Authors: Jordyn McKenzie
Her tears flowed freely as she jammed her key into the ignition and started the car, backing out as carefully as she could before speeding away.
Thirty minutes later, her cell phone rang. Laurel, of course. Jasmine couldn’t talk to her, not yet anyway. She turned off her phone. Freddie’s words had cut into her like a razor blade and she’d cried herself numb. All she wanted to do was go home and pull the covers over her head, wallow in her idiocy and self-contempt.
With each mile that passed, she couldn’t help but feel that she’d made a horrible mistake. It hadn’t even hurt this much when she’d finally let Kyle go. The thought gave her pause—had she really let Kyle go? His effect on her still haunted so many of her thoughts and actions.
Jasmine stopped by the grocery store before going home. She was going to need more than Nutella to get through tonight.
Letting herself into her quiet, stuffy house, Jasmine first put her groceries away, then went to pour herself a glass of wine before thinking a moment and opting for something stronger. Once her bourbon on the rocks had been poured, she sat down and turned her phone back on. She had four missed calls from Laurel and one from an unknown number.
She cringed as the messages began with something akin to, ‘I get why you’re freaking out, but quit being silly and turn around, come back to the house.’ And escalated to, ‘Are you fucking serious right now? My brother is going out of his head wondering what he did wrong to make you leave. What part of him telling you he loved you did you not get?’ Jasmine tried a number of times to at least compose a text to Laurel and explain herself, but every explanation she came up with seemed weak and baseless, which only served to make her feel worse.
There was no actual message on the voicemail from the unknown caller. Just a heavy sigh and the click of the caller hanging up. She had a hunch who that was.
She went to bed that evening feeling more alone than she’d ever felt, for as long as she could remember anyway, and slept fitfully, dreaming of strong hands touching her as green eyes devoured her.
Chapter Nine
When her alarm went off Monday morning, she awoke with an aching heart.
It’s better this way,
she tried to convince herself. If she felt this way after only two days, how bad would it have been if she’d invested two months? A year?
She dressed for work, mindlessly pulling on a navy-coloured twill sheath dress and twisting her hair back in a sloppy chignon. She scowled at her reflection, noting the scratch on her forehead and the scab on her lip, acknowledging that she’d have to at least make an effort with her make-up. She had a new client on her roster and needed to look presentable, even if she didn’t feel it.
She went through the motions of her day, turning on the charm when it came time to make her presentation to her client. It must have worked, because not only did the client agree to allow her to bid on a project for his company, he asked her to lunch. There was a fine bistro across the street from his office, so they settled on going there.
With his designer suit and sleek physique, Harris Faust looked like something out of GQ magazine, and was easily Jasmine’s age if not a little older. He had black hair, steel-blue eyes, and a smile that had likely dropped more than a few pairs of panties. She accepted his invitation, with the intention of distracting her mind and her heart from their continual yearning for Tyson.
They were seated at a small table where Jasmine was picking at a small salad, only half-listening to Harris talk about himself, smiling and nodding at the appropriate moments, when a familiar figure caught her eye. Green eyes locked with hers from across the room, and the pain that she saw in them made her breath catch in her throat. Gone were the boyish board shorts and surf T-shirt—now replaced with a crisp, striped button-down shirt, red silk tie, and charcoal-coloured tailored slacks. His face was clean-shaven and his hair tamed to gentle waves combed back from his face. He was with two other similarly dressed men, most likely his new co-workers. Seeing her, he flushed red and his lips thinned, before he shook his head in disappointment, turned away, and followed his colleagues to their table. She felt like the biggest bitch in the world for causing him this pain.
Harris’ voice cut through her foggy mind. “Jasmine? Jasmine? Are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost.”
She tore her eyes away from Tyson, to look back at Harris. “I’m sorry. I—I’m fine. I saw someone who looked familiar. Please go ahead.”
Jasmine kept glancing towards the table where Ty was now seated, but he wouldn’t look in her direction. His jaw was clenched and twitching in fury.
“I see I’ve lost you again,” Harris said, this time looking over his shoulder.
