Jessie Slaymaker's Non-Existent Love Life (The Jessie Slaymaker Series) (23 page)

‘How are you feeling today?’ he asked her carefully, looking for any clues that might add to the picture which was slowly starting to form in his mind.

‘Bit of a thick head. You kept pouring me champagne. Not as bad as you, by the looks of it though!’ she replied jokily as she pulled out her Blackberry and started typing away furiously on it.

Jack took another swig of his coffee as he tried to contain the anxiety he could feel welling up inside him. He looked down at himself for the first time to see that he was bare chested. That was perfectly normal, he told himself. He normally slept shirtless. The worry he had was what was on his bottom half. He prayed that he was in his boxer shorts. He shifted under the covers but short of putting his hand down there and copping a feel he couldn’t tell if he was completely butt-naked or only semi-naked.

Jack decided to be brave. He downed the remainder of his coffee, placed the empty cup on the nightstand carefully, and got up to go to the ensuite bathroom. He tried to look confident but could feel a wobble in his knees. Just the alcohol, he told himself. Perhaps he was still a little drunk. Hallelujah! He was still wearing his boxer shorts; he breathed a huge sigh of relief. Jack made it to the bathroom and congratulated himself in the mirror for not having slept with Sonia. Sonia was a great girl and all, but he didn’t want to go and ruin a brilliant friendship by complicating matters with sex. Plus, there was the slight issue he had with her father.

Looking around the bathroom a little more closely, he noticed it was highly feminine, chock full of expensive-looking beauty products. This bathroom was different from the other bathrooms in Sonia’s apartment. Sonia’s bathrooms were sleek and chic and she followed a minimalist design aesthetic when it came to decorating her home.

This bathroom, however, was personal.
Much
more personal.

Jack had successfully managed to continue deluding himself for all of a minute before he finally allowed himself to let the truth in. A truth that he felt come crashing down on his head like a forklift truck carrying a freight train.

He’d slept with Sonia.

‘Jesus Christ,’ he groaned at himself in the mirror. Why did it have to be
her
of all people? Of course he’d slept with her. He was in
her
bathroom. He’d slept in
her
bed. She’d been wearing
his
shirt. Her father would not be pleased when he found out what had happened—and there was no doubt in Jack’s mind that Mr Shum would find out. What had he done? To top it all off, he couldn’t remember a single second of when he’d bedded the famous and powerful Sonia Shum.

Throughout his entire life, Jack had always been completely aware of every sexual encounter he’d had. He’d instigated the majority of them, except recently with Jessie, when she’d been more of the initiator. There were a boatload of reasons why he’d steered well clear of Sonia in this regard for the past seven years. If he was completely honest, he didn’t even find her attractive. She was an accomplished and polished package, which he could definitely appreciate, but she wasn’t what he regarded as girlfriend material. He simply couldn’t imagine that he had made the first move on her the night before, no matter what state he may have been in.

Jack’s mind wandered back to Jessie. Jessie in her tiny white bathing suit. This was all her fecking fault, he thought unkindly. She was the reason why he’d obviously gone out and gotten so drunk that he couldn’t remember hooking up with Sonia.

‘Her father’s going to kill me,’ Jack gasped at himself in the mirror, as the full realisation of the consequences of his drinking binge sank in.

When Jack had first come to Asia after essentially running away from home and his father’s money, it had been Sonia and her family who had helped him out emotionally, and given him the initial financial support and encouragement he’d needed to get set up in business in China. Mr Shum was a traditional sort of fellow, who had mapped out most things for his daughter—including a husband, or at least a
type
of husband. Noticing that his daughter had taken a shine to this roguish
gweilo
, he sought to put a stop to any further developments that might impact his grand plan. Therefore, he agreed to help Jack only on the proviso that Jack would not become romantically involved with Sonia.
Ever.
For Jack, who had regarded Sonia as the sister he never had, combined with the fact that he didn’t fancy her, the deal had been a no-brainer, and he’d quickly accepted Mr Shum’s money with a solemn promise to never go near Sonia in any capacity other than friendship.

