Page 61 of Dangerous Lover

He turned his jacket collar up against the icy wind trying to drive needles of sleet into his neck and entered the Starbucks. He needed winter clothes, but he needed another infusion of hot coffee more.

Jenna cameinto First Page in a whirl of sleet and the scent of pine. “My God, the weather’s awful!” she exclaimed as she rushed in, kissed Caroline on the cheek and handed her a pine wreath.

Caroline smiled and turned the CLOSED FOR LUNCH sign around, which is what she usually did when Jenna showed up for their Monday lunches. Tuesday to Saturday, she stayed open over the lunch hour, hoping for a few extra sales.

No hope of that today. Jenna was the first person to come into the bookstore today and Caroline had a sinking feeling she’d be the last.

She turned the small wreath around in her hand. “It’s lovely,” she said. And it was—finely made of pine branches with a red silk ribbon braided through it. She brought it to her nose and drew in the marvelous fresh scent of pine. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me.” Jenna was removing layers of clothes, dumping them on the armchair. She hated the cold and always said that when her ship came in or she found a millionaire to marry, she’d move to the Bahamas. “Thank Cindy. She made it for you. I’m so proud of her. She found the instructions in a magazine and spent an entire evening on it.” She eyed the wreath proudly. “Not too shabby for a nine year old, eh?”

“No, indeed.” Caroline carefully placed it on a side table, next to a pile of Christmas-themed books. “She’s coming along well. I’m glad to hear it.”

“Thanks to you,” Jenna replied. “I’m so grateful to you, I don’t have words to tell you.”

Caroline waved that off with a smile.

Jenna had been her best friend all through high school. She’d married her high school sweetheart instead of going to college, and had had two kids in quick succession—Mark, now 12 and Cindy, 9. Jenna had reveled in marriage and motherhood and had cut herself off from the outside world in a little haze of domesticity. When Caroline’s parents died and Toby was left so damaged, Jenna had proved completely unable to cope with the idea of tragedy. She hadn’t come to the funeral, and she didn’t answer Caroline’s phone calls.

It had been such a common reaction that Caroline didn’t even hold it against her. Lots of people somehow felt that bad luck could be contagious and for a while after Toby’s funeral, Caroline noticed people crossing the street to avoid having to offer their condolences. Nobody likes bad news.

Then last year, in the space of a week, Jenna’s husband left her for his secretary and her father left her mother, who had just been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

Jenna was left with two small children, a sick mother, no money and no job. She fell to pieces, leaning heavily on Caroline. For a while, Mark and Cindy had come to stay with Caroline while Jenna made arrangements for care for her mother and found herself a job as a bank teller. Mark and Cindy had been two shocked and scared kids when they’d arrived, their world having fallen apart. If there was one thing Caroline and Toby knew, it was your world falling down around you.

Jenna placed a big bag on Caroline’s desk and started pulling out cartons.

“God that smells good,” Caroline said eagerly, opening one and picking up the dim sum with her chopsticks, rolling her eyes in delight, “and tastes even better.”

“Here,” Jenna held her carton out. “Try the beef in black bean sauce, it’s great. And it’s definitely not going onto my hips because I used up at least ten thousand calories walking here in the cold.”

They dug happily in, the warm delicious food raising their spirits. “Ah, food, glorious food,” Jenna said, leaning back, excavating the last shred of meat from the bottom of the carton, the chopsticks making a grating sound. “Better than sex.”

Caroline smiled secretively. No, it wasn’t. Good as the food was, she’d just discovered that sex could be a whole order of magnitude better.

“Speaking of which,” Jenna pointed the chopsticks at her. “Talk to me. I can’t believe you’ve got this gorgeous guy living with you and younever told me.”

Caroline’s eyes rounded.

Oh my God, what was this? Did Jenna have some kind of radar? Was Caroline somehow moving differently?I want you to feel me inside you all day, Jack had whispered in his deep dark voice while making love this morning, and she did. Every time she moved, she could almost feel his presence inside her, against her slightly swollen tissues. Her nipples rasped against her sweater, constantly reminding her how he’d suckled them hard.

In an instant, her body had a flashback to that morning, spread-eagled out on the bed, like a sacrificial virgin in an ancient religion, watching him thrusting in and out of her…

Caroline tried to control her breathing, her shaking hands. Oh God, she was in trouble if just the thought of him hurled her halfway to an orgasm. She had to calm herself down. She drew in a deep breath. “If you’re referring to my new boarder, um?—”

“Jack Prescott,” Jenna interrupted, a smug smile on her face. “Age 32, former Army officer, and most important of all, tall dark and handsome.” She wrinkled her nose. “Well … not handsome so much as sexy.And—” she rapped the chopstick on the table, “currently residing at 12 Maple Lanewhich just happens to be—ta da!—Greenbriar. So talk. Tell all. Where did you two meet? I mean it must have been since last Monday because surely you would have told me you’d started going out with someone? My God, that was quick! You haven’t even known him for a week and you’re already living together. I mean, at warp speeds like that, can wedding bells be far behind? And let me tell you, couldn’t happen to a nicer girl.”

“Whoa!” Caroline laughed, shaking her head. “It’s not—it’s not what you think.” She tried to sound prim and disinterested but she knew that she was blushing beet red.

And Jenna was no fool. Except for her husband, whose affair came as a total shock, she had excellent sexual radar. She’d been the first person to notice that the mayor and Amanda Riesenthal were having an affair.

“I mean we—” Caroline bit her lip. She had no idea if Jack wanted to make public their—what was it? An affair? A weekend tumble? She hoped it was more than that, but until she knew what he thought, better not to advertise that they’d become lovers. So she tried to put it on safe ground. “He’s my new boarder. He showed up on Christmas Eve and was I ever grateful. The Kippings left, I never had a chance to tell you, and I was stuck without the extra rent money. So Jack—Mr. Prescott—showing up and needing a room was a very lucky chance for me.”

Jenna was listening, dark brown eyes wide open in surprise. She frowned. “He’s aboarder? Your boarder? That’s insane. What does he want with a room with you?”

Caroline bristled a little. “Well, I know Greenbriars is a little uncomfortable, but I don’t think he could find a much better room at the price. He’d just arrived and needed a place to stay.”

“Well, well why didn’t he go to the Carlton?” Jenna asked. “Or the Victoria?” The Carlton was Summerville’s oldest hotel, a turn of the century building recently restored. The Victoria was a modern five star hotel, with a Jacuzzi in every room.

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