Page 11 of The House on Blueberry Lane

CHAPTER FOUR

AN HOUR OR so later, any apprehensions Velvet may have had about joining Jaye for dinner were gone. She was totally enjoying herself and thought he was a likable guy. Her heart had ached for him when he’d told her about his mother. Regardless of what he’d said, she figured his mother’s actions had affected him. She had a feeling he regretted sharing that much of himself and usually didn’t do so. Probably because it was too painful to recall.

He had quickly switched the subject to his father, and she could tell the older Jack Colfax was someone Jaye admired tremendously. He had told her how his father had opened his first bank ten years ago and now there were several of them on a national scale and they were looking to spread to other areas.

He wasn’t boastful or arrogant, but she could tell he was proud of his family’s success and accomplishments, and how important it was for his father to pass some sort of legacy to his three sons. She understood because she had felt the same way about her parents. Both had worked hard to turn their first Spencer’s restaurant into a smashing success. By the time they had celebrated the restaurant’s fifteenth anniversary, there were over a hundred Spencer’s across the United States.

Although she had worked alongside her parents in growing the family business, her parents had known that her true love was teaching. Not once had they tried to shift her focus from that and she appreciated them for it. From listening to Jaye talk about his father, she could tell they had a close relationship, like the one she’d had with hers. It was sad that his mother hadn’t stayed in contact with her sons after his parents had divorced.

More than once tonight during their conversation, their gazes met and held. Each time it happened, she became even more fully aware of him as a man. A man who got her blood stirring. And she had a feeling it wasn’t one-sided. There was no way it could be when the intensity of his gaze was radiating a degree of desire she could actually feel.

“I’ve told you a lot about myself, Velvet. Now tell me about you. What made you leave Seattle to settle here in Phoenix?”

She didn’t say anything for a minute and then said, “A year after I graduated from college, I lost my parents in a carjacking.”

The look in his eyes flashed from shock to outrage and then to sadness. “I’m sorry, Velvet. I am truly sorry.”

“Thanks. The authorities got the guy, but all I could think about was how senseless their deaths were. He could have taken their car and left them by the side of the road, but instead he killed them.”

There must have been something in her voice that touched him and beckoned him to touch her. He reached out and gently caressed the side of her face as if he were trying to smooth away the pain and sadness he saw there.

Velvet liked his touch. It calmed something within her. Namely, the torment she felt whenever she thought about her parents’ deaths. As his fingers continued to caress her skin, his gaze traced a slow path over her face, as if cementing each of her features to his memory.

“That had to have been hard on you.”

She nodded, fighting back her tears from pain that was still raw. “It was. They were all I had, and we were close. I remained in Seattle long enough for the guy to go on trial and be sentenced. Then I felt I had to get away and move someplace else.”

“What made you decide on Phoenix?” he asked in a comforting voice.

“My best friend from college, Ruth Bethea. This is her hometown, and she would always tell me what a great city it was. We’re both teachers and when there were vacancies at her school, she convinced me to come here and so I did.”

A smile curved his lips. “And I’m glad you did.”

Velvet tried not to be taken with Jaye but discovered she was. Although she was twenty-five, she hadn’t done a lot of dating. After high school, most of her time had been spent at the universities, obtaining her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, both within four years. Most of her free time had been spent traveling around the country with her parents as they checked on their restaurants. Once a year, the three of them also traveled abroad to different countries.

Because of their wealth, her parents had cautioned her early that there were just as many gold-digging men as there were women. She had found that to be true when she had met Lamont Owens in her senior year of college. They’d dated three months, and she had liked him. But then one night he had bragged to one of his friends about his plans to marry her and make sure he ran the Spencer’s Corporation when her old man retired. He only saw her as an investment for his future. Ruthie had overheard him and told Velvet. That’s when she had dropped him like a hot potato and had been glad they hadn’t shared a bed. After Lamont, no guy had interested her enough to move to anything serious.

Until now.

Jaye interested her. Never had she felt such strong vibes off a man. Whenever he looked at her, leveling those dark eyes on her, she had to fight to keep from moaning. Even the sound of his voice was a turn-on. He was extremely handsome. Tall, dark and sexy certainly described him to a tee. Whenever he smiled, it seemed the entire world should smile right along with him.

His chestnut-colored skin looked smooth as silk and the neatly trimmed beard around his mouth offset a gorgeous pair of lips. When had she been taken with a man’s lips before? Then there was that little dip in the center of his upper lip that did something to her. Made her want to take her tongue and—

“How do you like living in Phoenix so far?” he asked her.

She shifted her gaze from his mouth to his eyes. Had he noticed the attention she’d been giving to his lips? “I like it here. I admit that I had to get used to how dry it is since I came from a place that rained a lot.”

“I’m sure that did take an adjustment.”

Her gaze had shifted back to his lips. She met his eyes once more when she caught the tail end of what he’d said. “An adjustment to what?”

He smiled. “The difference in the weather between Seattle and Phoenix.”

“Oh.” Velvet knew she should be keeping up with the conversation, but she was fighting to focus on what he was saying rather than the lips his words were flowing through.

“I could stay here and talk to you for hours, Velvet.”

She was glad to hear him say that because she felt the same way. Besides being handsome, the man was suave, intelligent and a great conversationalist. He was well versed on a number of topics. But then so was she, and they had covered a lot of them. “I like talking to you, too, Jaye.”

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