Spring Into Love

by Chantel Rhondeau

  Jordan squinted to make out the title on the case. It was a low-budget zombie movie, and perfectly awful, except for the first fifteen minutes. “Then I have one of the five.” She tried to keep her tone casual, but wondered what must be going through his head after discovering she had his movie in her collection.

  “You’re really something.” Jake put the DVD back on the shelf before joining her in the kitchen, leaning against the counter as she put salad in bowls. “That looks great.”

  “I’m sorry I can’t offer you a glass of wine to go with it,” Jordan said, feeling a little self-conscious. With Carl, she never had to worry about things like that, but Jake was probably accustomed to having a drink with dinner. She got a pitcher of lemonade out if the refrigerator instead. “This’ll have to do.”

  “It’s fine,” Jake assured her. He opened one of the cupboards, seemingly at ease in her kitchen, and got out two glasses. “Do you ever miss it?” he asked. “Wine, or anything else?”

  “Sometimes,” Jordan admitted. She poured the lemonade. “On a hot day like today, with a salad, I think a glass of white wine would be perfect, and I wish I could have one. But I also know I wouldn’t be able to stop at one, or even two.” She envied people who could, but long ago learned she was wired differently. Some people controlled their drinking, but if Jordan took a drink, the alcohol would control her. “Let’s go sit on the couch and watch that movie,” she said, anxious to change the subject. “It’s one of my favorites.”

  ***

  “You can turn it off now, if you want,” Jordan declared after Jake’s character met his demise. “The rest of the movie pretty much sucks.”

  Jake laughed. “The whole movie pretty much sucks.” He’d never actually watched Zombie Runners in its entirety, but had read the script and knew it was awful. Still, he’d been paid fairly well for his fifteen minutes of screen time, which included a gory death. No one was surprised when the movie went directly to video, and he figured since so few people saw the movie, it wouldn’t do any lasting harm to his career.

  He wasn’t quite sure what to make of Jordan having the DVD. Then again, he wasn’t quite sure what to make of Jordan in general. He simply knew she fascinated him, and the more time he spent with her, the more the fascination grew. “I can’t believe you actually have this. And watch it.” Jake knew his mother also owned the DVD, but never watched it. She said she didn’t want to watch him die on screen. Maybe that was it. “Do you like watching me die, or something?” he teased.

  “As if.” Jordan jabbed him playfully in the arm. “I like to support the careers of my former clients.”

  Jake thought about that. Maybe it was true, but he doubted her movie collection was filled with the forgettable films of all her former clients. No. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, Jordan knew there was a connection between them, too.

  “I’ll clear these dishes.” She started to get up.

  He reached for her arm to stop her. “They’ll wait.”

  “Don’t tell me you actually want to watch the rest of the movie.”

  “No.” Jake laughed. “Definitely not.” He reached out and touched her chin. “I want to do something I’ve wanted to do since the first day I got here.”

  “Oh?” Jordan arched an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

  He answered her by closing his mouth on hers. Her lips were soft and warm, and after a second, inviting, as she opened them to let him in. His tongue sought hers, exploring, the feel and taste of her so refreshing, yet so familiar. Jake remembered fondly the things she could do with her mouth and judging from the stirring in his groin, his brain wasn’t the only part of him that remembered.

  Jordan obviously sensed it, because her face broke out in teasing grin. “It’s nice to know I can still turn you on.”

  As if there was ever any doubt? Jake wanted her. He’d always wanted her. But not this way. When Jordan’s hand moved toward his zipper, he put his hand on hers and stopped her.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Something I’ll probably regret,” he said. “It’s too soon, though.” He pulled away. “I should go.”

  ***

  Jordan closed the dishwasher with such force that she startled Cujo. “Be glad you’re a cat,” she said. “You don’t have to deal with men.” She turned the dishwasher on and started a pot of coffee, still trying to understand what had happened and what she’d done wrong to mess up what had been a perfect day, right up to and including a kiss that left her breathless but ended abruptly.

