Page 20 of You, Me, and Forever

“You know the saying: ‘Keep your friends close and have a fling with your enemies,’” she said with a laugh.

I turned to look at her. “I almost had sex with a man I despise. I finally let you talk me into using a ridiculous alias, and I got caught. And now my clients are in there tripping all over themselves to see that bastard’s plans to tear this place down. And for the record—that is not the saying. It’s ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’”

“Always such a stickler for detail.” She chuckled.

I glanced around the lobby of the inn as we made our way to the door. My dad was off today, and I was glad because I wouldn’t want to see him right now. He’d know something was wrong, since he knew me too well.

I paused to look at the staircase. The place where my Christmas stocking had been hung every year of my life. My chest squeezed at the thought.

This man was going to tear down my favorite place in Blushing, and I hated him for it.

He might have been able to win over everyone else in town with his money and his charm, but I wasn’t going to be one of them.

Chapter SixMyles

“Thanks for coming out on such short notice. You think you can tweak those drawings and get them back to me in the next few days so I can take them to the city?” I asked Jackson as he cut into his steak.

“Yep. I can get that back to you by end of day tomorrow,” he said after he’d finished chewing.

Benji walked over and asked if we wanted a refill on our beers.

“Sure. Two more sounds good. But let me ask you something, Benji,” I said.

“Of course.” He leaned over the edge of the bar and folded his hands together.

“I’m fairly certain you heard the woman I left with last night tell me that her name was Dominique, and if I were a betting man, I would guess that you knew that wasn’t her name because she’s a local.”

“Dominique Venezuela?” Benji said over his laughter. “The woman who was here with Dr. Pepper and Marilyn Monroney?”

Now it was Jackson’s turn to laugh. I gave Benji a slow nod. “You didn’t think you should give me a heads-up?”

“Not even for a second.” He chuckled. “You seem like a man who can handle himself just fine. I didn’t think you believed that was her name for a second. Especially the way I heard you repeat it to her severaltimes like you knew it was bullshit. And it was nice to see Montana cutting loose for once. That girl works too hard. I was happy Violet and Blakely got her out for some fun.”

“So you do know her?”

“Everyone knows her. She grew up here. Her dad is the best cook in town. He works at the Seaside Inn. She practically grew up there,” he said, tapping the table with his knuckles two times. “Let me grab you those beers.”

“Montana? This is a woman we’ve met?” Jackson asked as he bit off the top of his french fry. “You’ve been here for a day. That’s not like you. You’re usually all business.”

“I am all business. She’s someone I met last night at the bar. It was no big deal.” I took a long pull from my beer after Benji set it down. “She gave me a fake fucking name and said she was from out of town, but I saw her at the inn today when we were there.”

Jackson leaned back in his chair and clapped his hands together twice as a big smile spread across his face. “The player got played?”

“Please. I knew that wasn’t her name, because she fucking changed the tone of her voice every time she said it.”

“Yet you took her home?” He raised a brow. “That’s not usually your style to pick up a woman in a bar.”

“Well, I sure as fuck wasn’t escorting anyone to a black-tie event last night. I came here for dinner and ran into her. It was nothing.”

“Seems like it.” He smirked. “Is that why you asked the bartender about her?”

“I was curious if he knew that she was lying to me about her name and about living here.”

“Well, obviously he knew, but the bigger question is, Why did she lie about it? She never gave it up, even this morning when she left?”

“She left before I woke up. And no.” I held my hands up. “I didn’t sleep with her.”

But I’d wanted to.

---