by Lori Ryan
She let herself in the front door, slipped off Zeke’s leash, and called out.
“Mom? Dad? You home?”
She heard a muffled answer from the backyard and made her way through the house and out the screen door to the back patio. There she found not just one set of parents, but two. Kyle’s parents, the Evans, still lived next door to Jennie’s parents and she still considered them her family. She’d kept Kyle’s name after he died so she shared their last name now rather than Davies, her maiden name.
Within minutes, she was surrounded by four pairs of hugging arms pulling her in tight.
Kyle’s mother, Anna, spoke first. “We didn’t know you were coming! What are you doing here?”
Jennie shrugged and grinned. “Just thought I’d surprise you guys. Maybe stay for the weekend.” The truth was, seeing Kelly so close to delivering her baby and Andrew and Jill so happily married had begun to hurt more than Jennie realized it would. She was happy for her friends, but she needed to escape for a bit. She needed to regroup.
Her mom grabbed her in another hug as she spoke to Jennie’s dad. “Phil, grab another burger for my baby.” To Jennie she said, “We’re having burgers and fresh corn on the cob. You picked a perfect night to come home.”
Kyle’s dad rubbed his round stomach. “And Anna made her peach cobbler.”
“Mmmm.” Jennie wanted to rub her own tummy at that news. She sat on one of the Adirondack chairs and tucked her feet up under her. It felt good to be home as the two older couples went back to their neighborhood gossip. Who was going to what schools in the fall, and who bought a new ride-on lawnmower.
Jennie sat back and let the chatter about hometown suburbia wash over her like a salve. She sipped the iced tea her mom gave her and watched her dad cook the corn and burgers on the grill.
She didn’t have to ask if her mom had made potato salad. Her mother’s potato salad was a staple that accompanied anything cooked on the grill in their home. Jennie’s mouth watered at the thought of the perfectly cooked red potatoes with bits of diced hardboiled egg and just the right seasonings. She’d tried to make it herself but it never compared to her mom’s.
Anna’s question brought Jennie out of her quiet thoughts.
“Are you seeing anyone, Jennie?” Anna asked gently.
Jennie’s eyes went round. Her parents had given up asking her that long ago but she’d never had the conversation with Kyle’s parents. She definitely wasn’t prepared for it.
“No! I mean... I don’t... No, I’m not.” Oh God. Jennie swallowed and looked to her mom, hoping for help. Her mom threw her under the bus instead.
“It’s time, Jennie.” Her voice was soft but the words cut deeply.
Her father and Kyle’s dad stood still, watching but not adding to the conversation as Jennie shook her head at the two women. She lowered her head and stared at the patio stones beneath her chair.
How do I explain that it won’t ever be time? Kyle is dead. There won’t be a time when that changes and there won’t be a time when I’m ready to replace him. Ever.
Jennie could practically feel the looks they were all exchanging but she couldn’t bring herself to look at them. She didn’t want to see the expectation there. Didn’t want to see the shock. Naturally, after four years, anyone would expect her to move on. Even her husband’s own parents.
They didn’t understand. They couldn’t. No one but Jennie knew the real reason Kyle had died. And no one ever would.
Jennie kept her head down and waited. Eventually, the chatter began again and the topic was dropped. For now.
But, she feared her biggest source of respite, her source of comfort and understanding, was about to be lost. How could she hide here, when the pain followed her home?
Chapter 7
Jack stood in the doorway to the living room watching Kelly sleep, watching the movement of her chest as it rose and fell with each breath.
Whether awake or asleep, the sight of his wife stole his breath and made him want to sink to his knees. How close he’d come to losing her…and now, not only did he have her, but they had their daughter on the way…
Jack didn’t know how the hell he’d gotten so damn lucky, but he’d never be complacent. He thanked whatever powers were watching over them every day, for Kelly and their baby.
