Chapter 5
5
"You’ve been awfully quiet today."
At her boss’ statement, Jo closed out her phone’s email app on Dr. Henry Lawton’s reply to her message. Doctor , right. She couldn’t help herself. The old fart and his Truly Yours, Dr. Henry Lawton , he used to end all his communications rubbed her the wrong way.
Pompous ass.
"And what kind of look is that?"
Toni would have to point out Jo’s scowly face, so she did her best to smooth out her features, grumbling, " Dr. Lawton."
Jo didn’t have to say anything more than those two words to Antonia "Toni" Marotta. Nor did she have to wait long for the other woman’s snicker.
"For a someone who you’ve yet to meet, you let him get to you way too much."
"Thanks, counsellor." Jo snorted and set her phone down. "And I don’t need to meet him to know he’s arrogant, egotistical, and overbearing."
"You do know all those words mean the exact same thing, right?" She raised a dark, winged brow.
"Of course, but they’re all fitting."
"I see." Toni was one discerning woman, and the sly eye she sent Jo’s way could mean anything. "Is that the only thing that has you out of sorts this morning?"
So much. But nothing she was willing to share at the moment. She hadn’t even told Mags about Hank and his truck and his…
Her little shiver contradicted the heat flooding her cheeks, while something else flooded down below where she could almost feel how he’d filled her.
Damned hormones.
"I have no idea what you mean," she said, then took a deep breath while pulling the Hartford divorce file up on her screen, before presenting Toni with as bland of an expression as she could. "I truly don’t."
"Uh-huh." Toni’s doubting tone matched her knowing bluish-green gaze.
"What?"
"It’s been a while since I’ve had it, but if I’m not mistaken, you have a case of IHS." An annoying grin played over the other woman’s naturally full, rosy lips. "You poor thing."
"IHS?"
"Mmm-hmm," she murmured while pulling her cup of coffee to her mouth, then grinning even more as the rim touched her lips. "Don’t worry, it’s not fatal. That is, as long as you have continued exposure." Then she took a sip, her eyes holding Jo’s sparking with humor. "Frequently."
"Okay, give. What is IHS?" Jo took a sip of her own coffee.
"I had sex."
"What?" she choked out, while sputtering into her cup. "I had sex?"
"I thought so."
"No, no, no…" Her shoulders slumped. How could Toni tell? Jo hadn’t given out any clues. At least none she could pinpoint. She blew out a low breath. The other woman should have been a prosecutor with her keen powers of discernment instead of a divorce attorney. Meaning, what good was it going to do to deny it? "Okay, I did."
"You…" Toni’s eyes widened, staring in clearly stunned disbelief as she sat hard in the chair in front of Jo’s desk. "Well, I’ll be damned."
"I hope not."
"When? You’re dating?" Toni quickly fired at her while sitting forward. "And I can’t stress to you how important this next question is to me. With whom?"
"Last night." Telling Toni she’d had a one-night stand was still something she herself couldn’t believe she’d done. So, how was she supposed to tell her boss. Her hesitation had nothing to do with worry the other woman would judge her, but still. "First of all, I’m not dating." Toni’s eyes widened even more and jaw slightly dropped. "And all I know is, his name is Hank."
"We had sex in the backseat of his truck," Jo blurted out as soon as Mags’ red front door opened.
"The backseat of his truck." Magdalena’s deadpan reply as she stood in the doorway—her face going from stunned to kind of scrunched up—hung between them.
"Yeah," she answered as Mags grabbed her hand and dragged her inside and shut the door. "Where’s Renner?"
"Don’t change the subject," Magdalena groused as she pulled her behind her into the living room, throwing over her shoulder, "And you know good and well I told you he and Waylen are finishing up some business in Mobile this week. Okay." She pressed Jo into a floral club chair, before sitting in the corner of her solid sage-colored couch opposite her. "Now, spill," she said, crossing her arms.
Jo should have gone straight home instead of stopping at Mags and Renner’s. But she’d missed getting to talk to her best friend all day about what had happened with Hank—and had actually been anxious about it. Something that wasn’t her style. At all. Too bad now that she was here, she couldn’t find the right words to tell her the rest.
