Authors: Lori H. Leger,Kimberly Killion
Tags: #Fiction, #Contemporary Women
“I could make sure you wouldn’t have to work any overtime.”
“That wouldn’t be fair to Carrie or anyone else, Jackson.”
“Anything you couldn’t take care of during your regular work hours, I’d do for you. Other than the girls’ ballgames, it’s not like I have anything better to do,” he added.
“Not now, maybe, but you could in the future. Besides, I don’t want anybody doing my job for me. If I can’t handle it, I’ll resign, so you can hire someone to replace me on our team.”
“Can you afford to quit working? Are you okay, financially, I mean?”
She nodded. “I never did work for the money. Toby was a good provider. It was just to have someone to relate to other than the two kids. Once the insurance companies settled, we were all set for life. Trust funds and college funds for the girls...Toby took care of us.” She smiled wistfully.
“He was a good man...a great friend.”
“Yep, he sure was,” she sighed, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. She shook it off and looked around suddenly. “You’ve made some changes since the last time I was here.”
“You’ve been here before?” he asked curiously.
“It was for a Christmas party about a month after I started at B & L.” She walked over to the furniture to examine it. “Toby and I came over with Sam and Carrie. I remember your furniture was...well, this is better.”
“Thanks. Chloe’s taste really sucked, if truth be told.” He waved his hand. “I chose all of this myself.”
“You picked it out yourself?” she asked.
“Yes, all by myself,” he boasted.
“You’re such a big boy...Yes, you are,” she teased.
“Oh, you’re a riot,” he said dryly.
“This place looks like you,” she said, nodding in approval. “Is this all you bought?”
“I got a new bedroom set, too. Oh man, my new memory foam mattress is fantastic. If you’re ever in the market, I recommend one like that. I love my bed,” he said with a deep sigh.
“Really? My mattress is shot. Do you mind if I check it out? It’s down here, right?” she said, walking toward the end of the hall. Giselle pushed open the door and gasped in unconcealed pleasure at the sight of the huge bed. “Jackson, this is gorgeous.” She ran her hand along the rich, wood grain appreciating the fine quality. She fingered the rich woven fabric of the comforter and walked over to run her hand slowly along the drapes. She knew he’d followed her to the room. “Is all of this new?”
“Yep, I got it all from the display.”
Giselle nodded slowly. “Excellent choice. Now what’s so special about this mattress? Is it a pillow-top?”
He nodded. “It’s unbelievably comfortab...” he began, stopping when she sat on the edge of the bed, kicked off her sandals, and lay down upon it.
“Oh God, I don’t know how you can stand to leave it. It cradles you,” she purred, stretching out on the bed.
Jackson froze at the entrance of his bedroom. The sight of Giselle, lying on his bed, moaning in pleasure, was almost too much to bear. For the second time in under a half hour, he had to turn away from her. He cleared his throat loudly as he walked away. “I need to hydrate. You want anything?”
“No, I’m fine,” she answered.
“You sure as hell are,” he mumbled under his breath.
“What was that?” he heard her ask.
He grimaced as he got to the end of the hallway. “I said, are you sure?”
“Yeah, I need to go. I’ve imposed on Carrie enough.”
“You drove by yourself?” he asked, hoping to change the subject to something mundane. “Where the hell did Uncle Bill go, anyway?”
“I think he went outside. Do you think that Doberman’s still out there? I’m not usually scared of dogs, but that one is pretty big, and mean looking.”
Jackson opened his door then stepped out in his bare feet
“Nope, I don’t see him. Maybe Bill took care of him for you.”
Giselle walked to the door. “What do you mean, took care of him? It’s not the dog’s fault it’s not penned up.”
“I just meant he’d go talk to the owners. But he did leave because his truck’s gone. Come on, I’ll walk you to your car. How’s it running?”
“Okay, I guess.”
“Does it need to be serviced anytime soon?”
“I don’t know. Toby took care of all that.”
He opened the driver’s side door and checked the sticker on the windshield. “He had everything done last month. See, it even shows when the next service is due.”
She moved in to take a closer look at the windshield. “Yeah, I remember now. He shows me that every time he gets...I mean...he
showed
me that every time he got it done.”
Jackson watched as the sparkle receded from her eyes.
“That’s the difficult part for me, you know, trying to remember to speak about him in the past tense. It still feels like he’s going to walk through the door, or pull up into the garage, or...”
“Or call you from his cell phone,” he added. “I know...I keep waiting for him to call me to set up a game of basketball.”
She sniffed and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “It’s the little things that set me off, you know?”
He nodded. “I do know. During that first month, I caught myself looking at the calendar because it would have been the beginning of Chloe’s cycle. That’s when she’d get really depressed and difficult. Of course, now I know it was all an act, but the habit is ingrained.”
“How long do you think it’ll take before we stop thinking that way, Jackson?”
He shook his head slowly as he helped her into her seat. “I don’t know, but I’ll let you know when it happens, okay?”
She smiled as she buckled her seatbelt and started her vehicle. “See ya.”
“Careful going home, Giselle...and thanks for coming by.”
“It was the least I could do.” She shifted into drive and drove off.
<><><>
All the way home, Giselle couldn’t rid herself of the mental image of Jackson wearing nothing but that towel. Who knew that body was hiding under those dress slacks and shirts? Toby had always been in excellent shape, but Jackson...God, his body was magnificent. Catching sight of Toby’s photo on her sun visor, she suddenly felt a wave of guilt.
“Oh, baby, I’m sorry,” she whispered to her husband’s image. “I guess I’m a little needy right now. It’s been over three months since we made love, and you know how much I enjoyed it, Babe. If you can see me and the girls, watch out for us, will you?”
By the time she got to Kenton, she felt the consequences of her morning outing.
