“Donna, this is my eldest son, Liam.
"Hi Liam."
"Hello."
Liam tensed, then following the direction of a slight gasp, his eyes widened to find the last face he expected to see sitting at the table, directly across from him: Jackie.
Just. No. This... wasn't happening.
Jackie
Nearly choking on the drink she lifted to mask her surprise, Jackie's mind took into a chaotic race. Two things were horrifically wrong with this picture.
One: the man she was avoiding was sitting right there across from her, so close he could reach out and touch her – which would surely result in her panties falling off.
Two: this man, who'd ravaged her body like no one before him ever had two nights before was going to be her stepbrother.
Actually... make that three things.
The third being the sketchy zillionaire her mother was foolishly agreeing to marry.
Avoiding Liam's eyes, she trained her gaze ahead of her, carefully setting the mimosa she'd ordered back down in front of her. With any luck, her mother wouldn't prompt her to actually engage Liam directly. She'd be unlikely to avoid him now, but she could at least gather her bearings before she had to have anything close to resembling a conversation.
“Jackie, darling. Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost?”
“Just fine, Mom. Can we order?”
Her mother had that taken aback look she'd perfected over the years, but Jackie ignored it and lifted up the menu, wishing she could disappear into it completely. Could her life be any more fucked? I mean, seriously... Had she just spent a torrid, off-the-charts hot evening with a man who was two words away from being her brother?
Just her luck, right?
Maybe the universe was telling her to be a good girl, after all. To resolve herself to the ill treatment of men, and take it as it comes. Which would suck if that's the message she was to take from all of this. Because she really didn't want to be that girl anymore. She'd had about all of the unfair heartache she could take. If her only option was to be the doormat to assholes who had no idea what they truly wanted in a relationship, she might as well start checking animal shelters now for the 10 cats who'd become her house companions well into her retirement years.
“I've had a chance to sample the trail mix line your mother has developed. Second to none. I'm told you're behind the recipe?”
Jackie suppressed the urge to glare at her mom's new squeeze.
The line her mother developed? Really?
They'd developed it together, thank you. It was a business venture with two women at the helm. And probably the one thing her mother didn't have anal-retentive control over where their relationship was concerned. Mostly because their contract made Jackie's approval an integral part of anything that took place with VitaGourmet.
“Yeah, thanks.”
It was all she could manage.
The man made her skin crawl. He had the sort of crocodile smile that made him look oddly constipated for such a distinguished looking, older man. It suggested he had a very hard time smiling genuinely, or that he didn't actually feel anything to know what sort of emotion to base a smile off of.
Basically, he had the look of a predator in a shiny suit, and if his business reputation was anything to go on, he'd done his fair share of shady shit to get where he was today.
“Well, we've been talking about expanding it. I'd be a silent partner, of course.”
Jackie's gaze made a beeline to her mother, who she shot a vitriolic, silent communication to – which her mother promptly shrunk away from. How dare she discuss business with anyone without her at the table? It was a clear breach of contract. She didn't care if she was her daughter. Where VitaGourmet was concerned, Jackie was the flipping CEO.
Fortunately for both of them, the good angel had decided to pay a visit, and she fought past gritted teeth to save her rant for a later conversation with mommy dearest.
“Send your proposal over, and I'll have a look at it,” she answered nonchalantly. “How's the eggplant?”
She could feel the old man's flare of tension at her rudeness but couldn't be bothered to care. He probably wasn't accustomed to being treated with indifference. She couldn't bring herself to pander to him, though. If he truly wanted to go into business with them, he'd need to know she wouldn't accept anything less than respect.
Shifting uncomfortably, she strained to keep from looking up and meeting Liam's eyes, hot as his gaze felt on her skin. Could things be anymore fucked up than this? And what if she had decided to listen to the good angel and give him a shot? They'd have been forced to part, any way. Thanks to this odd, skin-crawling “engagement” her mother had wandered into while no one was looking.
She'd known her mom was going through a mid-life crisis, but she'd never imagined it would end in a union with a man who would undoubtedly drop her when she wasn't shiny to him, anymore.
Gary Cross didn't look the sort of man to commit to any one thing for long. Hell, his business acquisitions alone made it clear he was a man of action who regularly needed “something new” to train his attentions on.
“The eggplant and everything else on the menu is top notch,” came his response.
He was butt hurt, and his tone made that clear. Should she feel ashamed that she drew a slight bit of satisfaction from that? After all, their little union was already creating complications in her life that she'd set her mind to avoiding. One in particular with a name that gave her a physical reaction.
Stealing a glance, her eyes locked with his.
Fuck.
“Honey, you're being rude. Introduce yourself. Liam's going to be your brother, after all.”
A pit fell in her stomach.
Damn it, Mom.
“We've met.”
Oh dear God, no. Please, no.
Was he going to out them? He seemed the type, especially if he was feeling jilted.
“Oh. Well, what a small world.”
