“I heard from Mac that you two had taken up a new hobby,” he said. “So I thought I’d bring by some supplies to encourage you.”
“Presents!” Sarah cried. “Gimme, gimme.”
“Sarah, honestly, a little decorum,” Charlotte chided her twin. Then she smiled at Zach and snatched the bag out of his hands. “Oh, you shouldn’t have.”
“Wine,” Charlotte said as she hefted out a bottle of red and a bottle of white.
“Cheese,” Sarah said as she lifted out a platter of different cheeses.
“Oh, two berets,” Charlotte cried. She tossed one red beret to Sarah, who immediately put it on her sleek silver bobbed hair while Charlotte donned the other atop her curly chin-length hair of the same shade.
“Adorable,” Zach said. “Now you look like professional artists.”
The sisters exchanged a look and then Sarah wrinkled her nose. “We need a live model. Mr. Molded Plastic over there isn’t doing it for me.”
“Carly let us borrow him from Penmans, the department store she is a buyer for, but it’s not working out,” Charlotte agreed. “His pecs just aren’t inspiring.”
“Pecs, huh?” Zach asked. “What would you be willing to do for a good pair of pecs?”
Sarah and Charlotte both turned to look at him with mischief in their eyes.
“Do you want trade favors, dear boy?” Sarah asked.
“Maybe,” he said. “I need a babysitter for Gracie and Maddie Connelly tonight, so I can invite their mother, Jessie, out with the crew.”
“Jessie Peeler?” Sarah said. She had staunchly refused to ever use her married name. “The one who took Mac’s groom right out of the church?”
“The one who inadvertently saved Mac years of heartbreak and horror,” Zach said.
“She and Mac have become friends,” Charlotte said. “Mac always did have a forgiving heart.”
Zach waited. He knew if he launched a defense of Jessie, it could backfire by getting the aunts to dig their heels in. No, it was best to let them work through it and hope for the best. That didn’t mean he couldn’t nudge them a bit. He shrugged off his coat, pleased that he was wearing a body-hugging thermal shirt underneath. He flexed ever so slightly.
Sarah and Charlotte glanced at his chest and then at each other.
“Cecilia and Markus Peeler were the worst,” Charlotte said. “Cold, selfish, and utterly preoccupied with their social standing.”
“Bleh, I loathed having to converse with them,” Sarah agreed. “Name-dropping, pretentious, money obsessed, truly, it’s no surprise Jessie latched onto the first person to show her some warmth.”
“Unfortunate that it was someone else’s fiancé,” Charlotte said. “But she did do Mac a favor in the end and she certainly suffered being married to that repulsive letch.”
“Ugh, that could have been Mac, and then Mac never would have found her Gavin,” Sarah agreed.
“We should get to know Jessie and her girls,” Charlotte said. “My calendar is clear tonight, you?”
“I have a guitar lesson, but I will reschedule,” Sarah said. She looked at Zach. “What time?”
“Seven okay?” he said.
The aunts nodded, then Sarah poked him in the chest and gave him a soft smile. “Nice pecs. You remind me of my Stuart.”
Zach had never heard either of the aunts reference a man before. He had to know more. “Stuart who?”
“Captain Stuart Stovall; he was my first love. You remind me of him.” She spoke the man’s name with a yearning that surprised Zach.
So, Mac’s aunt Sarah had once had a true love. He thought it explained quite a lot about her. Perhaps her cantankerous nature was more the result of a broken heart. Zach understood that and he was filled with sympathy for her. As if sensing his concern, she shook her head like she could ditch the memories that easily.
“He was a big, buff blondie like you,” Sarah teased. She glanced at her sister. “I think I’m feeling inspired.” Then she gestured for Zach to take the mannequin’s place. “Up you go.”
“Okay,” Zach agreed. Then he looked at the sisters with a considering gaze. “But the pants stay on.”
