The Heart (11 page)

“I know. It’s the perfect place for the center, don’t you agree?” I asked with pride.

“One hundred percent,” he said, still immersed in his surroundings. I approached him and stood next to him as he spent a few moments looking around. I loved that it had that effect on people, on Jack. He wasn’t immune to its charm. I sent a prayer up, thanking God once again for my father’s quick work in ensuring it was mine after Grant’s death. Losing it would have been my biggest mistake. And now, years later, what I’d initially thought about the land and the serenity it brought was reaffirmed over and over by the people who came to visit it. Soon it would bring healing to hundreds, hopefully, thousands. Even though there would never be a justifiable reason in my mind for his untimely death, I knew deep down Grant being a part of my life, sharing this place with me, was not in vain. It was always supposed to be the home of where I’d leave my legacy. I knew that now, without a shadow of a doubt.

I hadn’t realized Jack was watching me as I’d drifted off in thought. When I noticed, I gave him a sideways smile in question. “What?” I asked as my flesh flushed with the weight of his stare. He was so shameless when he looked at me the way he did.

“What do you think?” he said with a twinge of playful sarcasm.

“I think you’re staring at me,” I said as I nudged his shoulder playfully before I turned and began to walk toward my car.

“You want me to say what I was thinking?” Jack stayed where he was, stopping my footfall with a dare in his voice. A new shiver made its way up my spine. Sudden thoughts of him behind me, branding my skin, raced through my brain, and my lips moved with a soft and barely audible “Yes.”

I waited for him with bated breath, loving the way it felt.

“I was thinking that I’ve never seen a prettier mouth on a woman.”

“I’m flattered,” I said, keeping my back to him as I gripped the keys tight in my hands as the evident sex in his voice sent shivers throughout my body. I welcomed them like the old friends they were.

“I was wondering what it tasted like,” he said directly behind me, making me jump. He chuckled and gripped my hips, gently pushing me forward and down to take the deck stairs. He let go as soon as we reached the bottom, and I paused at the hood of my Tesla, holding my keys out toward him. He took them but walked around to the passenger side. Opening it up, I obliged, sliding into the leather seat like it was a second skin, thankful for its ability to hold me steady. We’d started a flirtation. I thought about what Jules said earlier about anticipation and decided she was right. Things had just gotten a little bit more exciting with Jack’s declaration that he wanted to taste my lips.

Jack slid into the driver’s seat and adjusted it to his size before turning the key and looking at me.

“Let’s stretch her legs.”

An uneasy feeling crept over me. “Jack, I’m not a fan of speed. Like not at all, okay?”

“I tell you what, how about I just take you to dinner,” he said without protest. The rumble in my stomach reminded me I hadn’t bothered to tend to my appetite all day.

“Great,” I said as he slowly pulled out of the driveway at a snail’s pace. I giggled and rolled my eyes at him as he cut his eyes at me with a smirk. “Smartass.”

“Nothing wrong with being a little cautious,” he said, putting the car into gear. I pulled my hair up and fisted it into a knot as we made our way through the grounds. When we reached the front of the main building, Jack paused as he surveyed the finished three-story center then turned to me.

“Wait until you see what we did today.” His pride-filled grin was enough to make my heart start pounding in my chest. He was so close and all I wanted to do at that moment was pull him in. He must have sensed it because his grin slowly disappeared and his eyes wandered to my lips, which I licked on impulse. Tension thick in the air, my eyes implored his. I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted him to know how I tasted, and I’d hoped when he did it turned into a craving. I wanted to explore our chemistry, but I didn’t want to be the one to make the first move. He’d seen the permission in my eyes and apparently ignored it as he pulled the car out of the center and hit the gas.

“I’ve always loved this car,” he said, looking around the cabin.

“Me too. I saw it in a movie once and swore one day I’d own one.”

“You’re a bad influence. I have half a mind to do the same,” he said, giving it a little more gas than necessary.

“Don’t you have enough toys?” I asked, curious.

“Never,” he said with a wicked lilt. “Know anywhere we can get a good steak?”

I laughed audibly in the wind-filled cabin and gave him a sideways glance. “Jack, this is Texas. Drive and I’ll point.”

