“No joke,” I chuckled on my way to grab a cup of coffee. I could afford a few minutes of caffeine with my favorite grandmother. “Boogers, farts, and video games don’t score high on my list of ‘must haves’ for my future spouse.”
“It’s not a total waste of time.” A knowing smile crept over her face as she gazed at me over her coffee cup. “You’re learning what you do and don’t like in a partner. Kind of makes you appreciate someone special when you meet them. You want a man who is considerate and caring but also knows how to make you laugh and has a backbone and a brain when he needs it. Someone who makes you smile on the inside every time you think of him.”
“Yes,” I reflected. “That’s true. Do you know anyone who meets those criteria, Grannie? So I can stop with these awful dates and get right down to business?”
“It doesn’t matter who I know or what I think.” She pushed a small piece of paper in front of me. “Do you know anyone who meets those criteria? You need to follow your own heart and I think it has a sturdy compass to point you in the right direction. The real question is—will you follow it?”
I opened the piece of paper. Justin Theodore Murphy—Party List. Yes. My compass was directing me due North towards JT. And I had every intention of following it even if the path there might be an uphill battle full of treacherous rocks and potholes. God help me. Those were the words of a man desperately fighting against his own feelings…a man fighting an inner battle of wills. I only wished I knew exactly what barriers JT saw to our relationship to give me a chance of breaking them down.
“I made a grocery list for you,” Grannie said. “So you won’t forget any of the important ingredients.”
I stood up and leaned in to kiss Grannie on the cheek. “I’m on it.”
After dropping off the groceries back at the house I walked over to JT’s with Jared. My tummy was humming with the excitement of a swarm of bees in a hive. How would JT react to seeing me this morning? I bit the inside of my lip to contain the sudden giggle threatening to erupt when I recalled our playful banter. Jared would expect an explanation for my mirth and I wasn’t able to put together a coherent thought at the moment.
A fresh display of spring flowers around the trees and along the path to the front door greeted us when we arrived. JT hadn’t planted flowers in a very long time. Five years to be exact. It was an expense he simply couldn’t afford or maybe the reminder of his mother’s favorite activity was too painful. Either way I was surprised.
JT stepped out of the garage as we approached with a smile spreading across his face. His eyes lingered on mine for a moment. “Ready to get to work or are you too hung over?”
“I’m ready,” I smiled up at him, drinking in the sight of his ratty jeans hugging his body and the tight white t-shirt clinging to his well-defined chest muscles. I was tempted to reach out and wipe away the tiny smudge of dirt on his cheek just above his full lips. He was sexy even when he was filthy.
“By the way, thanks for the aspirin.” I raised my hand to block the sun from my eyes as I examined JT’s handy work closely. “The flowers look fabulous, JT. It must’ve taken you all morning to plant them. Great idea.”
He stared down at his shoes for a moment and I was sure I detected a slight flush in his cheeks. Why would he be embarrassed about planting flowers? It was an incredibly sweet gesture to make the home welcoming for his brother’s graduation party.
“Damn right it did.” Chloe said breathlessly, stepping out of the garage where she had been bent over cleaning up the remnants of the flower containers. “But it does look fabulous, doesn’t it? I told JT it would. He didn’t want to spend the time or money. So I had to take matters into my own hands. It’s my graduation gift to Derek.”
I stared at Chloe in surprise. What was she doing here? JT hadn’t mentioned inviting her over to help prepare for the party. This was supposed to be our gig—JT, me and Jared. Had she just shown up on her own to plant the flowers despite JT’s objections? Granted the flowers did look fabulous but who was Chloe to insert her will?
Derek probably would have appreciated a card with cash more than flowers, but I kept my mouth shut. So much for being in charge of the decorations. If I was honest, it pissed me off that I hadn’t thought of planting flowers myself. I forced a smile and fought to appear relaxed. JT and Jared knew me well enough to detect a display of jealousy and I wasn’t ready to attack that part of my uphill battle yet.
