Hometown Girl: The Chesapeake Diaries

by Mariah Stewart

  She wasn’t sure what to do next, it had been so long since she’d wanted so terribly, ached so deeply, for a man’s touch. His thumb moved farther up under her skirt and found its way under the thin silk of her thong. When his fingers brushed against her core she saw stars.

  “Oh my God, Jesse,” she gasped as wave after wave of a pleasure close to pain coursed through her.

  “Shhhh,” he whispered, his breath hot against her ear. “Let it go, Brooke …”

  As if she could stop the flood of sensation that rippled through her body. As if she could do anything but ride the rhythm of his fingers as they slipped inside her and threatened to bring her back to the brink again. What she most wanted was the feel of his hands on her skin. It had been so long since she’d been touched with such gentleness and such need. She met his eyes and started to unbutton her shirt, hoping that he would understand that this wasn’t something she did every day, but that whatever had started between them as friendship had just ignited into something else, something she hadn’t expected, but couldn’t turn away from. His free hand closed over her breast and she fumbled with the buttons, pulling her bra strap down to free herself from it. His thumb and forefinger teased her flesh until she peaked again, this time arching her back until she thought she’d break in two.

  “Oh my God, Jesse.”

  “That had a familiar ring to it,” he gasped, and turned her to straddle him. She took his face in her hands and kissed him deeply. She had just reached for his belt buckle to undo it, when the front door slammed.

  She sat up as if she’d been shot.

  “You expecting someone?” she panted.

  “No.” He cleared his throat. “We had dinner, right?”

  She nodded.

  “Then it’s not the delivery boy.” He groaned and moved her off him. “This had better be good,” he muttered. “Give me a minute to get rid of whoever it is.”

  “Hello? Is anyone here?” a voice called from the front hall.

  “Hell.” Jesse went to the door and gestured for Brooke to stay where she was. Rattled, she slipped back into her bra and buttoned her shirt. She stood and smoothed her skirt and looked under the table for her shoes, wondering when she’d taken them off.

  “I’m looking for Jesse Enright.” She heard the voice from the hall.

  “You’ve found him. What can I do for you?”

  “I have this letter …”

  Brooke froze, one shoe on, the other dangling from the tips of her toes. She heard the sound of paper rustling, and squeezed her eyes tightly closed.

  Oh, no … please, God, anyone but …

  “I’m Jason Bowers. You represent my sister-in-law, Brooke Bowers, right?”

  “That’s correct. Mr. Bowers, come on into my office and we’ll …”

  There was the sound of more paper rattling.

  “I know how lawyers work. I know that once someone is represented, the opposing party isn’t allowed to talk to them. So I just want you—”

  “Mr. Bowers, you’ve totally misunderstood the intent of my letter. Brooke was merely trying to—”

  “—to find out if I was going to stiff my nephew. I got that.”

  “—determine if you were still in business, and if so, she just wanted to know—”

  “—if she was ever going to see a penny of the money Eric loaned me. Right. I got that part, too.”

  “Please come into my office and sit down, Mr. Bowers. I can tell you’re upset, and I know that’s the last thing Brooke would want.”

  “At this point, I don’t really care what Brooke would want. Here’s a cashier’s check made out to her for the full fifty thousand dollars. You tell her …”

  Brooke couldn’t take any more. She smoothed her hair and hoped she didn’t look like she’d been doing what she and Jesse had been doing before Jason had let himself into the building. She stepped into the hall and walked toward the foyer.

  “You can tell me yourself, Jace.”

  She couldn’t remember Jason Bowers ever looking the way he looked at that moment when he saw her. He stared at her, then at Jesse.

  “Oh, so that’s how it is. You hook up with this lawyer, then the two of you decide to squeeze me into—” Jason took one too many steps toward Brooke, and Jesse reacted.

  “Whoa, hold it, buddy.” Jesse grabbed him by the arm.

  “Get your hands off me.” Jason’s anger went clear to his eyes.

  “Jace, could we please sit down and talk for a few minutes? Could you let me explain why I asked Jesse to write that letter?”

  “I think it’s pretty obvious.”

  “It isn’t what you think.” She lowered her voice. “Please. For Logan’s sake, could we just talk about this and why I asked Jesse to send that letter?”

  Jason glanced at Jesse, and Brooke could see that her brother-in-law figured he now had two reasons to want to deck him, and the letter wasn’t the part that he was most objecting to.

  “First of all, this firm has represented my family for well over one hundred years. Jesse is a member of the firm. When I needed legal counsel, I called on him. He’s my lawyer, and he’s my friend.”

  “I think I can figure out what he is, Brooke. I’m not blind.”

  “I had an appointment late this afternoon to have my will rewritten.” That was true, but she couldn’t bring herself to say more.

  “You don’t owe me any explanations, Brooke.”

  “You’re right. I don’t. But I can see you’re upset, and I don’t want you to be. There isn’t any reason to be. As far as the letter is concerned, I merely asked Jesse to help me find out what the status of the business is at this point.”

  “You could have called me and asked me yourself.”