And wasn’t that just a bitch.
Seriously, how could she tell her she’d blown off the whole Hank-thing as a meaningless one-night stand? Because, you know, that’s what it was. But, damn, it didn’t feel like it. Not when she’d left a lot of unfinished business in the back of that man’s truck. Business that would have been better served in his bed.
All night.
And maybe into the next day.
So, telling Mags it was anything else but earth-shattering—something she had tried not to admit was true, at least to herself—would be a lie. The other woman would smell the bullshit.
"I’m screwed."
"I assumed you were," Mags said, earning her a slight glare. "But I need more context."
"I thought I could have sex with Hank and just walk away."
"So, you stayed with him." She was about to douse Mags’ thousand-watt smile.
"No, I walked away." And, yes, it disappeared, replaced by that scrunched-up expression again.
"I’m confused."
"Join the club, sister."
"Let’s start from the beginning." The scrunched-up face got scrunchier. "I just don’t need all the blow-by-blow details."
"We didn’t get to that."
"To what?"
"Blowing."
She received a rather exaggerated eye-roll from Mags, before she shook her head. "You’re changing the subject again."
It wasn’t going to do any good to gloss over everything, so she told her friend what had happened from the time she and Hank had walked out of the bar to the point where he’d said they could just talk.
"Oh, that’s so sweet. So?—"
"He had his hand on the front handle, but I stopped him and asked him something like…" This was where it got all tangled up. "What if I don’t want to talk?"
"And that’s how you ended up in the back of the truck," Mags said, nodding, then kind of grinned. "You little hussy, you."
"Really?"
"I owe you for all the grief you gave me over Renner."
"Fair enough." Jo’s heart rate kicked up as she went back to being in Hank’s arms. "Mags, Hank was wonderful. Tender and patient after he’d found out how long it had been for me. After that, he got all growly and kind of…" A zap of remembered awareness hit her at how that had felt. "Possessive." The secret thoughts she’d had about how it had sounded like she was his, ran through her mind again. But those were crazy thoughts. "Then he almost stopped us completely when he could still taste tequila on me."
"My friend," Mags said, sitting forward, her eyes full of understanding, and maybe even a little sympathy. "He sounds like a really up and up kinda guy."
"I think you’re right." Who was she kidding? Mags was right. "You know I’d only ever been with Ash?" Mags nodded. "And it wasn’t so great. But Hank…" She let out a shuddering breath. "He wasn’t only tender, but completely thorough. It’s hard to explain how that made me feel."
"I think I know," Mags said, a little smile playing over her lips. Her friend probably did understand. Renner had been the same for her.
"It had just been such a long time for me." Heat crept up her neck. "I’m still a little sore. But, oh, in such a good way. He made sure I came— twice —before he let himself go."
"And you walked away?"
"I did. I had to."
"Why?" Her friend frowned at her. "And don’t use Collin again. I’m sure at fifteen, he’s old enough, and mature enough, to understand his mom has needs."
"God, I hope not." That wasn’t something she wanted to think about, and she said as much to Mags. "I have no desire for my little boy to have those kinds of thoughts where I’m concerned."
"I’m not saying he actually thinks about you having sex." A visible shudder shook her friend. "That would be skeevey." Then she turned her sincere, golden-brown gaze on her. "But he loves you, and I know he’d be upset if he thought you were steering clear of relationships because of him." The smile Mags gave her almost made her smile too. "And from the sound of things, Hank could be that relationship."
"I don’t know how. When I walked away, I was pretty clear it meant nothing to me."
"Oh, Jo, you didn’t."
"I know. Mags, he wanted to see me again. And the look on his face…"
"Maybe he’ll still call you." Jo was about to torpedo that look of encouragement.
"He won’t."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because I wouldn’t let him tell me his last name, and I didn’t tell him mine." Mags’ eyes widened as Jo made that little confession.
"What?"
"He has no idea who I am."