Chapter 8 #3
Half a dozen more people came through in the next few minutes, and thankfully, Flynn hadn’t hooked up with any of them.
They took cinnamon rolls and lemon bars and cups of coffee, and chatted with Jessie.
They were considerably busier than Danielle and Michael, and Jessie felt totally smug about it.
There was a slight lull in foot traffic when storytime ended, and the book club hadn’t yet started, and Danielle walked across the parking lot to their table. “Flynn,” she said. “I haven’t seen you in a little while.”
“Nope,” he said.
Jessie was aware of the tension beneath their smiles.
“I didn’t realize that you and Jessie were in a relationship.”
“Well, that would be because you and I haven’t seen each other in a while.”
“I’m not convinced—”
Jessie Jane waited for Danielle to finish the sentence. As if she wasn’t convinced that Flynn would have told her even if they were close. But there was no more to the sentence.
“Excuse me?” Jessie asked.
“I don’t think the two of you are in a relationship,” she said. “I think this is some weird thing where you’re conspiring against me.”
“Danielle,” Flynn said. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Oh. He was a liar. And he was a smooth one. She shouldn’t find that hot, except he was doing exactly what she needed him to do, so she did find it hot.
“It’s too coincidental. You’re suddenly with her. She’s suddenly running for mayor.”
It was exactly what he’d said. That Danielle was going to be suspicious.
Well, apparently he knew his half sister better than Jessie did.
And maybe on some level Jessie Jane had been a bit deluded.
Because generally, with sleight of hand, she could impress people enough that they didn’t ask a lot of questions.
But she had gone right into Danielle’s territory, so of course the other woman was going to be fixing her with the evil eye.
“I think you’re trying to cause a ruckus about town, to get some eyes on her campaign. Because God knows nobody would take her seriously otherwise.”
Flynn laughed. Smooth and effortless. “And you think I am going to lend anybody credibility? We both know that isn’t true. Also, this isn’t a Hallmark movie. This is the real world.”
“But you are you,” Danielle said.
And just then, Flynn wrapped his arm around her waist, as if he owned her.
As if he had done it a hundred times and had the right to do it a hundred more.
“Listen, you can call me any number of things, but call me a liar and we are going to have a problem. Especially when you start insulting my girl.”
Jessie felt dizzy.
“Not all of us use relationships as guerrilla warfare,” Flynn continued.
Danielle looked toward the library, and then back to him. “You honestly think my long-term relationship was some sort of … plot to hurt the librarian because I had funding disagreements with her?”
“Stranger things have happened. But I’m just saying, you’re suspicious because you were doing someone dirty the last time you got into a relationship. But that doesn’t make us all like you.”
“I’m the mayor of this town. I’m going to continue to be the mayor of this town. Whether she runs or not.”
“You have nothing to worry about if you’re so confident of winning,” said Jessie.
“I do think people would find it interesting to know that you’re faking a relationship for attention.”
“Sticking with that? I mean, go ahead and spread it around,” Flynn said. “It sounds paranoid.”
He wasn’t wrong. It did, in spite of the fact that it was also correct.
Danielle huffed, then turned around and walked back toward her booth.
And that was when a new wave of cars began to pull into the parking lot. “I’m about to kiss you,” he said.
“What?”
“Just a fair warning.”
He wrapped his arm around her waist again, but this time, he turned toward her and closed the distance between them.
His mouth was shocking. Hard and hot and everything she had ever imagined it might be.
Everything she had ever tried not to imagine it might be.
As she lay in bed at night and thought about Flynn, only Flynn, because he was the only man ever to get under her skin that way.
Her whole body was lit up like a Christmas tree.
At every point where he was touching her.
His hands on her hips, his hard chest crushed up against her.
His mouth … Oh, his mouth. She was dizzy.
His tongue touched hers, and she whimpered.
Her knees went weak, and an insistent pounding made itself known between her legs.
It was over in about fifteen seconds. It hadn’t been a meaningful space of time, and yet it had been a moment in which everything had changed.
Because before, she hadn’t kissed Flynn Wilder. And now she had.
She could never go back to pretending that maybe, just maybe, all the sparks between them were just in her head.