“I’m so sorry, Harris. This is horribly unprofessional of me. Seeing…who I thought I saw really kind of threw me. Please continue. My attention is all yours.”
He smiled at her, his eyes smouldering. “Perhaps I could better hold your attention over dinner.”
She returned his smile, though hers didn’t quite reach her eyes. “That’s very kind of you to offer. I’m not so sure that’s a good idea though, considering I have a bid to submit. I’d hate to sway your favour unfairly from my competitors.”
He leant forwards and placed his hand atop hers on the table. “As far as I’m concerned, you have no competitors.”
Unfortunately for you, yours just walked in ten minutes ago
, she thought, her heart pained with the memory of Tyson saying those very words to her less than forty-eight hours before. She politely withdrew her hand from under Harris’, choosing her words carefully before speaking. “Harris, I can tell you are an amazing man, but I’d really like to keep things professional between us. I just got out of a relationship and I’m really not ready for anything new yet.”
His expression was one of disappointment. “I’m sorry to hear that. I’m amazed a man would be fool enough to break the heart of such a beautiful woman.”
She glanced again in Ty’s direction, and saw that he was watching her now. Her voice was soft as she replied, “On the contrary, it was I who was the fool.” Tyson’s eyes burned into hers for a moment before turning his attention to the colleague addressing him.
She looked at Harris again, who this time had not missed the exchange. “I see. Well, the offer is open. In the meantime, I look forward to receiving your bid.”
“Thank you very much, Harris. I appreciate the opportunity,” she replied gracefully.
Their server arrived with their bill and Jasmine quickly grabbed her wallet from her bag to pull out her credit card. She always paid for client lunches, whether the invitation was hers or theirs, but Harris snatched the little folder away before she had the chance to pull her card out.
“If you’re not going to let me buy you dinner, at least let me get lunch.” He placed his card in the folder and held it up for the server.
“Thank you,” Jasmine said again.
They made idle chit-chat until the bill was settled, then walked together out of the bistro doors. Jasmine held out her hand. “Thanks again. I should have that bid ready for you in about three days.”
“Can I walk you to your car?” Harris asked, and Jasmine shook her head.
“No thanks, I can manage. I’m just parked kitty-corner, over there,” she explained, gesturing across the street.
“Okay then. Talk to you soon,” Harris said, and with a wave, he turned to check traffic then crossed the street to his office. Jasmine waited a beat before walking to her car. She could feel the sinking feeling in her chest again. She was glad she’d barely eaten, because the flux of emotions she was experiencing all at once had made her nauseous. She stood just outside her car, forehead resting on her arm on the roof, her eyes closed, waiting for the feeling to pass, but it never would. She knew that now.
No matter what she’d just spent the last twenty-four hours trying to convince herself, she now knew it was all bullshit. She loved him. She loved him with every fibre of her soul and it was taking everything she had in her not to run back into that bistro and drop to her knees in front of him begging for his love and forgiveness, holding back only because she didn’t want to embarrass him in front of his new colleagues. She didn’t even have his number, though she supposed she could offer Laurel her mea culpa and beg for it from her.
Suddenly, a hand grabbed her arm and turned her around. The scream in her throat died when she saw a fierce set of green eyes staring her down. “What the fuck?” he asked. “A note, Jasmine? After everything we shared this weekend, I get ditched with a fucking note? Did you get a better offer from Mr Armani or something?”
“No! God, no! Ty, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking! Everything with us happened so fast and I panicked and…”
“You fucking ran. After you told me you weren’t gonna do that. I fucking wake up to find you gone with a goddamn note!”
Jasmine looked down, biting her lip in an effort to stifle the sob threatening to burst from her.
“So who is he?”
“Who’s who?” she asked confusedly.
“Mr Armani. Is he more your pace? Old enough for you?”
“That’s Harris, and no. He’s just my client.”
“Come on…” he said, rolling his eyes. “That douche was not looking at you like he was just a client.”
“Well, okay, maybe he had a little more than that in mind, and maybe I would’ve thought the same, if…”
“If?”
