End of Day (Jack & Jill #1) (31 page)

“You ready to show the old man up?”

Jessica turned at the sound of Tom’s voice. He handed her leather work gloves.

“Uh …” she looked at Luke.

He grinned. “You’re going to tear off the siding then reside the shed with my dad. Then I think he has an ax for you to chop down a few old dead trees.”

“Felicity has a few easy projects inside too,” Tom added.

“I-I’m good with this.” She nodded. “But … just to be clear. This is a gift and not a punishment for taking my clothes off in front of you, right?”

Tom cleared his throat. Luke’s eyes darted to his, wide with surprise.

Jessica turned to Tom. “I took a dip in the lake. Luke did not.”

Tom smirked. “I’ll grab an extra crow bar.” He gestured to the shed.

“You know he’s old enough to be your father, yet because he’s a guy and he can’t help it, he’s going to be picturing you frolicking in the lake
naked
. Thanks for that.”

Jessica trapped her upper lip between her teeth. “Do you think any of the other Jones men will be picturing me naked today?”

His gaze rested on her, but he was somewhere else. It was a familiar look that elicited a slap of regret. Jessica wanted his affection, not his regret.

“It’s a gift. I thought ripping something apart and whacking down a few dead trees would be a healthy release of all that energy you keep trapped inside.”

She nodded; a soft, pensive expression masked her enthusiasm. Luke was trying to help her, but she hated herself for needing it in the first place.

He slid his palm against her cheek and threaded his fingers in her hair. She closed her eyes as his mouth brushed her ear. “It’s not a punishment.”

Her body shivered right to the bone. He smiled, It was weak, almost tortured.

“Where are you going?” She found her voice after he’d already turned and started back toward the house.

“I have a lunch date.”

Panic stomped on her lungs forcing her mouth open in a silent gasp. How dare he say that? How dare he
do
that? She was too old to stick out her tongue and pound her feet so she flipped him the bird as he walked away. In her peripheral vision she caught Felicity looking out the back window. Jessica rotated her wrist and flattened her hand, palm up, then waved with a smile. Felicity’s shoulders bounced a bit. Jessica sighed, relieved that Luke’s mom found the humor in her immature gesture.

“Ready to tear something apart?” Tom called from the door of the shed.

“Absolutely.”

They ripped the siding off the shed. Then Tom gave Jessica instructions on residing it. She took down three dead trees with an ax, envisioning Luke’s head as the trunk. By the time they finished the small projects inside the house, Jessica felt like a certified handywoman.

“You’re a natural, young lady.” Tom handed Jessica a cool lemonade as she pulled off her gloves. They stood side by side on the deck, watching the sun sink into the lake.

“I had fun.”

He laughed.

“I’m serious. I used to work on cars and motorcycles with my dad. We still do occasionally. I love tearing things apart and putting them back together.”

Tom sighed, keeping his gaze to the lake. “You’re good for him.”

“Luke?”

He nodded. “Taught him everything I know. I thought he’d stay around here, buy some land, and open up his own B&B. He originally went to college to pursue a business degree. Then …”

Jessica’s brow furrowed. “Then what? Did something happen?”

Tom nodded with a painful squint.

“Dinner will be ready in about an hour, if you two want to get showered up,” Felicity called from the kitchen.

“Okay.” Tom smiled at Jessica as if he wasn’t just about to tell her something important. “That’s her way of saying we’re smelly and dirty.”

“Yeah, we probably are.” She stepped inside as Tom held open the screen door.

After grabbing her toiletries, she went into the bathroom and peeked her head into Luke’s room. He was on his bed reading a book, looking casual in his shorts and T-shirt—both ironed and devoid of wrinkles of course.

“Hey.”

He looked up, slipping his bookmark in his book. “Hi. My mom said you were a huge help to my dad today.”

She shrugged. “Yeah, I suppose. He taught me a lot.”

Luke nodded. “He knows his stuff, that’s for sure.”

They looked at each other for a silent moment. It felt like a stare-off. He was daring her, taunting her to ask about his lunch date.

