by Ali Olson
And then he met Renee, who put the final nails in that coffin without even knowing it. She had passed into and out of his life like a breath of fresh air, making the prospects of other women seem dull and stale in comparison.
He didn’t even know what it was about her that had struck him so forcefully, but he’d been knocked backward when he first saw her. Their first night in Vegas, he and Aaron and Jessica had gone to dinner with her bachelorette party, which consisted of Jessica’s best friend, sister and mother. The moment they entered the restaurant and he saw Renee laughing about something her mother had said, he’d been awestruck.
She was beautiful, certainly, but no beautiful woman had ever made his jaw drop like that. It was also the first time he’d actually felt nervous when meeting someone. He never felt anxious, even that one time he’d asked out and been summarily dismissed by that supermodel. Aaron had laughed about that one for weeks. Somehow, Renee cut right through what Jessica called his “devil-may-care attitude” and left him feeling awkward and uncertain.
There was something about the way she laughed, the sparkle in her eyes, the way her light red hair fell over her shoulders, the freckles across her nose that made her look wonderfully fresh and happy, the sexy tilt of her chin that seemed to exude self-confidence. Whatever it was, something about her made it hard to think straight.
And even though they’d hardly talked, he had a suspicion that she might just be interested in him, too. When they’d been introduced, a light flush had spread up her neck, and she had let go of his hand just as quickly when they shook for the first time. Like she had felt the same jolt of electricity as he had.
Just the memory of her was enough to make his body jump to attention, and he felt an uncomfortable swelling in his jeans.
Jeremiah took another deep breath, trying to relax his body, and climbed out of the truck. If he could just get through the next hour without doing anything stupid, he would be able to keep his distance from her for the rest of the week and avoid the almost-overwhelming temptation to kiss her.
* * *
RENEE STEPPED INTO the airport restroom and went straight to the mirror, looking at the damage done by her flight and trying to put herself back together. She glanced at her skirt and blouse, trying to straighten out the wrinkles, ignoring the tiny voice reminding her that Jeremiah was off-limits.
Of course he was off-limits. She knew that, and he certainly wasn’t the reason she’d opted to ditch her comfy travel clothes and instead wear makeup, heels and her black skirt that hugged in the right places—not to mention the silky black underthings. She just thought it would be nice to look her best when she showed up at her sister’s house.
The voice laughed at her unconvincing lies.
After taking one last look in the mirror and trying to wish away the dusting of freckles across her nose that made her look like a Girl Scout, she gave herself one more silent pep talk. Remember, nothing can happen with Jeremiah, and he probably just thinks of you as Jessica’s little sister, so seeing him for the first time since Vegas is no big deal. There’s definitely no reason for your stomach to feel like this. So stop staring into a mirror like a crazy person and leave this bathroom.
She didn’t budge. Renee swore under her breath at her idiocy and steeled herself for what would assuredly be a very not-sexy week full of helping Jessica and staring at a guy who hardly knew she existed. Then she finally managed to walk out of the bathroom and through the terminal exit doors to baggage claim. She found herself standing in a cavernous room studded with numbered carousels slowly circling luggage.
Her first thought was that she’d never find Jeremiah in this huge area, but that lasted less than four seconds before she spied him standing about twenty yards away, looking at her. Their eyes met, and she froze for a moment like a deer in headlights.
He wasn’t as gorgeous as she remembered. He was even more so. Her daydreams hadn’t done justice to the way his slightly shaggy, dark hair fell across his forehead or how his shirt clung to his chest. Not to mention his low-slung jeans and what was sure to be underneath. The quivering in her stomach turned into melting, an ache that made her knees feel weak.
Then someone bumped her elbow as they tried to walk around her, and she realized she was blocking the doorway and staring like Meg Ryan in one of her romantic comedies Renee loved to watch. She could feel a blush start low on her cheeks as she imagined how ridiculous she must look to him. How was she ever going to get through an entire drive alone in the car with him without making a complete fool of herself?
Another person knocked against her. She adjusted the bag on her shoulder and started moving toward the sexy cowboy who was waiting for her. As she got closer, Renee smiled and gave a tiny wave, vividly remembering the first time they shook hands. If she was going to get through this, there had to be no touching, that was for sure. If she could keep things casual, everything would be fine and Jessica wouldn’t need to kill her for groping someone she hardly knew instead of helping with the wedding.
“Hi, Jeremiah. Thanks for picking me up,” she said, hoping she sounded normal.
He smiled back, a little stiffly, making her wonder exactly how inconvenient this errand had been. But then he shrugged and his lips softened. “No problem. I was coming into town anyway. Do you have a bag to pick up?”
She looked up and noticed that the carousel closest to them displayed her flight information and luggage was starting to slide down the chute. She nodded, and after an awkward pause that seemed to stretch between them, she was grateful to see her bag coming her way. Before she could do more than place her hand on it, though, he had it by the handle and was picking it up as if it weighed nothing. She briefly imagined him picking her up with the same strength before stopping herself.