“If you hadn’t walked in and made me realise what a total fool I was to walk away from you.”
“Run away,” he corrected.
“Huh?”
“You ran. You didn’t walk, you got the fuck out of Dodge and you trampled on my heart on your way out.”
She nodded and cast her eyes to the ground again. His finger slid under her chin and tipped her head up. She looked at him questioningly.
“So you realised you were a fool, and then what happened?”
“I was standing here holding myself back from running in there, dropping to my knees and begging for forgiveness. But I didn’t think that would look good for you in front of your co-workers, being your first day and all. So I was resolving to call Laurel and face her wrath to get your phone number.”
Ty chuckled. “Yeah, Laurel was pretty pissed, especially when you didn’t answer or return her calls. And thanks for not making a scene in there. As it is, I’ll have some explaining to do when I go back to the office. All I said to them was ‘fuck this. I’ll meet you guys back at the office,’ threw a ten on the table and walked out to find you.”
“Oh no,” Jasmine said, wide-eyed. “I hope it doesn’t cause problems for you.”
“Nah, one of those guys is a frat brother of mine. All I have to do is tell him who I was chasing and he’ll totally understand.” Ty grinned down at her.
“Jesus, Tyson.” Jasmine blushed, rolling her eyes at him.
“Will you believe me now? I’m not exaggerating about my love for you, and the fact you’ve been my dream girl for years?”
“Only if you believe that I truly am sorry for running off on you, again, and that I’m in love with you too.”
Jasmine barely had time to blink before Ty’s mouth was on hers, pressing her almost indecently against her car. All thoughts of propriety flew from her mind as she wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back, her aching split lip be damned. At the sound of a car horn honking right by them, they pulled apart, startled.
A young man Jasmine recognised to be one of Tyler’s colleagues was grinning at them through his rolled-down window. “Nicely done, man! But you still have to come back to work, lover boy.”
Ty grinned back at him. “Yeah, thanks, Brett. I’ll be there in ten, okay?”
Brett winked at Jasmine then drove off. Tyson blinked. “Shit. They were my ride. My office is just a few minutes from here, do you mind?”
Jasmine laughed. “Not at all. It’ll give you some time for that to settle down.” She pointed down to his crotch where his trousers were slightly tenting.
“Oh! Ah…” he began and shrugged with a self-deprecating grin. “It’s what you do to me, woman, what can I say?”
Jasmine drove him to his office. He leaned over and kissed her before opening the car door. “I want to see you tonight. Are you free after work?”
“Most definitely,” she replied. She pulled one of her business cards from the holder she had attached to her sun visor and wrote her home address on the back. “I should be home by six. I’ll cook dinner.”
“I’ll be there.”
* * * *
Jasmine was home by four. The rest of her afternoon had cleared up early and she was unable to sit idly and wait at her office for another hour. She sped home and changed into a casual sleeveless pink jersey dress, then prepped some chicken breasts in a marinade, thinking that they could barbecue. Thanks to her morose excursion to the store the previous evening, she already had a bottle of chardonnay chilled in the fridge. She turned on some music and tidied up her home, until finally at six-fifteen her doorbell rang.
When she opened the door, there stood on her doorstep sheer perfection in well-fitting jeans and an untucked button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up a few turns. He flashed a dimple as he smiled at her, taking in her outfit just as appreciatively. “Hi.”
“Hi,” she breathed, then composed herself enough to step aside and invite him in.
Once the door had closed behind him, she suddenly felt shy. This wasn’t the same as being at the lake house. Now that he was in here in her home, just the two of them, it suddenly felt real.
As though he sensed her nerves, he reached for her hand and pulled her towards him. “Get over here,” he murmured. He slid his hand around her back, pressed her body tightly to his and lowered his lips to hers, kissing her tenderly.
As the kiss intensified, she began steering him towards her couch, the notion occurring to her that dinner was likely going to be late. He sat when the backs of his legs hit the couch and she clambered onto him, straddling him. “This is rude of me, I should show you around my house.” She panted against his mouth when they paused for air.