“Great job.” I bumped my shoulder against my brother’s side and tried to appear jovial. “It looks just like it did in the olden days, doesn’t it?”
In the days when Chloe wasn’t around to stand there beaming at her work and at JT. Her work was done. Why didn’t she go home now? The party wasn’t starting for a few more hours.
“Sure, whatever,” Jared said, clasping JT’s hand for a rough shake. “Where’s that good for nothing brother of yours? We have a tent to put up before people start crashing the party in a few hours.”
“He’s in the house.” JT walked to the front door and opened it wide to let us all pass through. “We’re going to have to drag him out of bed.”
“Typical teenager,” I said, laughing and then paused so as not to knock Chloe down in the hallway when she suddenly bent over to pick up a duffle bag off the floor.
Chloe walked towards the bathroom, acting like she owned the place and looked back over her shoulder. “Hey JT, I’m going to jump in the shower to get all of this dirt off of me. I’ll join you guys outside in 30 minutes.”
JT nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah, fine. Thanks again Chloe for planting the flowers. Derek will appreciate it. They do make the house much more inviting and more like a home.”
The round cheeks in Chloe’s heart shaped face glowed with a pretty shade of pink at his praise and her eyelashes fluttered up at him. “Anything to help out.”
I inhaled deeply while moving past the living room and into the kitchen where I could safely roll my eyes, wondering secretly if my own behavior towards JT was as obvious as Chloe’s. I hoped not. Otherwise I was going to have a lot of explaining to do to my brother by the end of the day. What nerve the woman had bringing her stuff over to shower. Were the two closer than I realized?
“Sure you don’t need to jump in the shower as well, JT?” Jared joked quietly once Chloe was safely behind the bathroom door.
I whipped around to catch JT’s reaction to the jest, unable to staunch my deep curiosity. Sparkling blue eyes met mine dead on as a slow smile spread across his face. He chuckled and asked Jared a question of his own.
“Wishing you had come over earlier to help out in the garden Jared?”
“I wish,” Jared snorted. “Give me a chance and I’d be all over that action. But her eyes are all for you man. She’s yours for the taking.”
“No way man.” JT shook his head vigorously and rubbed absently at the back of his neck as if he had a headache just thinking about it. “Too much on my plate: getting Derek settled into college, working at the restaurant to make enough dough to survive this last year and keeping up my grades so I don’t screw up my job offer. The last thing I need is to get involved in a committed relationship to take my head out of the game.”
“Who said anything about commitment?” Jared asked.
“Don’t be such a jerk.” I shoved my brother out the back door while JT went to wake Derek.
Maybe I should lay-off my brother. If he hadn’t been such a cad I might not have gained so much insight into what JT was thinking. His words had been in response to Jared’s comment about Chloe but I couldn’t shake the feeling that they’d been meant for me. I needed to find an opportunity later in the day to pull him aside and talk about last night.
It was tight but the five of us pulled off the preparations with enough time for JT to shower and change before the first guests arrived. And what an arrival it was. I flashed Grannie a full white-toothy smile as she rolled up into the driveway in a burgundy 1970 Camaro with broad white stripes down
the hood. Music was blaring out of the sound system through the wide open windows. She had even gotten the radio station right.
“Holy crap!” Derek laughed out loud while leaning into the driver side window to give Grannie a peck on the cheek and check out the black vinyl interior. “When did you get these digs Grannie?”
She cut the engine and let Derek help her out of the car. “I just picked it up at the dealership. Happy Graduation, Derek!”
“I can’t believe it!” His jaw dropped as tears quickly flooded his eyes.
I beamed at him…so happy to be a witness to his joy. He opened his mouth to say something more but then thought better of it and simply lifted Grannie off the ground to twirl her once around in his happiness.
“You really shouldn’t have. I mean don’t get me wrong—I’m glad you did—wow!”
