingly close. He wanted to run a hand up the inside of her thigh, higher and higher, dip a finger through the ripped fabric of her jeans and watch her eyes close in pleasure.
“Just call me the animal whisperer.” Ironically, the scene Vanessa witnessed had been progress. “You know, there’s actually something kind of meditative about scooping kitty litter.”
“Is that so?”
Jeremy lifted a shoulder. “It’s kind of like rearranging sand in one of those zen gardens.”
Vanessa laughed and took a seat next to him, close enough that her heat caressed his skin. He breathed in a drift of her shampoo and smiled. Maybe his sense of smell wasn’t gone after all. That was probably for the best.
Vanessa leaned over and held out a hand for the kitten to sniff. “Glad you’ve reached a new level of spiritual enlightenment. Who’s your new friend?”
“Meet Shark. So named because he has a bite like a motherfucker.”
Vanessa pulled her juicy lips into a smirk. “The shelter tell you that?”
“Nah. I named him. I figure this fits way better than ‘Dudley.’” He glanced at Vanessa, gauging her reaction. “He’s my new best friend.”
She quirked an eyebrow, but she didn’t seem surprised. “You’re telling me you broke the one rule of volunteering.”
He flashed a smile at her. “He drew blood.”
“Well in that case, it must be true love.” Vanessa gave the most delighted smile as
the cat rubbed his chin over her knuckles, seemingly more inclined to cuddle with her than fight with her. Jeremy was starting to see the merits of the approach.
“You say that like I’m incapable of love.” Jeremy brought his lips close to her ear. “Maybe I’m a hopeless romantic.”
Vanessa shivered at his words. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“Then keep watching, Heart. Keep watching.”
Chapter 37
Vanessa eyed Jeremy over the top of her water glass, decidedly pleased that he’d suggested they fortify themselves with food before heading to the animal shelter today. She didn’t know which was better—the sound of his voice, waking her up on a Saturday morning, or the sight of him now, smiling at her across the table.
“I’m pretty sure I owe you an hour of volunteer time,” he’d said when she answered the phone, and despite the fact that she’d planned to spend her weekend exclusively wearing pajamas and eating pastries from Bea’s bakery, his rumbling words captured her attention.
She’d smiled into the darkness. “Okay. Yeah.”
It was a good plan. Especially since he let her pick the restaurant.
Vanessa set her cup back on the table as their waiter approached—all the better to have her hands ready for eating. The restaurant around them buzzed with the weekend brunch crowd: clusters of people gathered together to drink margaritas and dig into huevos rancheros and carnitas. The tablecloths were printed with aggressively bold flowers—at once cheesy and sincere—and sombreros and glittering stars were tacked to the ceiling.
Their waiter deposited a metal bowl of tortilla chips, and Vanessa grinned at Jeremy. “You are in for such a treat.”
“Is that so?” In fairness, maybe Jeremy himself was the treat, looking all delicious in a charcoal gray long-sleeved T-shirt and weathered jeans.
She nodded. “These are my favorite chips in all of Seattle. Fresh fried and absolutely amazing.” She reached for one, and the heat sent a zing of pain through her fingertips. “Careful, they’re hot.”
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