Page 22 of Love and Loathing

“No.” She tugged at the hem of the white boatneck blouse, trying not to think about how his thumbs had just run over her bare shoulders. “It’s not a private club.”

His lips quirked up on the side again. “Good.”

An awkward silence filled the space between them. Why had he followed her? She couldn’t imagine what he’d want from her. And all she could think about was how he’d broken up Jacob from a girl Jacob had loved.

She cleared her throat. “Did you need something?”

He clenched his jaw. “Yes.”

She folded her arms. “Well?”

“How well do you know Jacob Whitley?”

“We’ve been close friends since high school.” That was a bit of a stretch. She hadn’t seen him in a few years, really, but Alex didn’t need to know that. “Do you have a problem with that?”

At his side, one fist clenched before he spread his fingers wide. “You shouldn’t trust him.”

She wasn’t sure she did, at least not yet, but Alex didn’t need to know that. “What’s it to you?”

“I don’t want to see you get hurt,” he said.

She shook her head. “He can’t hurt me.” He couldn’t. He didn’t have enough hold over her emotions. But Alex … Every time she saw him, he had her emotions flying all over the place. She barely knew him, and what she did know about him hadn’t impressed her, yet she couldn’t stop thinking about him. She’d already dated the charming ne’er-do-well, and she wasn’t falling for it again. Alex had bad boy written all over him.

“Jacob’s really good at making friends. Whether or not he can keep them is another story.”

“And you’re proof of that?”

“I am.”

She cocked her head. “And why was that? Hmm?”

His blue eyes seemed almost to glow under his cap, and his gaze held her captive. His entire body tensed, like he wanted to reach out and touch her, or shake her senseless, but was holding back. He clearly didn’t believe her about Jacob, but that wasn’t her problem. And she couldn’t shake Jacob’s story about Alex trying to get him expelled. Alex seemed vengeful enough to do something like that.

She took a deep breath and snapped out of her trance. “I can take care of myself.”

Jessie stepped around him, and she just barely heard him whisper. “I know you can,” before she descended the stairs. She suddenly felt exhausted and wanted to leave.

Downstairs, she caught Caroline’s eyes and lifted her keys, pointing to the door.

Caroline’s face fell, and Jessie shrugged. She waved and headed out.

Chapter 9

Alex drove up to the model house and parked on the gravel drive. The construction crew was hard at work, the outside of the house was up, and it looked good. It was a two-story structure with a big wraparound porch, a six-bedroom, four-point-five bath, open indoor floor plan, views of the river, and five acres of land. Alex was proud of how it was turning out.

Charlie’s car sat parked in front of Dave Daley’s office trailer. It’d been a couple months since the project had started, and now, well into April, he and Charlie were more and more certain that this project that would change everything for them. But all he could think was that’d been nearly a month since he’d last laid eyes on Jessie.

It wasn’t like he knew her that well, or had reason to, but he missed her—the way she argued with him without care for his fame and had no trouble putting him in his place if she felt he needed it. He thought of that night at the club. She’d had good reason to be mad at him. He’d handled the Jacob situation completely wrong. Instead of warning her away from him, like he had some right to, he should’ve just told her the truth and let her decide. But he’d taken one look in her eyes and lost his fudging mind.

He picked up his phone and opened the Fish in the Sea app that he’d never deleted. He went to Jessie’s image and stared at it and the big red number in the corner that said they were ninety-eight percent compatible. Not for the first time, he wondered how accurate this app was. The “DATE” button screamed at him to tap it. He swiped his thumb over the top, an inch from the screen, and wondered what she’d do if he actually hit it. She’d probably roll her eyes and laugh or throw her phone across the room. The one reaction he was almost a hundred percent sure she wouldn’t do—ninety-eight percent sure she wouldn’t do—was accept.

Instead, he closed out the app and went to his text messages. He only had one excuse to talk to her, and he was using it. He tapped out a text.

Alex: How’s that pitch going?

A moment later, the three little dots started to move, then stopped. Then they started again. He cleared his throat and sent another.

Alex: We have other options coming in, but we are most excited to see what you’ve got for us.

---