When she’d introduced Jack to them, he had just started with the company as a manager. Her parents basically snubbed his bachelor’s degree because it wasn’t from an elite university. They blew off his budding success, telling Grace he still had no name in high society. Grace had strayed from her parents then, not caring what they thought. She’d been in love with a wonderful man and she’d married him.
In actuality, Jack was the one who’d married a nobody. Just a makeup-obsessed Vassar grad with a talent for transforming girls-next-door into the seemingly flawless on TV.
Jack had been partially right. She hadn’t given enough effort to support him because she thought by doing so, as silly as it was to think now, it would make him work even harder. Place him even farther from her. And no matter how much she didn’t have in common with his associates, she could’ve hung on longer for Jack’s sake, instead of adding on to her own workload.
Grace climbed out of bed, opened her door, and crept down the hallway. She passed by the dining room, the living room, and finally to the hall that led to the guest room. Her heart was pounding and she didn’t know what she was really doing, or what for.
She stopped at his door and leaned in to listen, as if he’d be awake at this hour, too. There was no light beaming from the floor. Silence. He was definitely asleep. She closed her eyes, putting a hand to the door, yearning to go inside and crawl in bed with him.
With a soft sigh, she turned and walked back to her room.
***
Jack hadn’t slept a wink. And he wasn’t going to, at this rate. A sound caught his attention and he snapped his head up.
Grace?
He pushed out of bed and walked to the door. Hand on the knob, he waited and listened.
Nothing.
He rested his forehead on the frame. Why would she come to him after all he said? And he had said all the wrong things. Grace was right; she’d never asked him to work balls-to-the-wall so they could have the finer things in life. He assumed she would never ask, but that she silently expected it. Deep down, he knew she never had. That had been his mother’s expectation. And although Grace was constantly surrounded by some of the most pretentious idiots in Hollywood, she never, ever acted like one of them. Part of him had to admit he was jealous, so very jealous they got to spend more time with his beautiful wife than he did. All he got was those few-and-far-between stolen weekends with her.
Jack burst out of his room to the hall.
He marched toward their master bedroom—toward Grace—with purpose, but as he got closer, wondered what his intentions were. Was he going to bang the door down, wake her up, and make her talk things out in the middle of the night?
No.
He’d rather kick the door down, kiss her until she yielded, opened up her body and soul to him like she had so many times before.
He stopped.
He couldn’t do either of those things.
If she wanted to talk, they’d be talking.
If she wanted him to make love to her, they’d be making love right now.
He pressed a hand to the door and closed his eyes with a sigh.
Come back to me.
He walked away and left her in peace.
Chapter Five
Gazing out the window of his office, the voice of the public relations director in the background, Jack found it challenging to maintain focus. He couldn’t help but feel different since his argument with Grace. It wasn’t as if he didn’t appreciate his new position….he’d earned it, after all. But he was finally realizing what it had cost him to get there. He didn’t regret his hard work for a moment, but he did regret neglecting his marriage for it. If he’d slowed down just a little, taken fewer meetings, delegated more responsibilities, ate fewer meals with his superiors and more at home….damn. It all seemed so simple now.
He glanced at his watch. “Nora.” He swung his chair around, interrupting the PR exec.
She looked up from her notes, a little surprised at his disruption. “Yes?”
He pushed up from the chair. “Would you mind if we cut this meeting short? I was hoping to get home by seven today.”
The shock on her face amused him. “Uh, of course not. We can finish up in the morning.”
“Good.”
“With how often you’re here late, I’m sure your wife will be overjoyed to see you before the sun sets.”
He gave a dry laugh. “You don’t know how right you are.”
“We workaholics don’t have any sense of time,” she said, standing with a smile.
That’s the first thing that needs to change. He opened the door for Nora, made a few phone calls, then left for home.
He wasn’t surprised to find the house empty when he crossed the threshold. Anticipating his wife’s arrival, he changed out of his suit and into jeans and a blue Henley shirt, shoving the sleeves up while he worked on a few things around the house he’d noticed needed attention.
He was in the middle of replacing a light bulb in their dining room when Grace walked through the door, talking on her cell phone. Her eyes registered surprise when she saw him. She ended the conversation and hit a button on her phone. “You’re home.”
He gave her a one-shoulder shrug before stepping off the chair. “It’s a miracle.”
She appeared nervous as she nodded with a small smile, tucking her cell into her giant bright yellow sack. It was still a little awkward, since the last time they’d spoken, feelings had been hurt and tears spilled.
“Grace, about last night—”
“Can we talk about it later?” She cut him off as she headed to the master bedroom. “I have to get ready.”
A little taken aback by her dismissal, he followed her, leaning a shoulder to the doorjamb of the room. “Ready for what?”
Disappearing inside the walk-in closet, she said, “There’s a party I promised to attend to promote the show. Nothing major.”
Jack crossed his arms. A rush of annoyance ran through him, but he attempted to hide it from his voice. “You’re going out tonight?”
She emerged from the closet with a dress in hand. “I promised the producer I would. It’s more of an obligation than anything.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”
“What’s the big deal? Besides, I thought you would still be at work when I got home.”