  “I did that. Twice. You didn’t return my calls.”

  “If you left messages, I never got them.”

  “Check with your garage, or wherever it is that you keep your equipment. That’s the number you gave me. It’s the only one I had.”

  He stared at her for a long moment. “The status of the business is ‘sold.’ ”

  “When did you sell it?” She frowned.

  “The day after I got this letter. There’s a guy who’s been wanting to buy me out for the last couple of years. I called him and told him this was his chance. He met my price, and we signed the papers on Monday. I drove up here to pay back what I owed you.”

  “You sold your business?” She closed the distance between them slowly. “Why did you do that?”

  “Because I couldn’t pay you back any other way.”

  “I wasn’t asking you to pay me back, you idiot. I was only asking what was going on. What part of that don’t you get?” She poked him in the chest. He was six four but to her, he was still Eric’s little brother. “You’re asking me why I didn’t call? Why didn’t you call when you received the letter? If you didn’t want to talk to me, you could have called Jesse.”

  “I thought—”

  “You didn’t think with anything but your Irish temper.” She went to him and put her arms around him, and he let her. “Oh, Jason, I never intended for you to do something like that. I wasn’t asking for money. I just wanted some information. I wasn’t hounding you or asking you to pay back Eric’s share. I just wanted to know.”

  “Well, now you do.”

  “So what are you going to do?” she asked.

  He took a deep breath. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”

  “You Bowers guys with your hot heads,” she muttered. “I’m hoping that’s one thing Logan didn’t inherit from his father.”

  She poked him again. “And stop glaring at Jesse.”

  His eyes shifted from Jesse back to Brooke.

  “Sorry,” he said, though he clearly didn’t mean it. “But you know, my brother hasn’t even been gone for three years, Brooke. I can’t help but wonder how long you waited before you—”

  She felt as if she’d taken a sharp, swift punch to the gut.

  “All
right.” Jesse stepped forward and put a hand on Brooke’s shoulder. “I think that’s enough. You don’t know a thing about her, or about our relationship, and frankly, it’s none of your business.”

  “I can tell by looking at both of you what your relationship is.”

  “So what you’re saying is that after Eric died, Brooke should have become a nun?”

  “Of course not. I’m just saying it hasn’t been that long.”

  “You said it yourself. Almost three years. Have you gone three years without someone loving you?”

  “We’re not talking about my life. We’re talking about Brooke’s.”

  “Look, I don’t know you, and I didn’t know your brother. And for what it’s worth, I am sorry for what happened to him.”

  Jason smirked and it was becoming more and more apparent to Brooke that Jesse was using every bit of his self-control not to throw the first punch.

  “From everything I’ve heard from everyone who’s met him, Eric was a hell of a guy. I know Brooke’s missed him terribly. I’m sure you do, too.”

  Jason’s smirk began to fade slowly.

  “But all that aside—you don’t get to decide when it’s time for Brooke to try to rebuild her life. And you don’t get to decide who she builds it with. Whatever you think you know about her and this situation—you’re probably wrong.” Jesse’s hand touched the small of her back.

  As the two men stared at each other, Brooke could almost feel the steam begin to evaporate from the foyer, where only moments earlier, the emotions had built close to the combustion point.

  “I didn’t mean … hell, Brooke, I’m sorry.” This time, it sounded as if Jason meant it. “Look, I’ll give you a call when I figure out where I’m going to go—”

  “No, you won’t.” She reached out to take his hand. “You’re coming back to the farm with me.”

  “I think I’d be better off …”

  She shook her head. “No. You’re not leaving St. Dennis without seeing Logan and spending some time with him. He misses you, Jace.”

  “I miss him, too,” Jason admitted. “All right. I’ll stop out and say hello.”

  “That’s a start.” She patted his arm. “Do you have a car?”

  Jason nodded. “It’s parked around the corner.”

  “Why don’t you get it and wait for me out front? You can follow me home.”

  He nodded again, looked back at Jesse, but didn’t speak before leaving the office.

  Brooke turned to Jesse. “I’m sorry. For everything. For Jason showing up and making a scene. And I’m sorry for …” She pointed in the direction of the conference room. “I don’t usually act like that. I don’t want you to think I …” She couldn’t find the word she wanted. She wasn’t sure what she felt other than confusion and embarrassment. Jason’s unexpected arrival at the worst possible time had rattled her straight to her soul.

  With his thumb Jesse brushed away tears she hadn’t been aware had fallen.

  “I think you’re the woman I’ve waited for all my life, and I think we both know it,” he said softly. “And please, don’t break my heart by apologizing. I’ve been wanting to touch you since the first time I looked at you.”

  He put his arms around her and drew her close, rocked her gently, and all the conflicting feelings she’d had melted away. Being with Jesse hadn’t felt anything but right.

  “Brooke, the things Jason said, what he implied … you understand that he was surprised to find you here with me, right? That maybe for him, the years haven’t been as long as they have been for you?”