She wasn’t sleeping well at night anymore. Lately, Kelly would sleep for a few hours at night before Jack heard her climb out of bed and haunt the lower floors of the house. The doctor said that was normal this late in a pregnancy but it killed Jack to see her so worn out. He turned from the doorway, planning to let her rest but she called to him. He turned to find Kelly’s eyes on him and a sleepy smile on her face.
“I didn’t mean to wake you, sweetheart. You should sleep.” He crossed to her and sat on the edge of the couch with her, then ran the back of his hand down the soft skin on her face.
“It’s okay. I’ve been asleep for a few hours. If I sleep any longer, I’ll be up all night for sure.”
He laid a hand on his wife’s rounded belly. “How’s our girl today?”
They hadn’t agreed on a name yet. In the mix were Madeleine, Lacey and Hadley. But, the mix tended to change daily.
Kelly pulled herself up and Jack propped a few pillows behind her on the couch. Once she was settled in, he figured it was as good a time as any to bring up the subject of Jennie and Chad.
Jack wasn’t sure how to ask his wife about her best friend. “Hey, Kelly? Did something ever happen to Jennie that would make her avoid dating?”
“What do you mean?” Kelly asked, looking like she had an idea but didn’t want to talk about it.
“Chad told Andrew and me he kissed Jennie once and she got a really sad look on her face, so he never tried anything again. I always thought it was only the work thing keeping them apart, but he says there’s more to it.”
“Oh, no.”
Jack knew by the tone in Kelly’s voice and the look on her face that she knew what was going on with Jennie. “Oh, God. I had no idea anything happened between them. She never said anything.”
He was confused but waited for Kelly to continue.
“Jennie was married before, Jack. She’s a widow.”
“What? How could we not know that? How is that possible? In fact, I know it’s not possible. We do background checks on employees. We would have seen it.” Jack was shaking his head but Kelly looked so certain.
“Do you see all the background checks?”
“No. I guess not. Chad checks them and he usually gives me a quick okay or tells me if there’s an issue.” Understanding swept over him. “Chad must know. It must have shown up in her report, but he would have respected her privacy. He’d keep that private, even from me, since she never volunteered the information herself and it wasn’t relevant to her working for us. I can’t believe she’s a widow. She’s so young. What happened? When?” His mind ran over everything he knew about the seemingly happy woman who had started out as his temporary secretary, but was now a friend.
“They grew up together. Fell in love in high school and somehow managed to stay together even through college.” Kelly smiled. “It was a fairytale love but it ended in tragedy. They were married for a year when he died from cancer. That was four years ago, but she hasn’t gotten over it. She dates men from time to time, but honestly, they’re more like friends that take her to dinner. I think she doesn’t truly want to find someone else. I have a feeling Chad challenges that reluctance for her. I think she feels a lot more for Chad than she wants to. If she looked upset, my guess is it had to do with feelings she’s not ready to have.”
Jack scrubbed his hands down his face. He was trying to rub away the confusion and figure out how to tell his wife what he’d done.
“I think Andrew and I screwed up, honey,” he began, feeling more out of his element than he had in a long time. Uneasy wasn’t an emotion he was used to.
Kelly was watching him with apprehension. She put a hand on his face a
nd rubbed his jaw softly with her thumb. “What did you do?”
“A friend of mine wanted my opinion on a resort property in the Florida Keys he wants to buy. It’s a high-end place that caters mostly to young couples, honeymooners, that type of thing. I told Peter I’d send someone to check it out, see if anything comes up. Andrew and I arranged for Chad and Jennie to go in as honeymooners on Monday. They, uh... They don’t know yet. We’re planning to tell them it came up suddenly. We thought it would be a good way to give them a little push, you know?”
“Can you cancel it?” Kelly sat up further, looking a lot more alert than she had moments before.
“Absolutely. I can look over the numbers for my friend, and do an assessment for him without sending anyone out there. If you think that’s what I should do, I’ll do it in a heartbeat,” he assured her.
Jack watched Kelly as she seemed to struggle with the decision.
