Page 60 of Falling for the Enemy

I pointed at him. “Aha, I’m right, aren’t I?”

Jack shrugged. “I don’t usually roll up my sleeves unless there’s a demonstration.”

“Not surprised.” I sat back and tilted my head at him. “You’re my Professor Ulrich. He was dreamy with that touch of gray in the sideburns and these little creases on the sides of his mouth whenever he smiled. He’d wear flannel shirts and jeans to class, and we’d all sigh audibly as he walked into the lecture hall.”

“Ah, one of those rebellious types, eh? Or maybe he just liked the way flannel made his female students swoon. Never pictured you as that type, Lo.” He got up and went to the cupboard.

“What type?”

“The type who’d waste her time on a crush.”

I scoffed. “I had crushes. Admittedly, not as many as my sisters, but there were a few boys in school who turned my head. They usually turned out to be total duds. Some men are easier to admire from afar.”

Jack returned with a bag of cheese puffs. He tore them open, and we each took a handful. Jack held up one bright orange puff and turned it back and forth to look at it. “It seems to me that two scientists would know better than to put an object like this into their stomachs.” He pushed it into his mouth and crunched it. “But so delicious.”

We had a frank discussion on the tastiness of cheese puffs that was interrupted by his phone ringing. A lump formed in my throat at his reaction to hearing his phone. He picked it up off the table and his expression assured me it was Gwen.

“Gwen?” His voice was shaky.

I got up and left the table. I didn’t want to listen in on a private call. I walked out to the living room and stared out the front window. There was a view of the torn-up pool area and not much else. His voice sounded lighter after a few seconds, which was good to hear.

Jack walked out a few minutes later. “Had to tell Holly goodnight. She sounds so much better.”

“That’s wonderful to hear.” I turned back to the window. I needed to decide whether or not to confess my feelings for him, and doing so was easier without looking at him. What I hadn’t expected was for him to stand behind me, close enough that I could smell the wine on his warm breath.

“I see you’re admiring my million-dollar view. That pool remodel seems to be stuck in limbo. I heard the owners of the building didn’t like the first contractor.”

“I have to admit, I’m very spoiled when it comes to views. My grandmother’s cottage, where four of us still live, overlooks Whisper Cove, and it’s probably the most scenic stretch of beach on the coast. It was our playground growing up.”

“Sounds ideal.” His voice was deep and smooth like dark chocolate as it floated over my shoulder.

“It was. It is.” I took a deep breath. “Jack, I’m sorry things ended the way they did in Costa Rica.” I spun around. We were so close our toes nearly touched. “You asked what I was scared of. I think I was just scared about how strong my feelings were for you. I’ve never felt that way?—”

Before I could finish, he pulled me into his arms for a kiss. We stood there in the center of his tiny apartment and kissed until we both needed to come up for air.

“Hmm, cheese dust and wine,” he said. “Not a bad combination.”

I smiled as I snuggled against his chest. His arms went around me. “Do you think we can make this work without—I don’t know—one of us ending up in jail for murder?” I asked.

“Think it’ll be really fun to find out.”

I peered up at him. “Are you ever serious, Professor Sinclair?”

“Yes, I’m seriously, madly and wildly in love with you, Professor Lovely. I have been since the first moment I met you.”

“You mean the moment when you literally ignored me and rudely refused to acknowledge your newest coworker?”

“I was in defense mode,” he said.

“Yep, I know a little something about that mode. Oh, wait, I forgot. You said that Brimley would look even less favorably on a romantic relationship than our contentious one.”

Jack smiled. “Did I say that? Think I was just telling myself that. I actually have no idea how he’ll feel about it.”

“Well, I suppose as long as we’re not making out in the hallway like two teenagers in high school it’ll be all right.”

“Wait a minute? Was that a possibility? I always wanted to bethatguy in high school.”

“That guy?” I asked.

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