Chapter 2 #2
“I know. I asked him once how tall he is, and he said six-six.”
“Damn.” That made him more than a foot taller than her five-two.
“Nicest guy you’ll ever meet. Everyone loves him.”
Jordan wondered why Katie was telling her that.
Was she playing matchmaker? Because the last thing in the universe Jordan was interested in was anything having to do with the male species.
She was done with men and all the nonsense that came with them.
The last one had nearly killed her, and had ruined her interest in other men.
She agreed that Mason seemed like a nice guy. He would make some lucky girl very happy someday. That lucky girl was not going to be her.
While Mason was gone, Jordan dozed and dreamed and woke to the scent of pizza. “You’re back.”
“I told you I would be.”
Jordan was conditioned to expect nothing so she wouldn’t be disappointed, which forced her to admit she hadn’t actually expected him to come back.
Brendan would’ve gotten sidetracked by a fan or a post or a video or something and forgotten all about her being hungry.
That’s what she was used to. She started to push herself up in the bed.
“Hang on.” Mason found a button on the side of the bed that did the work for her.
“That’s handy.” Until she’d tried to sit up, she’d had no idea how exhausted she was. Between the asthma attack and the lingering effects of the sleeping pill, she had the coordination of a weak kitten.
Mason set the food on a tray, dropped the rail on the side of her bed and rolled it in close enough for her to reach.
“Thank you. It was nice of you to bring me food.”
“I’m hungry, too, so no problem.”
While she picked at her salad, he dove into a meat-lover’s pizza, devouring three slices in the time it took her to take five bites of lettuce and cucumber. Mario’s always included shaved parmesan cheese on their house salad, which she loved.
Mason put a piece of cheese pizza on a paper plate and pushed it in her direction.
Jordan eyed it with lust in her heart. The days of having to watch everything she ate had ended with her reality TV career, but the habit of denying herself was so ingrained as to be almost impossible to overcome.
He pushed it another inch closer. “I told them to keep two slices meat-free for you. You’re not going to let me down, are you?”
“You’re the devil.”
A smile lit up his warm eyes. “You had a close call tonight, superstar. At this point, I’d be asking myself—if this had been it for me, would I be glad I’d given up pizza for years so I could look a certain way?
My answer would’ve been hell no.” He gave the plate another nudge in her direction.
“Eat the pizza. Dance in the rain. Live your life. You never know how long you’ve got. Don’t have regrets.”
He would never know how much she’d needed that reminder or how far she’d strayed from living her best life in the last few years. Jordan picked up the slice of pizza and took a huge bite.
Mason grinned at her, letting her know he wholeheartedly approved of her decision.
Jordan had never tasted anything better than that sinful bite of cheese pizza. She took a second and third bite in rapid succession.
“Don’t choke. I’ve already had to save your ass once tonight.”
She sputtered with laugher and nearly lost the mouthful of pizza. In addition to being bad for her diet, he was also funny and seriously cute, if a six-and-a-half-foot-tall man could be called “cute.”
His brown hair was streaked with blond highlights, and even though it was only June, his handsome face was already as tanned as most people would be by the end of the summer. He must’ve spent a lot of time outside.
“Thanks for getting the food. It’s really good. I owe you for my half.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I will worry about it.”
“Suit yourself. I am not worried about it.”
“I’ll pay you back.”
“Have some more pizza and stop fretting about things that don’t matter.”
“Are you always so blunt and bossy?”
He paused before attacking his fourth piece of pizza. After chasing the bite with a mouthful of water, he blotted the grease from his lips with a napkin.
Jordan zeroed in on the lips that had breathed air into her lungs and electrified the rest of her, which was so silly. He’d been saving her life, not trying to kiss her.
“I guess I’m pretty bossy sometimes, because I have to be. Got a lot of younger people working for me, and they require a certain amount of direction.”
“How so?”
“Well, for one thing, they all think they deserve an award for showing up. Blaine, the police chief, says it’s because they were raised in the everyone-gets-a-prize generation in which they got certificates and trophies for ninth place.
We got them, too, but they didn’t make us feel like we’re special. ”
Jordan laughed. “I’ve got a few of those on my shelf at home.”
“What did you play?”
“I was a cheerleader and dance team member, and I played soccer and lacrosse. Lotta trophies and certificates.”
“I’ll bet.”
“What else do your people do that annoys you?”
“They’re cell phone addicted.”
“Guilty as charged. I was just wondering if you’d thought to grab my phone when you were rescuing me.”
He gave her a salty look. “Sorry that I was more concerned with the fact that you didn’t appear to be breathing than I was about your phone.” His tone positively dripped with sarcasm.
Jordan loved sarcasm. “I’ll let it pass this time, but the next time you rescue me, if you could make it a package deal with my phone, I’d really appreciate that.”
He rolled his brown eyes dramatically. “I’ll make a note of that.”
“You won’t make a note, because you don’t get it.”
“You’re right. I don’t get the obsession. I’m tied to a phone around the clock due to my job. If I didn’t have to be, I wouldn’t. Trust me on that.”
She gave him her best horrified look. “But how would you keep in touch with everyone you’ve ever met if you didn’t have your phone with you?”
“I can think of much better ways to ‘keep in touch’ than through a cell phone.”
Jordan also appreciated a good double entendre. Her rescuer was not only handsome and sweet, he was also witty and charming, which was far more dangerous than smoke for a girl recovering from a badly broken heart.