Bachelor's Special

by Christine Warner

  When Collette came to the centerpiece, she tilted her head and smiled. “Jill, you’re unbelievable.”

  “Thank you, Collette.” It wasn’t like Jill carved the sculpture herself, but warmth covered her face. “And thank you for taking my suggestion about setting this up buffet style.”

  “I had my doubts, but you’re the expert.”

  “It’ll give everyone a chance to mingle with more than just the people at their table.”

  “That’s a wonderful idea,” Lorna said.

  When Collette first contacted her about the luncheon, she’d mentioned a small affair. Jill assumed twenty to twenty-five women in hats, gloves, and heels. After their first meeting, she’d learned the tiny affair consisted of one hundred ladies, give or take two or three. Funny how tiny could mean different things to different people.

  “Perfect.” Collette flicked the bracelet around her wrist, revealing a small watch hidden in the band. “Almost show time, Lorna. Let’s greet the ladies in the reception hall.” They headed for the doors leading to the foyer. Before Collette opened them she turned. “Thanks again, Jill. I’m more than pleased.”

  Good, at least someone still liked her. And that someone would lead to references for future work. The other someone, Chet, hovered in her mind constantly. She missed her easygoing friendship with him. She’d hoped to walk away from their time together with…

  With what? A friend?

  She hated the fact she was lying. To herself no less.

  Admit it, Jill. You held out hope that maybe a no-name chef from a broken home stood a chance with a smart, talented man who could make you laugh and ignite your heart.

  At least one good thing came of their silent feud. Not seeing, talking, or being near him was the recipe she needed to stop harboring thoughts about jumping his bones every time she looked at him. And it also helped squash her daydreams about their friendship turning into something more. Something she knew it couldn’t—shouldn’t.

  Bursts of laughter filtered through the closed door of the entrance hall. Jill did one last run-through of the food table. Her stomach knotted from all the smells and the room fogged. She grabbed the table’s edge and closed her eyes until her equilibrium corrected.

  Yeah, if she were getting over her unrealistic feelings for Chet, someone forgot to tell her. Her heart seemed as heavy as ever. The whole ordeal stressed her out and she’d not only lost sleep, but even managed to get sick when she thought about it too much.

  She turned to find her arch-nemesis eyeballing her with a thin-lipped half smile. The skin along Jill’s nape grew clammy.

  “I’m not sure I want to eat anything made by a chef that can’t stand the sight of her own efforts.”

  Barracuda.

  Gina’s laughter raised the hair on Jill’s arms. She didn’t know Gina would be here. Another perfect moment to add to the ever-growing list from the last fourteen days. Not that she’d been counting.

  Jill sucked in a deep breath, then delivered what she hoped was a professional smile. “Don’t worry, I’m not contagious. Just a bit of stress and lack of sleep.”

  “I see you’re planning ahead and trying to find other jobs with your…skills.”

  Gina’s gaze slithered over Jill with barely feigned tolerance. “Collette is already recommending you to everyone in the entry. I’m glad you’re not expecting Chet and me to ask you to stay on as chef.”

  “I’d decline.” Jill brushed by Gina. She had no desire to spar with this crazy woman who lived in fantasyland. If she believed she and Chet had a future, let Chet deal with it.

  The doors to the kitchen loomed across the room the length of a discount-store parking lot. Jill stiffened her shoulders as she made the trek. Gina’s heels clicked in a steady rhythm behind her. Damn the woman.

  She pushed the double doors open and let them slide out of her hand, hoping they’d hit Gina in the head and knock her out. Then she wouldn’t have to deal with her. She made her way to the sink, but Gina’s fingers dug into her shoulder.

  “What’s the hurry, Jill?”

  The way her name rolled off Barracuda’s tongue sent shivers down Jill’s spine. If it were possible to imbue deranged hate with a smidgeon of evilness into a voice, Gina had perfected it.

  “Is there something you need, Bara…Gina? I’m busy.”

