by Ines Saint
Joseph turned to look at Jamie, and Cindy began eating quickly, completely concentrating on her plate. “Since when do deans or principals work weekends as handymen?”
“Joseph,” Cindy sighed, motioning toward the kids.
“He’s our neighbor, Joseph, and he was just being helpful.”
“No, he’s our friend, Mom. He told me so when he was teaching us to ice skate,” Timmy said.
“And his daughter is our friend, too. She took us to feed the ducks and she let us stop as many times as we wanted to,” Michael added.
“His daughter? Sounds like quite the family affair.” Joseph’s face contorted in barely contained anger.
Not only was their whole little dream about Nick and Emma being their friends painful for her to hear, but she also had to be on the defensive over something that no longer was.
“If you have anything else to ask me on the subject, we can discuss it after dinner,” she said, firmly.
The boys began chattering on about school friends, Spanish words they were learning, and sports, and the mood at the table lightened. All the while, though, Jamie was afraid they’d bring up Alex Rhodes next.
After dinner, Joseph sought her out. “My grandkids are probably just two in a thousand to that principal, Jamie, but it’s obvious they think they mean more than that. Don’t set them up like that.”
Don’t set them up like that. The words reverberated in her head. She was relieved her visit with her in-laws would be over the next morning. They’d asked her to stay until Sunday, but Jamie had the Hospital Founder’s Ball on Saturday evening. For the first time since she’d been cajoled into going, she was looking forward to it.
Alex had agreed to go with her, even though it was nearly two hours away, near the Hospital’s main campus just outside of Boston. Alex was easy to be around and fun. She was convinced it would be a pleasant and uncomplicated evening.
Chapter Ten
Jamie wished she’d found a dress like the one she was wearing back when those things had mattered. She felt lovely.
Her eyes were made up in a smoky style, her lipstick was a deep red, and her hair was piled in a wispy and romantic bun, leaving her back bare.
Alex looked handsome in his tux, and his eyes gleamed with their usual fun. By the time they strolled into the ballroom, Jamie was already having a good time.
The room was done up entirely in white and gold. The drapes, the linens, everything down to the single white rose with the single gold candle centerpiece on each table. The golden paper lanterns above cast a dim romantic light on the eating areas. A band played soft, sensual music on a small stage toward the end of the room. The dance floor was in front of the stage and barely lit, the setting was intimate.
Alex handed her a champagne flute, and she eagerly took a sip, feeling the bubbles tickle her throat. It was a good feeling. She sipped the whole thing a little too quickly.
“Great, getting you drunk is part of my master plan. Keep it up, you’re making it easy.” Alex smiled down at her.
Jamie laughed as her eyes swept across the room. But her breath caught when she reached the entrance.
It was Nick, and he was arm in arm with a very attractive, petite blonde dressed in a stunning gold dress. The woman’s gaze swept across the room with cool confidence. She regarded a few people with a smile from where she stood, though she didn’t move for a good thirty seconds. The woman knew how to make an entrance.
Jamie was disturbed by the instant wretchedness that washed over her at the sight of Nick with another woman. Her heart felt as if it had hit the floor hard and become dented in the process. He looked incredibly handsome in a traditional tuxedo. His hair had grown a little bit too long, and it countered the formal look in a very sexy way. Her heart clenched hard.
How could she feel these things after the way he’d spoken to her? Jamie turned to Alex and forced a smile. It had been a while since she’d been this disappointed in herself.
“So what do you think? Red with yellow or red with beige?” Alex asked, looking at her expectantly.
Jamie had no idea what he was talking about. “Beige,” she replied confidently. She straightened her back and made a conscious effort to listen to him. But she got the distinct feeling that someone’s eyes were on her. Against her better judgment, she looked toward the door. Nick’s date was looking directly at her.
Alex took the now empty champagne flute from Jamie’s hand and set it down on a table. He held his arm out, motioning to the dance floor, and Jamie gladly took his hand. The band was playing a waltz and the dance area, although still dim, had sprung a few more lights. Alex wasn’t a bad dancer, and Jamie lost herself in the movements and music. There were a good many couples surrounding them, she couldn’t see out, and there was nothing to do but dance.
“Crap,” Alex said under his breath.
“What, did I step on your foot, potty mouth?” Jamie smiled up at him.
“No, sorry. It’s just this cute redhead keeps trying to catch my eye and give me these sultry looks, and I don’t know what to do. I mean I’m here with you, but I’m not with you. This sort of thing never happens to me when I’m alone.”
“Oh, forget about the redhead, she’s no good for you,” Jamie said.
“How would you know?”
“Because even though she has no way of knowing we’re not really together, she’s shooting looks your way. For all she knows, we’re engaged or even married. She’s got some nerve trying to catch your eye. You deserve a better woman than that.”
Alex laughed. “I see your point. I won’t look at her if it’s humiliating to you.”
“You can look at her — you can even ask her to dance if you want to — I just think you can do better.”
The waltz over, a laughing Alex was leading Jamie off the dance floor when they found themselves standing face to face with Nick. He was leading an elderly woman to dance, and he stopped short when he saw them, almost tripping the woman in the process.