No sexy thoughts, she reminded herself yet again. Jessica freaking out. Jeremiah not interested.
Except something in the way he looked at her made her think that maybe that second one wasn’t true.
She tried to shake off the thought as she followed him out of the airport and into the parking structure, where he stopped at a large silver truck that screamed cowboy. It was huge. Everything’s bigger in Texas, she thought to herself, sneaking a peek at Jeremiah, her mind drifting off into forbidden, jean-clad areas. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, a good-natured grin on his face as he broke the silence between them.
She blushed for the second time in as many minutes, a bad omen for their drive together. There was definitely no way she would admit where her thoughts had gone, so she thought up something else as quickly as she could. “Nothing. Just the sheer number of trucks. It’s all so very...Texas.”
He smirked, and her heart skipped a beat. He said, “Most people in the city drive them for that reason. They don’t actually get used to haul stuff around.”
He settled her suitcase into the truck bed, among a variety of boxes, some plants, a bunch of metal rods and a number of other things Renee couldn’t identify. Before she could reach for the door, he had it open for her and helped her climb in, making her fingers tingle where they touched. She tried to keep her mind on acceptable topics. “You clearly use yours to haul around plenty. What is all that stuff?”
He gave her a crooked grin. “Most of it’s for your sister, actually. She had a whole list of things she needed to pick up, and I volunteered since I was coming into town to replace a broken generator.”
She looked out the back window and tried to identify the wedding items. “Those metal rods are some kind of arch thing, I’m guessing?” He nodded. “And the plants, of course. And me. She’s really putting you to work,” Renee finished, laughing.
Jeremiah chuckled and raised an eyebrow. “I’m positive it’s nothing compared to what she has in store for you.”
Renee laughed again. A little of the awkward tens
ion was gone and she felt lighter than she had since seeing him, but that ache didn’t go anywhere. He was even sexier when he was being funny, God help her.
Jeremiah swung the truck out of the parking structure. Renee racked her brain for any safe topics that could keep the silence from settling between them again. When they were quiet, her mind wandered, and she didn’t want to spend the entire drive wondering whether or not the bench seat of his vehicle was long enough for them to act out a few of her spicier fantasies.
“So, how far away do you guys live from the airport?”
“You guys?” he repeated with a thick Brooklyn accent. “You’re never going to fit in around here with talk like that. We say y’all around here.”
Renee tried again, this time putting the thickest drawl she could muster into her voice. “Well lookee here, Jeremiah, just how long of a ride do we have in this here fancy horse buggy till we mosey into y’all’s neck of the woods?”
He let out a peal of laughter that reverberated through her chest, so loud and genuine that it made her laugh in response. He had an amazing, infectious laugh, and she was swept away in the silliness of the moment. When was the last time she’d joked with a guy? It seemed far too long.
“We all live about sixty miles away,” he said, finally getting himself enough under control to answer her question, adding an adorable Texas accent to his words.
An hour alone with him. God help her. Renee looked out the window. The city—if you could call it that—was already shrinking in the distance, leaving them surrounded by a few homes and a lot of open land. “And that’s the closest town to you? To get a generator, you need to drive all the way to, um—” she panicked for a moment as she realized she didn’t remember the name of the city she had just flown into “—Tyson?” she finished, hoping it was right.
He raised his eyebrow and smiled at her again in the way that made her insides twist. “You mean Tyler?”
She flushed, embarrassed. “Yeah. That.”
“There are a couple of small towns that are closer, but Tyler’s the biggest nearby. We’ll be at Jessica and Aaron’s before you know it.”
Although that was what she told herself she wanted, the idea was not a pleasant one. She was enjoying talking to Jeremiah, and didn’t want it to end too quickly. “Was it weird to start calling it ‘Jessica and Aaron’s’ instead of just ‘Aaron’s place’?”
He thought for a moment, tilting his head. “Not really. They just fit together so well that the moment she moved in, it became their place, you know?”
Renee nodded, but didn’t really understand. She looked at the window as they flew past large homes and swaying trees, already well out of the city. The fields in the distance were a wintry brown, showing off a wide expanse of countryside. How did Jessica transplant her whole life to this strange place and settle in so smoothly? Renee felt like a fish out of water looking at the vast nothingness around her.
* * *
JEREMIAH TRIED TO keep his eyes on the road, but his gaze was continuously drawn to the woman only a few feet away. He’d been failing miserably at self-control since the moment she walked into baggage claim in that sexy, curve-loving skirt and heels that made him want to drop to his knees and worship her legs. There were a lot of things he’d like to drop to his knees and do to her, in fact.
He focused back on the present, trying to stop those thoughts. They were exactly what he couldn’t let himself get caught up in this week if he wanted to survive.
He glanced at her again. Instead of thinking about the way her shirt moved against her breasts as she shifted in her seat, he tried to think of something to say to her. Her mood had switched from silly to thoughtful in a matter of seconds, and he wasn’t sure what he should do. For a guy who’d always felt so confident around women, this was a new one on him.
