by Jean Oram
No doubt sensing that, he leaned into her, his lips firm on hers as she swept her arms around his shoulders, her fingers slipping into his short hair. They broke the kiss to inhale before diving in for more.
The bar erupted in cheers and catcalls.
“Hello!” Ginger called. “We have a live one.”
Jill broke the kiss at long last, feeling dazed. “Wow.”
“Yeah. Just like that, Burke,” Emma said, her voice dripping with satisfaction.
“Are you two going to have a reception?” Ginger asked. “I have some very nice gowns that would be appropriate.”
Amy was propped against the bar, her chin resting in her hand. “I wish I could find love like that.”
“Amy, you shush,” someone a few stools down said. “You have Moe.” It was Katie Reiter, a local interior designer who used to work as a nurse with Amy—back when they’d both thought it might be their career of choice. Amy had hopped jobs a lot, but she always seemed to settle back at Brew Babies with Moe.
“We’re not in love,” Amy replied.
“Um, hello?” Ginger said. “He promised to marry you on your birthday if you don’t find someone by then.” She lifted an eyebrow. “I also have the perfect gown chosen for you, by the way.”
“I was just wishing someone would sweep me off my feet,” Amy muttered.
Moe, his shaggy hair falling over his forehead, was watching her from the end of the bar where he was filling a pint. And letting it overflow, by the looks of things.
“Her birthday is in June,” Jill added for Burke’s benefit.
“Nice. A deadline marriage,” he said. He checked his watch. “Speaking of deadlines, I should head back to the city.”
The women around them groaned. “Do you have to?”
“I live and work there,” he said.
“When are you moving to Blueberry Springs?” Amy asked. “Moe has a truck you can borrow if you need one.”
Burke had stood, fishing in his wallet for his debit card. He paused to glance at Jill, who knew they couldn’t dodge that question forever.
“We haven’t really planned anything,” she said, hoping to defer the conversation to a ways down the line when Burke hadn’t been around for a few weeks and it seemed less odd that he was staying in the city. Right now, their plan of doing the fake long-distance thing would just strike everyone as odd and draw more attention to their less-than-conventional arrangement.
“How can you not plan living together?” Ginger exclaimed. “You’re married!”
“Hey, you married a man you didn’t know was a spy, and I know for a fact neither of you had a plan on where you were going to live,” Jill said.
“Well, that was different.” Ginger sat in Burke’s spot.
“You will move here, though, right?” Amy asked. She turned to Jill with big eyes. “You’re not moving, are you?”
“She can’t. She needs to be here for her products,” Emma said firmly. “Plus her organizational skills keep my life from falling in. Burke, you have to move here. But you guys have to move out of Jodi’s garage. I’ll ask Luke to talk to the Realtor for you. He loves working with Blueberry Springs Realty.”
Jill chuckled, knowing Luke found the Realtors slash accounting office slash stationary store to be infuriating after the exclusive salespeople he’d once dealt with on primo properties back home in South Carolina.
“I’ll see you ladies later,” Burke said, slipping into his coat and ignoring the Realtor offer. “Nice meeting you.”
“I’ll walk you out,” Jill said. Maybe if she did, she’d get another one of those steamy kisses of his.
As she exited the pub, her friends all gave her a thumbs-up and grins. They were going to ride her for a long time to find out what went wrong when her marriage “failed” in a few months.
Burke’s car was angle parked on the street between two pickups instead of in the gravel lot.
“I’m sorry,” he said, gesturing to the pub. “I didn’t mean to make things complicated for you.”
Jill waved it off. “Nah, don’t worry about it.”
He played with the keys to his car.
“I had fun shooting stuff with you,” she said. She loved that he hadn’t acted hurt that she was a better aim than he was. If he wasn’t her accidental husband, she’d think about keeping him.
Night had settled in around the mountain town while they’d been inside, and the snow that had melted during the day was turning to chunky ice. The Sunday night traffic was starting to pick up around the pub, tires crunching across the gravel lot as they entered or exited the street, depending on if they were part of the dinner or drink crowd.
“Well, I guess I’d better head home,” Burke said, stepping to his compact car. The way it was tucked between the much bigger trucks made it look ridiculously adorable.
She wasn’t ready for Burke to go home. She’d had a surprisingly fun day—despite her parents—and a nice supper, too.
“I guess I’ll see you around?” Jill asked, unable to keep the hope from her voice. He’d gone over everything for the site with Ethan, and now it was simply a matter of keeping things ticking along in terms of sales, so she could pay back the loan ASAP. Anything else they had left to do could likely be done by phone or email.
Burke didn’t move for a moment, then slowly glanced back at her. “Thank you for the fun afternoon. I needed that.”
“Anytime you want to shoot something up, I’m your gal.”
He chuckled and nodded, then climbed in and closed his car door. He put down the window. “We should get together next week and see what we can maximize. You know, once things start rolling.”
Jill felt a thrill zip through her at the prospect of seeing him again. “It’s a date.”