“It’s all right, Kels. I’ll go cancel it. I shouldn’t have done it in the first place.” Jack started to stand, but Kelly put a hand on his arm to stop him.
“No,” she said slowly. “I’ll probably go to hell for this, but maybe you should send them. I think Jennie’s been sad, watching all of us getting married, seeing us start a family. I know something’s got her stuck in the past, but maybe it would be good to see if we can nudge her out of it.”
Jack’s eyebrows just about shot through the roof. “You think I should send them?”
Kelly nodded. “If it was anyone other than Chad, I’d say no. But, they’re adults and we can trust Chad. If Jennie doesn’t want anything to happen, nothing will. He won’t pressure her. But, if I’m right about her feelings for him, maybe he can help her get past whatever’s been holding her back.”
“You’re sure?” Jack asked.
“No. Not at all.” She looked positively miserable at the idea that she might be doing the wrong thing for Jennie.
Jack wrapped his arms around her. “You’re right about one thing, though. We can trust Chad with her. If Jennie doesn’t want anything to happen, nothing will.”
Kelly was quiet for a few more minutes.
“Text me when you tell them Monday and I’ll call Jennie and see how she’s doing. If she’s totally freaked, you can make an excuse and say it’s cancelled. If she’s okay, we let them go. Sound good?”
Jack nodded and began to rain kisses down his wife’s jaw line, across her neck, to her shoulder. Before he could get much further, Kelly gasped and sat straight up – well, as straight up as her pregnant belly would allow.
“Wait! If you’re sending Jennie away for two weeks, she might not be here when the baby’s born. We can’t do that. She needs to be here, Jack.”
He smiled at his wife, pushing her back on the pillows and continuing his slow caress of the body he loved.
“The doctor said most women don’t go into labor early their first time.” He smiled at Kelly as she whimpered in response to his statement. He knew she was dying to have the baby on time, not wanting to be pregnant a moment past her due date.
“Commercial flight time is only about two and half hours but I promise to have a jet on standby. She won’t wait at the airport or anything. We’ll whisk her out of there and get her home in an hour, an hour and a half, tops. She won’t miss the delivery. I promise.”
Kelly laid back down and grinned at him, as he went back to worshiping the woman who was about to make him the happiest daddy in the world.
Chapter 8
Jennie sat in the comfortable seat in first class but she was anything but comfortable. Her head had been spinning since that morning when Jack gave her and Chad a new assignment.
She’d barely had time to go home and pack for the two-week-long trip, let alone think about what it would mean to be pretending to be Chad’s wife in a tropical resort set up for romance and seduction.
When Jack first explained the assignment to them, she’d had a flash of panic, but there was no way she’d refuse an assignment from him. She loved her work at Sutton Capital and wouldn’t jeopardize it even though going through with this particular job terrified her.
After Kyle died, Jennie had floundered for quite some time, bouncing from one temporary job to the next. The truth was, she hadn’t had much interest in ‘finding her way’ as her parents had encouraged her to. She had just wanted to get by.
That changed when Jack took her on as a permanent member of his security and investigations staff. She had no idea why Jack took a chance on her the way he did. As his temporary assistant she had overstepped her job description and could have been fired for listening in on Jack’s private conversations.
But, her eavesdropping had ended up helping Jack out and Jack Sutton never did anything conventional.
She liked the work. Really liked it. The only downside had been her insane attraction to Chad, but she’d managed to keep her walls up with him. She made sure she kept him at arm’s length at all times and didn’t let their interactions get past superficial conversation and impertinent jokes.
And yet, somehow, they did get closer. Despite her best efforts, she knew Chad saw through her. And there was the one time she’d made a mistake and let him get too close. He kissed her and nearly brought her to her knees. For one sweet incredible moment, she forgot about Kyle. Forgot the hurt. The pain. The loss. The guilt.
And then the kiss broke and the realization had hit. How could she let another man make her forget? How could she do that to Kyle? Hadn’t she done enough to him already?
