We could most definitely put something magical together for them.
Chapter 14
Jessica
Mornings in New York were like a shot of espresso in the veins.
I walked beside Jack, heading to a local mart. We were running low on ingredients needed for dessert, and I wanted an excuse to get some fresh air… with Jack—without anyone from the shelter around.
With him volunteering, I’d seen more of him in the past couple of months than I ever had in my life. Most mornings, he was outside my front door, waiting with a coffee in hand to walk me to work. There was a new clarity in his eyes. His breath stopped reeking of alcohol. His clothes were freshly pressed.
The old Jack was returning, only a better version.
“Here.” I pointed to the sign hanging beneath the awning. It was a small shop that prided itself on selling only local ingredients.
“And just what do you plan on getting?” Jack asked when the sliding doors whooshed open.
I shrugged. “I’m a wing-it kind of shopper.”
“Great.”
Easy music rang through the speakers. The scent of lemon cleaner drifted up from the floor. We waited for an elderly woman to pick her cart, and then Jack grabbed one.
A few steps in, and he was groaning again. One of the wheels squeaked as it wobbled forward.
“I always pick the fucked-up cart.”
I laughed, pointing him toward the candy aisle. “I was thinking of setting up an ice cream bar for the kids.” A mental checklist sprouted in my head. “It’s been a while. With the new projector that was donated, I figured it would be fun to have a movie night.”
“That sounds like a great idea. They’ll love it.”
Once we were down the aisle, I reached for the box of candy on the top shelf, but I was too short. Jack came up beside me, standing on his toes, but he couldn’t reach it either. Boxes were stacked near to the ceiling to save space. The shelves crammed with goods.
“I can go get someone—”
“Here.” He lowered himself beside me. “Why do that when you have a human ladder?”
The grin he wore took me off-guard. An ardent warmth flooded my heart. There he was… that playful man I fell in love with.
Climbing onto his shoulders, I used his head to stabilize myself as he lifted me up. Tilted my head to the right so I didn’t bump into the banner hanging from the ceiling.
As I reached for the unopened box of white chocolate, the elderly woman we followed in turned down the aisle. The moment she spotted us, she stilled, eyes as wide as apples, and then turned the opposite direction.
“Hurry,” Jack said, laughing as I handed him the box. “We got a snitch in action.” Once I was on the ground, he put the box on the underside of the cart and said, “Get in.”
“Huh?”
He pointed to the cart. “Get in.”
“Jack, I—”
Boyish laughter swirled around me. “Get in the damn cart.”
The moment my butt touched the cold wire, he hauled ass while I shouted out directions. Lefts. Rights. This box. That box. I was just a head poking out, covered in bags and jars and cans and boxes when he pulled up to the cashier.
The young girl nearly jumped out of her skin when I said, “Hey, there.”
Her confused gaze darted between Jack and me.
“Hurry it up, will ya?” an old man said from behind Jack.
Jack lowered his brows in the cashier’s direction. “You heard the man.”
I handed her what was on top of me. Giggled when Jack loaded the bags back into the cart, covering me whole.
“You’re insane, you know that?” Jack said as he wheeled me outside. Specks of light peeked through the holes in between boxes and bags.
“Me? You’re the one who told me to get in.”
A bag was removed from my head, and then Jack’s face appeared, a bright smile painted across his lips. “True,” he said sensibly, “but I blame you. It’s your influence.” He placed the bag back, stifling my laughter, and then yelled, “Taxi!”
Moments later, I was fully uncovered and being hauled out of the cart by Jack. We laughed like crazy as onlookers stared, confusion creasing their foreheads.
The children were thrilled once word caught on about the ice cream. Jack stayed by my side, helping me sort everything out. Jennifer created a fun banner to hang over the table. When the dinner rush was over, the projector was pulled out, along with an assortment of mats and donated bean bag chairs. Everything was spread out in the communal room. We hung in the back while the kids helped themselves, smiles eating up their faces as they devoured the sweet treats.
When the movie was finished and everyone went back to their rooms, the women helped us clean up the place before leaving for the night. Jack was in the kitchen, prepping the ingredients for the following morning. He didn’t realize it, but he was good at managing. He helped me stay organized.
Sitting at the piano, I played a song I loved when I was younger, humming to myself, when Jack emerged from the kitchen. I stopped when he sat beside me, splaying his fingers over the keys.
“Don’t quit playing.” His soft words brushed against my cheek.
Slowly, I started back up, humming a little louder. Swayed back and forth as my fingers wove magic. He hummed a little once he caught the melody. Husky notes that took hands with mine and danced around the room.
“What song is that?” he asked after a few moments.
“My own. I used to love coming up with different harmonies when I was younger. Little songs about love and magic.”
His shoulder bumped against mine. “You’re amazing, you know that?” He placed his hands over mine. “Everything I’ve ever wanted.”
My cheeks warmed, skin tingling from his words. From his closeness. From the fact he wasn’t running from me.
“I have something I want to propose to you.” His words were slow and cautious. “I’ve been thinking a lot about it, and I think it could really work.”