  “You’re probably right. For years, Eric and Jason only had each other after their parents died.” She sniffed back more tears and nodded slowly. Of course Jesse was right. What could have prepared Jason for seeing her with someone other than his brother? “What makes you so smart?”

  “Hey, I’ve been a lawyer for more than a decade. I’ve spent a hell of a lot of time listening to what people say and figuring out what they really mean.”

  “The look he gave me when I first came out into the hall was so hateful.” She shuddered at the memory of the way Jason’s eyes had cut right through her.

  “He was taken off guard. He thought he was just coming in to drop off a check and here you were. With me. He wasn’t expecting to see you and he apparently never thought about you in a relationship with anyone other than Eric.”

  “Are we in a relationship?”

  “You betcha.” Jesse kissed the side of her face, and she felt all the anxiety of the past twenty minutes start to fade. “This is just the beginning, Brooke.”

  Headlights shined through the front window.

  “I guess that’s Jason. I should go.” She glanced around. “Where did you put his check?”

  He picked up the envelope he’d tossed onto his desk and handed it to her.

  “Thanks,” she said as she slipped it into her bag. “This goes right back to Jason. He can use it to start up again. The idiot.”

  “Want me to come with you?”

  She shook her head. “No. I think you defused the situation but I need to take it from here. Thank you for sticking up for me, by the way. You didn’t have to, but I appreciate that you did. So … well, thank you. I was afraid you two were going to go at it for a moment there.”

  “I really didn’t want it to come to that. It wouldn’t have been a fair fight.” He stepped into his office and got her coat, helped her to slip into it.

  “Jason’s a scrapper,” she said.

  “He was too emotional. He would have gone down hard. Besides, if we wrecked anything in here, Violet would have my head.”

  “And just when you and Mrs. Finneran were starting to get along so well.” She leaned up and kissed him. “You were my hero tonight.”

  “Are we still on for Saturday night?”

  She nodded. “I owe you one.”

  “Actually, you owe me two.” He smiled and she felt its warmth all the way to her heart. “Not that I was counting …”

  Chapter 14

  HANNAH was in the kitchen when Brooke arrived, Jason in tow.

  “Mom, look who I found wandering around St. Dennis.” Brooke knew that wasn’t quite where she’d encountered him, but it would suffice for the moment.

  “Jason! What a nice surprise.” Hannah embraced him and gave him a long hug. “Why didn’t you let us know you were coming?”

  “He wanted to surprise us,” Brooke said before Jason could respond.

  Jason nodded. “Right.”

  “Well, sit, then. Have you had dinner?” Hannah went directly to the refrigerator and opened the door.

  “No, I—”

  “Let me fix you something. Let’s see, we have—”

  “No need to bother, Hannah,” he told her. “I can stop somewhere on my way back to the motel.”

  “You have a room?” Hannah stood. “Where?”

  “The small place out on the highway right past the first shopping center after the light on River Road.”

  Hannah made a face. “For heaven’s sake, you can’t stay there. Call them up and cancel the room. You’ll stay here.” She ducked into the refrigerator again. “Hamburger okay?”

  “A hamburger would be great, but really, Hannah, you don’t need to—”

  She shushed him with a wave of her hand. “Sit.”

  Jason sat.

  “Where’s Clay?” Brooke asked.

  “He’s upstairs with Logan. Shower time.” Hannah turned to Jason. “Say, why don’t you go right on up and surprise him?”

  “I’d love to see him, thank you.” Jason stood. “Which way?”

  “You can go right up the back steps here and it’ll be the third door on the right.”

  Jason’s footsteps echoed up the steps, and overhead they heard floorboards squeak.

  “All right, now.” Hannah turned to her daughter. “What’s going on? Did you know Jason was coming? And why do you look so out of sorts? I thought you were finishing up your will
at Jesse’s office.”

  Brooke dropped into a chair.

  “I didn’t know Jason was coming. I was at Jesse’s office when he arrived.”

  “Jason went to Jesse’s office?” Hannah frowned. “Why would he have done that?”

  “Remember I told you that Jesse wrote a letter to Jace, just asking about the state of the landscaping business because of the money that Eric pitched in as seed money?”

  “Right.” Hannah began to make a burger for Jason.

  “Well, Jason took that to mean that I wanted him to pay back the money now.” Brooke shook her head. “He was furious. It never occurred to me that he’d take it that way. I was only asking because I didn’t even know if he was still in business. I thought I should know because of Logan …”

  “Of course, you should know. No need to explain. And shame on Jason for not calling you to ask if that was what you wanted him to do.”

  “That’s exactly what I told him. But he sold the business so he could pay me back. He came here to give me a check. Actually, he wasn’t even going to do that. He was just going to leave it with Jesse without even calling me.”

  “Oh, dear lord. No wonder you’re upset.”

  “That isn’t all of it.”

  Hannah turned around. “So …?”

  “So Jesse and I were in the conference room when Jason arrived. We’d been … we were …” Brooke was trying to decide how best to word it.

  “Oh. I see.” Hannah took a small skillet from the rack overhead and placed it on the stove. “You and Jesse. Well.”

  “Well …?”