  “I forgot. Some people have to actually work for a living.” Gina’s prickly laughter sent Jill’s light breakfast of peppermint tea and toast churning in her stomach.

  “Since I’m a one-woman show, if there isn’t something I can help you with related to today’s luncheon, please excuse me.”

  Gina stepped closer. The pungent aroma of her perfume filled Jill’s lungs. Overkill seemed a likely name for the scent.

  Gina glared at her through narrowed eyes.

  “Are you sure it’s stress? You didn’t go and do something stupid, now, did you?” Her eyebrows became one long, finely drawn line.

  “Yeah, I agreed to a blind date.”

  “What?”

  “Never mind, Gina. Excuse me, I’m working.”

  On her way toward the sink, her stomach flinched and her breakfast began to make its way up her throat. Panic swept through her as she looked for the small door that led to the closet-sized bathroom. She darted across the kitchen, dodging workstations, sinks, and fryers.

  She thrust the door open, not caring that Gina followed. Jill’s ponytail hung down her shoulder as she bent over the toilet and lost it. She stood there, eyes squeezed shut, cold sweat dotting the skin of her forehead.

  Gina’s breathing behind her was labored, and Jill couldn’t hide her surprise when a small hand towel was thrust into her face.

  “Thanks.” Wow, Barracuda had a soft side. Jill accepted the towel and brushed it over her brow.

  “You did do something stupid.”

  A short-lived soft side.

  “What are you talking about?” She didn’t want to deal with this woman. Though she’d managed to empty her stomach in one try, she didn’t want to repeat her bend and tuck over the toilet.

  “You’re really not that naive are you? You’re pregnant.”

  Jill lost her balance and stumbled back in the small space, hitting the wall with her rear. Hands, steady minutes before, shook as she wiped the towel across her forehead a second time, breaking Gina’s gaze.

  “You’re nuts. I told you, nerves. I’ve always…always had a bit…of a delicate stomach.” She lowered the towel and delivered her stern face. Or at least that’s how it felt. She probably looked more like a scared rabbit.

  “Think about it.” Gina rolled her eyes. “Your clammy, pasty skin is beyond pale. Smells are making you ill. From the look of things, just the thought of food makes you sick.”

  Yeah, and you make me sick. Don’t forget that one.

  Instead she met the other woman’s glare. “You’ve quite the imagination, Gina.” This woman had an uncanny knack of making her foul mood worse.

  Barracuda’s lips twisted at one end and her brow creased. “I know the signs. I already know you were stupid enough to sleep with Chet. I bet your intent the whole time was to get knocked up. Am I right?”

  She didn’t wait for a response but continued on in a voice that sounded like she’d consumed one too many cocktails before she’d arrived. “And now you’re going to be tied to him for life, after his money and—”

  “Enough!” Jill brushed her damp palm across her forehead. Coolness relieved the scorching heat of her flesh. How could she be pale when her skin felt like fire? “I’m not pregnant. I’m not trying to ‘steal’ your man, or any man.”

  “You really are dense.”

  “And you’re really nuts.”

  “Does Chet know?”

  “There’s nothing to know.”

  “Hmmm. He’ll never forgive you for tricking him. Your plan to trap him won’t work.”

  “You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?”

  “How… Never mind. We�
�ll see how you feel after Chet finds out.” Gina smiled through compressed lips.

  “There is nothing for Chet to find out. I’m. Not. Pregnant.” Must be money causes insanity. Mel, Chet, and now Gina.

  “Then you have nothing to worry about.” Gina turned on spiked heels and crossed the marble floor of the kitchen to join the party in the other room. Laughter and happy conversation flowed through the doors when Gina pushed them open, then muted to a soft muffle when the barrier flapped shut.

  Jill cupped her hands underneath the faucet, the velvet water calming her jagged nerves. Gina dared to speak aloud what Jill only feared. Pregnant. The word alone sent her into a spin. They hadn’t used protection. And though she did have an active stomach, it had been more audible lately. While almost convinced all the whirlwind playing out in her life the last several months caused her queasiness, she couldn’t ignore the possibility of being pregnant. With her boss’s—Chet’s—baby.

