Chapter 52

Tessa lay quietly against him, still curled into his side from the last bout of loving. They’d both been very quiet since her confession. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable, but it wasn’t exactly perfection either.

He drew lazy circles along her back and tried to come up with the words that wouldn’t make her feel like he was placating her. “Tessa-“ Jon began and growled when a knock on the front door interrupted him. He stared up at the ceiling then kissed her forehead quickly. “That’s dinner. I’ll be right back.” He tugged on his wrinkled dress slacks and padded out of the room.

In a habitual gesture he circled his thumb with other hand and popped his knuckles as he went to the door. Signing for the food he gave a half hearted smile to the waiter and the food he’d originally been looking forward to didn’t look nearly as appetizing.

He pushed the cart inside and slid the plates on the table. “Hey, Tessa are you hungry?” he called out.

When she didn’t answer he turned to call again and had to force his mouth to close. She stood in the door with his dress shirt hanging low on her hips, just brushing the tops of her thighs. Her fingers were hidden within the longer French cuffs and if he wasn’t mistaken, they were tightly fisted. She’d taken off the hose and heels and he couldn’t get over how innocent she looked with her wide eyes and messy hair.

She bit her lip uncertainly. “Yeah, maybe I could eat a little.”

They settled at the table and she picked at the steak. An hour ago she would have attacked it like a starving wolf, but now her stomach churned. She didn’t regret the words, but at the same time she was afraid she might have ruined everything. What the hell had she been thinking? He was going to think she was some sort of nut job.

“I’ve heard of bite sized pieces babe, but that’s a little much.”

“Huh?”

Jon smiled and motioned with his fork. “I think my two year old could eat that now.”

Tessa glanced down at the shredded steak. She put down her fork and knife. “I guess I’m not that hungry.” Not knowing what to do with her hands she folded them on her lap. She couldn’t think, not now. It wasn’t the time to figure stuff out now.

“Tessa,” he said low and slow. He watched her swallow, and keep her eyes just a bit averted as she looked up. He laid his knife across his plate and stood. “This isn’t going to work.”

Tessa felt her belly drop to her toes. “What?”

He pulled her chair out and tugged her from her seat. “I want my Tessa back.”

“I am your Tessa-“ she paused as the meaning of that flooded her. “I mean-“

“No, you’re right I want you to be my Tessa.” He pressed her hand against his chest. “I want that more than anything. What I don’t want is you pulling back from me.”

She swallowed thickly, her thumb brushing over the soft fur along his pectoral muscle. “I just-“

Jon leaned in and kissed her gently. There wasn’t any heat in the kiss, but an achingly soft soothing that untwisted the knots in her belly. She sighed into him, letting her other hand curl around his neck and her fingers sift through the feathering strands of hair at his shoulders.

Jon smoothed his hands down the linen of his shirt and quickly decided that it looked far better on her anyway. The gentle flair of her hip tempted as his shirt rose higher, but he knew it wasn’t the time for that now. It was time to put them on some even ground. She’d never believe he loved her if he continued to strip her at every turn.

He nudged her back into her seat. “Now eat.”

She smiled up at him and twirled her steak into the sour cream, butter and chives that bloomed from the oversized baked potato. “Happy?”

“Not at how you’re slaughtering that steak, but yeah I want you to eat.”

She popped the fork in her mouth and took another piece of meat into her mouth. “Sorry, I’m not used to good steak,” she laughed. “Only the kind I can grill.”

He just quirked an eyebrow.

“Either burned black or raw. I kinda suck at cooking.”

“Well it’s a good thing I have a staff then, because I do too.”

The lump was back in her throat, but she managed to choke back the bite she’d started to chew. “Good thing,” she said and resumed eating.

They cleaned their plates and took the wine back to the bedroom. Tessa dropped onto the small couch and curled her legs underneath her as she sipped. She liked the bite of the wine, it wasn’t dry but it wasn’t overly sweet. Helluva lot better than the twenty dollar bottle of Riesling she splurged on every once in awhile.

Jon reached for a pair of jeans out of his suitcase. “Wanna take a shower with me?”

Laughing she twisted her ankle in half excitement, forcing herself to still her fidgeting. “I really want to, but I need to call the store and check on things.”

“Well at least come scrub my back when you’re done,” he said and ducked into the bathroom.

Tessa let her head fall back. The nerves in her belly fluttered back to life. She needed to think, to stop looking at him and that lazy half grin that left her itching to be naked. She dug into her purse and found her purse.