She reached through the window to shake his hand, and immediately felt foolish for doing so—not just because she looked eager, but if anyone was watching it would look formal and stupid. But Burke’s grip felt warm, firm and sure, and she soon forgot about worrying about appearances. She let her grip linger, her gaze locking with his. She wanted to stick her head inside the car and kiss him.
Instead, she stepped back, tucking her palms flat in the back pockets of her jeans.
“Bye,” she said softly.
Burke nodded, putting the car into Reverse. He smiled at her, and her own grin grew.
If she wasn’t careful she’d lose focus on the fact that this wasn’t real.
Burke was watching her as he pulled out, and a passing pickup clipped the back end of his small car, sending him skidding sideways, the air bags deploying as the vehicle bounced off a neighboring truck.
Jill squealed and ran to him. His window was still down, and she asked, “Are you okay?”
He looked like he was being smothered by marshmallows with the air bags surrounding him. He was trying to push them away while sputtering, “I’m fine. I’m fine.”
The driver of the truck climbed out. It was Alvin Lasota, one of the biggest curmudgeons of Blueberry Springs. “He all right? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a car that small before. Is that toy even street legal? I don’t want to get him into trouble with the law, but I ain’t up for lying to the insurance company again.”
Jill managed to free Burke, temporarily ignoring the rancher, who was inspecting the very limited damage to the front of his truck. Burke stood on the asphalt and stared at his crumpled car.
“It’s not a toy,” he said gruffly.
“If you insist,” Alvin said skeptically, thumbs hooked into the front belt loops of his jeans.
“It’s better for the environment than that old beater you’re driving.”
“You couldn’t even fit my sheep dog in that little thing. How am I supposed to ranch in an enclosed golf cart? A man needs a truck.”
“Well, you just ruined my car.”
“You ever tried looking before you pull off a curb, or were you too busy looking doe-eyed at your new wife?”
Burke’s face f
lushed as he squared off with Alvin, and Jill pressed her hands between the two of them. “Boys…”
“Who are you calling boys?” both men asked, turning to her.
“I am, because you’re acting like it.”
“You’d better phone Scott,” Alvin said. “This boy’s insurance company is going to need to buy him a real car and it’s best to have the police involved.”
They all turned to look at the affected vehicle. It wasn’t too bad other than the deflated air bags and the flat back tire that was bent at a weird angle. And the dents. There were some of those. And broken lights. Actually, quite a few pieces had fallen on the ground as the car did what it was supposed to in order to protect Burke.
So it was bad.
But both trucks looked like they were still in decent shape.
“Your insurance company,” Burke muttered.
“You cut me off.”
“You were driving too fast!”
“Boys!” snapped Jill once again. “Cool it.”
She texted Scott Malone, the local police officer, and he arrived on foot less than a minute later, a ceramic coffee cup from Mandy’s café in hand. “Sorry, wanted to finish my coffee so it didn’t go cold.”
He quickly settled the two men, taking statements and all pertinent details before promising to contact the owner of the truck Burke’s car had bounced off after being hit. Then he returned to the café to finish supper with his wife, Amber.
“Sorry for the loss of your toy car,” the rancher said, not quite looking at Burke as he got back into his truck. “You must be quite the man to drive something so small. Nothing to overcompensate for when it comes to your manhood.”
Jill choked on a laugh.
“Sorry you didn’t even get a scratch on your overcompensating environment killer,” Burke grumbled.
The man scowled at having his comment twisted and thrown back in his face.
“You’re not very good at making friends, are you?” she asked, as she quickly steered him away from Alvin, who was looking as though he was about to step back out of his truck and settle things once and for all. “Come on, I’ll give you a ride to the city.”
Burke sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I can rent something—my insurance company’ll cover it.”
“The local dealer provides rentals, but they’re closed Sundays,” she said. “I could call the owner, though, and see if he can get you something.”
“Thanks.”
Jill made the call and had an answer within a minute. She gave Burke the bad news. “He won’t have anything until tomorrow morning at ten. Do you want me to give you a ride home?”
“That’s four hours of driving for you,” Burke said. “Two there, two back. I don’t want to put you out. I’ll grab a hotel and take the rental in the morning.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. It’s almost eight already and you have work tomorrow. You wouldn’t be home until after midnight.”
A few hours with Burke in a car wasn’t exactly a hardship. At least not when they were playing nice. Which seemed to be a more common occurrence today. One she found she quite liked.
“Where should I book a room?” he asked, as Frankie Smith came along with a tow truck for his car.
“Why don’t you stay at my place?” Jill suggested quietly, as the amber lights of the truck lit up the night. She lifted her voice to call to Frankie, “I didn’t know you were working for Gus.”
“Just helping out. His gout’s bugging him again. And Axel likes to ride along,” he said, smiling at his son, who was ensconced in his car seat, toying with his feet and gurgling happily.
While Frankie worked, loading the damaged car onto the flatbed, Jill turned back to Burke.
“I don’t want to be a bother,” he said, picking up their earlier conversation about accommodations.
“Burke?”
“Hmm?”
“Please stay at my place.”
He gave her a sly smile, and she quickly added, “It’ll look weird if my husband is staying in a hotel, don’t you think?”
His gaze slipped to her bare ring finger. “Think I need to carry you over the threshold?”
