Actually Love - Jessie & Zach (The Crossroads Series)

by Melanie Shawn

  Zach couldn’t believe the feeling that rose up inside of him as Billy continued joking around and flirting with Jessie. It was dangerously close to jealousy, which was completely insane for two reasons. One, nothing was going on between Jessie and Zach. Nothing could happen—not now that, as of eight a.m. this morning, they’d both signed on the dotted line and agreed to live together for a year. Two, Zach did not get jealous. Ever. He’d had girls he’d dated for months date his friends after they’d broken up and he’d never felt anything about it. He’d been completely indifferent.

  “If this one tries anything, you let me know.” Billy flashed his signature dimples as he gave Jessie one of his patented ‘Billy Marshall’ winks.

  “Thanks, but I think I can handle myself,” Jessie said with an inner confidence that led Zach to believe that, if anyone ever did try anything funny with her, Jessie absolutely could handle it. “Here you go.” Jessie turned back to Zach, her brown eyes meeting his as she held out a set of keys.

  As happy as Zach was to see Jessie unexpectedly, he didn’t like the feeling that she’d gone out of her way. “I was planning on stopping by there tonight to pick these up.” He’d told Margie that this morning when she said that she hadn’t had a chance to make new keys for them.

  “I know, but I stopped by at lunch and they assumed that we would be seeing each other tonight, so she gave me both sets,” Jessie explained in one of her all-business tones. “It was no problem.”

  “Thanks.” Zach held up the keys. He wanted to say more, but this situation was making him feel…strange.

  Seeing Jessie here was a lot to take in. This gym was like a second home to Zach, and he loved it, but it was old and musty. There was paint chipping off the walls. The hardwood floors had definitely seen better days. The cloudy windows all needed a good power wash.

  He would have expected Jessie to look out of place, but she didn’t. He would have expected the uptown girl to look uncomfortable, but she didn’t. He would have expected her to be hightailing it out of there so fast that it made everyone’s head spin, but she wasn’t.

  She seemed totally relaxed, at ease, and in control. It was one of the sexiest things he’d ever seen in his life.

  “See you guys.” Maxi smiled as she walked towards the group on her way to the front door.

  “Maxi.” Billy reached out and threw his arm around Maxi’s shoulder. “Don’t you want to meet Zach’s fake-girlfriend-slash-new-roommate?”

  The pretty brunette’s blue eyes sliced up at Billy as her brow furrowed, probably trying to see if he was being serious or not.

  “Maxine Rizzo, this is Jessie Sloan, my new roommate,” Zach said, introducing them and leaving out the fake-girlfriend part.

  The women shook hands, both with friendly smiles on their faces.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Maxine.”

  “You too, Jessie.” Dipping out from under Billy’s arm, Maxi lifted her hand in a little goodbye wave to the group. “All right, well, I just stopped by to give Pops his prescription. I’ll see you guys later.”

  “Yeah, I better head out, too. It was nice meeting you all.” When Jessie’s eyes landed on Zach’s, he saw a flush of color in her cheeks. Lifting her hand, she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “Zach, I’ll see you Sat—”

  “Wait a minute.” Maxi snapped her fingers and then pointed towards Jessie, her face lighting up. “Jessie Sloan?”

  Jessie looked as surprised as the rest of them at Maxi’s outburst. “Yes.”

  Maxi’s eyes widened. “Jessie Sloan, new VP of public relations at SPC?”

  “Yes,” Jessie confirmed, still looking a bit unsure.

  “Oh my gosh! It’s so nice to meet you. I was at Magic Media for two years before it was absorbed by Creative Bubble. I have heard amazing things about you. I’d love to buy you a cup of coffee sometime.”

  “Sounds good. I have some time now if you’re free,” Jessie responded smoothly, not seeming at all surprised by the compliment or the fact that her reputation had obviously preceded her.

  “Now works for me.” Maxi smiled from ear to ear.

  The women both waved and then turned, their heels clicking on the hardwood. As Zach watched them go, he realized that if he looked at them objectively, although they looked nothing like each other, it would be hard to say which one was better-looking.

