Petal Plucker

by Iris Morland

  “What are you—?” It was Jacob. He did live here. I’d been right! “You heard me!”

  Jacob’s lips twitched. “Me and everyone in Seattle. How drunk are you right now?”

  I stumbled, but Jacob’s grip tightened to keep me from falling. “Not remotely drunk,” I slurred.

  “Yeah, no. Come on. I’m walking you home.”

  “You don’t know where I live!”

  “I was at your apartment, Dani.”

  I wrinkled my nose at him. I didn’t want to think about him in my apartment because he’d kissed me and then he’d gone AWOL on me like the big Jerkface McJerkson he was.

  “You suck,” was what I could come up with after a block of silent walking.

  Jacob glanced at me, his eyes creased. “Yeah, I know.”

  “So you’re admitting it.”

  “Isn’t that what I just said?”

  I poked him in the chest. “You kiss me, and then you act like I died. Who does that? Did someone send you a fake funeral invite, Jacob West? Did a dead girl catfish you and claim it was me? Huh?” With every word, I poked him in the chest. He didn’t make a move to stop me.

  “It’s complicated.”

  “Why don’t you marry that Facebook status, butt-face? Since you love it so much.”

  I almost fell into a rhododendron bush, but once again, Jacob caught me. My knight in shining armor. I still hated him, because he never failed to turn my entire life upside down and I was tired of it.

  When we got to my apartment, I didn’t want him to go. Not because I wanted him to kiss me again, but because I wanted answers. We stood in a dark corner under the stairs to my apartment, and I couldn’t make out Jacob’s expression now.

  “Why did you kiss me?” I demanded. “Why? Were you just messing with me?”

  I pushed at his shoulder, but he caught my hands and held them tightly. Not enough to hurt, but enough to show me that he was stronger than me.

  “I told myself that I’d leave you alone.” He sounded…anguished. Why would he be anguished? It made no sense.

  “Well, you’re doing a great job of it. Walking me home. Kissing me. Feeling me up. Wow, you should get an award for how good you’re doing at this whole thing. You know what, Jacob? Go eat a bag of musty dicks. I’m done.”

  I tried to pull away, but he moved so I was forced against the opposite wall. He pressed his body against mine, and I felt the air whooshing from my lungs. I wasn’t sure anyway if it was the alcohol or him that was making me so dizzy.

  “You don’t understand. I never wanted this to happen.” His words were a heated whisper against my ear. “It wasn’t supposed to happen.”

  Despite his words, his lips traced a path down my throat. I shuddered. I felt his hardness against my belly. At the very least, he still desired me. I felt triumph fill me. He could tell himself whatever he wanted: his body wasn’t lying.

  He licked my throat. He’d let go of my hands, but I didn’t want to break free of him. I wanted to wrap myself around him; I wanted him to possess every inch of me. I was so hot—from his presence, his mouth, the alcohol.

  “I can’t get enough of you,” he said roughly. “I want to touch every inch of you.”

  I quivered. So much for his saying this couldn’t happen. It seemed to be happening regardless.

  The alcohol made me more daring than ever: I touched his chest and moved downward until I cupped the length of his cock. He hissed out a breath.

  “Come upstairs,” I said. Because I was brazen, and drunk, and desperate for him.

  He stilled. I wondered if he was considering my offer when he pushed off of me. Cool air rushed between us, and suddenly I felt very cold.

  “This can’t happen,” he said, his chest heaving.

  I moved closer to him. I dug my fingers into his shirt and held on, because the world was tilting with alarming speed.

  And although the words that I thought were, I still want you, I didn’t get to say them because, suddenly, I was vomiting only inches from Jacob’s shoes.

  Chapter Twelve

  Normally I enjoyed driving to Vancouver, but today had not been enjoyable. Not only had I gotten stuck in traffic on I-5, which doubled my travel time, but I realized after a half hour that I’d forgotten the box of brochures for Buds and Blossoms that I’d needed to bring. I’d told Judith and Will, our other employee, that I needed everything put together that afternoon, but Will had been out with the flu and Judith had been frazzled and distracted, so all my plans and instructions had gone to hell with alarming speed.

