Jessie Slaymaker's Rules of Engagement (The Jessie Slaymaker Series Book 2) (20 page)

Jessie fought the urge to turn and see the look on Sonia’s face. She hoped there was shock on it. She had the feeling not that many people turned their backs on Sonia Shum.

Once outside, Jessie felt her anger flare. Just when she thought things were back on track with Jack, Sonia Shum had to show up with her double meanings.

‘Honestly,’ Jessie fumed as she took off down the street with purpose, Jack hot on her heels. ‘The nerve of that woman knows no bounds. Is it too much to ask for her to actually say what she means? What was all that crap about the baby keeping her up all night like its night owl father and supporting you as you embarked on a new adventure? I couldn’t tell if she meant her words at face value or if she was being deliberately facetious and pointing a finger at you on both counts,’ Jessie ranted as she continued to get worked up.

‘Jessie, slow down,’ Jack said forcefully, tugging at her wrist until she halted. ‘Calm yourself down,’ he said gently, stroking her arms up and down. He pulled her to the side of the pavement so they wouldn’t be quite so conspicuously in the way of the nighttime passersby.

‘What you saw tonight was just Sonia being Sonia,’ Jack went on. ‘I’m not sure what game she’s playing, but I guess she’ll show her hand soon enough. I guarantee she came tonight with the single intention of stirring up trouble, but I can assure you that I never kept her up all night.
Ever
. And that’s not something most men would be proud of admitting.’ Jessie couldn’t help but smile at his modesty. ‘And the only new adventure I’m embarking on is going to have you slap bang in the centre of it. She can forget about the fatherhood that she alluded to back there.’

Jessie felt reassured. She didn’t realise how much she’d needed to hear these words from him, but now that they were out, she felt an invisible weight lifting from around her neck. Sonia Shum faded away into the background and all that was left was Jack. Only Jack. What made it even more poignant was the fact that he was looking at her like there was only her. He cupped her face and looked into her eyes, and it was as though the world stopped all around her. The traffic noise, the nosy passersby, they all blurred into the periphery as he kissed her passionately. Then he pulled away and his eyes bored into hers. Jessie felt his intensity and the same electricity hanging in the air that one feels before a big thunderstorm. The atmosphere was close, and there was something fierce and primal in the way Jack was looking at her.

‘I love you,’ he whispered as he continued to hold her face and search her eyes. Jessie stared at him, stunned. It was the perfect moment for him to have said those three little words, and yet she hadn’t been expecting them. Her breath caught and a small gasp escaped her throat, such was her surprise.

‘Huh,’ she managed after an expecting moment.

‘Jessie, I love you,’ Jack repeated, louder this time. His face began to cloud, and his fingers started to drop from her face when she didn’t say anything.

‘Of course I love you,’ Jessie suddenly blurted out as the realisation hit her that she hadn’t said anything meaningful yet, and that Jack was starting to look hurt.

For some reason, it was a scary thing to say. To admit it to herself was one thing, but to say it out loud to Jack… that was a whole different ball game. But she’d done it, and the world hadn’t come crashing down around her ears.

There was a loud crack, followed by a roll of thunder. Jessie and Jack jumped and looked skywards and then back at each other. The world hadn’t ended at their declaration of love, but the heavens did open up, soaking them in seconds. Jack smiled at Jessie and kissed her gently, wrapping his arms around her protectively. Despite the rain, Jessie could have stayed in his embrace, kissing him delicately, all night. Jack eventually unpeeled her from him and they wandered off slowly, hand in hand, in search of a taxi.

The taxi search proved to be an elusive one, and they were both thoroughly soaked through to the skin by the time they trotted back to Jessie’s apartment. But Jessie didn’t care. She was happy. Ecstatically so. She’d almost forgotten about Jack’s bitch of an ex-girlfriend rocking up and spoiling the party.

As they headed inside, Jack and Jessie were too wrapped up in their post-I-love-you world of euphoria to notice the man standing across the street, watching them intently.

Jack woke with the mother of all cricks in his neck. Jessie’s sofa bed was seriously uncomfortable.

‘Arghhh,’ he groaned as he tried to position himself more agreeably. It was Monday morning, and the remainder of the weekend had disappeared in the blink of an eye, what with all the making up he and Jessie had been doing.

