Chapter Two
Well, shit. Shit, shit, and double shit. Jacob’s mind cursed on a loop in time with his ground-eating strides as he tailed Rick through the crowds to the Private Rentals kiosk. Shit, shit, shiiiit!
He didn’t know if he was more pissed about a year’s worth of wasted searching, only to have Adam be the one to find Jenna, or the fact that once he had her, he’d had to let her go. Again.
At least now Adam’s smug and evasive I’m emailing your flight info. Get your ass to Melbourne by tomorrow made sense. His tone - exactly like that of the gravel-voiced soldier-of-fortune Adam had lived and breathed for the past four years - had echoed in Jacob’s inner ear long after his friend severed their connection. An out-of-the-blue trip down under? Adam had to be yanking his chain. He’d stood in his chrome-and-black kitchen - ignoring the Los Angeles city skyline as it came to life against an orange and purple sunset beyond the panoramic windows – and tapped open the new email. The flight number and departure time below the airline’s patriotic header had looked real enough.
When he’d phoned his personal assistant, Rick had taken it in his stride and set up four promotional interviews with Australian press agents. The first of which, he was already late for, later than late, since his collision with Jenna had delayed his exit from the terminal. Oddly enough, Jacob couldn’t find it in himself to care. The warmth of her touch still lingered on his hips as he followed Rick’s narrow shoulders out the sliding glass doors and into diluted sunshine; a light breeze licked at the sweat on the back of his neck and made him shiver.
Jacob grinned; startling the chauffeur who held open the rear passenger door. He and Jenna were in the same city again. Eighteen months since they’d first met, seventy-two weeks separation and searching, and Fate had decided to throw him a bone at last.
He tried to contain his thrill of excitement but it escaped in a bellow of a laugh and a hand slap on a startled Rick’s shoulder. He had no doubt, as he sprawled his long legs across the limo’s luxurious black leather interior, that Adam was behind this and Jacob couldn’t think of a single way to thank him.
“Good Morning Melbourne with Sally Coulson,” Rick informed him without looking up from the itinerary cued-up on the screen of his notebook where it balanced on his pinstriped knees. “Ranking live-feed magazine show in the state. I’ve phoned ahead, told them the situation and they’ve moved you to the closing ten.”
Jacob heard what the other man said, even nodded his understanding, but he wasn’t listening. In his mind he was still back in the crowded airport, falling into clear green eyes and imagining what it’d be like to finally kiss the lips her smile teased him with. Jenna had melted into him when he caught her mid-stumble. He hadn’t imagined it. Had he?
And that was the thing; the one consistent nagging doubt about the whole messed up situation. Had she actually lingered close at the end of the brunch, blocking his exit from between two tables, so he had to brush against her ass to get past? Or had he only imagined her interest because he wanted her so much? Forbidden fruit was always the sweetest.
Fuck.
Time sure had a way of making you doubt your own mind.
God, how that moment, and so many others throughout that damned weekend, had haunted him in the time since. That damn dress she’d worn to the cocktail evening had left just enough to his imagination. He hadn’t been able to keep from tracking her progress around the room; emerald silk caressing every curve and fine-turned limb. His dick twitched at the memory and he shifted on the black leather. Her hand in his, palms touching as he accepted her greeting. He’d wanted to keep her, right there against his side; had wanted to hear his name from her lips again and again.
But there’d been a hundred pairs of eyes, watching his every move.
The limo came to a smooth stop and while Jacob waited for the door to open – they frowned on him doing it himself – he remembered his eagerness at seeing her in the hallway the next morning. Her faraway frown and the lost, broken look that dulled the sparkle in her eyes had cut him to the core. Nothing had been more important in that moment, than giving her back her smile.
She was in line, surrounded by people who’d message the moment across the globe in a heartbeat; but he hadn’t cared, he’d wanted her smile, needed it like he needed his next breath.
He’d needed more than that, he admitted silently as he unfolded himself from the limo and rolled his shoulders. He’d wanted her against him, wanted her hands on him and his on her. If a boisterous hug was the only way he could publicly get that, then he’d do it.
