Chapter 16
JACQUELINE
The lunch he’d mentioned was at a nearby resort so beautiful and so fancy that I had to be the poorest person who’d ever set foot here.
I kept waiting for an alarm to sound and black-suited security guards to escort me out.
Jesse had been ushered into a glass-walled meeting space with a handful of men in expensive watches and carefully neutral expressions, and I had been placed just close enough to be included, but not close enough to matter.
Which was fine, because directly across from their very serious, important conversation about acquisitions or whatever, was a poolside bar. Lively with people laughing, music playing, and frosty drinks being served.
I’d been watching it for an entire hour. I checked my watch just to be sure, but yep. It’d been an hour since we’d arrived. I felt very much like a prop right then, which was so different from how I felt when I was alone with Jesse. With just us, I barely felt like I was faking it at all.
If I didn’t know about Jesse’s reputation, I might even think we were connecting on a personal level.
But he didn’t do that. Jesse had friends and he had lovers, but there was no overlap between them.
The whole point of our agreement was to prevent anything like human emotion getting in the way when the charade ended. I had to keep remembering that.
When I glanced back at Jesse through the glass, one of his hands was gesturing as he spoke. His posture was relaxed, but controlled, his expression so focused that he didn’t look like the man who’d saved me from that awful bug in the kitchen just a few hours ago.
Smiling briefly when he caught my eye, he winked but then turned back to whatever he’d been saying. I sighed when I felt my heart skip in response. Jesse Westwood was dangerous with a capital D.
Earlier, when we’d arrived, he’d introduced me as his better half and a brilliant lawyer, joking about how I was far too good for him, but that he was working on it.
At the time, I’d rolled my eyes, but the pride in his voice hadn’t felt fake and neither had the warmth that had followed me out of that room after.
It was really starting to mess with my head, his presence and the way he made me feel like I’d somehow become special to him.
Sometimes, when he looked at me, I thought I saw real affection.
But there was no way. Jesse Westwood didn’t fall in love.
I would be a fool to fall for his charms after the way Thomas had blindsided me.
I would just be setting myself up for pain and disappointment.
The sound of the door opening pulled me out of my thoughts and my heart did yet another strange, flip-twist thing when I looked up to see Jesse walking toward me. He smiled, but at the same time, he seemed strangely annoyed.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked when he reached me, extending a hand to help me up.
“God, yes.” I didn’t accept his hand, but not because I was trying to be a brat. It just wasn’t a good idea for me to touch him right now. “I’ve been ready since we arrived.”
Quiet laughter rumbled through him and he took a step back, putting some distance between us when I stood.
I’d noticed he was careful about that, more respectful than I would have expected.
We walked in silence to the exit, the tension of the meeting slowly evaporating from his shoulders the more space we put between ourselves and that room.
“You look like you just escaped from purgatory,” I finally commented. “What happened?”
He glanced at me before his gaze drifted to the ocean, stretching endlessly toward the horizon. “I was bored out of my mind. Who wants to be in there if you can be out here?”
I laughed. “True, but surely, you knew what you were in for when you came over here?”
“Yeah, but the only reason I agreed to come to this series of meetings was because I wanted to make good on some of the adventures we planned.”
I smiled, my heart fluttering all over again. “The dog heist?”
“Among other things,” he said. “We’ll get to that one eventually, but this was just supposed to be for us. Alex didn’t even have to force my hand to come.”
“Does he usually?”
“I’m still adjusting to the suit and tie lifestyle.
” Jesse shrugged. “Sometimes I need some nudging. But I volunteered for this trip and he agreed because I’ve worked with this client before.
Back when I was doing my own thing in Miami.
Technically, I’m stepping on the West Coast Westwoods’ toes here, but the client trusts me.
We’ve got history, so Sterling was good with it too. ”
“Is it done now, though? The business, I mean.”
His nose wrinkled as he shook his head. “We’re having dinner at his resort tomorrow night. It’s an impressive place. You’ll like it, but still. I was kind of hoping we’d get through everything they wanted to talk about in this meeting.”
I glanced back at the exit we’d just walked through, taking in the place again. “Is his resort more impressive than this one? Because let me tell you, this is the stuff dreams are made of.”
Jesse smirked. “You’ll see. If this is the stuff dreams are made of, that’s paradise. Not that it matters. I’ll still be working, which I apologize for in advance.”
I chuckled, glancing up at him as we walked. Now that he was out of that room and getting back to himself, relaxed, easy, and slightly irreverent, it was like a switch had been tripped.
“Don’t apologize. There’s no need. I’m impressed, actually,” I said, the words jumping out of me before I could think the better of it. “You’re really good at this, conducting business like a boss man and then just… snapping out of it.”
He blinked hard, like he hadn’t been expecting a compliment, but then his cheeks warmed. It wasn’t a full-on blush, more just a slightly rosy hue rising to his regal cheekbones, but it was enough for me to notice it—and it was delightful.
I slowed, leaning in as a smile spread on my lips. “Are you blushing?”
“No,” he said immediately.
“You are.” I looked a bit closer, amusement and something much less welcome warming my insides. “Jesse Westwood, you absolutely are. You’re blushing.”
He scoffed. “I’ve never blushed in my life. Not once.”
“That’s statistically unlikely.”
He scowled before sliding his sunglasses over his eyes. “Don’t get excited. It’s just the sun.”
“We only got outside a minute ago.”
“What can I say? I’m really fair-skinned.”
I laughed and shook my head. “You’re not that fair-skinned. We’re still in the shade.”
“And you’re making things up,” he murmured, but he sounded almost shy all of a sudden. “Have you decided yet what we’re doing now?”
