I looked away first. I couldn’t hold his gaze any longer, my skin on fire, my chest about to explode.
“You okay?” Kitty nudged me with her elbow. “You’ve gone all flushed.”
“Just the heat.” It was a hot day. “And the alcohol.”
I noticed Neva had moved over to talk to Genny.
Kitty smiled, but it contained more than just empathy for the heat. “You know what I think it is about Jesse?” Kitty said. “He’s got this dangerous vibe going on, but you also know he’d never, ever let anything hurt you. All the thrills and none of the pain.”
“Was I that obvious?” I pressed my lips together.
She nodded. “Pretty much. You both were, if it’s any consolation.”
I shook my head. “It’s not going to happen though.”
“You tell yourself that and you might just start to believe it.” Her smile was sweet.
I watched her as her eyes fell on Nicky. “Does it work?”
“What’s that?”
“Telling yourself you’re not interested? That you’re just friends?” I sipped the Pimms that we’d started to drink. I was pretty sure someone had spiked it with vodka too, as it was feeling like rocket fuel going down.
Probably Genny.
Kitty shook her head. “No. He really is just a friend.”
“Okay.” I believed her as much as I believed myself when I said I didn’t want anything to happen with me and Jesse.
I looked over at him again. He was talking to my brother, who had a beer in his hand, which meant Leon was back from his time away and had agreed to stay sober in case anyone needed a trip to the hospital. I allowed myself a minute to just watch him, his slightly-too-long jet-black hair curling at the ends, still neatly styled, his ridiculously muscled arms covered with tats, and I knew each one told a story, I just didn’t know the story.
No man had ever had this effect on me. He hadn’t kissed me or touched me deliberately in any way that was intimate, yet he was making me feel that I was already on my back underneath him without him even glancing my way.
I was just a girl with a crush on a man that so many women wanted.
Join the queue, Jerrica.
My brother wandered over to Amber, who was carrying Zara, a Zara who, by all accounts, didn’t want to miss the rest of the party by going to bed.
Jesse turned away from Nate and looked straight at me, catching me staring at him again. He gave me a look that told me he’d caught me, then a smile that told me he knew why I’d been staring.
I felt the blush cover my face, taking a long pull of my drink to hide my embarrassment but refusing to look away. I hadn’t seen him since yesterday evening, when I’d dropped him off at home after training and then a meeting he had with his agent at a hotel in Prestbury.
I felt like it had been a week since I’d laid eyes on him.
He started to walk over to me, eyes fixed on mine, his smile now teasing, taunting.
“I’m going to leave you to explain why you were perving on him in private,” Kitty whispered into my ear. “Just ask him why he was looking at you too.”
I shook my head, keeping my chin up and my honesty levels high.
Jesse already knew I was attracted to him. I’d propositioned him already.
When he reached me, he didn’t say anything, just put his hand on my arm and moved me away from the crowds in the garden to where it was quieter near the area that had been recently cleared to build a treehouse for the girls. Various trees gave privacy, creating an area that my brother was having cameras put in when the treehouse was done so he could keep an eye on the girls — and one day his son — playing, but for now, it was secluded.
“You can’t look at me like that and not expect me to respond in some way, Jerrica.”
I loved the way he used my full name, never shortening it like everyone else did.