He offered Alex a stiff hand and nodded toward Jamie. But he didn’t say a word, and he didn’t smile.
As soon as Nick left, a change came over Alex’s face.
“Jamie … ” he hesitated. Jamie gave him an encouraging look. “You said you and Nick are just friends, right?”
“Yes, why?”
“Nothing.” Alex smiled.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
“Nothing.”
“You know, I think you should go ask that redhead to dance,” Jamie instructed. “I’m going to go find Liz.”
A waiter passed, this time holding a tray of red wine goblets. Jamie didn’t even stop to think before taking one on her quest to find Liz.
“Hey Jamie,” Liz said a minute later, putting her arm around Jamie’s shoulder. “I saw Nick come in with Susan. Are you okay? I forgot he’s on some committee that deals with fundraising for the children’s wing at our campus back home, or I would’ve warned you it was possible he’d be here. I know you haven’t said anything lately, but I could see how uncomfortable you two looked around each other on Halloween.”
“I’m fine. I mean, I was a bit confused when I saw him, but — wait, did you say Susan?”
“Right, Susan. His ex-wife. She’s married to the head of Obstetrics and Gyneco — ”
“Right, right, I remember,” Jamie interrupted when her brother walked up to them. “Hey, Justin.”
“How about you grace your brother with a dance?” Justin offered her his arm and Jamie accepted. It had been a very long time since she’d danced, and she was at least enjoying that part of the evening. “How am I doing?” Justin asked a few minutes later.
“Do you want the truth or fiction?”
“The truth. Any goon worth his salt wants to know the score.”
“H
mm. I thought you hated to be called that, you’re always telling me you’re not technically a goon.”
“Don’t try to change the subject, how am I doing?”
“You suck,” she informed him, and he laughed heartily.
She danced with her brother until a man she vaguely remembered from high school cut in. So far, only Alex had an inkling of how to dance. But Jamie didn’t mind helping her partners learn to lose themselves in the movements. It kept her eyes trained away from Nick. He’d been dancing with a woman who seemed to be in her late sixties or early seventies. The woman acted delighted with everything he said and was unabashedly flirting with her younger partner.
She was being escorted off the floor when Alex reclaimed her, and she went back for another dance. “Did I tell you Marie is getting married?” Alex asked.
“No, but Marie did.” Jamie hesitated before asking, “How do you feel about it?”
“I’m relieved. After the divorce, I worried she’d get involved with some jerk that could make Jason’s life miserable — but Greg’s a really great guy, and he and Jason get along really well.”
“So, Jason’s okay with Marie and Greg getting married?” She wondered if she was prying, but she was curious.
“He’s really looking forward to it, but I think that’s a testament to Marie and Greg. They never make him feel like he’s in the way, and he knows Greg makes his mom happy. I think Jason was more worried about how I’d feel than anything else,” Alex confided.
“Really?” Jamie was surprised. That was really sweet.
“I think we spend so much time worrying about them, we forget they worry about us, too. As long as they’re happy and their needs are met, they want us to be safe and happy, too.”
“I think it’s wonderful you’re so in tune with him and listen to his needs.”
“Good, ’cause he thinks you’d make a great stepmom.”
“He said that?” Jamie laughed.
“Well, Timmy and Michael are his best friends. I think the idea of two brothers had more to do with it than you, so don’t go thinking you’re hot stuff.”
“God, I can’t imagine wanting to get married again after having been through it once,” Jamie said, distractedly. The champagne and wine had her thoughts flowing through her mouth more freely. It was liberating.
Alex looked at her, puzzled. “Well, Marie and I didn’t have a bad marriage — we just never shared real passion. We were more buddies than anything else.”
“Yeah, but … ” Jamie tried to find words for what she was feeling. “Do you really want to go through that moment again, when you realize the end has already begun?”
Alex studied her closely for a moment, before brushing a strand of hair from her eyes. “Are we talking about me, Jamie?”
Jamie looked away and amended her words. “What I meant was … I think it’s brave that you’d go through the process again, even though you already know that, despite your best intentions, it might end.”
“Sure. I’d go through it again. But not right now. I want to have some fun first. Actually, I plan on having a lot of fun. And the redhead you don’t like — she seems like a lot of fun,” Alex said, trying to lighten the mood again. She punched him playfully on the arm, grateful Alex knew enough steps to lead her through a few pleasant turns around the floor.
• • •
“She’s very pretty. I can see why you keep watching her,” Susan interrupted Nick’s thoughts.
“Hmm,” Nick mumbled and continued to dance. He’d asked Susan to dance so he wouldn’t have to talk to anyone. He’d been prepared for a night of idle chitchat and dancing with Mrs. Fogger. But the night had taken an unexpected twist. Jamie was the last person he’d expected to see there. When he came face to face with her earlier, his entire anatomy had reacted to her. He’d never felt so much over the simple sight of a woman.
She was so beautiful, wearing a silky, sultry, scarlet dress. Her eyes seemed bigger, deeper. Her hair was up — he’d never seen it that way — and it accentuated the lines of her neck and shoulders. Then, there was the matter of the soft skin on her bare back.