“What could?”
“I think Blackbird Creamery should team up with the shelter. We could create an ice cream to which one hundred percent of the proceeds would be donated to the shelter. Something unique and trendy. Something that will go viral. Something made by the pancake king and the ice cream queen.”
My thoughts twirled. A spark had caught fire. “A cone made from a pancake. A pancake shaped like a heart,” I said, ideas slowly weaving together. “With the blackbird branding stamped in. A blackberry-based ice cream. Sprinkled with almonds and crushed berries. Whipped cream laced with white chocolate. We can make little birds out of fondant. Put them inside a recyclable wrap that has information about the shelter printed on it.”
“We could call it The Blackbird’s Freedom,” he continued, his absorption taking on notes of inspiration. “We’ll sweep the nation by storm. Open more shelters. Offer a job at the creamery to help them get back on their feet. It can be a full-service shelter. Enter. Find rehabilitation. Leave with a promised job.”
I sat back, watching him as he listed off idea after idea. Ran through budgets. Listed the best cities to expand in. I was in awe. My heart felt like it was on the verge of bursting.
“What do you think?” He pulled in a hearty gulp of air. A grin stretched across his lips.
I kissed him then.
It was a soft kiss. Small. A brush of lips that had longed for each other.
When I pulled back, his lips were still reaching. I didn’t want to rush it. Didn’t want to push the moment. I wanted to savor that kiss like an after-dinner sweet. Give it time before I went for another.
“Walk me home?”
“Of course.”
I grabbed my purse, and then locked the door behind me. We walked in silence for much of the way. By the time we reached my apartment, I was scrambling for words.
Tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, I leaned against the wall. “Thank you.”
He lifted my hand. Pressed hi
s lips to my knuckles. “Any time.”
Heat ached behind my skin, but I wouldn’t give in. Not yet. “Until tomorrow?”
His head dipped, hands tucked in his pockets.
When he turned I called, “Jack?”
A feeble gust of wind wove around us, a smooth palm against our cheeks.
Hesitancy wavered in my lungs. “See you tomorrow,” I said, and then headed upstairs.
Chapter 15
Jack
It was hell seeing her day in and day out. Being close enough to touch, knowing I shouldn’t. Seeing shades of desire in her eyes every time she looked my way. Feeling my body respond every time I was next to her. Her lips were a candy I could suck on. Her eyes were a universe I wanted to get lost in.
I felt my body surrendering the fight with every day that passed.
“Have you ever considered that maybe she’s exactly what you need?” Finley asked as he sipped on his beer, fixated to the game on the TV. “I mean, look at you, dude. You’re clean. You’re doing things again. You were a fucking wreck before she came back around.”
I groaned, taking a sip from my beer. “I know. But she has kids, Fin.”
“Kids are fun.”
I dropped an eyebrow.
“What?”
“Kids are fun? This coming from the guy who skips every one of your nephew’s birthday parties because you’re afraid you’ll catch cooties.”
A grimace picked at his lips. “Kids are gross.”
“Her kids aren’t,” I said, more to myself than to him. “And… could you imagine me in their life? I wouldn’t know the first thing to say. How to act.”
“You’re probably right. You’d for sure fuck them up.” After he dug his hand into the bowl of chips, he stuffed a handful into his mouth.
I shoved him.
“Hey,” he said. “No matter what I say, you’re going to come up with some self-tortured excuse.” He turned a little. “But the truth is you won’t know until you try. She loves you. You love her. The rest will just follow.”
I leaned back against the couch, sipping on my beer. Tossing his words around my head.
The rest will just follow.
Maybe… maybe it would.
“We should vamp up the place,” Jess said as she sat across from me on the couch. She had been there for a few hours, watching the Sunday game with me. Her kids were with their grandparents and Hank… which meant she was lonely.
Her feet were inches from mine, bare-toed and wiggling as she hugged a pillow to her chest. The nails painted a cheery shade of pink. I used to love rubbing her feet. Watching her eyes roll back as I worked the day’s stress away from heel to toe.
I cleared the longing from my throat. “What do you mean?” Lust curved thick fingers around my spine. Her scent always lingered long after she was gone, and I’d have to relieve myself in the shower just to try to maintain some form of control. I couldn’t get her out of my head. Her ghostly touch off my skin.
I could tell tonight would be another one of those nights.
“It’s just so bare in here.” Her gaze moved past me, inspecting the place. Her hair was down, spooling around her neck. A shiny glint of gold every time the light caught the silken strands. “We should paint the walls.” Her finger tapped her lip. “It’s just so drab. So sullen. A little bit of decorating could bring some life to this place.”
A chill settled into my shoulders as memories I’d long locked away tapped me on the shoulder. Memories that controlled the shadows staining my soul, parading them around like a stringed puppet.
“Jack… What is it?”
My throat burned. Ached for something stronger than the beer in my hand. Before, when I was still married to Corinne, I never really discussed her with Jess. It was just an understanding between us. A subject Jess never pushed me on.
But now… things were different.
Now… now the shadows wanted a chance to purge.