  By the time I crossed the border and got to the hotel, I was starving, sweaty from stress, and exhausted. I wanted to order room service, take a hot bath, and call it a night so I could function like a human being tomorrow.

  When I entered the hotel lobby and saw the wide shoulders, the golden hair, the tight ass, I didn’t need to wonder who it was. I wasn’t remotely surprised that Jacob was here. I’d often attended conventions like this with my dad, and the Wests were often present as well. Running the same type of businesses tended to throw people together.

  Did I go back to my car, wait for Jacob to check in and go to his room, or did I act like an adult and get in line behind him? I hadn’t spoken to him since I’d thrown myself at him and then puked on his shoes. It wasn’t exactly the greatest way to get a guy to chase after you, apparently.

  I had just about decided to hightail it back to my car when I heard Jacob say, “Are you serious right now?”

  Curiosity killed the cat. I moved closer, my ears pricked as the hotel employee replied, “I’m so sorry, Mr. West, but it looks like we don’t have any record of your reservation. Let me go get my manager to see what we can do.”

  Jacob sighed, his face tight. He looked like he could cheerfully strangle someone, and I couldn’t blame him. Suddenly all my frustration with him, my confusion, my physical attraction to him that was all tangled up like a knotted ball of yarn, melted away in the face of this. He looked as tired as I was, and considering the hotel had sold out of rooms for this conference ages ago, I doubted they had an extra room for him.

  Finally he spotted me. I gave him an awkward little wave, and promptly felt like an idiot for waving. Who did that when you were only three feet from each other?

  I was saved from further painful conversation when I went up to the counter to check in. I heard the last of Jacob’s conversation with the manager, and I heard something about a voucher for another hotel.

  I didn’t think about the consequences when I went over to where he was sitting, his phone to his ear. Who knew if it was out of altruism or selfishness. Or maybe I was just a complete masochist. The world may never really know.

  He’d just hung up and was dialing another number when I said, “You didn’t get a room?”

  “No. Apparently their computers ate my fucking reservation.” He sighed. “I have a voucher, but there aren’t any rooms available nearby. It wouldn’t matter, except I didn’t drive up here.”

  “You can room with me.” At his surprised look, I added, “If you want. I even have a suite, so there’s a sofa bed. Although I can sleep on that. It doesn’t really matter. But we don’t have to share a bed.” I laughed, my brain automatically conjuring up images of us sharing a bed. Jacob would have his arms around me as he kissed down my body, his hair brushing my throat, my breasts, my stomach—

  “I can’t do that,” he said, breaking my sex fantasy. “But I appreciate the offer.”

  “Sure, you can. It’ll be fun. Like a slumber party. Except we aren’t teenage girls. I promise not to make you play truth or dare.” Stop talking, Dani, please stop talking.

  He smiled, despite his sour mood. “I’ll pay you for half of it, of course.”

  I hadn’t even been thinking about payment, which said a lot about my current mental state. “That’s fine.”

  By the time we reached our room, after Jacob had agreed and we’d gotten him his own hotel room key, I was a bundle of nerves.
We’d be in the same hotel room, sharing a bathroom, getting dressed and undressed so close together. It would be like we were dating. Except we wouldn’t be sharing a bed, or enjoying a shower together.

  But I wouldn’t throw myself at him again. He’d already made it clear nothing more could happen between us. Besides, I needed to remember who he was: my direct competitor. But the more time I spent with him, the more I wanted to forget that annoying detail. Except he apparently couldn’t ignore that detail, considering he’d told me this “thing” between us wasn’t going to go beyond kisses and some heavy petting.

  What a damn shame, I thought. I really enjoyed the heavy petting.

  The suite consisted of a small living room with a sofa and television, while the bedroom had a queen-sized bed. After Jacob insisted that I take the bed while he slept on the sofa, I began to unpack.