Her mother smiled nervously and quickly turned her attention to the chardonnay she'd ordered.
“It certainly is,” Liam responded gruffly.
Sniffing, Jackie broke gaze with him, unable to handle the intensity in his eyes for longer than a half-second. It was like looking into the sun. And she knew full well the passion he contained in that model perfect body of his. It was part of the reason she'd held to the decision to run away; she had no intention of being burned.
“Yeah, I'll have the eggplant.”
The click of her soon to be step-creep's fingertips struck the air, and the server who'd made a fixture of herself came off of her stand by the wall to make her way over to them. Jackie rambled out her order, and Liam followed her lead with his own. Following that, an uncomfortable silence descended the table.
“So, um, we're very excited. We've decided to fast track the wedding to next month. The official announcement to the media will take place next week. We'd love it if you all could be there to celebrate with us,” her mother eeked out meekly. She'd addressed Liam's half-brother, too, but he quickly averted his eyes to something else.
The reason for the tension at the table might not be clear, but it was palpable enough to put everyone on their guard. Maybe she thought moving onto the business at hand would lighten things up, but it only served to dash Jackie's spirits further. Their wedding announcement would eclipse all of the hard work they'd done for VitaGourmet, and make it his thing. He had the bigger name, and dear old mom would become another one of his properties. Jackie wasn't at all keen on being perceived as one of his belongings, by proxy.
To celebrate publicly.
What a joke.
There was nothing to celebrate. The circus they were engaging in was going to fuck up everything they'd worked for, and it was already creating more of a situation than necessary with her stepbrother-in-the-making. She'd known her mom's invitation was going to lead to a breakfast that made a visit to the dentist seem more pleasant, but she h
adn't expected it would turn her world upside down.
Yet, here they were.
Liam
Oh, no she wasn't. Jackie might think excusing herself from the sham of an engagement breakfast they'd just been subjected to would get her off easy, but she wasn't leaving that building before he had a chance to let her know his stance on things.
He could care less what his father was planning; he'd already fallen for the girl, and he wasn't going down without a fight. It was one thing when he didn't think he'd have access to her, but she was right here. In his reach. He'd be damned if he didn't get a face-to-face confrontation before they parted ways.
“Sir!”
Totally ignoring the bathroom attendant, Liam pushed through the doors into the lobby of the ladies' “powder room,” catching Jackie's arm before she managed to slip away from him.
“Let go me go, Liam.”
“That what you really want?”
His heart was pounding in his chest, and his gut knotted when she turned around and set those big, dark eyes on him. She looked frustrated, like she'd had every intention of avoiding this conversation. And it hurt more than he expected. He barely knew the girl. They'd shared intimacy that had probably caused an earthquake somewhere, but whatever was fueling him right now had a base in far more than that.
Averting her eyes, she pulled her arm from his grip.
“Don't make this difficult.”
“Don't know another way to make it.”
Setting her mouth, her nostrils took a slight flare.
“Maybe try making it easy.”
He loosed a dry laugh.
“There's nothing easy about this.”
“Exactly! A lot of things have changed in the past few hours...”
“Things that had nothing to do with you leaving the hotel without so much as a word.”
He actually thought he saw a flicker of remorse in her eyes, but she quickly retracted it, settling on a more steely gaze, potent enough to give him chills. He hadn't noticed it before, but he saw it now. She was scared. It was the kind of revelation that made it easier to keep fighting for the unnamed thing that kept her firmly at the center of his thoughts.
He hadn't been able to concentrate on a damn thing since they'd spent the night, and that just wouldn't do with all of the obligations coming up in the next few weeks. He needed to know where they really stood, if she could really just walk away from what they'd shared like she wasn't having trouble shaking him from her thoughts, too.
“Look, I just... I thought we should frame what we shared positively. Leave it in a good place, you know?”
“I'm not understanding you.”
“Just... before it all dissolves and becomes something ugly, you know? How often do relationships actually work? I don't think either of us entered that hotel intending things to turn into something more than they were at face value.”
A combination of angst and desire rushed to the forefront of his thoughts, and Liam couldn't help but answer it. Imposing himself into her space, he pressed her to the wall. Her body felt amazing pressed against his, and memories of the night they shared tumbled into his mind's eye, flooding him with arousal.
She felt it, too; he could see that.
“If you can look me in the eye, and tell me to walk away, I'll leave you alone.”
“Listen-”
“Tell me to walk away, Jackie,” he husked, following it up with a kiss pressed gently to her neck.
A kiss that soon evolved into a nip of skin which he stretched slightly out towards him before loosing it and claiming more of her neck, licking, and sucking.
“This is all wrong, Liam.”
“Is it?”
His hands found their way to the hem of her skirt, tugging it upward as his fingers reached beneath. She hissed with pleasure, and his hands slid over her thighs, encouraged. Fingertips flirting the surface of her skin, he reveled in her heat beneath them. Sure that he'd find her panty line wet if he checked it. And he would.
