Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Not even sugar tastes as sweet as Katherine, though I’m not sure she’d appreciate me telling her that.
Not after how quickly she ran out of the room after our little session of fun.
I still can’t believe what went down between us, and I’m confident that she’s probably still in shock as well.
We went from zero to naked flesh in record time, and every part of my body is still deflated that we didn’t go all the way, though I’m glad that we didn’t.
Not when she obviously still doesn’t like me much.
Though that certainly doesn’t lessen our sexual attraction and tension.
Dirty rotten bastard. Those are the three words I should call myself for what just went down in Sebastian’s spare room.
I can still taste Katherine on my lips as I see her walking back into the living room, joining everyone else.
She’s unable to look at me as I try to make eye contact with her.
She’s obviously embarrassed, or annoyed, or absolutely infuriated with me—I’m not sure which.
I can tell by the way her body is still slightly trembling that she hasn’t gotten over what just happened.
I wonder if she also wishes that we’d had time for more.
I make my way over to her and stop next to her, wanting to relieve any tension that may exist between us.
“Hey, I haven’t seen you in a while,” I say in a pleasant tone.
I try not to laugh as she looks up at me with an unbelieving glance and offers me a wry smile. There’s a light in her eyes that tells me that even though what just happened was absolutely crazy, she still thinks I’m slightly humorous.
“I guess there’s no rest for the wicked,” she says, shrugging slightly.
“But who’s wicked?” I say, glancing at her lips. “You or me?”
“I think we both know the answer to that, Jack.” She says my name in a way that makes my heart pound.
I bite down on my lip and study her face.
She has grown up and is even more beautiful than I remember.
With age, she’s gained sophistication, a more dignified air, even if she’s also a little bit haughtier.
I can forgive her for looking at me like the dog’s dinner; it doesn’t make me feel anything but amused.
“You hungry?” I ask.
“Really?” she says, shaking her head. “You’re really going to ask me that right now?”
“I mean for real food,” I say, chuckling. “Though I’m not going to say I’d be dissatisfied if you were to tell me you were hungry for something else.”
“I’m never going to tell you I’m hungry for something else. In fact, you and I are never going to know—” She pauses as Brielle approaches us.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Brielle asks.
“Nothing,” Katherine says quickly, darting a glance to me.
“Oh, we were just talking about food,” I say, giving her friend a wide smile. “And if we were hungry or not.”
“I’m absolutely starving,” Brielle says, rubbing her stomach. “I could eat a horse. What about you, Katherine? Could you eat a horse?”
“I’m not that hungry,” she says.
“Maybe you could eat, what … a donkey?” I say, winking at her.
Her face goes red, and I can’t stop myself from laughing. The death glare she issues me only makes me laugh more.
“Am I missing something here?” Brielle asks, looking slightly nervous. “Chef’s not making some weird meal out of donkey or horse meat, is she?”
“No, not that I know of,” I say, laughing. “It’s just a joke between Katherine and me.”
“Oh.” Brielle looks at her friend. “Do I know the joke?”
“You don’t know the joke, and you don’t want to know the joke,” Katherine says. “I think Jack was just going to get us some drinks. Weren’t you, Jack?”
“I can do that,” I say. I know when I’ve been dismissed. “But are you—”
“It was good talking to you, but I think we’re both thirsty.”
“Don’t worry; I’ll get you some drinks. Some more wine perhaps?”
“Sure,” Katherine says with a nod.
“What about you, Brielle?”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind some. I think they have a Riesling.”
“Two glasses of Riesling coming up.”
I walk away, and as I get farther away from the women, I hear Brielle whispering to Katherine.
“What was that all about? And where did you guys disappear to?”
“You don’t want to know,” Katherine says.
I turn to look over my shoulder and see she’s staring at me. I lick my lips slowly and give her a big wink. She just glares at me. I can’t help but laugh as I make my way to the kitchen and grab two glasses.
“So, why do you look like the cat that got some cream?” Levi asks, his blue eyes dancing with merriment as he observes me.
“I don’t know,” I say. “Why are you asking?”
“I just saw your lady friend running out of one of the rooms about ten minutes ago, and then you sauntered out five minutes later. I’m just wondering if something went down, if you know what I mean.”
“Oh? What do you mean?” I say. “You want some wine?”
“Nah, I’m okay. I’ve still got my beer.” He holds up his hand. “So, what’s going on with you? Was it Brielle?”
“No. Brielle’s got light-brown hair. Katherine’s the one with the almost-black hair.”