  I heard Jacob doing the same, and the moment felt so unbearably intimate that I could’ve come right out of my skin. I wondered what he wore to bed—boxers? pajamas? nothing? Surely he wouldn’t go to bed naked with me around. I swallowed against the lump in my throat, my mouth going dry at the thought of seeing Jacob naked. God, he’d be naked when he took a shower. I’d be just feet away from him, water dripping down his body, his skin heated—

  “Are you hungry?”

  I’d been obsessing over this entire situation so much that I’d forgotten that I was starving. As if on cue, my stomach rumbled. “I could eat.”

  “Good. Let’s go down to the hotel restaurant. I’m too tired to go find a place.”

  I smiled. “Agreed. Let me finish unpacking.”

  Was it dumb that I was pleased he’d invited me to eat dinner with him? Probably, but I didn’t care.

  To my surprise, Jacob didn’t return to the living area. He leaned against the mantel, watching me. Well, I wasn’t going to act like a big boob if he wanted to watch me put away my bra and panties. We weren’t in eighth grade anymore where the thought of a boy seeing my bra strap sent me into a tailspin of embarrassment.

  “I’ve been meaning to apologize for the other night,” I said. “I hope I didn’t ruin your shoes?”

  He chuckled. “You missed my shoes. You only ruined the sidewalk, I’m afraid.”

  I blushed so hot that I felt like my face was on fire. “Oh my God,” I moaned, covering my eyes. “I can’t believe I did that. I never drink that much. I’m just sorry you had to see it.”

  “We’re even now. Thanks again for sharing your room with me.”

  Through the gaps in between my fingers, I could see his expression turn serious. Why did he have to look so yummy in a gray button-up shirt, its sleeves rolled up his forearms, his eyes that deep blue you could drown in? It was rude. A girl couldn’t think when a guy was as yummy as him. It was like my brain short-circuited from hormones. And he kept looking at me like that, like he wasn’t sure if he thought I were insane or if he wanted to eat me up.

  I turned away, hurrying to unpack. “Okay, I’m ready. Let me put my shoes on.”

  He moved toward me and reached down to pick something up. “You dropped this.” A black, lace thong dangled from his finger. His smile was devilish now.

  “Shit.” I grabbed the thong and threw it into a drawer. Jacob laughed, the sound making my body heat. Christ, his laugh alone could make me wet and aching.

  “Let’s go before I do something even more embarrassing,” I muttered. Jacob just laughed quietly the entire walk down to the restaurant.

  If the universe didn’t want me to think this was a date with Jacob, then it really shouldn’t have seated us in a nook nestled at the back of the restaurant. It was dangerous, that nook, because it gave us the illusion of privacy.

  It was also tiny, and more than once we played accidental footsie underneath the table. By the third time, I was almost certain that Jacob was doing it on purpose.

  “Tell me about New York,” I said after we’d ordered.

  “Anything in particular?”

  “Whatever you want.” I put my chin on my hands, smiling. “I want to hear about something that doesn’t involve complaining about the Seattle Freeze, or all the bikes that the city just dropped on every corner, or the fact that the buses are never on time.”

  “So, what happens in every metro area?”

  “Now you’re just avoiding the question.”

  He sat back a little, considering what he was going to say. It had to have been difficult, uprooting his life to come back to the area. Even though Seattle was where he’d grown up, it didn’t mean he considered it home.

  “Tell me something no one else knows,” I said.

  His blue eyes sparkled. “Okay. After I graduated with my MBA, I worked in a flower shop.”

  I snorted. “Be serious. We all know you were this high-powered stockbroker person. Your parents told everyone—even my parents, who aren’t exactly big fans of your mom and dad.”

  “Oh, that happened eventually.” Jacob swirled his whiskey neat in his glass. I had refrained from any alcohol for obvious reasons.

  “But it was right after the stock market crashed, and I couldn’t get a job to save my life. Even with my fancy connections from NYU and everything. I had a bright, shiny new degree but not a lick of work experience. So, I went back to my roots.” He smiled. “Pun intended.”

  “How long did you work there?” I leaned forward, fascinated.

  “For about a year, before one of my professors learned about how I was slumming it in the Bronx”—here Jacob snorted—“and basically got a job for me. I think he did it mostly because, if anyone found out one of the business school grads couldn’t get a job, they’d look bad.”