He grabbed at some new topic of conversation. Anything to keep her talking. “It’s nice of you to fly in a week early to help your sister. According to Aaron, she’s been fighting off a state of panic for the past week or so, worrying that things won’t be ready in time.”
Renee nodded, as if this wasn’t new information. “She’s always been the anxious one. She wouldn’t be Jessica if she wasn’t worried. Really, though, it should be Cindy here. She’s always been the enthusiastic, creative one. I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to help much, but with the pregnancy and all, Cindy couldn’t take that much time off from work.”
“If Jessica’s the anxious one and Cindy’s the enthusiastic one, what are you?” He wasn’t sure if he was prying, but he just had to know more about her.
She paused, thinking. “I guess I’m the focused, driven one.”
Jeremiah tried to read between the lines. “Is that code for ‘workaholic?’”
Renee gave him a small smile. “Pretty much.”
“And what else are you?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I think that’s about it.”
He could think of some other adjectives that described her, but didn’t say them out loud. He wasn’t sure if she even realized she was the funny one, the sexy one, the dear-God-I-wish-she-was-in-my-arms-right-now one.
He tried to think of something else to talk about. Normally he’d be fine with silence, but silence around her made him want to say and do things that were all on the “terrible ideas” list. At least when they were talking, he could focus on their conversation instead of on the way her hair fell across her shoulders and that one darker freckle just below her left ear.
Lucky for him, she seemed just as willing to keep up continuous chatter as he was, and the rest of the drive passed quickly while she described her favorite things about New York, asked questions about her sister’s life in Texas and told him about her job.
“It’s not a sure thing yet, but the lead designer spot would be amazing. I’ve been working toward that exact position since high school. It’s my dream job.”
He glanced at her out of the side of his eye, even though her face was already indelibly printed in his mind. She couldn’t possibly be older than twenty-eight. “You’ve managed to land your dream job before turning thirty? Is that some kind of a record?”
Renee smiled and her eyes lit up, changing her face from beautiful to stunning. “I’m younger than a lot of people on my team, but I have just as much experience as pretty much anyone there if you look at the work I’ve done. I usually pick up a few extra pages each issue, and my work hardly ever needs to be retouched. I don’t think my age will matter.”
“I guess you were right about being the workaholic one.”
“That was your word,” she pointed out. “I said I was the focused one.”
Jeremiah was impressed, but something about her dedication to her job sent up an alarm. “How do you manage to do all that and still have fun? Doesn’t it make it hard to relax, take vacations, date?”
Jessica had mentioned at one point that Renee was single—Jeremiah was sure she had no idea how that offhand comment had affected him—and he’d been perplexed as to why. Now he was beginning to suspect the reason.
“I don’t really have the time for that kind of stuff. My job is too important to me and I wouldn’t want to screw that up because of those types of distractions.”
Renee’s shrug seemed casual, but her voice sounded very serious to him. Jeremiah wondered if she was sending him a message between the lines. If she was, he got it loud and clear.
Even though he’d known from the start that there would be no dating this woman, here was yet another example of why he needed to let go of all the little fantasies and quit mooning over her.
For a guy who was normally so great at looking on the bright side of things, he couldn’t seem to find the silver lining for this one.
Relief swept through him as he drove up to Jessica and Aaron’s house. He’d made it through the
entire drive without saying or doing anything inappropriate, and now he could try to keep his distance and avoid being alone with her for the rest of her visit. Once she went back to New York, it would probably be years before he saw her again.
He didn’t enjoy that thought.
He parked on the side of the large yellow ranch house, angling the truck so it would be easy to empty the wedding contents from the back. After turning off the engine, he shifted to look at Renee, who had turned her body toward him, as if she wanted to say something.
“Thanks for the ride, Jeremiah,” she said, and he looked into her eyes deeply for the first time since they had left the airport.
It was no problem.
Anything for Jessica’s sister.
That’s what you do for friends.
All of the correct responses died in his throat. There was only one way he wanted to answer her, and before he knew what he was doing, he leaned across the small distance between them and pressed his lips to hers, his hand grazing across the soft skin of her cheek.
It took him less than a second to realize how awful that decision was, but then she pressed back into him, parting her lips and tilting her head, her urgency matching his. Any self-control he could have used to pull away dissipated when her tongue slid against his, sending tendrils of heat through his entire body.
His hand slid from her cheek down her neck, slowly inching lower. Before he could fall deeper into the kiss or his hand could move past her collarbone, though, she leaned back, separating from him. Her breathing was heavy and her eyes wide, and he realized what had just happened. He rubbed his hand across his face and tore his eyes away from her, checking to be sure Jessica was nowhere in sight. Dear God, he’d kissed her. How could he have been so stupid?
Still, he couldn’t help but feel excitement course through him. She had kissed him, too. He looked at her again. She was shaking her head, her eyes closed, her hands covering her face.