  “‘It’s too soon,’” she repeated. “What the hell?” What man said that, anyway? Unless maybe it was Jake’s way of letting her down gently because he’d decided she wasn’t worth the trouble after all. Well, at least she got a nice piece of pottery out of it.

  The doorbell jolted her from her pity party and she rushed to answer it, almost stepping on Cujo in the process. “I guess you changed your mind,” she said, yanking it open, except it wasn’t Jake that stood in the doorway. “Carl.”

  Chapter 9

  Jake sped in the direction of his hotel. Twice he wanted to turn around, go back to Jordan’s, and explain. He didn’t because he knew if he saw her again, his thought process would be controlled by the organ below the waist rather than the one in his head. As it was, said organ voiced its displeasure with Jake’s decision by pressing against his shorts, making it difficult to concentrate on driving.

  He swore under his breath. A woman who looked like a fashion model—and had brains and a sense of humor, too—had her hand on his zipper, and Jake responded by pushing her hand away and leaving, all because what? He wanted more than easy sex? Yeah, some playboy I am. Maybe it was the curse of Macy, but Jake was done with casual flings.

  His mother would be happy, and Val disbelieving, but Jake was far more concerned about Jordan’s reaction. Did she laugh it off, dismissing him as an idiot who didn’t know what he was missing, or did she now think he didn’t want her? A woman who looked like that shouldn’t have any self-esteem issues, but what did Jake know about women?

  Thankfully, he had the elevator to himself as he rode to his floor. He tossed his keys, wallet and phone on the desk on his room and headed for the shower. Not exactly how he’d planned on ending the night.

  ***

  “You were expecting someone else?” Carl asked.

  “No.” Jordan shook her head. “I wasn’t expecting anyone.” I just foolishly got my hopes up for a second. “Beth was going to come over and watch a movie, but she’s not feeling well.” The lie flowed easily from her lips, sounding better and safer, she decided, than saying her date decided to make a hasty exit rather than make love to her. Jordan didn’t care for lying as a regular practice, but there were times when the truth would invite too many questions.

  “You seemed anxious when you opened the door. You must have really been looking forward to it.”

  “I guess.” She shrugged. “What do you want?” As if she didn’t already have a good idea.

  Carl leaned against the doorframe “To see you, of course. Are you going to let me in, or are we going to stand here all night?”

  After the slightest hesitation, Jordan opened the door all the way. “How was your day?”

  “Long. Stressful. One of the networks crashed.”

  Jordan nodded, trying to look interested, even though she didn’t understand IT and had little interest in discussing it with him.

  “I tried to call you earlier,” he said. “To let you know I might come by.”

  Not to ask if she wanted him to. “My phone was off. I went shopping.” Jordan went to the table where she’d set her purse down and pulled her phone out, pressing the power button. Sure enough, she had a missed call from him. “Sorry.”

  “No problem.” Carl pointed to the bag on the table. “Buy anything interesting?”

  “A new pot for my patio.” She pulled it out to show him, but he barely glanced at it. He had about as much interest in her patio décor a
s she did in his work.

  “It’s nice,” he said, already walking away in the direction of the living room.

  Jordan followed him, glad she’d already put the dishes away, which was stupid. She didn’t need to feel like she was sneaking around.

  “What movie were you going to watch?” His eyes fell to the Zombie Runners DVD case still lying on the coffee table and he picked it up. “Are you serious? You actually watch crap like this?”

  “So what if I do?”

  “I just figured someone who used to work in Hollywood would have better taste, that’s all. These movies are all the same. Lousy plot, worse acting.”

  Jordan reached for the case, grabbing it from his hand. “Actually, the acting is quite good. And if you only came here to insult my taste in movies, you can leave now.”

  “Whoa!” Carl took a step back, holding up a hand. “No need to get defensive. I was just making conversation.”