Sarah and Charlotte exchanged a look and for a heartbeat he was sure they were going to haggle for full frontal. Then Charlotte laughed. He’d been had. He shook his head at the two of them and dutifully dropped his shirt and took the place of Mr. Molded Plastic.
• • •
Zach had just finished rehearsing with the girls when there was a knock on Jessie’s front door. He dropped his ukulele and dashed down the stairs, running past Jessie to get to the door first.
“Zach, what are you doing?” she asked as she hugged the door frame that led into the foyer to keep from falling over.
“Sorry, I might have forgotten to mention that I was thinking we could meet up with the crew at Marty’s Pub for a beer, and I have two babysitters coming over.”
“What?” Jessie looked at him like he was nuts. Not an impossibility.
She had changed from her animal clinic scrubs into jeans and a pretty blue sweater that was reflected in her eyes. She looked lovely and for a second he forgot why he was standing at the door. Until an imperious set of knuckles rapped on the wood again, louder this time.
“Just trust me,” he said. He turned and opened the door and Sarah and Charlotte Harris strode into the house.
“It’s freezing out there,” Sarah said. “Were you waiting until we were popsicles?”
“Sorry, Aunt Sarah,” Zach said.
“Oh, quit fussing, it wasn’t that bad,” Charlotte said.
They shrugged out of their coats and handed them along with their handbags to Zach, who hung them on the coatrack.
“Come on in,” he said. “The girls are looking forward to meeting you.”
Jessie was staring at the aunts and Zach as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“Hello, Jessica,” Charlotte said. “Don’t you look lovely.”
Jessie’s eyes improbably got even wider.
“That’s a very flattering blue on you,” Sarah said.
“Thank you,” Jessie said. “You both look lovely as well.”
The sisters nodded in thanks as if they knew they were looking good. Rufus rolled off the couch at the sound of voices and came bounding in the direction of the aunts. Sarah took one look at him and said, “No!”
Rufus immediately sat down. Zach looked from Rufus to Sarah.
“She’s a natural alpha,” Charlotte explained.
“Zach, can I have a word?” Jessie said. Her voice sounded high-pitched and weird as if she was having a freak-out and trying really hard to keep it all inside.
Sarah looked at Zach with a frown. “You didn’t tell her we were coming to babysit?”
“I was going to,” he said.
“Never mind, where are the girls?” Charlotte asked. “We’ll go introduce ourselves while you two figure it out.”
“Up in their room,” Zach said. “First door on the right.”
Rufus trotted beside the aunts as they made their way upstairs.
“I can see why Mac says she likes her,” Charlotte said. “She seems very direct.”
“Maturity does change people; well, that and parenthood,” Sarah said. “Once we meet the girls we’ll have a better sense of her.”
At that, Jessie started to follow the two women, but Zach held her back.
“Whoa there, I thought you wanted to talk,” he said.
“But the aunts are up there with my girls,” she said. “They hate me. What if they say horrible things about me?”
“First, they don’t hate you,” Zach said. “We’re all in agreement that you did Mac a huge favor, sparing her from marrying that dumbass.”
Jess
ie nodded. “Mac and I have agreed that the karmic payback on my taking off with her fiancé was epic.”
“Second, the aunts are great with kids; just look at how Aunt Sarah handled Rufus,” he said.
“Kids and dogs are not the same,” she said.
“No, but the aunts are really good with both. Besides, you never get to go out and there was a group text to meet up at Marty’s Pub, and I thought you could use it after being cooped up here for the past few days.”
A look of longing passed over Jessie’s face that was so intense he felt himself take a step toward her as if in response. He stopped himself before he touched her but only just.
“That sounds really great,” she said. “But honestly I’m on a budget here and I don’t have the extra cash for a sitter, never mind two.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Zach said. He could feel victory in his grasp. “I got it.”
“No, I can’t have you paying for my babysitter,” she said.
“I didn’t pay them,” he said. “This was an exchange of goods and services.”