“I fucking love the way you feel, Jackie. Who cares what our parents do? The only thing that matters is us.”
His fingers continued their sojourn, slipping over her panty line and reveling in the damp of her desire as they slid past her soft split, entering the tight, welcome of her sex.
“So fucking tight.”
Her breathing changed, and she loosed a whispered moan, more of a whimper really. Answering her, he thrust his fingers deeper, claiming her with three digits as he reveled in the taste of her skin, his mouth covering the curve where neck meets shoulder. He was impossibly hard now. Ready. He really didn't give a fuck; he'd take her right here.
“Liam, I-”
“Yeah, baby?”
His eyes blinked open when he felt her hand brush his away, his fingers immediately releasing her.
“I can't do this.”
He grinned, stupidly assuming she was being coy.
“Yet, you haven't said the magic words.”
He watched her jaw clench, and she averted her eyes, but when she looked at him again, there was a steely resolve in them that made it clear he'd failed to change her mind at all.
“Walk away, Liam.”
Pushing gently against him, she slipped out of the corner he'd backed her into, and with a faltering glance back, she lifted her chin and pushed her way out of the door, practically leaving him there with his dick in his hand.
Jackie
She didn't bother to return to the breakfast table. That would be impossible after what had just taken place in the plush, lobby of the restroom. She couldn't imagine facing Liam, let alone ever talking to him again. It was perfectly insane. They'd just learned he was going to be her stepbrother, and at the first opportunity he'd had, he had his fingers up her skirt.
And she'd let him!
She obviously couldn't be trusted around him, and that left only one option: not to be. Next breakfast she was invited to, she was stepping back from. The farther the distance she could create from him, the best chance she'd have at giving them both an opportunity to move on.
There was too much chemistry between the pair to trust what was sure to go down if they found themselves in a room alone together.
Hailing the first cab she saw when she made it out of the building, she slid into its back seat and turned to spy Liam arriving at the front lobby door, calling out to her.
With a sigh, she told the driver to step on it.
~
As soon as Jackie got home, she threw herself into the recipe concoction process, glad for the distraction. Flipping a page open in her notebook, she nipped her lip and let the page fall, scanning it before grabbing the nuts, blueberries and limes. Next, she flicked on her dehydrator, giving it a purposeful look before settling back in front of her notebook.
If her mother was going to subject their business to her new creep, she might as well have some shiny new offerings to roll out. She'd need to speak with a lawyer to figure out the best way to prevent him from commodifying what she and her mother had built together, though. If there was one thing everyone knew, it was that Gary Cross couldn't be trusted.
Sighing, she flicked away the ache she was feeling.
She was failing to push Liam from her mind entirely.
His essence had a tireless way of haunting her, apparently, and it didn't help that what she truly wanted was to get in the car and head off to the tat studio he owned.
His asshole father had let it slip that “he could do better” than to live in a cube built inside of his business. So she knew where he lived now, and that was dangerous information when she was right there on the line between sticking to her guns and throwing caution to the wind like she was.
Peeling and dicing the limes, she tossed them into the giant mixing bowl she'd long named 'Hal.' Hal had been through every failed and successful recipe with her, and it had become sort of a tradition to bring him out whenever she was developing something that might actually go on the VitaGourmet menu.
/>
She and her mom had big plans that were already winning them some handsome checks. Jackie was determined to find a way to make sure the capital they spent continued to be set aside from profits. She didn't believe accepting a cent from Gary Cross wouldn't end up slicing him a controlling share of the pie.
If he wanted in on distribution that was one thing. Helping get them in more outlets wasn't enough to give him a legal claim to them, outside of whatever amounts of bags they agreed to produce for resale. But his ownership, on any level, could destroy VitaGourmet at its heart.
With even a small percentage, he could force a name change, branding alteration, and even influence how the goods were produced. Assholes like him were the types to substitute quality ingredients for those of the subpar variation, gathered right at the edge of their expiration.
All in the name of the bottom line.
Jackie wouldn't allow that. She just couldn't.
Giving Merlin a smacking kiss on his furry head when he hopped up onto the counter, she gently brushed him off.
“You know the rules, Big Guy.”
Answering with a rumbling meow, Merlin gave her a guilt-inducing head tilt and assumed the statuesque pose that never failed to get him something out of the fridge. It was no wonder his ancestors were worshipped. Back when humans were more intelligent as a rule, ancestral forces knew which direction was smartest when looking for guidance.
Cats are born strategists.
Sighing, Jackie rinsed her hands and pulled open the fridge, scanning the paltry contents there. Settling on a jar of mushrooms she'd already cracked open, she reached down and grabbed it up.
“You're in luck, Big Guy. But that's it after this. I've got work to do.”
She served him the rest of the jar's contents in the pricey serving dish she'd bought his spoiled ass at Pier one imports, and set it on the floor by his water bowl. He answered her with a purr of approval before stretching arrogantly and making his way over to it with an air of inspection.
F*ck Buddy Page 5
