by Donna Alward
The problem was that the to-do list was several days behind, so Amy had spent the past two hours familiarizing herself with the setup and then attending to the first items on the list—the most urgent being booking confirmations and writing checks for invoices that needed immediate payment. Tomorrow would be time enough to get a really good look at the accounting setup so she could enter income and expenses without messing up Rosa’s system. Right now she had brain overload. Considering there were ten people arriving in less than three days, she had a lot to learn. She hadn’t even touched on what her duties would be once they got here.
A knock interrupted her thoughts and she looked up to find Jack standing in the doorway, his brows furrowed. “Is something wrong?” she asked. She took off her reading glasses and put them on top of the desk.
“I didn’t know you wore glasses.”
“Just reading ones for close-up. Not usually an issue, but this afternoon turned out to be a little intense on the eyes.”
“You should have taken a break a few hours ago.”
“A few hours?” She stared up at him as he crossed the room to the desk. “What time is it?”
“After seven.”
She slumped in the chair. “No wonder my eyes were starting to cross.” She laughed a little. “I guess I lost track of time.”
“No kidding. I got caught up in work, too, and then started dinner when the stomach started rumbling. Are you hungry?”
She hadn’t been, or at least hadn’t taken the time to think about it. But now she realized her tummy did feel a little hollow. They’d had some canned soup around two o’clock but it had been a light meal and that was hours ago. “You cooked?”
“Of course I did. When I’m here Rosa does a lot of the cooking, but it’s not like I have a personal chef all the time. There wasn’t much in the way of fresh produce, but I roasted a chicken, made a risotto from a package and found a bag of frozen broccoli.”
It was starting to make absolutely no sense that the guy was single. And she might have said something to that effect except her stomach growled in the silence and she clapped a hand over her abdomen.
“Sold,” she said drily. “But can you sign these checks first? A couple are a few days overdue and since I don’t have signing authority...”
“Of course.” He came around the desk and grabbed a pen.
“I’ve got the envelopes ready. I can mail them tomorrow if we go into town.”
“Sounds perfect.” He leaned over the desk and for a few minutes the only sound was the scratch of the pen on paper. Amy took the few moments to let her gaze travel over him. Faded jeans shouldn’t look so good on a man, and the fleece pullover only helped to make his shoulders appear broader and his hips leaner. His hair, a bit lighter than his brother’s, was just long enough that a girl could run her hands through it and tease the slight curls on the ends. She swallowed. She could handle this, right? It was just an itty-bitty attraction. She just had to remind herself of the facts and keep her head out of the clouds.
And she would have done just that except he finished signing the checks, stood up tall and held out the pen. “There. That’ll keep the wolf from the door for another few weeks.”
As if he had to worry about it. She was far more concerned with the wolf standing before her. His easy good looks didn’t fool her one bit. Jack Shepard was a man who found what he wanted and was used to getting it. The fact that he managed to do so while being absolutely charming only made him more dangerous.
“Great. Thanks. I’m starving.” Awesome response, she thought, nearly rolling her eyes at her own awkwardness.
To her relief he moved off, giving her room to get up from the desk and follow him out of Rosa’s office. Once she hit the hallway she caught the first scents of dinner. Jack led her back to the kitchen, where he’d set the small table for their meal, the small hanging light fixture providing a cozy, intimate glow. She was glad he’d chosen to eat in this room. The dining room was too big with its table for twelve.
“I can’t believe you made dinner,” she said, even more off balance when he politely pulled out her chair for her to sit down.
“You seemed pretty involved in work when I went past the door earlier. I figured it was the least I could do. And it’s nothing fancy.”
“Still, you said it was Rosa’s job...”
“But I never said it was yours.” He put a few bowls on the table and then picked up a carving knife and began slicing the chicken. “Don’t get me wrong, you’ve got free rein of the kitchen while you’re here, and we can share cooking duties when it’s the two of us if you like. But I don’t expect you to cook for guests, Amy. Not when you’re not used to it. This afternoon I hired someone to come out during our bookings and look after the meals. The only thing you might have to do is purchase the groceries from our suppliers.”
He took his seat, smiled and handed her the platter. “Dig in.”
Amy served herself the chicken, risotto and vegetables and took a tentative bite. It was simple but delicious, and as they ate Jack answered many of Amy’s questions about the ranch and the retreat business. In particular she was nervous about doing the accounting, since she was unfamiliar with U.S. tax laws and reporting practices.
“Don’t worry about that,” Jack reassured her. “If you can keep up with what comes in and what goes out, we’ll be fine for now. Once Rosa’s a bit better, I can take the laptop to her place and help her relieve some boredom while she’s laid up. She’ll go crazy after a few weeks, guaranteed. Worst-case scenario is I bring in someone from my accounting department at head office to help out.”
Amy had answered emails and looked after little details, but now she was starting to wonder if Jack actually had enough work to keep her busy for the next few weeks. Once she was caught up, it would be a breeze, wouldn’t it? Especially if he’d hired someone to help out....