“What sort of goods?” she asked.
“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it,” he said. “But we definitely have the use of them for two hours, so let’s say good night to the kids and skedaddle.”
“Are you sure?” Jessie asked. Her gaze searched his as if trying to determine his trust level.
“Absolutely,” he said.
Whatever Jessie saw in his gaze must have reassured her because she nodded. Then she led the way upstairs to the girls’ room.
They were unprepared for what greeted them. Aunt Sarah and Aunt Charlotte were standing in the middle of the room with the girls while listening to some hip-hop song playing off one of their smartphones while they taught the girls some basic dance moves.
Zach and Jessie stood transfixed as the aunts busted out Silentó’s “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae).” The girls imitated the older ladies as they all sang, “Now watch me whip; now watch me nae nae.”
Jessie clapped a hand over her mouth, barely covering the giggle. Zach turned and smiled at her.
“Yeah, they’ve been going through the hip-hop thing for a while now.”
“Mac said they were driving her bonkers with their shenanigans but I had no idea.”
They turned back and Jessie smiled when Charlotte helped Gracie with her arm movement and the girl looked up at the older lady with gratitude.
“So, are you two going or what?” Sarah asked.
“On our way,” Zach confirmed.
Jessie went forward and hugged both of her girls, reminding them to mind their manners. When she thanked the aunts, they waved her off with big smiles, clearly enjoying the girls.
Zach paused to do his special high-five handshakes with each girl. The routines were becoming more and more complicated every day, but he loved it. Until one of them threw a cartwheel into the mix, he was all good.
He hugged the aunts, and did a little whip and nae nae of his own, which made the girls, all of them, laugh. Zach was not known for his dancing but he figured what he lacked in skill he made up for in enthusiasm.
In minutes, he’d hustled Jessie out the door and into his truck and they were barreling down the road toward Marty’s Pub.
They had to park in the lot behind the bar and hoof it around the building. The night air was bitterly cold, giving Zach the perfect excuse to wrap an arm around Jessie and pull her close as they trudged through the snow to the bar.
Just before they entered, Jessie slowed to a stop and turned to face him.
“In case I forget to say it later,” she said, “thanks for this.”
Zach leaned in and kissed her. It was just a soft brush of his lips against hers; anything more and they’d never make it into the bar. But as usual, she had the ability to rock his world.
He had no idea what it was about Jessie that made him throw out all of his carefully constructed barriers but he found he didn’t care. He wanted her, he wanted to be with her, and not just for a fling. He was playing the long game here and hoping that at the end of it he had Jessie and the girls in his life on a permanent basis.
It occurred to him that the fact that he was even thinking like this should be freaking him out on the level of being chased by a scary-looking clown wielding a knife, but it wasn’t. He’d never been more certain of anything in his life and he was going to use everything he had to get Jessie to feel the same way about him.
Marty’s Pub was packed. Shots of Fireball whiskey and pints of Bluff Point Ale were being dished out in a feeding frenzy as the Celtics ruled the large screen TV. Zach took Jessie’s hand in his as he led her though the crowd to the back, where the Maine crew liked to take over a large booth close to the dartboard.
Zach scanned the group piled into the booth. It was the usual suspects: Gavin and Mac, Carly and James, Jillian, Sam, and Gina—but no Emma and Brad.
“Zach, you’re late!” Gavin called. “I had to recruit Jillian to play darts for you.”
“Where are the expectant parents?” Zach asked.
“Emma was feeling a bit tired,” Mac said. She glanced around Zach at Jessie. She half rose out of her seat to give Jessie a hug. “You made it out. I’m so glad.”
“Hold that thought,” Jessie said. “Your aunts are babysitting my girls. I’m worried the four of them may start a biker gang.”
“Oh, I want in on that,” Carly said. She stood and hugged Jessie, too, and Zach realized he had to relinquish Jessie’s hand so she could greet everyone properly.