“Think you can?”
“I think I can do a lot more than that.”
Suddenly the idea of him staying at a hotel felt a lot safer.
Jill’s home was a detached garage in the back of her sister’s yard that had been renovated into a small apartment. It was cute and had a surprisingly open feel to it, overlooking the river that wound through the town.
Jill hadn’t stopped talking since they’d arrived, explaining, as she let her dog out into his gated run, how Taylor had been named. Before he could ask what her father had suggested she “shake off” with the ownership of the rescued pup, she changed topics with a swiftness that told him there was a story there. She then mentioned how the animal spent a lot of time with her parents, and that she often babysat for her sister, who had two girls. She also mentioned that last year her little home had flooded when the river rose, destroying some of her product supplies. Hence part of her need for the loan.
Jill was preparing the guest room for him, tossing boxes around and making the perfectly organized space, which obviously doubled as her office, look almost cluttered. While she fussed, he took in the labeled containers of natural ingredients sitting on the shelf that ran above a long table to the right of the door. To the left was a bed where the boxes had been lined up. Near the door a bookshelf held marble pestles and mortars in various colors and sizes, and below that was a row of binders. He pulled one down and flipped it open, finding colored tabs, neatly labeled, with recipes inside plastic page protectors.
Jill reached across him, snatching the binder and just about tripping over her dog, which had stretched out on the floor, in the process. She placed the binder in a cardboard box along with a few others and used her foot to slide the entire box out of the room.
“Those are proprietary. Top secret. No snooping.”
“You don’t trust me?”
“Should I?” Her tone was slightly flirtatious, and he resisted the urge to grab her around the waist and drag her close enough for another kiss like that one they’d shared in the pub. He was kind of getting into this whole husband act.
She twisted out of his grip and surveyed the room with pink cheeks. “I think this should do. I’ll put out a towel and facecloth for you in the bathroom.”
“What if I’m not warm enough in here all alone?”
She picked up a folded wool blanket and chucked it at his chest.
He grinned, knowing he should let her be, but a part of him couldn’t resist poking at her, dropping a few innuendos she took so well. He knew he was unsettling her, but she was so worried about what others thought that he wanted to shift her attention to herself so she thought about herself instead. Her pleasures, her wants.
“I’ll also put out a new toothbrush on the counter.”
“Wow, we’re moving pretty fast. I get my own toothbrush?” Burke tossed the blanket onto the bed and rubbed a spot on his chest that felt bruised from the air bag deployment. It had been a shock, finding himself in a daze, with Jill smiling at him, and then pow! knocked four feet sideways by a speeding truck.
But those little cars were built to keep people safe and that’s what his had done. Even though it was now quite likely a total write-off.
Burke tested the mattress, depressing its surface with his fist. “I sleep naked,” he said, angling his gaze Jill’s way. “Is that a problem?”
She dragged her attention to the bedding as though imagining him there in the buff, then lifted her eyes to his. “Knock yourself out. So do I.” She sent him a sly smile that torqued his interest as she waved the wrist that shared the same tattoo as his.
Yes. He was fairly confident he wasn’t getting a wink of sleep tonight.
She left the room, and he listened to her move around the small apartment while he checked emails on his phone. When it
seemed as though she must have gone to bed, he went to the bathroom, finding the new toothbrush she’d promised.
While he brushed his teeth he bent to check out the line of creams under her vanity, all sporting her Jill’s Botanicals labels. He lifted each one in turn, reading their contents before unscrewing the caps and giving them a sniff, his toothbrush hanging from his mouth.
Burke spit out the paste, feeling as though he was snooping. He pulled off his T-shirt and inspected his chest. Sure enough, there was a bruise forming. Nothing bad, and if that was his only injury he’d consider himself lucky. He returned to the guest room, shirt in hand.
He jumped when he saw Jill sitting at the kitchen table, cradling a cup, her dog sleeping at her feet.
“Can’t sleep?” he asked, feeling inexplicably nervous.
“I haven’t tried yet. It’s still fairly early for me. Normally I work for a few hours.”
“But I’m in your office.”
She nodded. He liked that she wasn’t apologizing, simply stating reality. It didn’t make him feel unwelcome, surprisingly enough. Quite the contrary.
He pulled out a chair, joining her at the table. There was something about being with Jill that felt so natural. No uneasy, awkward silences like there had been with Neila. Jill tested him, taking him from gentle arguing to laughing in a matter of moments. She kept him on his toes, and he liked it.
“So?” he said, not quite knowing his role. He and his past girlfriends had rarely ever spent a full night together, and had definitely never had any sort of bedtime ritual other than tearing each other’s clothes off and then saying goodbye a satisfying hour or two later.
This…this was domestic. Or maybe it was just companionable. Whatever it was, it was different than anything he’d ever had with his first wife.
First wife. He now had a second.
He found himself rubbing the tender spot on his chest.
“Are you an early riser?” he asked.
“Usually. How about you?”
“I like the quiet of 5:00 a.m.”
She had a pot of tea in front of her and she lifted it in question. He shrugged. He wasn’t normally a tea drinker, but he may as well be polite.