Well, crap. This isn’t going well already. “I think you should ditch it,” he told her. “We could grab some Thai and catch a late movie.”
She hesitated, then shook her head. “I can’t. I made a commitment to go.”
He’d come home early to show an effort, and she hadn’t even acknowledged it. “Grace, it’s a damn party. It’s not that important.” Not more important than us, he wanted to say.
“It is to me.”
“I don’t understand how you want things to be different, but you act the same. Choosing some party over us.”
“You’re overreacting, Jack. I won’t even start to count the times you chose your job over our marriage.”
“I came home early, didn’t I? I had hours of work to do, but I chose to be here. With you. You can stay home tonight.”
With narrowed eyes, she tossed the dress on the bed. “You think by coming home a few hours early one time is all you need to do to make things right?”
“No, but it’s a start. And it’s a hell of a lot more effort than you’re putting in right now.”
“Unbelievable.” She threw up her hands. “All I’m doing is making an appearance at a party and you’re giving me a lecture.”
“All I’m doing is pointing out your priorities,” he said, moving to turn around. “And it’s clear I’m not one of them.”
He turned around and disappeared into the guest room. He’d said enough.
***
Grace stood in the party crush, a glass of Coke Zero in her hand, while the who’s who of Hollywood fluttered, laughed, gossiped, and passed by her. She didn’t feel particularly social, nor did she feel like being
alone. She was staring off into space, Jack’s words still stinging and angered frustration squeezed in her chest. Of course she would rather stay home, but she had her obligations, and she made a point not to flake on commitments. Jack knew that. Yet he treated her going out as if she were turning her back on him. He was so vexing she wanted to throw her glass across the room and scream.
Time seemed to creep by as she made her rounds through the party, feigning interest in conversations, her laughter forced, her enthusiasm a complete sham. She kept one eye on the clock. Part of her yearned to go home immediately, but stubborn pride made her stay at the party for at least two hours, as if punishing Jack for making her feel so guilty.
He was wrong about her priorities.
Maybe she shouldn’t have dismissed his coming home early as a minor attempt….no matter what, it was an effort. No doubt he’d been hurt because he expected her to rejoice in it, instead of belittling it. Then she’d topped it off by attending a party she clearly wouldn’t have been missed at.
She had to go home.
She kissed cheeks and said her good-byes, checked her cell phone to see it was almost eleven o’clock. No calls or messages from Jack. It didn’t matter. She’d find a way to make it right.
The house was completely dark when she walked in. He was probably in bed, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep without apologizing. Moving toward his room, she paused when she heard a sound of a glass being set on the living-room side table.
She squinted in the dark. “Jack?”
All she could see was a whiskey glass glinting in the moonlight.
He was sitting in the chair facing the patio. “How was it?” His voice was thick and rough.
She arched a brow as she approached. “I thought you didn’t drink alone.”
He brought the whiskey to his mouth and took a sip, never taking his eyes off the view. “Thought I’d try it out.”
“We should talk.”
He gave her a derisive noise. “About what?”
With a frustrated sound, Grace turned on a heel. She refused to start a discussion when he acted like this.
Jack pushed up from the chair and caught her upper arms, bringing her back against him. “Wait, wait….”
She closed her eyes, her heart starting to race, feeling Jack’s heat and strength take over her senses. “Don’t.”
He nuzzled her hair, breathing in deep, holding her tight. “Please. Let me just hold you for a moment.”
She tried to pry out of his hold and he swung her around in one swift turn. His hands dove into her hair. He kissed her before she could speak. To her anguish, Grace whimpered at the onslaught of his desperate kiss, fighting her own natural impulse to cave in and let him have his way. Splaying her palms on his hard chest, she turned her head away with a sob, breaking the contact.
His arms locked around her waist while she pushed. “Grace,” he pleaded, his voice husky with emotion and liquor, his hot lips on her cheek. “Don’t push me away. I ache for you. I need to feel you. I want you so much….”
She turned her head the other way. “Jack, stop. Please! You promised.”
He released her so fast she stumbled on her feet.
“What?” he asked, his eyes glittering with hurt and rejection. “You only fuck actors now?”
She slapped him.
Jack didn’t recover right away. His profile stayed averted. His throat moved on a swallow; he squeezed eyes squeezed shut for a moment. Instantly, she could see he regretted what he’d said.
Her hand stung, along with her eyes. When he shifted his gaze to face her, she couldn’t take it, and marched to the master bedroom. She closed the door and slid down the paneled back, her tears burning.
Sighing, she put her face in her hands.
***
Jack felt like crap the next morning and not just because he’d drunk the better half of his whiskey decanter last night.
He didn’t know how to rationalize his conduct because rational thought and uncontrollable behavior were not in the same family. He’d allowed his jealousy to take over, fed it with some strong libations, and taken it all out on Grace with one jackass remark. That morning, he’d woken up and walked to her room to apologize, only to see she was already gone.
He couldn’t blame her for avoiding him. He’d acted like a pig.