“Don’t thank me too much.” Grannie chuckled and handed him an envelope. “It has a lot of miles. But it’s from the original owner. He took real good care of the car. It was time for you to have your own wheels. You’ll need it to get back and forth from college. I know you’re living on campus but we’re all going to want to see you now and again. I got you a few years of insurance too. You just need to cover the cost of your gas.”
“Thank you so much,” he squealed, taking the keys she offered. “You’re the best.”
JT stood with his arms lightly crossed over his chest and ogled the Camaro with a twinge of what looked to me like envy. But he was clearly happy for his brother. It would mean JT didn’t have to share his own car anymore. Nothing bad about that.
“Go on,” JT said, nodding his head at Derek. “Take it for a quick spin before the rest of the guests start to arrive. I know you’re dying to try it out. I’ll hold down the fort.”
Everyone seemed to descend on the house within a fifteen minute time span and I rushed around with my mother getting the food arranged on the tables set up in the garage. There was no shortage of food and drinks with pasta, pulled pork sandwiches, plus a variety of appetizers and salads. Rounding out the meal was a full sheet of cake from the grocery store where Mrs. Jenkins worked. My mother and I finally fixed ourselves a plate of food and made our way to the tent to find a seat to enjoy the fruits of our labor.
“Come sit here dear,” an older woman with shoulder length blond hair said while patting the empty seat next to her. She looked somehow familiar. It took a few seconds before it dawned on me who the stranger was.
“You must be Aunt Mary.” I beamed and extended my hand to the woman. “JT told me you were hoping to make it up for the party. I’m glad to finally meet you. This is my mother, Judy.”
“Oh, yes.” Mary acknowledged my mother with a nod of her head and held out her hand to shake. “We’ve met before. It was quite some time ago. Good to see you again, Judy. You couldn’t have been more than three or four at the time Jordan. That’s probably why you don’t remember me.”
Mary and my mother fell into polite conversation while I attacked my food with gusto. All of the preparations had caused me to develop a ravenous appetite. I quietly observed Mary hoping to glean some more information about her. I knew JT’s family used to visit his aunt at least once per year while his folks were alive but those visits had ceased after their tragic accident. Their relationship became somewhat strained when JT had respectfully declined her offer to move to Atlanta five years before to live with her. My ears perked up when I caught the tail end of Mary’s sentence.
“…legal guardian. I was so worried for the two boys and wished they would have come down to Atlanta to live with me. Did you know his mother and I were raised by our Aunt? To be able to give back in the way that our Aunt gave to us…well…it wasn’t meant to be. I must say JT has done a fine job.”
Well that shed a little light on why his Aunt Mary was upset with JT’s decision. JT had adamantly refused to move away from their childhood home, certain that doing so would devastate his younger brother even more. The life insurance proceeds had made it possible for JT to pay off the mortgage and keep the monthly running costs of the home low while he pursued his college degree.
I couldn’t recall Mary’s profession but I suspected that in a pinch she would offer financial assistance to JT if he really needed it and condescended to asking for help. But that wasn’t in his nature. He was proud and resourceful and stubborn. Just like his ex-Marine Corp father. I scanned the party tent and found JT sitting a few tables over with a group of Derek’s friends and Chloe glued to his side.
JT looked up and his eyes connected with mine. He acknowledged me with a slight nod of his head and a brief smile that set my heart racing in my chest before he turned to answer a question from the group of guys. Were we eventually going to have to talk about the make-out session from the night before or did he plan to pretend like it had never happened? Not if I had anything to say about it. I watched him get up from the table and head into the house with his empty plate of food and Chloe nipping at his heels.
It took all of my self-control to rejoin the conversation with my mother and Mary instead of bounding into the house after them. It bothered me when my green-eyed monster reared its ugly head. I knew JT couldn’t help the way Chloe felt about him and he’d not given me any reason to feel jealous. Hell! He wasn’t even my boyfriend. Yet the feelings were there all the same.