  Her mind ticked through her mental calendar. She’d have to double check for sure, but if she were late, it would only be by a few days, a week tops.

  She studied her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes seemed to circle and swallow her whole face. Her lower lip trembled. Due to her matchmaker friend, her professional life had finally turned around for the better—but her personal life lay on shifting sand…because she’d gone over the line with her boss. And now this.

  The tension between her and Chet pounded double time. He’d hardly spoken more than a handful of sentences to her in the two days since the ladies luncheon.

  Not sure if Gina had talked to him about her “baby theory,” or if it were her imagination, but it seemed like Chet’s gaze these last couple of days lingered over her midsection longer than necessary. No way. Chet wasn’t the type of guy to stay quiet about something like that. Relief pulsed through her.

  But Gina wouldn’t be the type to stay quiet and would pounce on the opportunity to clue Chet in the first moment she got. Jill wouldn’t allow that. This might be an uncomfortable subject—she really only had a suspicion with no hard-core facts about being pregnant—but she should be the one to deliver the news to Chet, not his vindictive ex-fiancée.

  Though she planned to either buy an over-the-counter test or make an appointment with her doctor, she’d put it off in the hope that it was just stress and her cycle would return.

  Jill forked the last bit of an omelet into her mouth and chewed as she clicked the fork along the edge of her plate.

  Truth be told, she didn’t want to know. The thought of having a child with her life so unstable scared her. She needed to push her fear aside. No more taking the easy way out by burying something unpleasant under the covers, pretending it didn’t exist.

  Jill pushed her plate away. Though she gobbled down her omelet and sipped her peppermint tea, the fruit went untouched. She glanced at the clock. Chet’s habit of picking up his meals in the kitchen, then retiring to his office was still in effect. He might not want to be in her presence after Mel’s speech, but she didn’t even want to think about his reaction once Gina got a hold of him.

  Damn it, she’d talk to Chet tonight. This had gone on long enough. She’d coddled him by not approaching him about what happened on the boat, and now to add a pregnancy scare to the mix would only compound the stress if she didn’t say something. She might like to think of Chet as a friend—hell, she wanted them to be friends—but the fact remained that he was really her boss.

  As she cleared away her plate, Chet emerged with his empty one.

  “Chet, I’ve had enough of this polite avoidance. We need to talk.”

  The edges of his mouth pulled upward. “I think you’re the one with psychic abilities. I was just going to say the same thing.”

  “I have two things we need to get out in the open. First off—”

  The chime of the doorbell startled them both.

  Now that she’d made the decision to spill her secret and clear the air about wish lists and baby makers, she wanted to do it uninterrupted. “I can get it,” she squeaked.

  “No, go ahead and finish up here.” He turned and walked through the arch that led to the front hallway. “I’ll get rid of whoever it is and we can sit down and talk.”

  Her unsteady breathing went well with the knots in her stomach. He sounded as determined as she felt. All of this agitation was due to Chet stress. She’d have to coin a new medical phrase. In an attempt to calm her nerves, she hummed a song from her childhood, one her mother used to sing, while she scraped her plate and finished cleaning up.

  After several minutes, muffled voices drifted into the room. Her heart stalled.

  Gina.

  She barged through the archway, her heels clapping across the floor. Her piercing, canned laugh blanketed the room. The weight of Barracuda’s stare settled across Jill’s back. Seconds later the hair at her nape stood on alert as she sensed Chet enter the room. She placed the last plate into the dishwasher, then turned to face them.

  The smug smile on Gina’s lips and the pinched skin around Chet’s eyes told the story.

  “Is what Gina says the truth, Jill?”

  “Depends on what she said.”

  Chet’s hardening features killed any hope of understanding she expected from him. Her butt connected with the counter, and her hands clenched into fists as they curled around the edge to replace the support leaving her legs.