“Right,” he said sheepishly. I found it adorable.

Twenty minutes later, we were seated at one of my favorite steakhouses. The décor consisted of rustic metal signs hanging from every surface and exposed wood beams. Discarded peanut shells were scattered on the floors, courtesy of the small bowls on the tables set out as hors d’oeuvres. To complete the look, the walls were also adorned with longhorn skulls and various barn tools.

“I like it,” Jack said, taking a long look around in appreciation and then back to me as he scoured my body and face.

Suddenly, I was nervous. Was this a date? I’d been anything but entertaining in the last few years of my life. I was sure I was relatively boring and terrified I wouldn’t have one interesting thing to say. I was giving myself whiplash with the emotions I’d experienced in the last hour. I’d gone from a crying, emotional mess to a horny widow in mere minutes. Now I was insecure about the fact that I may not be able to hold this beautiful man’s attention.

Once we were seated, the server quickly approached us, and I ordered bourbon on ice.

“Bourbon?” Jack asked, amused.

“I drink bourbon and eat bloody steak, Jack.” I eyed our waitress. “What are you having?”

“Make that two bourbons and two beers.” He looked at me, the corners of his mouth turning up. “I might need to make sure I have more hair on my chest than you do.”

“I don’t like hairy chests,” I said, picking up my menu with a smirk.

“Great, neither do I. Your friends seem fun.”

“They are,” I shot back quickly.

“You work together?”

“Yes,” I answered as I eyed him above my menu.

He gave me a wink and pulled it down to get a clear look at me. “Let’s not cover the view.”

“For a few years,” I said, finishing my answer to his earlier question and ignoring his compliment.

“Rose, you aren’t going to speak in clipped sentences with me this whole dinner, are you?”

I had to steady my breath at the intensity of his eyes. Sex... this man exuded some sort of signal that had the back of my thighs sweating. All I saw when I looked at him were full lips taking my skin and sucking mercilessly.

“Rose?”

I was completely lost in thoughts of his mouth on me. I shivered in my seat, furious with my out of control libido. I’d gone from insecure back to horny.

Is this PMS? I quickly did a mental calculation, trying to figure out if my new insanity had anything to do with my raging hormones.

“Rose?” Jack asked again.

“No,” I countered a little too harshly. “I’m good... just as long as you know I really don’t date.”

Jack studied me, and I avoided him by shoveling peanuts into my mouth. A long silence followed as I kicked myself mentally for throwing a bucket of cold water on us both.

“Fine with me,” he said, picking up his menu without any protest. I sat stunned. There was no fight in him whatsoever. It was too easy. There was no way I’d read him all wrong. Not with the way he looked at me, not with the last few days of flirting. Did I want him to fight me?

Woman, you have lost your shit.

I took advantage of his eyes on the menu and admired his features. His hair was a perfect tousled mess of light and dark blond. His long eyelashes curled at the ends, softening the rest of his masculine face. What fascinated me most about him was the perfect fullness of his lips. They were way too tempting. When he looked up from his menu, my eyes were fixed on them. He gave me a smirk and resumed his reading. It was everything I could do to keep from taking his bottom lip and sucking it in front of God and everyone. I felt my lower half start to tremble. I downed the first bourbon when it arrived and ordered a second. Jack nodded to me when our waitress placed my second drink in front of me. “Ready?”

“I’ll have the twenty ounce medium rare, sweet potato covered in butter and brown sugar, and a large side of slaw.” I looked at Jack, who seemed a little stunned.

“Twenty?”

“Yep,” I said, taking a swig out of my tumbler.

“I’ll have the same,” he said, shaking his head at me. “That’s a lot of meat, Rose.”

“I can eat,” I said, sipping my fresh glass of dark liquid, thankful for the burn.

He chuckled as he handed the menu to our waitress, who seemed to have an eye for him. I didn’t blame her. At that point, I would have physically slid out of my seat if I hadn’t had my legs planted firmly on the floor. My entire body was covered with a light veil of sweat. Jack, though pleasing to the eyes, seemed harmless at a distance. Up close, he did lethal things to me.

“So, New Orleans,” I said in an attempt to make small talk.