“When I was married to Corinne… I wasn’t a great partner. I didn’t listen.” I gripped the beer in my hand as if it were an anchor, holding me down. “She loved to decorate, and damn she was good at it. But I never really gave her the props she deserved.” The shadows I’d lived in shifted, darkening, widening. “I was horrible, Jess. When we moved, I ordered new furniture without consulting her. I suggested hiring an interior designer.” My stomach sloshed at the memories. I’d thought I was helping, making the transition easier for her, when all it did was cause more hurt. It had been obvious she was hesitant about the move, but I’d been so excited that I got the promotion I didn’t stop to think about her wants. I spent more time trying to do the right thing, and not enough time listening.
Seeing her.
“Can I be honest?” A hint of a smirk tugged on the corner of her lips. “You were an idiot.”
I faked shock. Hand to my chest, pretending to be wounded. I had been an idiot. A huge one. Corinne went on to open an interior design company that was all the rage in New York. All because Cole saw in her what I took for granted.
“Her taste is impeccable,” she continued, setting the pillow beside her.
“It is.”
“And you were a complete asshole.”
“I was.”
“But…” She reached for my hand. “In the end, she ended up happy, and I ended up here with you. So…”
“So?”
“So, I guess you can have a couple of brownie points for that, however fucked up it may be.”
I chuckled a little.
She gave my hand a squeeze. “People make mistakes, Jack. You aren’t super human.”
I let my mouth fall open. “You mean, the cape in my closet is just pretend?”
Her giggle peppered the air.
“And here I thought I could always fall back on saving the city from perilous enemies. I guess I shouldn’t quit my day job.”
“No, you most definitely cannot. The kids would be devastated.” She paused, eyes turning coy. “So would I.”
There was that sizzling energy again… taking tiny whips to my skin, bringing my nerves to alert.
I inhaled, shifting.
“Have you spoken to her?”
“No. It’s weird… when I think about her and all those years we shared together, I find it hard to remember the details. The sound of her laughter. The quirks. They’ve all sort of faded.”
She was watching me, listening.
“We were young when we married. We had no clue what was out in the world. But… in some ways, I feel like it all happened just as it was supposed to. Would I have met you? Would she have met Cole? They have a kid, you know. A little girl. She always wanted kids.”
“And you?”
I shrugged. “I was too selfish back then to think past myself, let alone for a child.”
“That must have been hard for her.”
Shame spread across my chest. “I imagine so.”
“But maybe you’re right. Had you not married, who’s to say she’d have found her happily ever after? Maybe… maybe we’re all just comets, waiting for the right person to collide with to form something new and beautiful.”
I smiled at her, exhaling. “I just wish my comet had crashed into yours all those years ago.”
A lusty energy crackled in the air. The smile she threw me was incredible. Made me feel exposed. Folded open, pages bared.
“What color?” I managed to say, tasting desire on the tip of my tongue. Fingers clasping onto the couch, trying their best to stay in place.
Her eyes swam with mischief. “You tell me.”
“How about gray?”
“Boring.”
“Blue?”
“Sad.”
I groaned. “Woman…”
A smile tore across her mouth. “Yellow. The color of the early morning sun. Soft and dewy.”
“Yellow,” I replied, eyebrows flat. “A man’s apartment in yellow?”
“Yellow is neutral.”
“Yellow is too
gleeful.”
She stood, chewing on the corner of her lip for a second, something dangerous swimming in her gaze.
“I bet I can persuade you into wanting yellow.”
The way her lips curled over her words, thick like honey, made me grow hard.
“How so?”
A devilish gleam churned in the rich green of her eyes. Her hands tugged on the ends of her shirt until it was up, over her head.
My mouth watered. The swell of her breasts pressed against lace. Pink nipples peeking through fabric. Her fingers fumbled with the button to her jeans, and then slowly, tortuously, she slid them down.
Yellow. Her fucking bra and panties were yellow.
“You win. Yellow it is.” I licked my lips. Adjusted my pants, reciting every baseball player’s name I could to try to get rid of the boner she proudly caused. I had to get up. Had to move. Otherwise, I was going to fuck her right there. Plunge so deep inside her she’d scream my name.
“You’re a vixen, you know that?” I scooped up her clothes. “And you’re making it hard for me to be a gentleman.”
I handed them to her, but she just jetted away, laughing loudly, shouting, “You can’t catch me.”
I chased her into the kitchen and down the hall. She was hiding behind a door, then leapt onto my back, nearly knocking us over.
“A monkey,” I added, laughing, her clothes left somewhere on the floor.
I hiked her up, her legs winding around me as I carried her into the kitchen. Coffee… maybe coffee would help keep me straight. But with her body pressed against my back, I found it even more complicated.
She rested her chin on my shoulder, her arms wrapped loosely around my neck. Jess fit perfectly against me, and it made me want her that much more.
“Take me to the living room.” The raucous sounds from her filled the apartment as I carried her. “Now to the bedroom,” she continued, pretending to ride me like a horse.
Five Reasons To Go (The Risky Hearts Duet Book 2) Page 12