Now he was sitting in a management meeting, completely uninterested in any topic, and thankful he could put on a good show by nodding once in a while when it seemed appropriate.
All he could think about was that he needed to make it up to her. But how? Things like taking her out to dinner, buying her flowers….all seemed lame. In hindsight, he’d been wasting his time. Instead of trying to win her back, he had been picking fights and behaving immaturely. Not anymore….first thing he’d do—
“Crandall.” A hand slapped down on his shoulder. It was his colleague, Tom Warner, Director of Marketing. “Meeting’s over.”
Jack cleared his throat. “Yeah, I was just thinking about how to deal with the permit issue….” He stood up, buttoning his jacket.
“Didn’t you hear? Pierson is handling it.”
He’d heard squat. “Oh. Right.”
Tom gave him a look, shaking his head as they stopped in the doorway. “Have you been moonlighting or something? You look like hell.”
No, I’ve been losing my mind. “Thanks a lot for pointing it out,” Jack said with a sigh. “It’s just been a long week and it’s only Wednesday.”
Tom was too busy looking down the hallway to pay attention to anything Jack was saying. His eyes widened with blatant interest. “Who’s the fox talking to Hughes?”
Mr. Hughes was the company’s president and CEO, a man that Jack had come to admire almost like a father figure. They’d come from similar backgrounds and had great business chemistry from the get-go.
He sent a quick glance down the hall, only to do a double take.
The woman Tom had referred to seemed impossibly familiar. She wore sky-high heels, black hosiery with seams running up the back, a dark purple pencil dress, her hair in a messy knot….
Jack’s throat went bone-dry.
Tom gave a crooked, unmistakably predatory smile as he tightened the knot of his tie. “Think I’ll go over there and introduce myself—”
He halted him with a firm grip on the man’s shoulder. His voice was clear with a trace of a warning. “That’s my wife.” Tom had come aboard after Jack and Grace’s separation, and therefore had never met her.
Tom stopped, gaping, looking back and forth. “Say again? You’re screwing with me, right?”
Straightening his own tie and smoothing the front of his suit with a hand, he gazed at his wife with both pride and wonder. “That’s her.”
He left Tom in stunned silence as he casually walked over to Mr. Hughes’s office, half-a-dozen questions circling his mind.
“Here’s your husband now,” Mr. Hughes announced as Jack approached them.
Jack found his heart was beating extra fast at the moment, as if he would be talking to a high school crush for the first time.
Grace turned around with a soft smile. “Hi.”
He couldn’t take his eyes off her. God, she was gorgeous. “This is a surprise….” Especially after last night.
“One of the actresses threw a tantrum and refused to work, so they postponed filming for the rest of the day,” she explained.
Mr. Hughes chimed in. “When my secretary told me she was out here waiting for you, I just couldn’t let a pretty lady sit out here alone. You didn’t tell me she worked on the set of Housewife Secrets!”
Mainly because I just found out myself. He rocked back on his heels. “I didn’t think you watched that kind of show, sir.”
“The wife does.” He leaned in, as if to share confidential information. “It sucked me right in, unfortunately, fool that I am for pretty women with attitudes.”
Grace laughed softly, slipping her hand in his boss’s arm. “Would
you like to come to the set one day and meet the cast?”
The old man’s eyes lit up. “Only if I can bring my wife, too. Or else the next time you see this face, it’ll be with my head on a stick.”
Jack chuckled, still amazed. Not only was Grace here, she’d totally charmed his boss.
Mr. Hughes beamed at Jack. “Where have you been hiding her all this time?”
Grace cut in before Jack could think of a reply. “It’s my fault, Walter. I’ve been a showbiz workaholic.” Her gaze met Jack’s as she said, “But I promise to make it up to you as much as I can.”
Jack’s jaw clenched, and he suppressed the urge to sweep her into a kiss that would make the whole office blush. He didn’t understand why she was doing this, because he frankly didn’t deserve it, but he decided not to analyze her motives right now.
And did she just call his boss by his first name?
“Well, I’ll leave you two,” Mr. Hughes said. He turned to Grace. “You have no excuse tonight. I plan to see you both at the Four Seasons.”
Grace gave him a nod. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Mr. Hughes gave Jack a sound pat on the back as he walked past him.
Jack couldn’t keep the incredulity off his face.
“Your office?” Grace asked in an innocent tone.
He put a hand to her back and led the way to other end of the hall. Once inside, he closed the door, her scent tickling his nose and fueling his blood. It took all the strength he possessed not to push her up against the wall and ravish her. Down, boy, down.
He headed around his desk to put something solid between them. “Grace, about last night….” Unable to think of anything articulate to say, he said with a shrug, “I was an ass.”
Looking down, she crossed her arms. “You were, but I should’ve been more considerate with our…situation. I should’ve stayed home so we could talk.” Slowly, she raised her head up, her blue-green eyes sad. “But it seems like whenever we try to do that we end up right where we started.”
Jack sighed. “I know. And I went about it the wrong way, accusing you of pushing me aside for your job. It was petty.”
All Said and Undone Page 6