It made her feel a little like she was taking advantage of the situation. Using him.
Jack pushed his plate away and gave a satisfied sigh. “There, that filled the hole.” He leaned back in his chair. “How are you set for tomorrow? Do you think you’re going to be chained to your desk?”
“I’ve got your next week caught up as far as bookings and events, but I was planning on getting a good look at your accounting program so I can enter in the invoices you just paid. And I’m assuming the payment when the group arrives on the twenty-eighth will need to be processed. The balance is still due, right?”
“That’s right.”
“And then there’s going into town for groceries, and to the post office.”
His lips twitched a little. “I never took you for the ‘all work and no play’ type.”
She put down her fork. “I don’t view this trip as a free ride, Jack. I’m here to earn my keep.”
“Still, you could steal a few hours.”
Her heart did a strange little patter. He wanted to steal her away? For what? The idea of playing hooky with the boss was pretty intriguing, but it wasn’t why she was here. “I probably shouldn’t.”
“What if your boss orders it?”
She met his gaze. His eyes were full of impish humor. What on earth was she doing? She felt completely out of her depth. Jack was older, more experienced certainly, worldly. She’d barely been outside Cadence Creek, had only ever had one serious relationship. Had she really thought she could come all the way down here and stay in his house and stay completely immune?
She didn’t know how to act. Some women could handle this sort of situation with grace and confidence but she wasn’t one of them. “What did you have in mind?”
“It’s a surprise,” he answered.
That didn’t make her feel any better.
“I promise you’ll have fun,” he added, smiling a little.
“Jack, I...”
“What?”
She floundered, trying to put words together to express what she desperately needed him to understand. What would surprise everyone back in Cadence Creek if they knew the truth. That other than her relationship at age nineteen, she hadn’t slept with a man. Not even Sam Diamond.
Maybe she’d dated—a lot. But that didn’t mean she slept around. And perhaps that was why it hurt so much. People made assumptions without caring about the person inside. If it weren’t for her mom she would have left Cadence Creek in her dust long ago. But her mom had already been abandoned once. Amy didn’t have it in her to let it happen again.
“I’m not very good at this. I think...I might need some clarification about exactly what you...um...expect.”
His gaze warmed as he understood her meaning. “You mean about us?”
God, this was embarrassing. How presumptuous to think he’d expect anything in the romantic—no, scratch that—the sexual way. A man like him and a woman like her. But then she remembered the way he’d kissed her in the bed-and-breakfast living room and the way he’d looked at her while they were dancing and the hope she kept trying to tamp down threatened to flutter loose on little butterfly wings.
Besides, she had to know. She didn’t want it to be this awkward for the rest of the trip.
“Yes,” she answered quietly. “With us.”
He was quiet for a long moment. A moment during which her cheeks heated and her body felt like it was shrinking back into her chair. This was why things never worked out. She had no clue what she was doing when it came to men.... She misread signals, came on too strong, too clingy....
“What I expect is whatever you’re comfortable with,” he finally answered. “You came here to help me out in a pinch. I could lie to you and say this is strictly business. Is that what you want?”
She swallowed, hard. He could say it but it would hold no power because he’d already admitted he’d be lying. He leaned forward a little so that the space between them at the table got smaller. Heck, the whole room felt smaller.
“I don’t think so.”
But she couldn’t look at him.
He got up from the table and her breath caught for a bit—she was unsure of what he was doing. But he went to the fridge and took out a box. She watched, fascinated, as he cut two pieces of dessert and put them on plates, and then came back to the table. He put one plate in front of her. When she looked up at him, his eyes were smiling. “You look like you could use some chocolate,” he said.
“You’ve no idea,” she replied.
He chuckled a little, just a warm tease of a laugh as he pulled his chair closer and put his own plate beside hers. “You keep surprising me,” he admitted, picking up his fork. “I have this idea of who you are and then it keeps changing.”
“Right back atcha,” she said. “I think you might be a little more complicated than you try to appear.”
Again with the charming smile. “Why would you say that?”
“Nobody can possibly be this nice, this perfect.”
The smile faded. “Believe me, I’m far from perfect.”
He put some cheesecake on his fork and held it out. He was feeding her now? More like changing the subject—something she realized he was quite good at. Her stomach swirled with nerves as silence settled around them. Tentatively she leaned forward and closed her lips around the fork.
He pulled the fork away, leaving her with the creamy chocolate bite on her tongue. It was heavenly, and she closed her eyes for a second and let the flavors mingle. Dark chocolate, cream cheese, salted caramel. “That is seriously delicious,” she murmured.
When she opened her eyes, Jack was watching her, his expression hungry. Self-conscious now, she picked up her fork and slid it into her piece of cake and then popped it in her mouth. If he was expecting her to return the favor...feeding him was too intimate. Too suggestive. Which might be okay at another time, but not when she was so unsure. Not when it felt like they were standing on quicksand and one wrong move would make the earth shift beneath them. And definitely not when there was no escape route or another soul around to run interference.
