Page 6 of Jaime's Story

We may be almost complete opposites but there’s no doubt we love each other. One thing we both agree on wholeheartedly is that there’s no reason to play around with the wrong guy, but Bryan doesn’t feel like the wrong guy to me. Although the introverted thing I can get behind. It’d make sense why he’d want to continue to work as a relief or floating detective, moving around to wherever he’s needed rather than choose a single unit. It’s so much easier to not offend people for constantly saying no to going out for drinks if they’re always changing.

My co-workers—those in the marketing section versus our design section at least—think I’m stuck up because I always decline their offers. As though I’m too good for them because I’m a Cartwright when the truth is, I’m just not comfortable going out with people I barely know. Especially since I know one or two of them go overboard and the others gossip about it. I just don’t want to waste my energy on that. Not when it’s mixed in on top of my design section co-worker’s snark which hasn’t gotten much better.

“Okay, so he’s likely introverted, how does that help me?” I ask her.

“Well, let’s turn it around,” Jillian states giving me a grin that is full of sisterly love but also warning to not ignore her just because she’s younger than me. “If places were reversed and it was totally the norm for you to ask the guy. If you saw him out with a bunch of guys, even if he gave you a smile would you go over and try to talk to him, risk asking him out when you’re not a hundred percent certain he’ll say yes, and not only risk facing that rejection but having it happen in front of a big group of strangers? Would you even go over and pull him to the side? Cause…I’m pretty sure you already know the answer to that.”

I do and it does make a lot more sense, but it still doesn’t explain why he won’t call me. “He has my number. He could have called any time during the last three months.”

“True, but if you’re not certain he’s interested in you, how’s he supposed to be certain you’re interested in him? So, since it’s almost midnight, I’m giving you a New Year’s resolution challenge,” Jillian states and I barely hold in a groan.

The last one she gave me was in high school and it was to invite some of the new girls in her grade over for a sleepover. It really didn’t go well.

In fact, it went so badly that she refused to be friendly with any of them because they attempted to make fun of me for it. They regretted that because Jillian was Miss Popular of her class, homecoming and prom queen, and everyone wanted to be her friend—and not just because she was a Cartwright.

“What?” I ask when she just stares at me for my acceptance of it.

“Your New Year’s resolution is to make the first move. I’m not saying you have to ask him out on a date, but you’re going to have to give him some surefire way of knowing you’d say yes if he did ask you out. Yeah?” she says, waiting with for me to agree.

As much as I really don’t want to risk looking like a fool, if the alternative is to spend the next three months in this same stupid cycle, maybe there’s something I can think of to make it work. “Okay, I’ll make the first move.”

“Good, now, let’s go back for the countdown. If nothing else, you can make sure Jeffery doesn’t try to kill our nephews if they give Maia a kiss,” Jillian adds, dragging me back over to the huge ballroom in the east wing of the house.

“He still thinks Ashton has a crush on her I take it?”

“Yeah, doesn’t see that it’s just friendship. Heck if anyone has a crush it’d be Zack but he’s a little safer since he won’t be fifteen for a few more weeks.”

“But since Ashton will be eighteen in February, making him the same age as Maia, of course, he’s a threat,” I muse.

It’s clear to everyone in the family that Jeffery is gaga over Maia, but he’s keeping her at arm’s length. Which is probably a good thing since he’s been here at the house so much more in the last two months.

He claims it’s because a few persistent women found where he was living. I’m certain it’s because even living in the east wing of the house, he’s closer to Maia than downtown at the condo that was Johnnie’s before he married Carly and bought them a house. He won’t admit to any of us that he has feelings for her, but if anyone even thinks of upsetting or hurting her, he’s the first one there to stop it.

Her stepfather tried to bring up the prior false allegations against Jeffery in their latest attempt to get her away from Mom and Dad. The judge threw it out, saying that even if he were inclined to rescind the guardianship, it would only be to grant Maia emancipation seeing as how there, at the time, was only seven months before she was eighteen. Along with the fact that there was enough evidence to show she wasn’t safe in the same house as him.

After the hearing, Dad’s attorney gave him a stern warning that if he so much as tried to say one thing about Jeffery regarding the claims that were proven to be false, he’d be hit with a defamation case so fast his head would spin. Then added that with all of the Cartwright fortune behind it, he’d end up bankrupt in a heartbeat if he tried to prolong it.

We slip back into the party as the thirty-second countdown starts and I reach Jeffery’s side while Jillian slips into the group with her friends as we hit ten. I put a hand on Jeffery’s arm when he starts to take a step towards Maia who’s with Ashton and a few others from their grade. Ashton has his arm around her shoulder, keeping the guys with them from getting near her and I lift a brow at him that has his jaw tightening a hint more.

I lean over as we hit five seconds and tell him, “Ashton isn’t interested in her that way and he won’t let them touch her, so calm down.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about, Sis,” he counters, his shoulders lowering, the look on his face dissolving behind a mask and I simply lift my brow a bit higher his way. “Happy New Year’s, Jai.”

“Happy New Year’s, Jeffery,” I reply as he brushes a kiss to my cheek. I rest my hand on his chest and hold his gaze for another moment adding, “I know it’s not something you Cartwright men are used to doing, but you have to be patient.”

“Jai…”

“Stop,” I warn at his growling tone. “I know you’re fighting yourself to not even admit you have feelings for her, and I don’t know if it’s simply to get through the days since she’s still seventeen or if you just want to hold onto your hatred of women, but Maia’s not her. She’s not mercenary and she’s not just begging for your attention. Which yes most of the women you run across daily do. They want your body and your money,” I add grinning at the hint of color that creeps into his cheeks, “but that’s definitely not Maia. If you don’t stop trying to run her off every time she gets near, when she does finally turn eighteen, you’re going to lose her instantly. Got it?”

“Yeah,” he grumbles, giving me another kiss before he stalks away towards our parents. It’s hard for him to enjoy parties anymore because like Jillian, he was always an extrovert, but after what the girl did, he can’t find the joy in it and won’t let anyone close.

I give the party a bit longer, before heading up to my room, all my thoughts once again on Bryan. He’s never far from my mind and as the next week progresses, I can’t stop thinking about Jillian’s words. Especially when I spy him while we’re at a restaurant with our group of friends before the others head back out of town for their final semesters of college. He’s picking up takeout and my heart flares wildly at the frown that falls across his lips, his eyes taking in the group surrounding me.

Is it possible that he doesn’t really get that I’d much prefer to be home with a book than even here with girls I’ve known for years? Does he think that this is what I’d want more than that? It might explain a few more things as to why he simply walks away after giving me a nod in greeting rather than come over to even say hi. I’d never do it if I were in his shoes, and he was out with a group of guys.

Jillian’s brow lifts my way, and I give her a grin, making a full smile break out, her eyes twinkling, and it puts more hope in my heart, while also strengthening my resolve to do this. I just have to figure out how to not make it seem completely insane. Calling him out of the blue…no way can I do that, but maybe if it’s not so much personal as needing some professional help—not a lot and nothing serious, but enough to get us together, alone, just might work.

I didn’t anticipate the perfect opportunity arising just days later thanks to a request from the staff upstairs to redo the latest ad’s color scheme before we release it next week. Apparently on screens that aren’t higher resolution or without blue light behind them, the colors look like sludgy brown and puke green instead of the crisp original colors.

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