  Maxi had long, dark hair that fell to the middle of her back, olive skin thanks to her Italian heritage, and bright blue eyes courtesy of her mom’s French blood. Jessie had dark-blond hair, large brown eyes, and sun-kissed skin. Maxi was probably an inch taller than Jessie and had curves to rival a pinup. Jessie was petite with a lean hour-glass figure.

  Even though both women were equally attractive, Zach had never once been drawn to Maxi the way he was to Jessie. Maybe it was just because, since he’d met her when she was only fifteen, he still saw her as that braced-face teenager. But maybe it was because Zach had never been drawn to anyone the way he was drawn to Jessie.

  “You boys want to wipe the drool off your mouths and get back to work?” Lloyd asked.

  Damn. Zach had forgotten where he was for a minute.

  “I don’t think Jessie is going to stay in the ‘fake girlfriend’ category for very long.” Billy used air quotes as he walked to the back of the gym, where the speed bag was mounted on the wall.

  “She’s just my roommate,” Zach said aloud. He wasn’t sure if he was telling himself or Billy.

  His friend winked at him as he lifted his arms, positioning his fists at the red hanging bag. “Keep telling yourself that, Zachy-boy.”

  I plan to.

  Chapter Six

  Ten minutes! Jessie screamed in her head as she navigated her car into the narrow carport behind the brownstone.

  Turning off the engine, she pulled her keys out of the ignition and grabbed her purse. A half hour ago, she’d been sitting at her desk, falling asleep at work. Now, she had a second wind and was borderline giddy over the fact that it had taken her only a few short minutes to get home.

  The Hallelujah Chorus rang out in her head as she stepped out of her car. Initially, she’d planned on driving back to Harper’s Crossing tonight and then getting up bright and early to drive back to the city and meet the moving van. That was before one of the firm’s most high-profile clients, an A-list actor with the number-one movie in the country, had been caught with marijuana at JFK airport ten minutes before she’d been planning on leaving the office.

  So instead of fighting the dreaded Friday going-home traffic, she had spent the last three hours dealing with news outlets, agents, managers, and of course, the authorities at JFK. She was the best when it came to quickly and efficiently putting out fires. Some of her peers had even nicknamed her The Extinguisher for that very reason. As much as Jessie enjoyed the fact that she was good at her job, she was really just lucky because fixing things by unemotionally putting out fires was instinctual and second nature for her.

  The main ingredient to squelching a story as quickly as Jessie did was to give people just the information they needed to be satisfied without over-sharing. For as long as Jessie could remember, she operated under the strict code that everyone was on a need-to-know basis. Even when she was a little girl, Jessie had never divulged anything, no matter how small and insignificant, unless she was convinced that someone really had to be informed. She was even that way with her family—actually especially with her family.

  Stepping up the concrete staircase to the back entrance of the house, Jessie felt a little flutter low in her belly at the realization that, in just a few hours, she’d be living with Zach. Over the past week and a half, they had been texting to coordinate signing the lease and also splitting the deposit and rent. After several text conversations, Jessie had finally agreed to the fifty-fifty split Zach insisted on. She tried to stick to her guns about keeping the split forty-sixty since she was getting a much-larger bedroom with an attached bathroom, which housed her dream bathtub (swoon)
and a small shower as well. But after Zach had explained that it was a non-negotiable deal breaker, Jessie had conceded, which was so very unlike her that she was still a little irritated about it.

  The other thing that was bothering her more than just a little bit was the fact that she was having trouble keeping her mind in the Zach-free zone. He just kept popping up at the most frustrating times. Not that any time would have been a good time, but right in the middle of a pitch (like yesterday) or when she was on a video conference call with Japan (like Monday) were very inconvenient times to be sidetracked by out-of-the-freaking-blue thoughts of her new sexy roomie. Especially since the nature of these thoughts were not short and passing, nor were they innocent and benign. Nope. They were graphic images of Zach’s body with even more graphic images of what her body wanted to do with Zach’s body. Which was completely unacceptable.

