“Oh, the list is endless. How long have you got?”
Forever! I quickly snap my mind back into line. Really, Annie? Get a grip! “You’re cute,” I quip, and then wince at my poorly chosen reply. Jack’s far from cute; this tall, well-formed, strapping hunk of a man.
Jack glances away for a fleeting moment, laughing to himself. “You’re quite cute yourself.” His eyes return to mine, twinkling madly. “How are you single?”
I should ask him the same question. “Because I want to be. Because relationships require hard work that I’d rather invest elsewhere.”
Jack nods, staring deeply into my eyes. “Invest in yourself?”
“Yes,” I answer honestly, even if it makes me sound selfish. Maybe my outlook will change one day, when the right man comes along. Who knows. But at this point in my life, there is no man, and I’m quite content with that. “I’ve made promises to myself that I plan to keep.”
He breathes in deep, his fingers fiddling with the label of his beer bottle. “I admire you. Your own happiness is important, and you’re clearly happy.”
I sit back a little, assessing his disposition. “Aren’t you happy?”
“Right now I’m deliriously happy.”
I smile and Jack grins cheekily, reaching forward and placing a palm on my knee, squeezing gently. My smile drops in a second, my eyes darting down to his hand touching my bare flesh. Heat spreads throughout me like cracking glass, and water ripples up the side of my highball. My shakes get so bad I’m forced to place my drink on the bar and hold on to it in an attempt to disguise my trembling.
My eyes flick up to Jack’s, finding that his smile has dropped and his amusement has disappeared. Slowly, he peels his hand away from my leg. Good lord. My world just spun out of control while he had hold of me. In those few blissful seconds, I forgot my name, my job, and my ambitions. Suddenly my only motivation was Jack—to touch him, talk to him, listen to him. This stranger removed me from my real life and put me somewhere else. Somewhere distracting. Somewhere consuming.
Consuming. Nothing’s ever consumed me, except work. I’ve only spent a few minutes with Jack, and already I feel a little addicted to the intensity that leaks from him. This is alien…and frightening. It’s caught me so completely off guard.
My heartbeat kick-starts again, and I shake myself back to life. My life. My real life. “It was nice talking to you, Jack. I really must go,” I breathe, slipping down from my stool. I need to escape him now, because my mind is in a muddle and I’m scared of the reactions I’m having to him. I do the polite thing and offer my hand.
He nods, slowly and understandingly. “Undoubtedly the wisest decision you’ll make for both of us.”
He takes my hand and, I swear, explosions happen. The stupid type that people read of in books, the ones where you roll your eyes because it’s so ridiculous to think that two people could have such a powerful connection. Blindsided.
“Here.” He opens my fingers and places something in my palm. “Something to remember me by.”
I look down and see a Budweiser bottle top. “Why would I want to remember you?” I ask, glancing up at him.
“Because this night will go down in history.” He smiles as he forces my hand into a fist, locking the bottle top tightly inside my grasp.
He’s right. There’s no way I’ll ever forget my encounter with Jack. “And what do you have to remember me by?”
He reaches forward and ghosts a finger down my cheek, robbing me of cognitive thought. “I have this,” he murmurs, taking his touch to his temple and tapping lightly. “Stored away up here.”
My knees go weak, my blood’s on fire. I don’t need a bottle top because I, too, have his face stored in a safe place in my mind. Jack leans into me and takes the tops of my arms, holding me in place. When his chest meets mine, my knees actually give, and I whimper, my forehead falling onto his shoulder. Oh my God, who is this man?
His lips meet my ear and he spends a few incredible moments breathing into it before he speaks. “If I ever lay eyes on you again, Annie, I can’t promise I’ll do what’s best and walk away next time.”
He breaks away and leaves, signaling to his friend, a fair-haired man, who follows. He gives me a questioning look as he passes me, taking in my obvious condition. Which is what? Thunderstruck. It’s the only way to describe it. I feel like I’ve been tackled from the side without warning, winding me.
My lungs begin to burn, and I realize I’m holding my breath. It all comes rushing out, so fast and so much of it, I lose my stability and make a grab for the bar.
“Hey, you okay?” Lizzy appears by my side, her eyes traveling between me and Jack as he leaves the bar.
“Yes,” I squeak, and the shakes set in, an aftermath of my encounter with the most handsome and intense man I’ve ever come across.
“Well, wasn’t he just the finest piece of arse you’ve ever seen,” Lizzy says, grinning at me, before slowly losing her chirpy face and replacing it with a worried frown. “Hey, you sure you’re okay?”
Jesus, I need to snap out of it. “Yes, fine.” I shake myself back to life and swipe up my water, chugging it down at an epic rate.
“So where’s he gone?” she asks.
“He was a cocky twat,” I mutter indignantly, lying through the skin of my teeth. It’s the only way to go. Telling Lizzy that my body burned with want, not only every time Jack touched me, but with every word he spoke, too, would be a mistake.
“He could have been the rebound screw I need,” Lizzy sighs in dismay.
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do. What a waste. You’ll regret this.”
“Maybe,” I muse, casting my eyes to the bar entrance, seeing no sign of him. He’s gone, and it’s beyond me why that’s making my stomach sink. “Anyway, are you okay?” I divert, a sensible move. I need to forget the last half hour ever happened. The best decision I’ve ever made? What, walking away? And what did he mean, for both of us?
“Perfectly fine,” Lizzy says, taking my arm and starting to walk us back to the table.
I look at her. “Micky definitely shouldn’t be your rebound fuck.”
“We’re just flirting.”
I don’t miss the look that passes between them as we approach, but I’m too sidetracked to give the situation the concern it deserves, still tingling from top to toe. I look to the door again, his last words playing on repeat in my mind.
If I ever lay eyes on you again, Annie, I can’t promise I’ll do what’s best and walk away next time.
Chapter 3
The night ends with no further wobbles from me, but lots from my friends. Everyone is totaled, but having only drunk water since my enthralling encounter with one prime example of an unholy delicious man, I’ve maintained a sensible level of tipsiness. I’ve been knocked sideways, and it’s taken the rest of the evening to gather myself.
Lizzy has harped on endlessly about my failure to bed said man; Micky has flirted outrageously with Lizzy, and she with him; and Nat has worn away the wood of the dance floor.