After ten minutes passed without JT reappearing, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to clear our used plates. I picked up more used plates as I made my way toward the house, almost convincing myself that my real intent was to help clean up, rather than spy on JT and Chloe. I shifted the pile of plates into one hand in order to pull back the screen door to the house but paused at the sound of Chloe’s words which drifted outside.
“Let me show you how much I care about you JT.”
I jerked the door open to find Chloe on her tippy-toes with arms wrapped around JT’s head, pulling his face down towards her for a kiss. Chloe jerked around at the sound of the opening door to glare at me, clearly unhappy with the unexpected interruption. I bit down hard on my lip and shoved past them to toss the large pile of waste I’d been carrying into the full trash can.
“Sorry,” I gritted out through clenched teeth. “I’ll be out of your hair in a second after I grab some more trash bags from the basement. There are a ton of plates that need to be picked up.”
I raced down the stairs taking large gulping breaths in an attempt to control the riot of feelings coursing through me. Damn it. Why couldn’t I just have let well enough alone? Of all the things I didn’t want to see, top on my list was JT about to kiss another woman. Red hot tears scalded my face in an unending stream as I made my way to the storage room in the basement, locking the door behind me. My body wracked with the force of my tears.
Why was this happening? Just a few weeks ago I was happy by myself and blissfully unaware of the insatiable tingling sensations that the right man could evoke in a woman. The sudden rattling of the door startled me. I leaned my forehead against the door and groaned.
Chapter Six
Family is Family
Jordan
“Jordan,” JT said in a stern voice. “Open the door.”
“Just go away.” I tried to mask the devastation in my voice as I wiped furiously at my tears. “I’ll be up in a few minutes, JT.”
“I’m not leaving.” His tone made it clear that he meant it. “And I know how to unlock this door without your help so save us both the hassle and open it. Now.”
The second the lock clicked open he was through the door and standing behind me. I kept my back to him with my face lowered, unwilling to let him see the depth of my pain. The gentle touch of his hands on my shoulders nearly set me off again and I struggled to contain the fresh batch of tears welling in my eyes.
“Jordan,” he said softly. “It’s not what you think. Look at me.”
“No,” I whispered. “I’ll be fine. Just give me a minute.”
He wrapped his arms around me from behind and
nuzzled his face into my neck. “I have no interest in Chloe whatsoever. Do you hear me? What happened up there was all about her and what she wants. Not me and what I want.”
“Really,” I snapped, “because I don’t recall seeing you putting up a fight.”
“I was in shock.” JT said with irritation lacing his words as he turned me around to face him. He forced my chin up with his finger and gazed into my eyes. “And you interrupted before I had the chance to react and pull away.”
“Interrupted?” My jaw dropped. “That smacks of disappointment.”
“Jordan, stop it.” He scowled down at me. “You know damn well who I want to be kissing and it isn’t Chloe. Or don’t you remember last night?”
Before I could retort with a smart comeback, his hands laced into my hair to hold me tightly into place while his mouth came down on mine with the force of his desire. Gone was the playful nipping of our first kiss. His tongue claimed mine the instant I gasped for breath and refused to relinquish its hold until my body fully acquiesced and molded itself to his. As his tongue explored my mouth in lazy twirls, I felt his hand leave my hair to begin its own exploratory path down my shoulder and over my chest to land firmly on my breast. A soft moan escaped me when his fingers pinched lightly at the expanding bud beneath my sweater.
“Do you believe me now?” He began slowly trailing wet kisses along my neck on a definite path towards my aching nipple. “Or do you need more evidence of my feelings for you?”
The soft timbre of his voice lulled me into submission and I watched dreamily as he pulled the wide cowl neck of my sweater and lace bra down to expose my full breast. The moment his mouth enclosed around the pulsating bud and suckled hard, I was lost and threw back my head with a guttural moan. An explosion of heat gathered in my nether region. No. I had no doubt he wanted me physically but that wasn’t going to be enough for me.
Date Night (Wish Come True Book 1) Page 6