Jack slowly walked back into the bedroom, feeling all too aware that he wasn’t exactly decent in the clothing department. Sonia hadn’t budged from where he’d left her. She was still engrossed in her emails and barely noticed his return. Jack began hunting around for his clothes without much success. His jeans had disappeared, and Sonia was wearing his shirt. All he could find were his socks, which weren’t much use in his grand plan to improve his modesty.

‘Sonia, I think we need to talk,’ Jack said seriously as he sat down on the bed, looking at her.

‘Okay, just a minute,’ she replied, her attention still entirely focused on her phone.

After keeping Jack waiting patiently for at least two minutes, she finally looked up from her phone. ‘Sorry, what do you want to talk about?’

‘Well, it’s about last night,’ Jack began.

‘Yes?’ Sonia prompted with an unreadable expression.

‘What exactly… happened?’ Jack asked, thinking it was best to check before he told her it had been a mistake. That could potentially open up a whole new can of worms.

‘What do
you
think happened, Jack?’ she responded with an edge to her voice.

‘I’m not exactly sure, to be honest. I obviously had a lot to drink and judging from the scene in here this morning, I’d make an educated guess and say we ended up in bed together. Am I right?’ Jack asked tentatively, hoping like he’d never hoped before that he was wrong.

‘That’s right,’ Sonia said without the barest hint of emotion. ‘You begged me to take you home with me. You said lots of nice things to me. I can see now you didn’t mean any of them and only said them to get me into bed,’ she continued flatly, looking wholly unimpressed with him.

‘Really?’ Jack asked, failing to hide his surprise. That would have been most unlike him; it simply wasn’t his style, whether he was drunk or not. And as for the begging… Jack couldn’t remember having begged for anything in his life. Sonia gave him a look that he read as
Do you dare to question me?
Her look was enough to shut him up from questioning her any further. The deed appeared to have been done now, regardless of who initiated what. Now it was solution and mitigation time.

Chapter 57

Jessie had been completely preoccupied with whatever it was Charlie had done or hadn’t done and what was going to happen to him. She’d spent the whole day thinking about her boss’s current predicament—so much so that she hadn’t even properly digested the main reason why Mr Chan had called her into his office, let alone really thought about his proposal. She’d come to Hong Kong on a week’s business trip, and she would be leaving with a job offer. A bloody
good
job offer, on the other side of the world. Tom would be most disappointed in her. He was right. She had to be more selfish. She had to actually think about herself and her own life for once, rather than worrying about Charlie. Charlie was big enough to look after himself. Jessie was not his mother.

Maybe one of the reasons why Jessie had avoided contemplating Mr Chan’s proposal was that she was scared. Scared and excited by the prospect of what he had suggested. It had been so unexpected that Jessie had to remind herself that she hadn’t dreamed up their conversation and that it
had
actually happened. Mr Chan had offered her a job. Not just any job either: it was a chance to set something up from scratch. To be in charge from the inception of a new team, which she would head. Jessie, in charge of other people. It was hard for her to imagine. She’d never pictured it for herself. If truth be told, she’d envisaged herself working under Charlie, maybe not for eternity, but for as long as she could imagine into the future.

This was definitely all new. A totally new way of looking at herself and her career path. The more Jessie thought about it, the more she thought, why not? What was there to stop her? She was single, childless and essentially it would be fairly easy for her make the move. Yes, she’d miss her friends and family, but it wasn’t like she saw them every week as it was. They’d hardly know she was gone. On the plus side, she would get to have an adventure. That was what Tom had encouraged her to do. Maybe this was to be her big life adventure.

Jessie was finally lost in thoughts about herself as she returned to the hotel late that Monday night. She’d finished work and had been wandering around the city not really knowing where she was going, nor taking in what it was she had been looking at. As she entered the hotel lift, she was brought out of her trance-like state by her grumbling stomach. Having not been hungry until now, she was just debating what to order from the room-service menu, when an arm waved between the closing lift doors and a man rushed into the lift in the nick of time.

It was Jack. He hadn’t noticed her though, and he seemed completely lost in his own world of thoughts, totally oblivious to his lift companion. He looked rough, like he’d had a tough day. Jessie wondered what he was doing in her hotel, as he hadn’t selected a floor number. Her heart lifted briefly as the thought that he was coming to see her crossed her mind. No, that was unlikely, she told herself sternly. Especially after how he’d teased her and her body by the pool the previous day. He was probably here to see his brother in his hour of need and agree on what a terrible witch Jessie had been to them both. That was the more likely option of the two, Jessie concluded.