  “And I’m not interested in talking right now.” No sooner were the words out when Jordan wanted to take them back. They’d become a cue of sorts in her arrangement with Carl, and not surprisingly, he headed in the direction of the bedroom. Well, it’s nice to know someone wants me tonight. Except it didn’t feel nice at all. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not interested in that, either,” she called after him.

  “What?” He stopped in his tracks and turned around. “That’s a first.”

  ***

  Jake stepped out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist and retrieved his phone from the desk. He didn’t like the way he ended things with Jordan and felt the need to explain. When he turned his phone on, he found three messages from Macy. If the cold water hadn’t already taken care of his problem, that sure would have.

  “Val, I told you to fix this,” he muttered in annoyance as he tapped the screen to play the first message.

  ‘Jake!’ he was immediately greeted by Macy’s high-pitched squeal. ‘I hope this is some kind of joke. It has to be, right?’

  “No joke, Macy,” Jake said. He deleted the message, then played the second. Macy didn’t think the joke was very funny. Too bad. He decided not to even bother with the third message, certain it would be more of the same, only with slightly more frantic squealing. Jake sighed. He’d have to call Macy himself. A day that had been almost perfect was quickly going south.

  ***

  “Excuse me, did you just say what I think you did?” Jordan wavered between disbelief, anger, hurt, and embarrassment. The latter because it was mostly true, and not something she was particularly proud of.

  “In a nice way,” Carl said. “I like it about you.”

  “You like that I’m easy, and easy to use.” Saying it out loud made the sting stronger. Great. She could be the girl in the scribbling on the wall in the men’s room. ‘Call Jordan for an easy fuck.’

  Her phone rang and she reached for it, debating between taking the call or throwing the phone at Carl.

  “Saved by the bell.” Carl laughed.

  “Shut up.” Jordan glanced at the display. Jake. Great. Was she about to be humiliated for the third time in half an hour? Maybe, but it might get rid of Carl. She tapped the screen. “Jake, hi. Give me a second, okay?” She covered the phone with her hand and looked at Carl. “I need to take this. You can show yourself out.” After all, you’ve done it plenty of times before once you got what you came for.

  “Your actor friend?” Carl asked.

  “As a matter of fact, yes.” Jordan let the words hang in the air.

  Carl frowned. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Jordan.”

  Yeah, so do I. She waited until he left before putting the phone back to her ear. “Jake? Are you still there?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “Something wrong?”

  “No. Carl was here.”

  She heard him suck in a breath. “If you’re trying to kill me, that’s a good start,” he said. “What did Carl want?”

  Jordan hesitated. She might be playing with fire, but when was that anything new for her? “He wanted to have sex with me.”

  “As any sane man with eyes should.”

  “In that case, what does that make you?” Perhaps she sounded bitchy, but Jordan figured it deserved asking.

  “An idiot who should probably have his head examined and just took a cold shower.”

  “Really?” Jordan smiled to herself. “That actually works, then?”

  “Yeah. Stops the blood flow. Shrivels right up.”

  She chuckled, trying to picture it in her head. “Good to know.”

  “So you think it’s funny.”

  “A little,” she admitted. “It wasn’t so funny the way you left.”

  “Yeah, I think we already established that wasn’t my best move,” Jake said. “I wanted you. That much should have been obvious. I meant what I said, though. I want to get to know you, but not the way I did before. I’m not twenty-two anymore.”

  “Neither am I.” Jordan’s heart fluttered involuntarily. Jake said all the right things, but she tried to temper her expectations. When she didn’t, it always led to disappointment.

  “Good, or there’d be one heck of an age difference.” Soft laughter followed. “You said there are some fancy restaurants in town?”

  “There are, yes.” There was that flutter again.

  “And you said you’d likely accept if I asked to join me at one?”

  “Are you asking?”

  “I am.”

  Another flutter. What was wrong with her? “Then I’m accepting.”

  “Perfect,” Jake said. “Where would you like to go?”

  The name of the restaurant was on the tip of her tongue. She’d never been there, only heard about it. It was a place where dreams of forever came true, at least according to local lore. “I’m not going to tell you. You pick the place.”