More to the point, she had gone from not being kissed to being kissed, but she had a very stark and terrible feeling that it really only mattered that it was him. And any other time, any other way, it simply wouldn’t have been the same.
It was a pretty tame kiss, as kisses went. She had to try not to look shocked, but she didn’t think she was managing it.
“Okay, now you got your next wave of people.”
But her knees felt like jelly. How was she supposed to go on? He seemed unaffected. And suddenly, she had an inkling of why last night had frustrated him.
Except … Did he really feel much of anything for her if he could kiss her like that and then go back to whatever he was doing? He must not.
And oh, it was galling.
“Hi,” she said. “I’m Jessie Jane Hancock.”
For a while she chatted with a woman called Alice, who was a big fan of romance novels, and who told her all about the newest vampire book she was reading.
She thought she did a pretty good job impressing the older ladies, but truth be told, it was clear that they weren’t the type to be impressed by someone like Danielle. They liked a little bit of spirit, and therefore liked her.
That realization gave Jessie some of her equilibrium back.
When Millie popped out about forty-five minutes later, Jessie had been so busy, she hadn’t been able to exchange even a glance with Flynn. Or maybe she hadn’t exchanged a glance with him on purpose because if she made eye contact with him right now, she might die.
“Everything going okay?”
She watched as Millie flicked a glance over to where Danielle was standing at an empty table.
“She should have brought cinnamon rolls,” Jessie said, not bothering to keep her voice down. “Or Flynn,” she added.
Millie laughed. “Those Wilder men really are a draw.”
As if on cue, Austin pulled into the driveway, parking near to their booth and getting out so he could unbuckle Emma.
Millie’s entire face lit up. She took her baby into her arms, and then Austin wrapped his arms around both of them and kissed them. The obvious affection between them made Jessie’s heart ache. Yeah. There were a lot of different kinds of love.
She sneaked a glance across the way at Michael and Danielle.
The way they weren’t watching Millie and Austin was so pronounced, it was almost comedic.
She knew there had been an incident between the two men.
Austin had been arrested for assaulting Michael in the street.
Really, he had just punched him in the face.
The sheriff hadn’t held him for very long, but the entire incident had been pretty dramatic.
She knew neither Danielle nor Michael would start anything with Austin here, because Austin had already proven he wasn’t afraid to lay Michael flat out if he needed to.
It was obvious to her that Michael and Danielle were stuck together because they had made bad choices to start their relationship and were therefore trapped in it.
Whereas Austin and Millie had chosen each other out of love. And would do it again every time.
“You all about done here?”
They had gone through almost all their baked goods, and the coffee had long since dwindled.
“Yes. I think now we’re going to go put signs up wherever we can manage.”
“Sounds good.”
Austin gave Millie a kiss and got into his truck, leaving Emma with Millie. “Will I see you later, Flynn?”
“Probably not. Dinner at my place, most likely.”
“All right. Good luck with your canvassing.” Millie grinned just slightly. “This was fun.”
Jessie laughed. But then she was left alone with Flynn. And the memory of that kiss echoing between them. Or at least it was echoing within her.
“Anyway, that was an experience,” she said.
“Yep.”
They tore down the booth, and Flynn drummed his fingers on the side of his truck. “Do you have a list of places you want to go?”
“Well, first I want to go to The Watering Hole. Obviously, that’s going to be my main base. Because that’s where most of my constituents are.”
“You definitely need to do a campaign event there.”
“Agreed.”
She smiled at him, and her heart ached.
“Hey, Jessie?” His green eyes burned into hers.
“Yes?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t feel anything.”
With that, he got in his truck, leaving her standing there, feeling as if she had been dipped in hot oil.
Nobody got the better of Jessie Jane Hancock.
But Flynn Wilder might be coming closer than anyone else.
By the time they drove back up to the Wild West Show, Jessie felt as if she had ants crawling under her skin. She needed some distance from Flynn.
She also recognized that they had just set off a pretty intense rumor mill.
“We need to have a date night. Something that isn’t part of the campaign. Because Danielle is suspicious,” she said, when he drove up to the end of the driveway. “You can just leave me here.”
“No, I’m going to drive you up to your house. I’m not leaving you at the end of the road.”
“You … I can text West.”
“Don’t be silly.”