“Chapters, this is Nichole.”

“Hey, Nic.”

“Oh my God!”

She smiled at her friend’s near squeal. “Relax, I’m not on the other side of the world or anything.”

“May as well be,” Nic replied with a snort. “Where are you?”

“The hotel, a very nice one I might add. That’s quite the network you’ve got there darlin’. I was too spacey to even double check the info with Jon himself before I got here.”

“Well, that would have ruined the surprise.”

“It would have been smarter. I swear just the thought of that man makes me lose IQ points sometimes.”

“I bet he gets that a lot.”

Her stomach clenched and she rubbed her hand over her belly. The steak and potato rolled uncomfortably. “Yes, but I don’t do stuff like that.” She sighed, “So how’s my store. It hasn’t burned to the ground or anything has it?”

“Only the cooking section, Adam wanted to try some demos today to boost sales.”

“And how did that go?” she asked blandly.

“I only used two fire extinguishers. It was a good day!”

“Please tell me you’re kidding,” she said and her over active imagination left the steak feeling like lead. Her store was filled with pine and paper for God’s sake it was like a cinder box waiting to…

“Of course, it was only one.”

Tessa rubbed her hand over her stomach again and ordered her food to stay put. “You think you’re funny.”

“No seriously we had a hot chocolate station today because it was freezing here in the real world.”

Tessa looked down at her bare legs remembering the mild temperatures while she shopped. “I should definitely leave out that part of my trip then.”

“I think that would be ideal, since the river ticked ice at our windows all day like we were a shiny instrument to play.” She paused for a moment, “ So…speaking of instruments…”

“Nice, segue there.”

“Yeah? I liked it.”

“Shameless.”

“Even you have no idea,” Nic said with a laugh. “So tell me before I beat you bloody.”

“Not much to tell.”

“Girl, there better be a lot to tell!”

“Well, you’ll have to wait to hear about all that in my memoirs. How’s the store doing?” she asked again. Nic sighed and gave her the rundown on things and a few numbers that made her goggle. “What do you mean we’re double our plan?”

“News got out that Jon had been in the store. Tons of people have been in and you know me, I can sell anything.”

Which was true enough; Nic could sell flip-flops to an Eskimo.

“With that and the Christmas sales, add in the browsers because of your window, and then people coming into town for the town Christmas bash on Friday, we totally went over plan.”

Tessa almost tipped her wine glass. “Oh shit!”

She could hear the laughter in her assistant’s voice. “You forgot didn’t you?”

“Sweet fuck,” she said and put the glass down. “What the hell is today?”

“Thursday,” Nic said patiently.

Tessa got up and tripped over her bag. “Shit! Did you-“

“Already taken care of.”

“But the gift-“

“The gift basket for the charity auction is already put together with the books and media we talked about three weeks ago, Tess. Relax.” Nichole sighed and couldn’t help herself. “Adam and I got a little tipsy while putting it together.”

Memories of Adam’s drunken birthday wrap and the similar status of the present for his wife had her heart rate in the red zone. “Umm…thanks for helping out,” she swallowed. “Did you already seal it?”

“Of course, Adam shrink wrapped it.”

“I-“ Tessa stopped and growled into the phone when teasing and stupidity caught up with her. “You know it’s not nice to play with a simpleton’s mind like this. I’m drunk on sex and wine over here.”

“Are you? Does that mean I get to take advantage of you again?” Jon said as he leaned against the door.

She turned back to him and managed to keep her tongue in her mouth. A knotted towel hung low on his hips and another lay over his shoulder as he squeezed the water out of his hair. Her eyes finally met his amused blue. She swallowed back a groan, “No, you do not.”

“What’s going on over there?” Nic asked.

“Jon’s just being a smart ass.”

Jon just laughed, dropping his towel and tugged on jeans leaving them open as he toweled the rest of the water off of him. When her heart brain started working again, Tessa stood and went into the bathroom, firmly shutting the door when he gave her a cheeky grin. “Sorry about that.”

“Was he naked?”

“Nic!”

“What? C’mon it’s not right that my best friend gets that kind of hard body and I get no details. It’s against the girl code.”

Tessa struggled not to laugh and lost. “You’re as bad as he is. Look, we’re leaving in a bit I think so I’ll be in first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Good thing, because Mrs. Rothchild is coming in to see you.”

Tessa fell back against the door and hung her head. “Just great.”

“You play, you gotta pay.”

“Shut up,” with great satisfaction she snapped the phone shut against her best friend’s laugh.