  The fluffy omelet she just devoured bubbled in her gut. The room grew hot. Jill blinked several times, the clammy wetness of her skin gave warning that she was either going to hurl or faint. Acid rose up her throat as she ran from the kitchen to the tiny powder room off the hallway in the foyer.

  Not caring that the door stood open, Jill bent over the porcelain bowl. Strong, firm fingers bunched the hair at the nape of her neck.

  Chet. With everything swirling around them, he’d shown his good side yet again. Though threatened with the possibility of a child he didn’t want, and with his crazy ex-girlfriend in his home, he’d still followed her to make sure she was okay.

  Jill sank to the floor and leaned against the wall, squeezing her eyes tight to stop the spinning. Water poured from the faucet and a cold cloth pressed against her forehead. Chet’s reassuring touch comforted her as he crouched beside her, rubbing her shoulder with his other hand. He murmured soothing words and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

  He’d make a great friend—if she could only think of him as one exclusively.

  Tears pricked her eyes. If she were pregnant, Chet was the type of guy who would stick around, stay in her life. Because it was the right thing to do. That wasn’t what she wanted. No woman would.

  She didn’t want a man in her life unless he wanted to be. Baby or not.

  Chapter Sixteen

  After several minutes of sitting alongside Jill on the bathroom floor, Chet helped her to her feet. She swayed, then steadied herself against his chest.

  His gut tightened as her fingers pressed into him. Since Mel’s revelation, he managed to keep a determined distance from Jill in hopes she wouldn’t get any ideas about them as a couple.

  But his desire for her hadn’t cooled one iota. From the sensation and awareness crawling over his skin, he was more in tune to her sexually now than before. Guilt overwhelmed him. Now wasn’t the time to let her gentle touch or clean soap scent affect him.

  Though he missed their time together, he wouldn’t allow himself to be lured into a relationship he didn’t want. But he might not have much choice.

  Him, a father? His insides curdled with dread and a pinch of fear. “Do you need to lie down?”

  She shook her head, but the motion must’ve disoriented her because she pressed her palm to the side of her face and squeezed her eyes closed.

  “I can carry you.”

  “No. No, I’m fine.”

  But her voice didn’t sound fine. He strained to catch her words.

  Jill sucked in a breath, raised her head, and opened her eyes, but
she wouldn’t meet his. He helped her into the sunlit foyer, where they found Gina nonchalantly leaning against the wall. Ankles crossed, she twisted a large diamond ring around one finger. Tiny creases outlined her lips, and her nostrils flared when she inhaled. From experience, Chet waited for the unkind words her vicious expression warned would come.

  “And you once told me I’m conniving. Looks like Jill has a dark side. It makes me think of a conversation we had years ago.”

  “We had several, and most of them didn’t end well.”

  “Let me narrow it down for you. The one where you accused me of tricking you, using you. After you accused me of being a liar. When you said your money attracted all kinds.” Gina’s voice scratched across his skin. She pushed away from the wall. “You’re falling for it all over again.”

  Jill’s shoulder trembled beneath his hand, and he tried to pull her into the shelter of his arms, but she stiffened.

  “Gina, I don’t think now is the time for a walk down memory lane.”

  “Now is the perfect time. I must admit, Jill, you went way above and beyond what I’d go through to snag a man. Now you’ll have a lifetime commitment from Chet. Of course your figure will be ruined.” Gina’s gaze raked over Jill. “Not something I’d do, I’m a firm believer in getting rid of…well, varmints.”

  “Enough, Gina.” One of his fights with Gina before they’d broken up had been over children. He’d found out too late that Gina had become pregnant with his child but erased what she termed “the problem” before he’d even known.

  “I still have the name of my doctor, if you want to give Jill a ride to the clinic.”

  “You’re a sick woman.” Together Jill and he would work through this and do what’s right for them. They shared similar values. She wouldn’t even consider that option.

  “You’re turning into a bigger wimp than I would’ve suspected. Don’t you see she tricked you, Chet?” Her gaze turned to Jill. “Hats off to you, you went a step further than I was prepared to go.”