‘Rise and shine,’ Jessie said cheerfully as she plonked a cup of coffee down on the side table for him.

‘You can’t seriously be going to work,’ Jack moaned, pulling her back onto the bed. She was fully dressed in a tight cream pencil skirt and white blouse.

‘Gotta pay the rent,’ Jessie replied as she tried to get up.

‘Hmm. But I’ll miss you,’ he said, nuzzling her neck.

‘I’ll see you later. You’re going to make me late,’ she laughed.

‘But I need you,’ he said. His fingers began to stroke her leg, edging slowly higher up her skirt.

‘Oh really? Since when did you become so insatiable, Mr Davenport?’

‘Since you told me you loved me,’ he replied with a gleam in his eye.

‘Well, you’re just going to have to survive on last night’s multiple rounds. Just until I see you later,’ Jessie said, pushing him off her more forcefully and getting off the bed.

He watched as she straightened up her clothes and collected her bag. ‘You’re no fun,’ he said, sulking.

‘I’ll make it up to you later.’ Jessie leaned over to kiss him. ‘Promise.’

‘Well, I suppose that will have to do,’ he said, catching her wrist and kissing her deeply. ‘I love you.’

‘I love you too,’ she replied, smiling broadly, and then disappeared out the door.

Jack smiled to himself as he rolled over in bed and stretched out his long limbs. He was amazed by the change that three little words could bring about. It was like they were on their actual honeymoon or something. They couldn’t get enough of each other, and in all honesty it was probably a good thing she had gone to work, or else he was unlikely to get anything done ever again. Jack had the bar to see to, after all. He wondered how other men in love managed to juggle a day job with the incessant need to be in the presence of their loved one. This all-encompassing feeling of wanting to be attached to someone twenty-four seven was a new thing for him—and he hoped it wouldn’t wear off anytime soon.

As much as he would have liked to stay in bed all day reminiscing about the awesome weekend he’d spent rolling around with Jessie, he did have responsibilities to see to and staff who reported to him. So Jack pulled on his jeans and headed back to the serviced apartment for a shower and a fresh change of clothes. He’d decided to keep the serviced apartment on for another month. It was perfectly decent, and the thought of flat-hunting knowing Jessie wouldn’t be living with him immediately held absolutely no appeal for him. Who knew how things would be in a few weeks or so? She could even be ready to face facts and realise that living together, even at this early stage, wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

Jack spent his day at the bar, familiarising himself with the running of the place now that they were fully operational. It felt good to be doing something productive with his time, rather than being a layabout at home, and he didn’t realise how much he’d missed having a daily purpose. He could see how it could get monotonous, but he was determined to make the best of it, for both his own and his business partner’s sakes.

That evening Jessie came bounding through the door at seven on the dot. She looked positively radiant, and all Jack wanted to do was help her out of her work clothes. And quick. But for some reason Tom’s advice that they needed to talk more echoed through his mind. After a passionate hello, which told Jack that Jessie had exactly the same thing on her mind that he did, he showed some restraint and pulled her over to the sofa. He hoped she could see he was making an effort at the emotional side of their relationship.

‘So how was Barbie today?’ Jack asked, tapping her nose lightly when she tried to unbutton his shirt. ‘We should at least talk first,’ he added reluctantly, stilling her hands.

Jessie sighed loudly, as though that was the last thing she wanted to do, then decided to placate him.

‘You have to stop calling her that, or I’m bound to use that nickname to her face or in an inappropriate situation. Anyway, Rachel was… well, she was a bit odd with me, if truth be told.’

‘Well, in my defence she
did
dress up as Barbie, so she can’t be expecting a whole lot more,’ Jack smiled. ‘In what way was she odd?’

‘She wasn’t exactly nice, but she’s given me an additional project, and she said there’s a film crew coming in tomorrow to get our take on the policy changes due to be implemented in China. She said I should do the interview.’

‘Jessie, that’s awesome,’ Jack, said loudly. ‘Why aren’t you pleased?’

‘I am. I guess. I just don’t know why she’s delegated this to me. I’d have thought she’d be desperate to get in front of the camera herself, and even if she wasn’t, there are more senior people in the team than me. Plus, she
is
the department head. It would make far more sense for her to do it, really. Rather than just a minion from her team.’

‘Maybe she thinks you’ve earned it?’