  “I’ve only been here a couple weeks,” Jake protested. “I don’t know these places.”

  “No, but you’re savvy,” Jordan said. “And I’m sure your hotel has a concierge.” If Jake was truly interested, and not just going through the motions, his research would lead him to the right restaurant. “Surprise me. Dazzle me.”

  “Oh, the pressure. I like a challenge, though. Let me see what the shoot looks like over the next few days and I’ll call you, okay?”

  “Okay.” Jordan knew how important the movie was to Jake. She also knew she’d be waiting for his call. “It’s a date.”

  “Yes, it is.” Jake paused. “One more thing. What about Carl? I’m assuming he left disappointed?”

  She considered playing coy, perhaps keep him hanging or make him jealous, but there was still her reputation to consider. Carl’s words stung, but Jordan cared far more about Jake’s opinion of her. “He sure did.”

  ***

  Jake ended the call with a goofy grin on his face, but his happiness was tempered by the other call he needed to make. Putting it off wouldn’t make the problem go away.

  “It’s about time you call,” Macy snapped at him by way of greeting. “You can’t keep ignoring me, you know.”

  Jake wanted to, and silently cursed his ex-PR firm for getting him into this mess to begin with. There was a reason why it was his ex-PR firm and he now entrusted Val with such matters. Her reputation wasn’t marred by stunts gone awry, and if Val could work her magic, maybe Jake’s wouldn’t be either.

  “What do you want, Macy?” he asked.

  “You know what I want.”

  “Well, that’s not happening. Come on, I offered you your second favorite thing. Wasn’t it enough?” If that was the case a few quick phone calls could probably settle it. Unfortunately, things were rarely that easy.

  “Do you really think you can buy me off, Jake?”

  He didn’t like the way that sounded, and liked even less that it came to this, but he needed to be able to move on. “Don’t look at it that way, then. We can call it payment for services.”

  Chapter 10

  Sunday cam
e and went with no phone call from Jake and no return visit from Carl. The second came as a great relief to Jordan. The first was a disappointment, but she didn’t allow herself to engage in negative thoughts about what it might mean. Instead, Jordan trusted they’d ended the conversation the day before on a positive note and that Jake would, indeed, call when he had a break in his shooting schedule. She planted a new cactus in the pot he’d bought her and placed it on her patio, then spent the afternoon sunbathing by the pool while she read a romance novel. She tried to picture Jake playing the hero if it were ever made into a movie, but then found herself wishing she could play the heroine, so she put the book away before her fantasies got too out of control.

  Monday morning found her back at the office, trying to prepare for a court hearing yet anxiously waiting for her phone to ring. When it finally did, she was so immersed in writing a brief that the marimba ringtone caused Jordan to jump a little in her chair. As she reached for the phone, her pulse quickened in anticipation. One look at the display and her heart rate slowed to normal. Disappointed, she nonetheless swiped her finger across the screen to answer. “Hi, Carl.”

  “Happy Monday,” he said, as if there actually were such a thing. “How’s it going?”

  “Fine.”

  “You’re not angry with me?”

  Jordan considered that. “I am, but it’s not ruining my day.” Maybe because she had things to be happy about and look forward to.

  “I’m sorry about what I said.”

  “Whatever.” Jordan wondered if he was indeed sorry, or just trying to make amends so he could still drop by for booty calls whenever the urge struck. Either way, it was time to reconsider their arrangement. “I don’t think you should come by anymore, Carl.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Apparently she had to spell it out. Fine. “I mean if you’re looking for no-frills sex, don’t call Jordan. I’m making some changes in my life.”

  “I see. And it no longer includes me?”

  He almost sounded hurt, and it gave Jordan pause. Carl had been there for her through some challenging times, and vice versa. They fought the same demons, and he understood things about her that no one else could. “I didn’t say that. I consider you a friend and I’d like to still be friends, but with some boundaries.”