He didn’t really like that, which was weird because he was never possessive about women. Then again, he’d never taken the time to woo a woman like he was with Jessie, so he was feeling a bit more caveman than normal, which he supposed was only natural. He watched as she hugged the rest of the crew, including the boys. Nope, he didn’t like that. Not at all.
When Sam said something that made her laugh, Zach stepped forward and took her hand in his again. She glanced at him with a smile in her eyes and she squeezed his fingers as if happy to find him there. He was reassured. Then she leaned against him and he could smell the faint lemon scent that was uniquely hers. A vision of her beneath him, the memory of him inside her from their short-lived attempt at lovemaking, flashed through his mind, and he blew out a breath.
“Are you okay?” she asked him.
Zach turned to meet her gaze and then he leaned in close so only she could hear and whispered, “Just wondering why we’re here with these idiots when we could be naked at my house, working on our project.”
Jessie’s mouth formed an O and she fanned herself with her free hand as she flushed a faint shade of pink. Just seeing her reaction to his suggestion made Zach feel better.
“Dude, you’re up,” Sam said. He thrust a fistful of darts at Zach.
“Excellent, because it’s time for girl talk or shots or girl talk and shots,” Carly said. She kissed her man on the mouth and then looped her arm through Jessie’s and dragged her toward the bar, leaving Jillian, Mac, and Gina to follow.
Zach stared after her and Gina paused beside him. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on her for you.”
“You always were my favorite,” Zach said. He caught the direction of Gina’s gaze, which was on Sam per usual. He jerked his head in Sam’s direction. “I’ll keep an eye out for you, too.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Gina said. She blinked at him and followed the girls as fast as her thick-heeled boots could take her.
Chapter 18
Jessie let the girls drag her to the bar. Carly managed to wiggle her way in and ordered only the bartender knew what while the rest of them formed a loose circle.
“All right,” Gina said. “Don’t keep us in suspense. What’s happening with ‘the project’?”
“We’re working on it,” Jessie
said.
“And?” Carly prodded.
“And she’ll share the results with you if and when she wants to,” Jillian said.
“But I want updates,” Carly protested. She passed out the shots she’d purchased.
“Maybe there’s an app for that,” Mac teased. “You know, something that will tell the world you’ve just enjoyed an orgasm.”
“Well, it would be a hell of a lot more interesting than seeing what people ordered for lunch,” Gina said.
“No pictures, though,” Jessie said. She sniffed the beverage in her hand. It burned her nose hair. “I live in fear of what my orgasm face might look like.”
The others laughed and Carly held her glass up high and said, “Ladies, here’s to your genitalia, may it never fail you or jail you!”
They clinked glasses and tossed back the shot. Jessie sputtered as the alcohol burned its way down her throat. She had never been much of a drinker, mostly because with Seth in a constant state of inebriation, she’d felt like she had to remain sober at all times to take care of the girls.
She blinked the tears from her eyes to find Cooper O’Rourke standing beside her, looking at her as if he expected her to fall over. The alcohol seemed to want to punch its way back out of her and Jessie shuddered and shook her head. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing that she’d never been a drinker.
“You all right?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Jessie said. “But I think I’m done.”
“Wise choice. Did I hear right?” Cooper asked. “Were you all just drinking a toast to your lady parts?”
“Aw, Coop, you’re so cute,” Gina said. She tossed her red curls over her shoulder and batted her long eyelashes at him. “It’s okay to say the word ‘vagina.’”
“No, no,” he said. He grinned down at Gina. “I’ll blush and lose all of my street cred.”
Jessie tipped her head to the side and studied the big, rawboned chief of police. He wasn’t in uniform presently and he looked less severe than the other times Jessie had seen him, which unfortunately had usually been in an official capacity at her house to deal with her ex. She’d always thought he was a rules-and-regulations sort of guy and his discomfort with their wordplay proved it.
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