Carrie took one look at her and sent her home for a nap. “Come back after you’ve rested. Sam’s barbequing and all the kids will be here for lunch,” Carrie told her.
Giselle gave her friend a hug. “What would I do without you, Carrie?”
“We’re all just happy you’re feeling better, hon. I don’t mind telling you what a huge relief it is to have you back.”
Once she was home, Giselle walked down the hallway to the master bedroom. She lifted the lid on the hamper in the closet, surprised to see the Dockers and Polo shirt he’d worn to work the day before he died. That was the day she’d come home from work and found him dressed up like a princess, courtesy of Mac and Lexie. She smiled at the memory and thought of the shots she’d taken with her digital camera. They were in the digital picture frame in the kitchen.
I’ll watch it with Mac and Lex later this afternoon.
She picked up Toby’s shirt and carried it with her to bed, teary-eyed and smiling, as she picked off bits of pink feather boa from the navy blue shirt. She curled onto her side and raised the shirt up to her nose, breathing in the scent of him before closing her eyes. She let the tears flow freely, as she quietly mourned the loss of her husband. She wondered if she would ever feel love again. Maybe, but she would never feel what she had with Toby...That absolute certainty that they were created to complete each other. Her tears stopped after a few minutes, and she drifted off to sleep, peacefully dreaming of Toby and a soft bed; one that cradled her and made her want to stay in it forever.
<><><>
Giselle dreamed of Toby. They were making love, and it was so wonderful, until she opened her eyes in the dream. Instead of seeing Toby’s sexy brown eyes, she gazed into smoldering, piercing blue eyes. It was still Toby, but with those blue eyes. She’d been confused in the dream, knowing only that as soon as she’d decided she wanted to see more of those eyes, they began to fade away. The face, eyes, and body that had lovingly covered her own, vanished, leaving her feeling alone and empty, not to mention confused and sexually frustrated.
She sat up and looked around at the familiar surroundings. The sense of Toby was so strong in the room they had shared together since before the birth of their daughters. They had discussed whether or not to sell their home and buy something larger with more living area. They’d even talked about buying a few acres just outside the city limits and building their own home. He’d mentioned drawing up a floor plan one day, but she didn’t know if he’d had a chance to complete it. Maybe there was something at his office. She hadn’t been since the accident, and Grant hadn’t pushed her, but it was time to clean it out. Giselle stretched and felt the familiar kinks caused by this old mattress. It was definitely time to replace it.
A quick glance at the clock told her she’d slept for two hours. She rose from the bed to tweak her make-up and hair, and slipped on a pair of sandals. Snatching her keys from the counter, she walked outside. As soon as the glorious warmth of the midday sun touched her face, she decided to walk the two blocks to the Langley’s home.
During the walk, her thoughts returned to the dream. Those deep, sensual eyes that replaced Toby’s brown eyes continued to haunt her. It didn’t make sense, but she could still see them...piercing blue, mesmerizing, and sexy as hell. God, she’d like to get one more look at those eyes. She pushed aside her feelings of guilt, telling herself it was just a dream.
She approached the Langley home, noticing several vehicles parked in their driveway. Hearing the sound of laughter from the backyard, she bypassed the front door to walk along the south side of the house toward the voices. As she rounded the corner, she collided with someone large and solid as a brick wall...someone whose cologne stirred her senses as well as her memories.
“Oh, excuse me!” She looked up and froze, as her gaze riveted to a pair of sexy as hell blue eyes...
CHAPTER 10
“Did I hurt you?” he asked, stepping back to check her over.
“N...No...I’m...” she stammered, then let her voice trail off as the sudden realization came to her.
Jackson’s eyes?
She inhaled sharply, her gaze locked onto his eyes...his sensual, sexy blue eyes from her dream.
“Oh...My...God,” she gasped.
“Sorry, Giselle, are you alright?” Jackson placed both hands on her shoulders to steady her. “Carrie just asked me to go check on you. Did you have a good rest?”
She nodded, unable to tear her gaze away from those eyes. Finally, feeling a blush start to rise, she forced herself to look away and tried to move around him. “Is everyone back there?”
“Yes, but hold on, now.” He grasped both of her arms in a gentle hold. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m anxious to see everyone, that’s all.” She crossed her arms self-consciously.
He looked around for her truck. “Did you walk here?”
She nodded and attempted to walk past him again.
“Wait...” He grabbed her wrist.
“What, Jackson? Jeez!” she said, desperate to get away from that all-seeing, all-knowing blue-eyed gaze of his.
“Was the walk too much? Do you need something for pain?”
She closed her eyes, thinking it would be foolish to pass up an opportunity to explain her strange behavior. “Maybe I pushed it too far today, but I already took something. I’ll be fine in a bit.”
“Okay.” He relented, but held her arm protectively as he escorted her to the back yard and announced her arrival.
Lexie ran up to her. “Momma! Jackson and Paw Paw came.”
Giselle stole a glance at Jackson before answering her daughter. “I see that, Lex. Have you eaten yet?”
“No, Sam just finished cooking the barbeque,” Mac told her.
“Momma, guess what,” Lexie said in a whisper loud enough for Jackson to hear.
“What, sweetie?” Giselle asked, brushing her daughter’s curls out of her eyes.
“We almost had to eat our barbeque like daddy cooked it.”
“What do you mean, Lex?”
“You ‘member, don’t you? With that black stuff we had to scrape off,” Lexie said with a flourish of hand movements.
Giselle looked up at Jackson’s puzzled face and laughed.
“Did he use some kind of blackened seasoning?” Jackson asked.
Lexie raised her scrunched face toward him. “Is ‘burned to a crisp’ a kind of seezing?”
“Oh,” Jackson said, chuckling as he led Giselle to a chair. “I get it, now.”