“Did you have a good day?”

He smiled, a little too much. “Yes, I did. You’d better get in the shower. Dinner will be ready soon.” Luke opened his book up and began reading again. “You’re staring.” He kept his eyes on the page.

“I’m thinking.” Jessica replied.

“About all the things in this room that you could use to kill me?” Luke continued to focus on his book, not showing a bit of true concern.

“I did that yesterday and found six possibilities. But I just spied four more. That’s ten, Jones. So maybe you should lock your door tonight.” She freed her tangled mess of dark hair from its ponytail holder as she slid the door shut. At the last second, Luke glanced up. Jessica held her scowl until the lock clicked ending the showdown.

Livid.

Her level of frustration continued to escalate with each word he didn’t say about his lunch date. Really, who brings a girl to meet—or not meet—his parents, and then goes out on a lunch date with someone else?

The shower was supposed to calm her nerves, cool her off … but it didn’t, even when she turned it to completely cold. By the time she stepped out and wrapped a towel around herself, she felt contemptuous heat simmering beneath her skin. Jessica was about to blow.

“Did you have wine?” She slid the door open until it jerked to a stop in the wall pocket.

“Excuse me?” Luke looked up, keeping his eyes on hers, in spite of her wet, naked body wrapped in a towel.

“Did. You. Have. Wine. At. Lunch?”

He smirked. “Get dressed. It doesn’t matter.”

Jessica took several steps closer. Luke tensed but continued giving his full attention to what must have been the most spellbinding book ever.

“It matters to me.”

“Why?”

“Because if you had wine then you were trying to impress your ‘lunch date.’”

“So what if I was?”

Luke had perfected the I-don’t-answer-to-anyone attitude.

“I’m serious, Jones.” She snatched his book and stomped back to the bathroom, depositing it in the toilet along the way. “Lock your fucking door tonight!”

*

Jessica’s stomach screamed
at her to hurry up as she applied some light make up and added a few curls to her hair. The aroma of fresh bread and savory herbs wafted up the stairs, enticing her to make her way to the dining room.

“Don’t you look lovely.” Felicity’s welcoming smile eased Jessica’s nerves.

Everyone else was already seated. She chastised herself for wasting so much time plotting Luke’s death when she should have been showering and helping with dinner. Helping with what? Jessica wasn’t sure. She could side a shed or fix a leaky toilet with minimal instruction, but baking fresh bread seemed as intimidating as flying around the world in a hot air balloon.

“Thank you, Felicity. Sorry I’m late.”

“You’re not. My kids are all vultures so they were all early.”

A few chuckles and eye-rolling ricocheted around the table. Jessica made eye contact with Luke as she took a seat next to him. The appreciative smile that stole his lips settled like warm yet sour milk. The stiff, forced smile on hers confirmed it.

“Jessica, this is Lake, our youngest.” Tom leaned over and wrapped his arm around the younger female version of Luke. She was quite possibly the most beautiful teenage girl Jessica had ever seen: high cheek bones, black hair that fell to her shoulders in a chic wedge cut, dark blue eyes, and a model’s body.

“Hi, Lake. Very nice to meet you.”

“You too. So you’re the one who has caught my brother’s attention.”

Jessica placed her napkin on her lap. “I wouldn’t say that. Then again, these days I don’t think it takes much to capture his attention.”

Luke sighed, but only enough for Jessica to feel his exasperation, his displeasure.

Liam cleared his throat. “Well he’s thirty-three and you’re only the second girl he’s brought home … ever.”

Lake shoved a bite of food in her mouth and mumbled over it, proving her manners weren’t as refined as her beauty. Jessica already loved her. “Yeah, but he was engaged to the first girl.”

Like dimming the lights in a theater, silence invaded the room. Everyone’s eyes were on Luke with caution, then Jessica with sympathy, and ending with a scowl for Lake.

“What?” She shrugged. “Sorry, I didn’t know it was top secret.”