Finally noticing he was not alone in the lift, Jack turned his head slightly and saw Jessie was there.

‘Hi,’ Jack said neutrally.

‘Oh hi, didn’t see you there,’ Jessie lied, conscious that she sounded fake as could be. An awkward silence fell within the lift. The lift dinged at Jessie’s floor, not a moment too soon as far as Jessie was concerned, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she exited the lift and strode quickly down the corridor to her room. She was glad their encounter had been brief. She wasn’t in the mood for a heart-to-heart, or to analyse recent events. Her immediate time in Hong Kong was coming to an end, and all Jessie wanted to do was pass the remainder of her stay without incident, then go home to figure things out in her own time—with no Davenport boys to act as distractions.

Jessie was just searching in her bag for her room key card when she sensed someone was standing nearby. She turned her head slowly to see Jack standing a few metres away, looking uncertain about whether to come any closer.

‘Look, Jack. I’ve had a hell of a day and I’m emotionally and physically tired. I’m also starving, and all I want to do is order some food and go to sleep,’ Jessie said with pleading eyes.

‘I could say exactly the same,’ Jack replied, smiling wearily. ‘But I could really use someone to talk to,’ he added. ‘Shall we go to the hotel restaurant to satisfy your grumbling stomach and my need for someone to listen to me?’

‘Okay,’ Jessie said, giving in, too tired to really put up much of a fight. Plus, who was she kidding? She’d be mad to turn down a chance to try and get back in the gorgeous and sexy Jack Davenport’s good books. Probably better to go somewhere other than her hotel room, though. He’d been wise to suggest a more public place. That big bed just seemed to distract and complicate things, not to mention get her into trouble.

Chapter 58

Jack wasn’t sure why he’d followed Jessie out of the lift. He’d had every intention of ignoring her completely and going back to his own room to wallow in regret alone. He’d almost let her go—but he’d changed his mind for some reason, feeling an inexplicable need to talk to her. And now that he had her attention and company, he didn’t know what to say. Should he tell her what had happened to him? Should he tell her about Sonia? He didn’t think he could just have a pleasant dinner with her and not discuss any of the important, non-superficial heavy stuff that was now going on in his life.

‘So, what was it you wanted to discuss?’ Jessie asked, taking the initiative once she’d ordered a burger and fries. Jack didn’t reply straightaway. He seemed more intent on playing with his soda water than formulating an answer for her.

‘I’ve done something which I’m now seriously regretting,’ he said at length, not meeting her eye.

‘Well, we’ve all been there and done that,’ Jessie exclaimed, raising an eyebrow whilst taking a sip of her white wine.

‘Yeah, well not like this,’ Jack said sadly, his shoulders visibly sinking lower.

‘What’s happened?’ Jessie asked, more concern than impatience now in her voice and expression.

‘I slept with Sonia last night,’ Jack blurted out and sat back in his chair, looking her square in the eye. Jessie didn’t say anything at first. She just stared back at him with a sad look in her eyes, considering his words.

‘Did you tell me that to hurt me?’ she eventually asked in a quiet voice.

‘Of course I didn’t. Do you really think so little of me?’ Jack snapped, feeling his temper flare.

‘Well, I don’t know, Jack. After the pool yesterday I figured you were just in the mood to tease me and goad me. And punish me. Or at least that’s what it feels like you’re doing as far as I’m concerned,’ Jessie said, flexing her figurative claws and fixing him with a catty look.

‘I’m sorry about the massage thing,’ he said, holding his hands up in a submission pose. ‘I guess I got a little carried away. I told you about Sonia because I’m in trouble,’ Jack said, clearly exasperated. He didn’t know what to do or who to turn to, but he expected, or at least wanted, a sympathetic ear from Jessie. Jessie’s face softened, and there all of a sudden was the tenderhearted and loving woman he’d been getting to know, sitting in front of him. He could understand why her defensive barriers had been erected, but he didn’t like to go up against them. He could tell that Jessie could fight with the best of them.