Not Quite Dating(26)

The words sounded as if they were new to him, so Jessie didn’t push it. “It’s OK. I know you didn’t mean any harm.”
“No, it’s not OK. I should have kept my mouth shut.”
Jessie eased the tension with a smile. “Your dad really has a ranch?”
“Texas is a big state; lots of people have land there.”
“Seems like no one in California has land, outside of the farmers midstate. Heck, I’d settle for a yard and a fence.” She couldn’t even get a dog for Danny if she wanted to.
“I have a feeling one day you’ll get everything you want.”
Jack. The ever-optimistic dreamer. Cute, great kisser, selfless, giving, ambitious, and, she needed to add again, dreamer. Dreamers fluttered to a different flower when the need hit.
“Listen, Jack, about last night…” Jessie looked away from his gray eyes to study a couple of ants that had found a crumb on the table to attack. “That shouldn’t have happened.”
“What, the ride in the limousine? I brought it back, no one even missed it.”
Jessie’s shoulders slumped. Darn the man, he wasn’t going to make this easy. “Not the limo. You know that’s not what I’m talking about.”
“Oh,” he said, acting surprised. “You mean that amazing kiss.”
She shushed him and took in the people around them to see if anyone was listening to their conversation. “It was a mistake.”
“It didn’t feel like a mistake to me.”
Although she knew she probably should tell him it felt wrong, Jessie knew he’d see right through her, call her out on a blatant lie. His kiss had been amazing. She-couldn’t-fall-asleep-for-hours-after-going-to-bed amazing. “It can’t happen again.”
Jessie met his eyes long enough to see the smirk on his face. “This isn’t funny, Jack. I told you before I can’t date you.”
“Right, and why is that again?”
“You know perfectly well why. You’re a dreamer, Jack. You have great plans for a bright future, and something tells me you’ll make all those lofty goals a reality…someday. But right now, you’re still dreaming. Maybe if it was just me, if Danny…” She shot a glance over her shoulder to make certain Danny didn’t hear her. He played on the other end of the playground, oblivious to her and Jack. “If I didn’t have to consider my son, then maybe you and I could have dated, seen if we were good for each other. When you’re a parent, and all your decisions affect another human being, you have to be smart about who you date.”
The smirk faded from Jack’s face. His brows pitched together briefly. “What is it you’re afraid of, Jessie?” he asked softly.
“My mom said once, don’t date anyone you don’t see yourself falling in love with. I didn’t listen to her advice when I was a teenager, and Danny is the result. I love him more than anything on this earth, wouldn’t change him in my life for the world. But I can’t do it again. It wouldn’t be fair to him, or me. You’re a great guy, Jack, but we need to just be friends. Friends who don’t kiss. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it has to be.” So why did saying the words hurt already?
Jack leaned his elbows on the table and placed his head in his palms. “Nothing I can say will change your mind?”
“No. Please understand. I’d like to still be friends.”
Rubbing his jaw, Jack let himself smile again. “I can’t say I like it, but I understand.”
She sighed. “So we’re good?”
A hint of mischief sparkled in his eyes when he said, “Darlin’, we’re better than good. I’ve got to go, but I’ll be in touch.”
“I should have the dress ready to go back by Tuesday. I can drop it off at the hotel.”
He waved a hand and said, “That isn’t necessary. I’ll stop by the diner. You said you worked on Tuesday, right?”
“Right.”
He unfolded from the bench. “I’ll come by. If something comes up, I’ll call you.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Jack looked as if he wanted to say something else, but decided against it. “Have a nice day off, Jessie.”
“Thanks, you too.”
Then he was gone. Jessie watched his cute, denim-clad ass walking in the opposite direction. No argument, no counterpoints for trying to talk her into dating him. Nothing.
She should have been happy with how quickly he agreed to a platonic relationship, but somehow she wasn’t. Maybe the kiss had affected only her in a profound You’ll never find another guy to kiss you like that way.
Maybe Jack wasn’t all that into her.
Jessie forced her gaze to fall on her son and to stop staring at the retreating man. Before she could turn in her seat, Jack glanced over his shoulder and caught her staring at him.
Without a doubt, there would be a smirk, hidden in the shadow cast by his hat, all over his face.



Chapter Seven


Jack sat in meetings most of Monday and half of Tuesday. Eric Richardson, his marketing manager of the Southern California region, ran with the suggestion of renaming Jack’s new chain of hotels.
When Jack asked Eric why he didn’t speak up earlier about his reservations, Eric told him he didn’t want to step on Jack’s ego since the new hotels had his name in the title.
“Step on it next time,” Jack told him. “We pay you to know how to market what we come up with. If the name will keep people from coming, then these hotels will never get off the ground.”