Jennie chanced a glance at Chad. He’d been even more quiet than usual through the whole morning. He hadn’t said much of anything in Jack’s office, though she’d felt his eyes on her, assessing her reaction. He picked her up at her house and carried her bags to the car, all without a word. He spoke as little as possible as they drove Zeke over to Jill and Andrew’s house, where he would stay for the two weeks she and Chad were at the resort.
And now, he sat silent, by her side. Usually she hated it when he was this quiet. It made her want to fill the silence and when she did, she ended up babbling, spewing verbal diarrhea all over the damn place.
But, Jennie didn’t feel much like talking right now.
Two weeks pretending to be in love with Chad. How will I do this? Never mind ‘do this’ – how will I survive it?
She bit down on her lip and looked out the plane’s window. She felt like crying. Then Chad took her hand and squeezed. He leaned in to whisper in her ear.
“Don’t worry, Jennie. We can do this.”
That was it. That’s all he said and then he leaned back and fell asleep in his chair. But he didn’t let go of her hand. And she didn’t let go either.
Chad began to relax as he listened to Jennie babble to the driver on their way from the airport to the resort. She didn’t let the driver’s limited ability with English stop her. She chatted on and on like a little songbird. This was Jennie in her undercover persona and Chad was happy to see her there.
He felt a grin crack his face for the first time since he’d walked into Jack’s office that morning. Watching Jennie in work mode always made him laugh because no one ever saw her coming. She would have made a brilliant actress.
At the moment, she was telling the driver about a pattern she’d found to crochet a baby yoda costume for her dog and how she was planning to learn to crochet just so she could make it.
When Jennie went undercover, she acted like a complete airhead. It was what made her so good at their work. She could befriend everyone and most people assumed she was a total idiot, the way she prattled on about anything and everything.
And because they believed she was the ditzy girl she portrayed, they spoke freely to her and in front of her. Jennie, who was anything but an airhead, soaked it all in, remembering every detail. She knew when to prod further and when to back off.
When they teamed up together, the effect was even better. With his size, most people assumed he was a giant meathead. As long as Chad stayed quiet
and let them think that, people had the same habit of speaking freely in front of him.
When he and Jennie worked together, it was usually just a matter of putting themselves in the right places to overhear conversations and observe a business’s day-to-day operations. It was an unorthodox approach, to say the least, but it worked. If there were any weaknesses in a company, they found them.
The driver pulled into the circular entrance of the sprawling main building of the resort. A smiling doorman came forward to open their doors and load luggage onto a polished brass, rolling cart. Chad took Jennie’s hand to help her out of the car and watched her face as she took in the gorgeous white stone building with its terra cotta roof and ornate open-air entryway.
The sight of her still took his breath away. He saw her almost every damn day at work or out on the weekends with his friends, but it didn’t seem to lessen the impact she had on him. Every time Chad looked at Jennie’s peaches and cream skin with the dusting of light freckles across her nose and the tops of her cheeks, he felt like he’d been punched in the gut. He wanted to lose himself in the long strands of her wild hair, its crazy strawberry-blond curls tangling in his fingers as he pulled her in to taste her mouth. The mouth he couldn’t forget after just one kiss.
She looked at him and grinned, snapping him back to reality. A reality where Jennie Evans would never be his.
“Remind me to thank Jack.” Then she leaned in close so only he would hear, the proximity sending him back into fantasy land. “I can’t believe we’re getting paid for this. Two weeks in heaven.”
Heaven? Nah. This is going to be two weeks in hell, Jennie girl. Two weeks in fucking hell pretending to have what he never would.
Chad put his hand on Jennie’s waist, pulling her close and walking with her into the lobby. There, they were greeted by another staff member who offered them flutes of champagne. Jack had apparently booked a very high-end package for them because they never even made it to the front desk. They were greeted by name and shown immediately to a secluded villa on the beach.