  Never before had Jessie’s mind been so unruly. She had always maintained a tight hold of the reins on any wild, runaway thought that had dared to gallop through her serene, well-manicured mind’s landscape. For some reason, these sex-filled stallion daydreams were not as easily tamed as the PG pony thoughts she was used to dealing with.

  Jessie had always prided herself on being very in tune with her sexuality. She knew what she liked in the bedroom and she wasn’t afraid to ask for it. Most women were timid about their sexual fulfillment. Not Jessie. She considered herself not only the captain but also the director of her very own pleasure cruise. She never left whether or not she was satisfied up to her partner. Why would she put someone else in charge of steering her bliss-ship to Gratification Island?

  Control. That was what Jessie excelled at in every aspect of her life. Total and complete control.

  Pressing the shiny new key into the lock above the doorknob that looked like it had seen better days, Jessie tried to turn it but it didn’t budge. Okay, she would try key number two. After placing the next brand-spanking-new silver key between her fingers, she slipped it into the lock and tried to turn. Again, she had zero luck.

  She was out of keys. Before she left the covering and walked around to the front of the house, freezing the entire way, Jessie jiggled the door handle. Logically, she knew that this wasn’t going to make either of the keys she had fit into the lock magically open the door, but she found herself doing it nevertheless.

  To her surprise, the doorknob turned, and she pushed it open. As she stepped inside, she was both relieved to be out of the freezing temperatures and a little concerned that the back door had not been secured. Shutting the door behind her, Jessie tried to turn the deadbolt upright to click it into a locked position but couldn’t budge the thing.

  Okay. She would be calling a locksmith first thing in the morning. This was a safe neighborhood and she was going to be living with a professional fighter, but Jessie was not stupid. A burglar or worse would probably not be detoured by either of those facts.

  Once Jessie had removed her black slim-fit down jacket, she set it down on the counter and flipped on the light to the cheery kitchen. The walls had been painted a soft baby-blue hue. White cabinets with glass doors lined one wall. Jessie had always wanted glass doors on her cabinets. Running her hand along the white tiled countertop, she began picturing different colors of plates in the cabinets, deciding which color she liked best. Yellow was the first color that popped into her mind. She thought it would be a nice pop of color, as well as complement her light oak kitchen table that would be arriving tomorrow.

  But would Zach agree with her? Did she have to run things like the color of dishes by him before she put them up? Were they going to split cabinet space fifty-fifty like the rent? What about the fridge?

  These were all things she needed to remember to address with him. Grabbing her phone out of her Louis Vuitton handbag, Jessie made quick work of typing in all of the questions she wanted to go over with Zach. Although Jessie was fiercely private, that did not mean that she was a poor communicator. The key to any successful relationship, whether it was personal or professional, was clear communication of expectations and responsibilities. It might not sound sexy, but it was the truth.

  Just as she was finishing the last entry in her ‘Ask Zach’ list, she heard a sound coming from the front room. Her first thought was that it was probably just the house settling. Every place she’d ever lived in had made different sounds.

  Glancing up, she expected to see an empty doorway. Instead, she found a very occupied space. She jumped back and hit the counter behind her, jarring her phone, causing it to slip out of her hands. Luckily, she had ninja-like reflexes, so she was able to save the device she considered her lifeline.

  Zach stood in the small doorway that led from the kitchen to the front room wearing only low-hanging black sweats with a white string that dangled in the middle of his waistband, immediately drawing Jessie’s attention to the impressive bulge that was resting beneath the corded string.

  Lord have mercy!

  “I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow.” Zach’s voice held a sleepy, gravelly quality as he rubbed his hands over his face, which was sprinkled with just enough stubble to further weaken Jessie’s already-trembling knees.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. I just didn’t feel like driving all the way back to Harper’s Crossing when I’d just have to turn right around and head back here in a few hours.” Jessie stopped herself up short and pursed her lips together.

  Why was she telling him this? Zach didn’t need an explanation. Was she, Jessie Sloan, babbling like an idiot? Was it out of nervousness? The thought appalled her, but she had to admit that that might very well be the case.

  Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest that she was concerned that it might crack one of her ribs. She was doing everything she could to not drool over Zach’s body, but even that was proving to be an extremely difficult task considering the sheer volume of saliva in her mouth as her eyes—of their own accord—scanned Zach’s mouth-watering physique.

  Zach’s body was, in one word…perfection. His wide shoulders were rounded with definition. His long, muscled arms looked safe and strong. His broad, smooth, rock-hard chest was rivaled in sexiness only by the rippling abs and lean waist below it. The steely contours of Zach’s body were overwhelmingly, spine-tinglingly, one hundred percent male. He was the definition of alpha male in prime condition; which caused every female inch of Jessie’s body to come alive with awareness.

  “Makes sense.” Zach nodded as he yawned and his arms fell to his sides.

  “Don’t let me keep you up.” For some reason, her eyes drifted down to see if he was in fact “up.”

  Stop it! Jessie reprimanded herself. Her gaze dropped to the linoleum floor as she tried desperately to corral the kinky, wild-thought horses that were unexpectedly trotting through her brain.

  “You’re not.”

  Jessie heard the smile in Zach’s voice, and her eyes flew back up to meet his. His face was turned up in a half smile, which she could not immediately classify as a smirk or a friendly gesture.

  She was leaning toward smirk when Zach said, “I got all moved in this afternoon. Why don’t you go ahead and take my bed and I’ll crash on the couch.”

  Jessie waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, no. I’m fine on the couch. Honestly, I’m so exhausted that I’ll be out as soon as my head hits the pillow.”

  Well, that might actually be a lie. She had been exhausted, but now she was wide awake. Arousal had that effect on her.

  “Actually, you can’t sleep on the couch.” Zach casually lifted his arms above his head and rested them on the wood doorframe.

  His new position made all kinds of muscles in his arms, stomach, and chest (that Jessie had not seen before) pop out in definition. Where her mouth had been overflowing with excess saliva just moments ago, it was now bone dry. She froze at the sight he presented.

  Trying not to let her traitorous body’s reaction show, Jessie crossed her arms defiantly—and maybe to cover up her now hardened nipp
les. “Yes. I. Can.”

  Her argument might have made her sound more like a petulant two-year-old, but honestly, she was just proud of herself for getting out those three little words without sounding all breathy like Marilyn Monroe singing to President Kennedy. At this point, she was counting that as a win.

  Zach dropped his arms and shook his head with a sigh as he stalked towards Jessie. Her head was beginning to feel light, like it might just float away from her body. All around Zach’s impressive frame, Jessie could see little white stars. With each powerful step he took, she was finding it harder and harder to take in a breath.

  Come on, oxygen. Don’t fail me now!

  Instead of stopping in front of her, he brushed past her, and only then was Jessie able to breathe. Leaning back against the counter for support, Jessie was trying to figure out what in the name of Prada had just happened to her.

  Was she that overtired?

  Not any more than she had been for the last month.

  Was she getting sick?

  She didn’t feel achy.

  Her cousin Riley’s wife Chelle said that she’d passed out when she was pregnant. Thankfully Jessie knew that was not the issue. Unless she was somehow impregnated by Immaculate Conception. It had been a year since she’d been intimate with anyone, and she and her ex had always used protection.

  She definitely wasn’t knocked up.

  Then what could possibly have caused her to almost hyperventilate and pass out?

  * * *

  Zach took a moment to try to get his body under control as he reached for the gold doorknob. Breathing slowly through his nose, he did a quick visual of his lower region. Shit. He wasn’t just at mid-chub anymore. He was now at full strength.

  Dammit. It was bad enough that Jessie looked even sexier than she had when she’d strolled into Gianni’s yesterday. It also didn’t help that she’d woken him from a dream starring her and the black stiletto heels she was currently wearing. Zach had been doing a good job of keeping himself under control, even when Jessie’s gaze had been hungrily roaming up and down his body. It wasn’t until those big brown eyes of hers had flown to his crotch after she said that she didn’t want to “keep him up” that the thin thread of control he had been holding on to snapped.