Hadley
LUCY’S DRIVER, SULLY, pulled the car to a stop outside of the palatial mansion on the water that was Lucy’s childhood home. It looked like something from a Tuscan village, not a Seattle suburb. Good lord, it was magnificent.
“Welcome, Miss Simon,” Sully said after he opened my door.
“I’m not sure this is a good idea.”
He smiled. “If Mrs. Haddon invites you to stay, you don’t have much of a choice, so I’d highly suggest you just go with it.”
I took a deep breath and climbed out of the car.
“I’ll take care of your bags,” Sully said.
“Oh, thank you.” I also knew offering to help wasn’t really an option, so I went with that as well and let him take care of it.
“Hadley,” Roxie cried as she pulled open the front door. “Welcome!”
“Hi, Roxie. Thank you so much for having me.”
“It’s our pleasure, honey.” She pulled me in for a hug and smiled. “We love company. Let me show you to your room, then I’ll give you a tour of the house.”
I nodded and followed her up the right side of the foyer (they had a freakin’ double staircase for Pete’s sake), and down the hall in the middle of the upper landing.
Roxie opened the third door on the left and stood back so I could precede her inside. My mouth dropped open of its own accord and I let out a quiet, “Wow.”
The room was bigger than my apartment at home. A slight over exaggeration, but not much of one. A king-sized bed sat between two large windows that overlooked the water, and a door to the right led to a large bathroom with a to-die-for claw-foot tub.
“I figured you might like the room with the tub,” Roxie said. “I love mine.”
“You read my mind,” I confirmed.
She chuckled. “Sully will leave your bags. Do you want to freshen up before dinner?”
“No, I’m good,” I said. “Can I help?”
“Sure,” she said. “I’ll show you around.”
I dropped my purse beside one of the dressers and followed Roxie downstairs. She took me through all of the rooms downstairs and I was sure I’d need a map to find my way around. We ended in the kitchen and I heard male voices as we approached.
Walking inside, I stalled.
Jack turned after grabbing a bottled water from the refrigerator and an expression that I’m sure matched mine appeared on his face. “Hadley. What are you doin’ here?”
“I…,” I stuttered.
“She’s staying with us until you go on tour,” Roxie said. “Isn’t that great, Jack?”
He nodded, but his face belied his agreement.
“Rex. Got a minute?” Jack asked, and walked out of the room.
I shook off his cold reaction to me and forced a smile. “Okay, what can I do?”
Roxie pulled out the makings of a salad and dropped it on the counter. “How do you feel about leafy greens?”
“I love leafy greens,” I said, and went about doing my best culinary work.
* * *
Jack
Rex followed me into the game room and closed the door behind us. “What’s up?”
“What the fuck, man?” I snapped.
“What the fuck, what?”
I scowled. “Why is Hadley here, Rex?”
“Roxie invited her to stay… well, we invited her to stay. It seemed pointless for her to pay for a hotel when she was doin’ stuff for us as well. She and Lucy have become good friends and they’re workin’ well together, so she asked if Hadley could stay. You know, Rox, she loves hostin―”
“Rex,” I growled.
“You said you didn’t have a thing for her.”
“I don’t!”
“Seems like the gentleman doth protest too much, Jackie boy.”
“I think thou should fucketh the fuck off, Rex.”
Rex grinned.
“Let’s just say I don’t have a thing for her, and I’m trying to keep it that way.”
“Well shit, that’s gonna be a little harder with her stayin’ here, isn’t it?” Rex mused while dragging his hands through his hair.
“Ya think?”
Rex shrugged. “Brother, you said there was nothing between you, and besides, it wouldn’t have mattered anyway once Roxie had made up her mind to have her stay here.”
Rex and I snapped our attention to one another and in unison said, “Roxie!”
“She can’t know about any of this,” I said frantically. I couldn’t actually think of which scenario was more frightening, Roxie trying to keep us apart, or trying to play matchmaker.
“No kidding,” Rex replied. “If she finds out, she’ll meddle, and no good could come from that. What the hell is it with you drummers and managers anyway?”