He didn’t say anything at first, just scooped up some of his own rich dessert. It was nearly half-gone when he spoke again.
“So are we just going to dance around this attraction for your entire visit?”
He asked it so casually that she did a double take, replaying the words in her head.
“I’ve never done this before,” she admitted. “I told you back in Cadence Creek that this was different, out of my comfort zone.”
“Amy,” he said quietly, and he reached out and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Can you possibly be as innocent as you seem?”
She didn’t know how to react, whether she should pull away, or answer with a smart remark, or be honest. So she froze beneath the gentle touch, on the precipice of giving in and leaning closer.
“I’m not...” Her face flamed. “I’m not feeling like I’m on equal ground here, okay? And I didn’t come here to have a fling with you.”
He smiled, that slow, devastating smile. “I believe you. You’re far too skittish to be practiced at this.”
“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not.” She got up from the table and went to the sink, put her plate in the bottom and tried to steady her breathing. It had been far easier dealing with emails and invoices than the seductive reality of Jack.
He got up and followed her. “It’s a surprise. In Cadence Creek you were different.” He smiled a little. “Sassy. More sure of yourself, in control.”
“I was in my element.”
“And it was easy because that’s the Amy people expect, right? Where did she go?”
She was a little stunned at his quick insight. He was right. There was Cadence Creek Amy, who hid behind bright smiles and bouncy curls and a “shrug it off” attitude, and there was the woman standing here. And this woman was feeling a bit naked, stripped of her regular armor.
“What do you want me to say?”
He shook his head, put his plate on the counter just behind her and put his hands into his pockets. Even so, he was standing remarkably close, so close she could smell the scent of his cologne. It was Jack who was in his element here. He was his own man...and that man was impressive.
“How about the truth? I usually find it’s a good place to start.”
He was far too close now, and all her senses were clamoring. “I think I might be a little out of my depth, Jack.”
He gave a little nod, as if considering her words. “With the job or with me?”
Oh, dear Lord, he was making it difficult. Her pulse was pounding against her wrist and it was hard to think straight with his gaze so intent on her. “I can do the job no trouble,” she answered, hating that she sounded a little breathless.
“So it’s me.”
“Look at you,” she responded. “Elite athlete. Businessman. Millionaire. Do you blame me for feeling a little intimidated?”
He frowned then. “That’s what I am. Not who.”
The words struck her with their honesty, a brief moment of insight that she’d been right—there was more beneath the surface than outward appearance. Perhaps Jack was as tired of the labels forced on him as she was of hers. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “But I can’t help it. I look around myself here, in this place, with you, and think I’ve landed in an alternate reality.”
“And it scares you?”
She looked away. “A little bit, yeah.”
“Because...”
“Because I don’t fit in here. Because I’m a round peg in a square hole. Because I’m...afraid I’ll embarrass myself. Embarrass you.”
“I know,” he said quietly.
“You do?”
“I’m
not blind,” he answered. “You’re in a new place, with new things, and with me, who is pretty much a stranger. I mean I’m not really, but I’m not someone you’ve known your whole life, either. Your safety net has been taken away. And you know what? When you stop being scared of it being gone, you’ll be glad. It’ll be the best thing to happen to you. You wait and see.”
“That’s a bit presumptuous of you. You hardly know me. And it sounds...” She struggled to find the right word. “Smug.”
He shrugged. “Not at all. I see it all the time in the Aspen Valley clients. Besides, it wasn’t that long ago that I was you. I lost my safety net. It was why I bought this place. It changed me.”
“You lost your safety net?”
“Sure I did. When I couldn’t ski anymore.”
“But you said that an athlete was what you were, not who.”
Consternation showed on his face. Had he expected her to let him off, especially after he’d managed to pry into her life? Not a chance.
“So I did. But that doesn’t account for what it meant to me. No matter what was going on in my life, I could always count on a time when it was just me and the hill. Nothing else. And then suddenly I had nowhere to put all the pent-up energy and anger and...and stuff. I didn’t know who I was. Until I came here and it all came together.”
He paused, then came so close that they were hardly a breath apart. “Let go of your safety net and be yourself, Amy. No one will ask you to be anything more. Or anything less.”
His hands found hers, and linked together, they rested against the edge of the countertop. Slowly, gently, he touched his lips to hers. The kiss was soft, undemanding, and took her apart bit by bit, peeling away the layers of her reservations one by one until she melted against him.
Jack pulled away by degrees, a gradual sliding away until their lips parted with a sad sigh of goodbye. Amy ran her tongue over hers, tasting him there.
“You are a beautiful woman,” he murmured. “I’d be crazy not to want to be with you. But nothing more, unless you want it. You got it? You call the shots. I won’t be accused of taking advantage.”
