An Irresistible Bachelor(26)

Man, he'd blown it.

She was pacing around the studio when he came out of the closet.

"I'm so damn sorry," he said. "I don't know how that happened."

Well, actually he remembered the whole thing from start to finish. What he should have said was that he didn't know why it happened. Getting used to monogamy with Blair had taken some time, but he'd never slipped up. Not once. He couldn't believe he'd just broken the commitment he'd made.

"I can't...," she started and stalled out. "This isn't going to work. I need to go home—” She pressed her palms to her cheeks. "God! I should never have let that happen. I'm—I don't even know you."

Jack was struck with an absurd desire to recite his vital statistics. Height, weight, Social Security number, date of birth. Marital status.

He winced at that last one.

"It's my fault," he said. "You didn't do anything wrong."

He saw her eyeing the toolbox and then the stairs.

"Wait a minute. Let's not blow this out of proportion." The last thing he wanted was for her to go. "Just because I kissed you, doesn't mean you have to quit."

"Quit? If I leave now, it is not quitting. You tried to take advantage of me."

He frowned and spoke too quickly. "You weren't exactly fighting me back there."

She let out a disgusted noise. "Thank you for pointing that out. That makes me feel so much better."



Jack cursed to himself, thinking he should be more of a gentleman. "I'm sorry. I'm not exactly thinking clearly right now."

Hell, he was lucky he could string a sentence together. Sexual frustration was making his temper short. Worse, in spite of everything that was wrong about them being together, all he wanted to do was get her back in his arms. Naked.

He had to shut his eyes as another wave of hunger pounded through him.

Maybe he should just let her go. Show her the door. Get her out of his life.

Because things like that kiss didn't happen by accident. He'd been wondering what she'd feel like in his arms for real since that moment on her stoop back in Chelsea. And it was a damn tragedy that what had just happened between them had more than lived up to his expectations.

"Should I expect you to try and kiss me again?" she asked.

He opened his eyes and wished like hell he could give her the ironclad answer she was looking for. But at the moment, he wasn't feeling particularly trustworthy.

He dragged a hand through his hair. "I'm in a relationship. I'm engaged to someone—”

"You're engaged?" she said incredulously. "Oh, my God."

Her hands were back on her cheeks and she looked for a moment as if she might be sick because now she was eyeing the bathroom, not the stairs, with desperation.



"Listen, I'm not in the habit of cheating once I make a commitment."

"Oh, really," she tossed back. "So all those stories about your love Me were made up?"

"I said once I commit."

"Well, you certainly don't do that very often, do you?"

She crossed her arms over her chest. He couldn't blame her for looking at him with disdain and meeting her narrowed eyes wasn't easy.

"Tell me, Jack, what exactly are you going to tell your fiancée about this?"

God, he had no idea.

"I'm not sure."

"Probably nothing, right? Which is precisely how all those women ended up fighting over you like they did. No doubt they all thought you were their one and only."

"You shouldn't believe everything you read."

"If I cut out a quarter of what I've read about you, there'd still be plenty to go on. Like the time one of your girlfriends chased a half-naked actress through the Waldorf-Astoria lobby? And what had that lovely Cameron Diaz wannabe been wearing? A feather boa across her breasts and a pair of your boxer shorts, isn't that right?" Callie put her hands on her hips. "That was a personal favorite of mine. Featured in People as well as the New York Post. "


He swore out loud, long and hard. "That was years ago. And she was wearing my pants if I remember correctly."

At the time, he'd found the incident hilarious. After the great chase had begun, he'd sat back in his suite and waited until either his pants came back or the woman he'd been dating for six weeks did. Now, in retrospect, and especially in front of Callie, the theatrics seemed immature.