“Are you really judging me? You’re the one that keeps introducing all of us!”
“Keep your voice down, Roxie will hear us,” Rex shushed.
I continued my rant, now whispering, “You just about arranged Lucy and Bam’s marriage. Did he have to pay you in drum skins and cowbells?”
“No, actual animal pelts and cows.”
I scowled. “Explain to me why you’d parade a smoking hot young, amazing woman in front of me, and then blame me for noticing. A woman that seems absolutely perfect in every way imaginable and I’m the asshole for getting a little hung up.”
“Just so I’m clear,” Rex said grinning. “You don’t have a thing for her.”
“I did ask you to kindly fucketh off, didn’t I?”
“The salads are ready!” Roxie called. “What are you boys doing in there?”
Rex replied. “Nothing, just talking about…” he froze and glanced at me, apparently momentarily unable to think of a suitable cover story.
“The tour,” I said, just as he came to and simultaneously blurted out, “cars!”
“Cars on the tour,” I said
“Tour transportation!” we yelled triumphantly in unison.
“Well, come eat, you can talk about whatever it is you’re not really talking about later,” she responded.
* * *
Hadley
I slinked away to bed as soon as I possibly could. Dinner had been an exercise of trying to ignore the closeness of one Jack Henry, the gorgeous, but increasingly hostile man I’d been forced to sit next to.
I was currently lying in a quickly cooling tub and nursing my hurt feelings. Good lord, the tour hadn’t even started, and I already needed it to be over. I needed to go home and hole up in my little apartment in Mobile where I could hide for a while.
I reluctantly pulled the plug and climbed out of the tub, wishing I had a glass (or a bottle) of wine. Roxie didn’t keep any alcohol in her house, which made sense, but I would have really liked a little right about now.
I pulled on undies and a T-shirt, brushed out my hair and then decided to see if I could find some ice cream or something to get my sugar fix. I glanced at the big fluffy robe Roxie gave me hanging on the back of the door, but decided to forgo it, and headed downstairs.
Opening the freezer, I’d hit pay dirt. I grabbed one of six individual mint-chocolate-chip ice cream containers (thank God someone in the house has a sweet tooth), a spoon, and headed back upstairs when I heard a thump and a familiar voice exclaim, “Shit!” I froze in place and squeezed my eyes closed. There I stood, half-naked, foraging for ice cream and Jack Henry was in the house… somewhere.
“Jack?” I called out as quietly as possible. “Is that you?” the last thing I needed was to wake up the whole house.
It took a minute, but then he said, “Yeah, Hadley, it’s me.”
I looked around for a something to cover myself, but only found a tea towel draped over the oven door handle. “Are you hiding?” I called out, still scrambling for anything to provide me with a shred of modesty.
“Kind of, yeah.”
He appeared before me as though he were an apparition and I froze in place, the pathetically undersized tea towel, barely covering my thighs. God, he was gorgeous. He wore a pair of black PJ pants, slung low on his hips and a long-sleeved ribbed Henley that left nothing to the imagination in regard to his lean but extremely cut body.
“Fuck,” Jack breathed out. “Uh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were, ah…”
“Why are you here?” I blurted out.
“I live here when I’m home.”
“I mean, here, Jack. In the kitchen. Shouldn’t you be out at the guest house?”
He gave me a smile that made me want to drop my towel. “Roxie keeps a stash of tea that helps me sleep.”
“Oh, okay. Can you, um, turn around or, close your eyes or something, so I can just scoot past you.” I felt the heat rising to my face.
“Sure, but I’d rather have your company. Here, you can wear these,” he said before swiftly removing his pajama bottoms, tossing them to me before I could protest.
He now stood before me in his grey boxer-briefs, giving me a great look at his bulge. Not that you could miss it. I tried to compose myself and slipped on his pants. He smelled amazing and his intoxicating scent was driving me crazy.
“You can’t sleep, huh?” I asked, trying to hide the fact that I was becoming increasingly hot and bothered.
