A shiver racked my body, and goosebumps flittered up my spine and down my arms. Jackson was hot when he got possessive. “Exactly,” I said, acting like his comment hadn’t affected me. “Which is why we’re going all in today. We need to make sure that woman knows we’re together.”
“You sure about that? Because I won’t hold back.” He shot me a sexy look, which had me wondering what I was in for.
* * *
From the momentwe entered the restaurant, Jack had his hands on me, and I was silently kicking myself for my overconfident talk about going all in. He wasn’t handsy in a pervy way, but attentive. His fingers lingered lightly as we passed velvet chairs and thousands of bottles of wine along the wall on our way to the table. Then, later, he brushed a lock of hair over my shoulder when he leaned in to say something low in his deep, buttery voice. At one point, he touched my knee beneath the table while talking to his neighbor. To reassure me? To reassure himself? No one could see him do it, so I wasn’t sure whom that had been for, but it had fired up parts of my body that needed to remain dormant for the remainder of the lunch. A lunch where I was trying desperately to make it clear Jack was taken. Because Thalia had seated her small butt directly across from us and was watching Jack like a cougar ready to pounce.
We had just finished eating, the dishes cleared, when Jack glanced at his phone. “I have to take this call. Will you be all right?”
The entire table of twelve or so people were chatting among themselves, including Thalia. All of them were sans significant others; I was the only girlfriend in tow. I gave him a supportive girlfriend smile. This was my job, after all, as he’d made clear by inviting me here today. “Of course.”
He leaned in, and for a moment, I thought he might kiss me.
And then he did. Slow and soft. Not a peck, but something like it, only ultra-sexy in a way that had my heart hammering and my breaths coming out choppy.
Son. Of. A. Bitch. What the hell was that?
Before I could figure it out, Jack was striding away with the confidence of a superhot rich guy, and the entire room stared after him because that kind of power and assurance commanded attention.
I swallowed and stood on shaky legs. People at the table were engaged in one-on-one conversations or chatting in groups. They wouldn’t miss me, and I could use a moment.
I made my way to the ladies’ room, but as soon as the powder room door of the ritzy restaurant was about to close, Thalia pushed her way inside.
She took in my hands braced on the counter. “Everything all right?” Her expression said she couldn’t care less if I was all right.
“Yep, all good here.” I started to wash my hands.
She moved to the sink beside me and pulled out red lipstick. “My trip with Jack this weekend should be fruitful.”
I blinked and looked at her in the mirror. Maybe it was the seductive peck Jack had landed on me, but I was suddenly feeling possessive. I hated the idea of Thalia traveling alone with Jack. And I really didn’t like her tone. “You mean for a client? I wasn’t aware there was a trip planned, but it sounds like things are going well with the company and investors.” Kill her with kindness, that was my motto.
“Very well,” she said and snapped her lipstick closed. “Fruitful with investors and fruitful between me and Jack. We make a great pair.”
Forget the kindness motto. I couldn’t let her last comment slide. “Thalia, don’t get any ideas. Jack is taken.”
She smiled, mouth closed. It was the most sinister thing I’d ever seen. “You never know.”
She turned for the door, and I grabbed her arm. “I’m only going to say this once,” I said in an overly sweet tone. “Back off my man. I fight dirty.”
Thalia seemed startled at the words if not the tone. She must not be used to people challenging her. She looked at my hand. “Do you mind?”
“I do mind. Sexual harassment goes both ways. Jack has made it clear he’s taken, and now I’ve made it clear. He’s not interested. Don’t push it.”
She delivered one last angry look, jerked her arm free, and left the bathroom.
I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. The sexual fluster Jack had aroused was gone. Now all I felt was angry. I wasn’t sure Thalia would take my warning, and it put me in a rage to see someone try to manipulate a person I cared about.
As I returned to the table, I saw that Jack was back.
He looked up as I took my seat, his expression happy. And then his smile faded. “Something happen?”
I met his eyes. “Just Thalia being Thalia.” I smiled at one of the employees I’d chatted with earlier, who loved plants and talked about dropping by Sophia’s shop. “I don’t like it, Jack. I don’t trust her. And now you’re traveling with her this weekend?”
He glanced to the side as though confused, then back at my face, his expression softening. “I didn’t even think about that. I should have told you. I’m not used to being accountable to anyone. I’m sorry.”
“Not accountable. Just, you know, I would have liked to have heard it from you instead of her.” Coming here as a buffer for Thalia and then hearing the things she said—it all had me tense.
“Hey,” he said and nudged me playfully. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous?”