Jacks whole face lit when I mentioned his home. “I live in The Quarter. You should come visit sometime. Hell of a place to grow up,” he said as he took a swig of his beer.

“I wish I had time to do things like that. It’s been years since I’ve wandered out of Texas.”

“Rose, you won’t do a damn bit of good for anyone by working yourself into an early grave.”

“Thank you for your concern, Jack, but how would you know how often I work?” I said, sinking into the feel of the bourbon.

“I think it’s a safe assumption considering I’ve known your family for years and have never seen you once. Why are you so nervous?” Jack asked, catching me off guard as I took a sip of beer.

“I’m not,” I said uneasily, giving myself away.

“You are, admit it,” he pressed, his accent even more sexy and at the same time infuriating.

“I will not, and you’re being rude.”

“Would you prefer I let you bullshit me?”

“I’m not nervous,” I said, throwing back my bourbon. The liquid oozed down my throat, and I felt a little braver. Jack reached out his hand, closing the gap between us. I jumped back in surprise until it landed in the bowl, gathering some peanuts to shell them. Another ridiculously sexy twist of his lips brought my gaze to them.

“So tell me about you, Jack.”

He put both elbows on the table and leaned in. “Not much to tell. I travel
a lot
, my home is in New Orleans, and I’m married to my job lately. A lot like you. We’re so boring.”

“Speak for yourself. I’ve traveled all over, grabbed experiences, and with every trip I’ve left my mark or a new building. Nothing’s more rewarding than that. I’ll admit, I do work a lot, but I have one up on you, though.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“I know when to quit,” he countered, finishing his beer with a wink.

“Well, sue me. I’ve been busy—”

“Ah... shhhh, Rose, no shop talk.”

“Fine,” I said, motioning to the waitress for another drink.

“Are you going to get drunk tonight, Rose?”

“Maybe.” I sighed. “I can’t remember the last time I was here or even out with someone else. It’s kind of depressing.”

“So I’m guessing you’re a glass-half-empty kind of girl?”

“I’m a bit of a realist these days,” I admitted truthfully.

“It’s just like I thought. You need me in your life,” he whispered, his elbows still on the table as he leaned in.

I lifted a brow. “For?”

“Because I’m a glass-half-full type of guy. So let’s take work off the table tonight, okay?”

I lifted my chin. “Well, we won’t have much to discuss since my life is the center.”

“There’s more to life than what you do,” he said, leaning back in his seat, peeling at the label of his beer.

“Not really. Sorry, what you see is what you get.” I lifted my hands, palms up.

He leaned over again, his eyes smoldering. “But you just told me I couldn’t have you.”

“I... never said that.”

His brows knit together in confusion. “You said you don’t date.” I stared at him, a little entranced. The more he spoke, the more in tune I was with just how much effect he had on me.

“I don’t date,” I said open ended.

“Exactly.” He froze for a solid beat as he looked at me with a slow, sexy smile. “Wait... did you just proposition me?”

You just propositioned him!

“No, I didn’t, but come on, Jack. A man with your good looks? I’m sure if I
had
propositioned you, it wouldn’t be the first time.”

I saw his jaw harden a bit before he spoke. “I’m looking at the only woman I’m interested in.”

The air shifted dangerously around us, and every single hair on my head stood at attention. His eyes told me everything I needed to know. Jack would probably deliver on every single dirty thought I’d had about him in the last couple of days and more. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his to admire the full plates as they were set in front of us. I was hungry but not for the beautiful cut of meat sizzling in front of me.

“Can I get you two anything else?”

Jack and I were quickly brought back from our unspoken standoff. I shook my head no as Jack thanked her. I should have been happy to feel this way. To feel the long forgotten sparks of recognition shooting through me, to be relieved that they still existed. Instead, I was fighting fear. Could I really go through with it? Jack looked over my rapidly rising and falling chest before bringing his eyes back to mine.

“I’m attracted to you, and I think I’ve made that clear. But I can’t lay a hand on you, Rose, out of respect for your father. And from what I can tell, you aren’t exactly ready to back up what’s going through that beautiful head of yours.”

Slight hurt and a little embarrassment stung me as I attempted to hide my disappointment. “Please don’t pretend to know what’s going on in my head.”