‘I doubt it, but I guess I should just be glad. Maybe she’s had a change of heart about me,’ Jessie said, shrugging her shoulders.

‘Well, I think it’s brilliant, and no more than you deserve.’

‘You’re just biased. Oh, and Tom says goodbye by the way.’

‘Did he get off alright?’ Jack asked.

‘I’m assuming so. I saw him for lunch and all he could talk about was Trey and how he was sorry for ditching me over the weekend. I made him feel suitably guilty for leaving me all alone,’ Jessie smiled wickedly.

‘Alone?’ Jack smiled at her. ‘Is that what they call it nowadays?’

‘Anyway, how was your day, darling?’ Jessie asked, nuzzling his neck and fiddling with his buttons again.

‘Oh, well, you know. Went to the bar, hired some more staff, did a stock check. Pretty mundane stuff really. And no, I didn’t get any offers of TV work, in case you were wondering.’

‘Sounds like you’ve been a busy bee, all the same,’ Jessie said, her hands finally working their way inside his shirt. ‘I think you need a reward.’

‘I have to go home,’ Jessie said sleepily as she disentangled herself from Jack’s naked body. They must have dozed off and it was late.

‘This is why living apart is a such a stupid idea,’ Jack complained.

‘Jack. Give me time,’ Jessie said sternly, shaking out her hair. ‘The way I’m feeling right now, this living apart thing is probably going to get old real fast, but let’s give it a go. It’s not like I’m asking you to escort me home,’ she added as she hopped around the bedroom picking up and putting on her clothes.

‘Now you’ve said that, I
have
to escort you home, don’t I? I am a gentleman after all.’

‘Ha ha,’ Jessie quipped. ‘The things you’ve just done to me are not the actions of a gentleman. But you can take me home. If you absolutely insist.’ She smiled broadly at him and he knew the way he was feeling in that moment, he was powerless to deny her anything, even if the thought of trekking across town at that time of night held next to no appeal.

‘I’ll just check the postbox,’ Jessie said, fumbling with her key as they entered the entrance foyer to her building. Jack had told the taxi not to wait. Although they hadn’t discussed as much, he assumed that he would be spending the night with Jessie.

Jack had been scuffing the bottom step with his shoe for a few moments before he realised Jessie still hadn’t joined him. He looked up to see her frozen to the spot by the wall of mailboxes, a piece of paper shaking in her hand. Jack walked over, sensing from her face that something was seriously wrong. As he approached, she looked up at him with fear in her eyes, and pushed the piece of paper towards him like it was contaminated and she wanted nothing more to do with it.

‘What is it?’ Jack asked seriously as he began to read. It was a printed sheet of A4 white printer paper. Jack had to read it several times before his mind kicked into gear.

‘Pack a bag, Jessie. You can’t stay here,’ he said authoritatively. She seemed to shake herself, and Jack saw her visibly take a couple of deep breaths.

‘I’m sure it’s nothing,’ she said, trying to be brave, but Jack could hear the slight shake in her voice. She pushed past him slightly and began climbing the three flights of stairs to her apartment. Jack trailed behind with a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach.

Jessie unlocked the door, but instead of letting her go in first, Jack pushed the door open wide and flicked on the lights. Everything looked normal in Jessie’s pint-sized flat. Nothing was disturbed and there were no signs of an obvious break-in. But just to be sure, Jack searched the bathroom and checked that all the windows were firmly locked and hadn’t been tampered with.

‘It’s fine, Jack. No need to overreact,’ Jessie said, sounding calmer than she did before. She plonked her bag down and pulled out the sofa bed.

‘Don’t be ridiculous. You’re not sleeping here tonight,’ Jack said sternly, eyeing her incredulously. The woman was in serious denial about what had just happened.

‘Thank you for your concern,’ she said reasonably. ‘But like I said, it’s probably just nothing. Everything looks fine here. But if it makes you feel better, I’ll go to the police tomorrow,’ she said, her tone placating.

‘Jessie,’ Jack practically growled at her. ‘Read this out loud,’ he ordered, thrusting the piece of paper in her face.

‘I’ve already read it. I don’t need to read it again,’ she replied, busying herself with making the bed.

‘Read it,’ he repeated, even more forcefully. Jessie pursed her lips in a thin line, but eventually relented and snatched the page from him.