As fleeting as it’d been, he still remembered every single minute detail. Even now he recalled the thrill of Jenna, all breathless delight, against him. He’d felt her fingers sneak in to twist the fabric of his tee; sensed her need to haul him close held back with hesitant resistance, as he pulled away almost before he’d held her. He hadn’t trusted himself, hadn’t trusted where he was, but he’d trusted her. And her smile was his reward. It’d sparkled in her eyes and put color in her cheeks.
She’d blushed like that today.
When he’d held her close and…
Damn, he hoped to God Adam knew about this. Hoped Jenna was the reason Adam’d dragged him halfway round the world. And that it wasn’t all just another bullshit tease on the part of Fate.
“Please.” He gave a fervent whisper under his breath as he stepped through the studio door and waited silently off-camera while the stage manager wired him for a mic.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I have a special guest for you this morning. He plays Ethan Fox in Lunar Studios’ current box office hit Dante Jones and the Blood Orchid. Please join me in welcoming, direct from Los Angeles, Mr Jacob Starr!”
Jacob strode into shot with a megawatt grin for the audience and an outstretched hand for his host. As he sat in the white leather cube chair with the movie art on the wall behind, he couldn’t help wondering if Sally having red hair was a positive sign, or just further proof Fate got her jollies by totally fucking messing with lovesick saps like him.
♥♥♥
Jenna sat in the back of the yellow-and-black cab; her knees wedged against the tan vinyl of the front passenger seat, and stared unseeing out the open window. Her thoughts weren’t on the cityscape flowing past, but rather memorizing and cataloguing, absorbing and analyzing, every moment, every touch, and how it felt to be held by those hands; to hear her name in his voice, from those lips. She’d been given the second chance she’d begged the universe for; the chance to have what she wanted. And, just like the first time, she’d gone and messed it up.
It felt as if her heart was breaking all over again; a solid heavy weight of regret and despair having made itself at home between her ribs and her lungs. Jacob hadn’t asked her to go with him, hadn’t even said he was glad to see her. And Jenna, idiot that she was, hadn’t been able to say anything at all.
It was too late, her opportunity snatched away by Rick; a dark-haired man of average height, immaculately dressed, who carried a beaten up duffle bag and a notebook with the Lunar Studios logo in silver on the lid. She had no idea why she recalled so many details. Maybe it was because he’d been the one, the one who’d murmured to Jacob that they really must go and Sally doesn’t like to be kept waiting.
Well, at least she knew the answer to the big question.
Jacob Starr was off the market.
No surprise there.
Case closed.
Time to move on.
“You’re not imagining it, you know.” Cait spoke quietly to her right, “I saw it all, couldn’t believe it when he scooped you up and stopped you landing on your ass. How ‘bout those reflexes.”
Jenna tugged her hair forward to hide the hot color she felt flushing from chest to hairline at the picture Cait’s words painted. “Yeah, lucky he was there, or I would’ve made a complete fool of myself.”
“Better buy a lottery ticket.” Cait’s laughter was barely hidden behind sparkling eyes as she squeezed Jenna’s forearm in understanding.
The blare of a car horn startled Jenna and knocked her elbow from the armrest as their driver veered left, and parked under the shadowy overhang of their hotel’s entrance.
“He’s here, you’re here, and this time you both know it. He even knows where to find you this time.” Cait nudged Jenna’s arm before she swung her feet out onto the pavement. “And even if he can’t find you personally, he knows you’re here to see Adam so...”
“Well, there is that.”
“Exactly, now move your ass woman, we’ve got a panel starting in…” Cait glanced at the pink sports watch on her wrist. “Ten minutes, and a hot guy to listen to.”
Cait’s enthusiasm barely disguised the nervous tremor in her hands, but it served to remind Jenna of her immediate priorities. She wasn’t the only one who wanted a chance with her dream guy. Jenna may have fucked up her turn, but there was no way in hell Cait was going to miss out; not if Jenna had anything to say about it.
“You mean drool over.” Jenna smirked, paid the driver and shrugged into the straps of her backpack before lengthening her stride to catch up to Cait. “Room first, dump the bags and then…”
“HOT, HOT, HOT Adam” Cait’s excitement bubbled over and she tried to hit the lift button with a shaky hand.
“Hey, Cait,” Jenna teased as she took over button-pushing duty and the doors closed with a ding. “Don’t burn your tongue.”