“Oh, okay. I forgot. You know her from before, don’t you?”
“You know that I know her from before. No one’s going to forget what went down the other day,” I say, laughing. “Nice try, Levi.”
“What? You haven’t been very forthcoming with information. So, I figured I’d have to use my smarts to get what I could.”
“It’s not really a long story,” I say, shrugging. “I met Katherine many years ago at a club, and she ended up dating my brother, Zac.”
“She dated Zac?” He looks surprised. “No way.”
“Yeah. I don’t think they dated very long, as they were both teenagers. You know how those things go. Anyway, I think she was still a senior in high school, and Zac was at Columbia. He’d just started.”
“They dated seriously?”
“No, it didn’t seem to go very well. They didn’t see each other very often, and he kind of was seeing other people. They broke up.”
“So then, why was she so mad at you?” he asks.
Maybe I had a helping hand in the breakup.
“You know how it goes.”
“What happened?”
“I could tell she really liked him, and she seemed like she wasn’t going to dump him, and I just felt bad for her. She seemed way more invested. I knew Zac wanted to go a little bit deeper into the relationship.”
“Deeper—like get married?”
“No. I mean, he wanted to hook up with her.” I do not want to delve into why that had made me pissed off and jealous.
“Oh, they didn’t have sex?”
“No, but he was pushing for it. And she just seemed like a sweet, innocent girl. I didn’t want her to get her heart broken by Zac because he really wasn’t looking to settle down.”
“So, you were looking out for her.”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” I nod. “Anyway, I should take these glasses of wine over. You want to join, actually get to know her and Brielle?”
“I guess so,” he says, shrugging. “So, what’s Brielle’s story? Do you know anything about her?”
“Not a thing, other than she’s best friends with Willow and Katherine. And to be fairly honest, I don’t really know much about Willow either, other than what Sebastian has told us and the information I got from the private detective. But that’s really all surface level.”
“They all seem really sweet, and they’re all gorgeous.”
“They are,” I say. “They really are.”
“I mean, Katherine and Brielle are both banging,” he says. “Though I guess it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to make a move if I’m going to possibly invest in their company.”
“You’re interested?” I look at him, trying to keep my voice monotone.
My heart skips a beat as he looks over at the two girls. There’s a wicked glint in his eyes. I don’t want to say anything, but I’m not happy with the way he’s looking at them.
“I mean, they’re cute, and they seem nice.” He looks over at me. “Why would you care if—”
“I don’t care whatsoever,” I say.
“You sure? I mean, you still haven’t told me what went down in that bedroom.”
“If you’re asking if Katherine and I just banged, we did not.”
“Okay then, I’m glad to hear it.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because you weren’t in there for more than ten minutes.” He chuckles. “And I’d like to think that one of my best friends is not a ten-minute man.”
“Really, Levi?”
He starts laughing. “Okay, I’m lying. I don’t ever want to think about you in the bedroom.”
“Good.” We stop next to the ladies. “Katherine, Brielle, you remember Levi?”
“Hi,” Katherine says. “Good to see you again. I’m Katherine.”
“I remember,” he says, and then he looks over at Brielle. “And you are?”
“Brielle. Nice to meet you officially.” She grins.
“So, you girls come here often?” Levi says, then groans. “Okay, ignore that. I just meant, how are you enjoying the city?”
“It’s really cool,” Brielle says with a smile.
“It’s always been our dream to live somewhere other than Whispering Haven.
I, for one, didn’t think we’d ever get out.
But we’re living in Manhattan now, and we may possibly have a deal for our business—I mean, if one of you invests, of course. No pressure,” she adds quickly.
Levi chuckles. “Don’t worry; we’re businessmen. We never mix business with pleasure. If you’re going to get a deal, it’ll be because the idea and the proposition are worth our while.”
“Good to know,” Katherine says.
“Here’s your glass, madam.”
“Thank you, sir.” She wrinkles her nose. “Actually, I’ll just say Jack.”
“Why don’t you want to say sir?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because you don’t seem like a sir.”
“Oh? What does that mean?”
“I mean, you say sir to someone you respect as a great person. And—”
“Well, you’re saying you don’t respect me?”
“I’m saying I don’t think you’re better than me.” She grins.
“Are you trying to push my buttons, Katherine?”
“I didn’t know you had buttons to push,” she says. “Please, show them to me, and I’ll attempt to.”
I just shake my head and watch as she sips her wine.
“You like it?”
“It’s good. Thank you.”