“Not so much. I’m not much of a sleeper anyway, but I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I’m sorry. Thinking about the tour?”
He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. “Among other things.”
“Like what,” I asked.
“Not what, who,” he said smiling, now slowly circling to my side of the kitchen island.
He studied me and then suddenly, his lips were on mine. I gasped in surprise, which gave him better access to my mouth, then his tongue touched mine and I was done.
I slid my hand into his hair and whimpered with need. Jack grunted, his hand now on the small of my back, pulling me close to him.
“Wait,” I said, breaking the kiss. “We can’t do this, Jack.”
He chuckled, and lifted me onto the counter, setting me down next to my ice cream. “Of course we can. In fact, we just did, and to be honest with you, I’d really like to do that again. To be very honest with you, I want to do a whole lot more.”
“That can’t happen Jack. We work together and there are a lot of people that are counting on me… counting on us. So, like I said, we can’t do this.”
“Or,” he said grinning devilishly, “we can do this and not tell anyone,” before once again kissing me deeply. I was lost. I’d never felt anything like when he kissed me. My mind raced as I forced myself away from him once again.
“I’m serious. I’m not into casual hookups Jack.”
“Hold on, I never said anything about casual. I don’t screw around. I’m a one-woman man.”
“Well, what exactly are you looking for here? A girlfriend? A fuck buddy?”
“Look, Hadley, you’ve been a problem since the day I met you?”
“Excuse me,” I said, pushing away from him. “I’m a problem?”
“Yes, actually, you are,” he said. I can’t focus when you are around and quite frankly you are causing my work to suffer. I’ve wracked my brain, and I can only think of one way to solve this dilemma.”
“And what is that exactly?” I challenged.
“We need to fuck.”
* * *
Hadley
“What?”
“You heard me, and what’s more, you agree,” Jack said as he closed the distance between us.
“I do not, and you’re not listening to me. This,” I waved my hand between the two of us, “isn’t going to happen.”
“Not tonight, I agree.” I started to speak again, but he cut me off. “But I’d like you to start thinking about when.” He kissed me again I once again felt my resolve soften. I’d always been able to resist the unwanted advances of men, but this was not unwanted and he knew it.
I stroked his bearded cheek. Damn, he was gorgeous. “I don’t know, Jack,” I whispered.
He kissed me again. “You are so beautiful.”
“Okay, Prince Charming, let’s take it down a notch, huh?”
“Prince Charming?”
“How many women does that work on?” I challenged.
Jack chuckled. “You think I’m handing you a line?”
“Big time,” I said.
“No lines, baby.”
“That sounds like another line,” she said.
He sighed, running his hands up my thighs. I swallowed, willing myself not to react. If he kept this up, I’d rip my panties off for him and let him fuck me on Rex and Roxie’s kitchen island.
“I really need you to stop doing that,” I rasped.
“How come?”
I squeezed my eyes shut and whispered, “Because I like it.”
“Look at me.” I met his eyes and he smiled. “Let’s have a little fun. You know neither of us is going to be able to think straight until we do.”
Before I could protest further, I felt the words fall out of my mouth.
“Okay, but this has to happen before the tour starts. Once we hit the road, we hit the brakes on whatever this is.”
“If that’s what you want.”
“And not here, Jack. I’m not defiling Rex and Roxie’s hospitality by having sex with you in their home.”
“Is the guest house included in that?”
I bit my lip. “Yes.”
“Okay, you on the pill?”
I nodded.
“I’m gonna get tested and you can figure out a place while we’re waiting on those results.”
“Okay.”
“Gonna kiss you now, Hadley.”
“Okay,” I whispered, and leaned to meet his mouth. Good lord, the man could kiss.
“I’m gonna head back before I can’t.”
“Probably a good idea,” I agreed.
He kissed me one more time and I took my now melting ice cream with me back to my room. The rest of the night was spent wishing I had some kind of battery operated orgasm inducer, but I finally fell into a fitful sleep, dreaming of the man who I was sure would ruin me.