And the matter of Alex’s hands on her bare back.
His feelings for Alex Rhodes bordered on hostility at the moment. He wanted to know why he was there with Jamie. Some of his antagonism had subsided, however, when he’d seen Alex dancing and flirting with other women, and Jamie hadn’t seemed to care.
All he could think about was Jamie. He couldn’t stop watching for her, and he couldn’t take his eyes off of her whenever she came into view. He was so intensely aware of her that anytime she was out of sight, he could sense exactly where she was in the room.
He was caught in a web of thoughts and emotions, and he kept trying to get to something — something he hadn’t been able to put his finger on for the past few weeks.
“I believe her name is Jamie,” Susan tried again.
“What?” Nick’s head snapped up. Susan had his attention.
“The woman in the red dress you keep looking at, I believe her name is Jamie,” Susan elaborated.
“How do you know her name?” Nick stepped back.
“Emma has mentioned her once or twice, and she told me she was Justin Viera’s sister.”
“That still doesn’t explain how you knew the woman in the red dress was Jamie.”
“I noticed a lovely young woman in a beautiful dress, and she seemed to know who you were by the way she looked at you. I then saw the same woman dancing with Justin and talking to his wife. I put two and two together.”
Nick became silent again and turned Susan a few times so she could show off her dress, thinking that might take his ex-wife’s mind off Jamie. When Susan stepped back in front of him, she looked up. “It seems as if Jamie and her date are arguing.”
Nick looked over at Jamie. It was dark, and he couldn’t quite make out Alex’s face, but he saw Jamie grab Alex’s arm, hard, and punch him. “Will you excuse me?”
“Of course,” he heard her say, but he had already stepped away.
He zeroed in on Jamie and Alex, and he made his way toward them. He was right in front of them when he realized the two were laughing hard about something.
And now they were both staring at him.
For the second time that evening, Nick was caught off guard. There was now only one logical explanation for him being there. He turned to Alex, trying to keep his newfound antipathy toward him out of his voice. “Do you mind if I cut in?”
“Sure. Go ahead.”
For a moment, Nick and Jamie just looked at each other. Nick then took her left hand and placed it on his shoulder as he took her right hand in his. He pulled her in toward him, fighting to keep his breathing even.
Slowly, they began to move in time with the music, Jamie reluctantly. He tried to look into her eyes, but she wouldn’t let him. The band’s music died away, and she looked down. The lights dimmed considerably, and the band began to play a soft ballad.
Jamie instantly took a step back. Nick stifled a sigh. She was still in his arms, and they were still moving, but she was putting more and more distance between them. He wanted to get her back, wasn’t ready to let her go, and she was slowly leaving. “Jamie, I’m so sorry … ”
“Really? Then why is it you feel the need to keep offending me, Nick?” she whispered angrily, as if their last conversation had happened yesterday and not three weeks before.
Nick sighed and looked into her eyes. “Because you make me feel things that make me angry with myself.” Nick watched her eyes widen. “That first day, I was afraid you’d caught on that I was attracted to you, Jamie. I shouldn’t feel like I want the woman in front of me when I’m in my office at school, and I shouldn’t feel like I can’t stay away from wherever it is you are. I told myself that if I’d known you were attra
cted to me, too, I would’ve stayed away, and it wouldn’t have come to that.”
Jamie stopped moving. When she looked up at him, he slipped his hand around her waist and pulled her close, feeling slightly intoxicated. Soon, they were moving together perfectly, completely in sync with each other. He felt the tiny goose bumps on the skin of her back, and it warmed his blood. He brought her in closer.
Jamie cleared her throat. “I think that woman you were dancing with earlier wants to cut in. She seems important. Maybe I should let her know it’s okay.”
Nick looked at her for a long moment. “Do you really want her to cut in?”
“No,” she finally sighed, and to his immense satisfaction, she stepped in closer. In heels, Jamie’s head reached just below his chin. She laid her head just beneath his neck, and he breathed her in. He slid his right hand down until both his hands were around her waist. She reached her hands around his neck as he bent down and touched his forehead to hers.
She was barely moving, and he felt an unfamiliar ache, a deep longing. He sensed exactly where her lips were, could feel their warmth. She lifted her head slightly, and every thought disappeared. His body’s wishes took over. He brought his lips to hers, brushed against them, lightly, a small taste.
She molded her body to his, and his entire being was now completely unaware of his surroundings. His lips settled on hers again, the beginning of a slow and deliberate kiss.
She responded by nipping his bottom lip seductively.
• • •
Jamie sighed, savoring Nick’s taste and the scent of his breath. His lips moved over her mouth, tender, but untamed. Her lips parted and he swept in, pleasure filling her in places where she’d long been empty.
And then, the lights came on, a sudden and unexpected glare against her eyes.
Jamie untangled herself. Slowly at first, and then more quickly, as she became aware of her surroundings.
A few couples were laughing from the jolt. Others were beginning to leave the dance floor as someone with a microphone made their way onto the stage. Jamie didn’t look at Nick. She looked down at her hand and let go of his, taking in a shaky breath as she left the dance floor, hoping to God nobody had seen them.