I smiled, turning my face toward the breeze. We kept walking and I decided to stop teasing him. Clearly, blushing made him uncomfortable, and while I honestly didn’t understand why, I let it go. “Yes, I have actually. We’re going snorkeling.”
Deep inside, tension thrummed through me when I made the suggestion, but Jesse didn’t even blink. He didn’t hesitate, scoff, sigh, or do any of the things Thomas would’ve done, like I was asking him to personally fund an expedition to the Arctic Circle instead of a simple activity.
Instead, he grabbed my hand and grinned. “Now you’re talking.”
Real, actual joy burst through me, spreading like wildfire through my veins. “Are you serious? We’re going snorkeling? Just like that?”
He sent me a little frown, seeming genuinely confused by the question. “Yeah? Why wouldn’t we? The snorkeling here is incredible. It’d be a crime to miss out on it.”
With that, he dragged me toward the car and gave the driver the name of a place.
We climbed in, then quickly changed in a public restroom once we arrived at a little cove.
I hadn’t even noticed the bag Jesse had stashed in the back of the car when we’d left the house, but he emerged in purple swimming trunks with watermelon slices printed on it, sunglasses covering his eyes, and not looking at all like the corporate raider he’d been just a minute ago.
In order to distract myself from ogling him, I pulled my shoes off and tossed them in his bag, along with the dress I’d swapped for a cover-up. “I can’t believe we’re actually just going to do this. I’m so excited.”
He frowned at me again, but I ignored him this time, not really in the mood to rehash some of the lowlights of the last eight years of my life.
It was much too beautiful and much too sunny to get myself down talking about the mistakes I had made in the past. I needed to be in the present for this experience or I would regret it later.
We were on a beach that wasn’t private, but rather a wide, public stretch of sand leading into a calm, impossibly blue cove where people were already out in the water, floating, laughing, and dipping beneath the surface.
Jesse was a step ahead of me, stripping off his shirt like he intended to walk straight into the ocean without so much as a second thought.
“Whoa, hey. Absolutely not.”
He stopped moving, turning to look at me over his shoulder. I was lifting my cover-up over my head. Standing before him in only a bikini, I made a mental note that he hadn’t let his gaze drop beyond my face at all, like he was holding back for some reason.
“What?” he asked, his voice a little harsh for the circumstances. “I thought we were going snorkeling. The gear is over there.”
I didn’t even glance in the direction he was pointing. “That’s fantastic, but you’re not going in like that.”
“Like what?”
“Unprotected,” I said firmly, already digging through my bag, but I felt him staring at me even though he was still wearing the sunglasses.
He cleared his throat. “I beg your pardon?”
“Sunscreen,” I clarified, holding up the bottle like it was evidence in a trial. “You need some SPF100.”
He laughed. “I’m not a vampire.”
I squinted at him. “Really? You could’ve fooled me.”
“Says the woman from the sunless land of England?” He waved his hand dismissively. “I’ll be fine.”
“You’re already pink.”
He frowned. “I am not.”
“You are,” I insisted. “Give me your face.”
“Can’t. Will’s already got it.” He smirked. “Let’s go.”
“I’m not moving from this spot until I know you’re not going to burn to a crisp.” Without waiting for a response, I reached up and smeared a stripe of sunscreen right across his cheek.
He recoiled immediately. “Hey!”
“Hold still, you big baby.” I grinned as I lunged at him again.
He laughed, ducking as he shook his head at me. “This is assault.”
“No, it’s survival.”
He grabbed for the bottle, but I twisted away, laughing as I dodged him. “You’ll thank me later.”
“But I need a tan.”
“You’ll still get some color.” I hid the bottle behind my back and took a pointed look at his shoulders. “You’re already red.”
He sniffed, slowly advancing on me again. “It’s a tan.”
“It’s going to be a melanoma.”
He lunged again and I squealed, turning to keep the bottle out of his reach. “Let me do you first,” Jesse insisted.
“I already have sunscreen on,” I managed, breathless from laughing so much. “I don’t need more.”
“Oh, so it’s just me you’re concerned about.”
“Yes,” I said easily. “I’ve already put a layer on.”
He stared at me for a second like he was trying to see if I was telling the truth. My heart started pounding under the intensity of his gaze. While I still couldn’t see his eyes, it was like I could feel them. He was looking at me suddenly like something wasn’t quite adding up.
I watched him for a second, but then decided that I didn’t care right now. The ocean was right there and he was standing in front of me, slightly pink and much too distracting with all those abs on display.
“Would you just come here?” I asked, but my voice my softer now. “Please. We could already be done by now if you weren’t so damn stubborn.”
Finally, after a few more seconds of just standing there, he took a step closer and let me spread the sunscreen across his cheek properly.
My fingers brushed over his warm skin as I worked, moving from his face to his shoulders and trying not to feel the hard muscle I was massaging as I rubbed it in.
He wasn’t fighting me anymore, watching me instead like he was trying to figure something out and the answer was someplace inside of me. Annoyingly, it made my stomach flip and another part of me tingle to life.
Yep, he really is dangerous. Even when he’s not trying. Actually, especially when he’s not trying.
“This isn’t so bad, right?” I murmured when I was almost done with his chest.
He didn’t respond right away, tense and standing so still, it was like he was afraid he might snap if he moved. For just a second, as I looked up at him waiting for an answer, he felt a little too close. Even the sound of the water faded into the background.
I cleared my throat, stepping back before my brain could do something stupid and snapping the cap shut. “There we are. You’re welcome.”
It took a beat before he pulled his sunglasses off, blinking like he’d just come back from somewhere else. Then he let out a quiet laugh and nodded.
“Right, yeah,” he said, dragging a hand over the back of his neck and squeezing. “Thanks.”
I smiled, turning toward the water before he could say anything else and calling out to him over my shoulder. “Last one in’s a coward.”