Page 100 of This Thing Between Us

“It’s about time you got here. You had one more minute otherwise I was going to ask the driver to just get going.”

A new email came through from one of the donors asking to have the seating arrangement changed so that he didn’t have to sit next to his wife. I just shook my head and made a mental note to move some place cards around once I arrived at the venue.

The driver started the shuttle and pulled out of the parking lot.

Finally.

Then a warm body, much larger than my sister’s, took the seat next to me.

Startled, I looked up to find the man I’d been avoiding so successfully sitting by my side.

I locked my screen and stared at him. “Where is Savannah?”

Worry tightened Jack’s mouth in a straight line. “Savannah is going to meet us at the winery a little later. I needed to talk to you, and I wanted to make sure we didn’t have anyone to interrupt us.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “And kidnapping seemed to be the best solution? Again.” I broke away from his pleading stare to call to the driver. “Excuse me, sir, can you please remove this man from the vehicle? He’s dangerous.”

The driver shot me a look in the rear-view mirror. “Three hundred dollars and I’ll kick him out.”

I gasped. “Excuse me?”

The driver nodded his head. “That gentleman paid me a hundred and fifty bucks to make sure I kept driving until you heard him out.” He shrugged. “If you want me to pull over, you gotta make it worth my while.”

“Unbelievable,” I muttered under my breath.

Jack’s body towered over me. My heart raced as I sat there wanting to ignore him. When I felt his fingers thread through mine, I shivered, remembering how it felt when we were together.

I had only just started to know his touch when it had been taken away from me.

Withdrawing my hand quickly, I accidentally slammed it into the seat in front of us, sending a shooting pain up my arm.

“Dammit,” I cursed, trying to shake it off as if that would help alleviate the pain.

It served as a temporary distraction at the very least.

Jack lifted his arm so that it laid across the top of the bench, his hand precariously close to my shoulder.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way. What will it be?” His fingers played with a loose strand of my hair. My brain told me to move, but every other cell in my body sung for me to stay.

“That depends. What did you have in mind for the easy way and what did you have in mind for the hard way?”

A fire returned to his eyes that hadn’t been there a second ago.

“The easy way is easy. I’ll tell you what happened between Katie and me after I returned to Haver’s Creek, and we make it to the gala in time for you to pull off the event of the year.”

Fury flowed through me. “You can’t seriously be threatening this gala if I decide to take the hard way.” I barely recognized my voice. This event was my entry back into Haver’s Creek. It was how I planned to make a living.

He shrugged. “It’s up to you.” He pointed at me, the tip of his finger gently nudging me in the chest.

I sucked in a breath at the sudden electricity between us. It was then that I noticed the open suit jacket. The crisp white dress shirt unbuttonedjust soto reveal a glimpse of Jack’s muscled chest. Dragging my gaze higher, I found his warm eyes filled with worry.

It would be so easy to forgive him. But that wouldn’t assuage the sharp pain in my chest that had been there since Katie Kooney so smoothly broke the news of their engagement.

I glared at Jack, putting my metaphorical mask in place to throw him off, but also to protect myself.

“You have between here and the winery to say whatever it is you need to say, but once we get there, you have to promise me that you will leave me alone so I can do my job. I will not have you jeopardizing my career because you couldn’t keep it in your pants.”

Okay, so I was totally pissed that Jack had gotten together with Katie. It hadn’t happened when I assumed it did. But she had been such a bitch to me growing up that it seemed impossible that someone I loved so much could do something like that with someone I hated.

---