“It’s not,” Luke intervened. “Jessica’s not my girlfriend or fiancée, so … it’s fine.”

Everyone relaxed and carried on with dinner, except Felicity and Tom. Jessica could feel their empathetic eyes on her, gauging her reaction to Luke’s clarification. So he had a fiancée, and a lunch date, and possibly a glass or two of wine … so what? He also had something happen to him in college, but what? Why would he tell Jessica, the “not girlfriend or fiancée,” about his personal life?

“Mmm, this is amazing.” Jessica focused on the food and found her smile after taking a bite of her herb-roasted asparagus.

“Thank you. Actually, Luke seasoned the vegetables.”

Jessica dabbed her lips. “Well, looks like he’ll have a talent to fall back on if the mind-manipulation thing doesn’t pan out.”

Laughter bubbled from his family as Luke’s hand rested on her leg. Jessica turned to stone. Her pulse raced like he’d slammed down the accelerator to her heart.

“Ah, my dear friend, Jessica, has such a refreshing sense of humor.” His grip on her leg tightened.

Was it a test? Jessica rested her fork on the table and curled her fingers into a fist, pumping it several times. She wanted to dig her nails into his hand instead of her own. The growing need to throw him on the floor, tear off his clothes, and taste the saltiness of his flesh consumed her.

“Did your
lunch date
have a refreshing sense of humor?” she asked with a smile, but firmly clenched teeth.

“Aw, Luke … you called me your lunch date. How sweet.” Lake stuck out her pouty lower lip.

Luke smiled and released Jessica’s leg. “Yes, I did. I don’t get many lunch dates … with all the ‘mind-manipulating’ that I do, so it was nice to have one with my favorite Lake.”

Felicity melted in her chair, no doubt touched by Luke’s sentimentality. Jessica, however, was ready to knock out a few teeth.

They coasted through dinner with Luke giving an occasional sidelong glance to Jessica, which she returned with absolutely nothing: not one look, one smile, one word.

“Thank you for dinner, Felicity. I need to go make a phone call.” Jessica stood as everyone finished their dessert.

“You’re very welcome. We’re going out on the houseboat in a little bit so grab a jacket or you can borrow one of mine.”

“Oh … okay.” Jessica retreated to her bedroom and collapsed on the bed.

Luke was heroin in her veins. Just his proximity made her world a better place, yet at the same time he felt like her imminent demise. She was going to need another psychiatrist just to recover from him.

“Jessica?” He knocked on the door.

“Go away …
or
come on in.” She sighed as he opened the door.

“Do you really have a phone call to make?”

“Yes. But God’s busy right now. His mother/secretary, Mary, took a message. I’m sure he’ll call back later.”

“Do you want to talk?” He sat in the chair he’d been in that morning with the pool stick.

“Not really. Do you?”

“I think we should.”

“Fanflippentabulous! You go first.”

“You’re angry.”

Jessica sat up, pulling her knees to her chest. “You’re judging me.”

“I apologize. You’re right, that wasn’t fair.”

“Why did you want me to believe you had a lunch date when in fact it was your sister?”

“To see how you would react.”

She closed her eyes. “It was a test?”

“Jessica—”

“Did I pass?” Her words were slow and sharp.

Luke leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. In casual clothes and his hair sporting a slightly-ruffled look, he had the appearance of a normal man capable of speaking uncensored words that hadn’t gone through some politically correct filter.

He looked at her and she waited and waited.

“Sorry, Jones, I can’t understand you, probably because I don’t speak mute. So I’ll just go while you make sure all your words are lined up in perfect order. I don’t really give a damn if I let a few escape that haven’t been given much actual thought. Sometimes emotions matter more than the right words, and if you overthink every goddamn word it’s like suffocating it until all the emotion is gone.”

She swallowed and took a deep breath, still riding that wave of courage. “I thought it was sex, you know? I haven’t had it in … forever: ten months, two weeks, one day, and a few hours. Yes, I’m counting.”

Luke’s attention jumped from the floor to Jessica. She returned a one-shoulder shrug.