  “That was…nice of him.”

  “That’s one way to put it.”

  I couldn’t help but look at Jacob in a new light. I’d always assumed he’d breezed through undergrad, then business school. That he’d had an easy, breezy life from the time he’d been born until this very night, sitting in a booth at a restaurant in Vancouver with me, the weird plant girl.

  “So then you got your job, a fancy new apartment not in the Bronx,” I supplied, “and you lived happily ever after?”

  Jacob leaned back, assessing me. “I’d ask what you mean, but I think I already know.”

  “Oh, come on. Despite that one-year blip, you’ve had an easy life.” I winced inwardly, but I kept going, because I’d started on this track. “You were the golden boy when we were growing up. Everyone liked you; everyone wanted to be you. You get into NYU and get out of Seattle. You get a great job, a great career. A great girlfriend, according to the gossip in the neighborhood. What else could you have wanted?”

  Jacob smiled, but the warmth had left his eyes. “If we’re still playing this game of ‘never have I ever,’ the girlfriend? She got a job in Wisconsin and didn’t want to do a long-distance relationship. So we ended it.”

  “Oh. Were you sad about it?” I couldn’t tell, based on his seemingly blasé expression.

  “Are you asking if I was in love with her?”

  “Well, yes. In a way.”

  “I thought I was, but then we broke up, and it wasn’t a big deal.” He shrugged. “My life isn’t as dramatic as people would like to think it is.”

  It was a relief to think that he wasn’t still longing for his ex-girlfriend, but at the same time, the fact that his heart wasn’t easily touched was…concerning. Then again, sometimes I couldn’t tell what was bravado and what was the truth with him.

  “I guess a lot of things in my life have been great,” he allowed, “but what you’ve heard is probably not as exciting as the truth.”

  “So you’re saying you’re not as substantial as people think?” I bit back a grin.

  He leaned toward me, his voice pitched low. “Now that would be a lie. Why do you think I’ve always been so popular? Everything about me is…substantial.”

  My cheeks heated. Despite admitting that he’d been “slumming it,” as he put it, for a year, he still managed
to keep his aplomb. He was still the sexiest man in the room. I’d be annoyed, if I weren’t so attracted to him.

  He kept tapping his fingers against his empty glass of whiskey. I remembered how his hands had touched me—more than once, now—how my nipples had hardened to almost painful points. Like they were doing right now. I crossed my legs, my pussy pulsing, and I swore I could see a flare of heat in Jacob’s eyes.

  “What about you?” he said, his voice like a caress. I barely restrained a shiver. “Tell me something no one else knows about you.”

  Before I could answer, the waitress brought our meals. My stomach rumbled, and I was so hungry I had to stop myself from shoveling the food down my throat. I had a feeling Jacob wouldn’t keep looking at me like he wanted to eat me if I did that.

  “Come on, you didn’t answer my question,” cajoled Jacob. “Fair is fair.”

  “Fine.” I thought a moment, and then said, “Do you remember that dandelion wreath you made me in kindergarten?”

  “Vaguely.” He said the words, but he was suddenly very interested in his hamburger when he said them.

  “Well, I kept it. For a long time, in a box under my bed.”

  “Really? What happened to it?”

  I hadn’t meant to lead us down this path, but maybe I’d wanted to, subconsciously. I took a bite of my salad to forestall my answer.

  “I got rid of it on prom night.” He looked up at me when I said the words. “Somebody stood me up.”

  He was silent for a long moment, and I almost wished I hadn’t said anything. Oh, I wanted answers—who wouldn’t? But was it worth bringing up the past to destroy this thing that was blooming between us now?

  “I was a selfish little ass-wipe back then.” He sighed, shaking his head. “But that’s not an excuse.”

  “No, not really.” I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat. “What happened, exactly?”

  He shrugged. “Tiffany and I had broken up two weeks before prom. I was pretty messed up over it. She was my first—” He smiled awkwardly. “You know what I mean. Then she shows up at my door that night, telling me she loved me and wanted to get back together. And we did. That’s why I stood you up.”