Colin watched him go from the kitchen. “He’s definitely going to break something.”
“He’s not going to break anything,” I said.
A loud thud echoed from the next room seconds after he’d disappeared into it and I shrugged, but corrected myself immediately. “Okay, he might break something.”
Zach huffed out a laugh, then shut the door behind us and strode into the living room, groaning as he collapsed onto the couch. “I’m willing to take the knock on the deposit if it means we get to relax here for a few days before we head back.”
Colin grabbed three beers out of the fridge and came to join us, passing them out before sitting down himself. “We have at least that until we’ll have the papers Hubert needs for us to fly him back to the States anyway.”
I nodded, weirdly not feeling as frustrated as I should’ve by that news. Instead, I looked over at Hubert, who had just discovered an expensive rug and was enthusiastically claiming it as his own, and felt a disbelieving smile tugging at my mouth.
Cloud nine didn’t even begin to cover it. We’d actually done it. We’d gotten him back for her. My chest tightened at thethought. I didn’t know if she’d ever want to see me again or if she’d answer when I called, but that didn’t matter right now.
Hubert had been the one thing that had been hers in her past relationship and Thomas had tried taking even him from her. Even if I wasn’t part of the picture anymore and she never wanted anything to do with me again, she would have him back.
And for today, for right now, that was enough.
CHAPTER 36
JACQUELINE
Iwas not going to think about Jesse tonight. That was the plan. Instead, I was going to take a long, hot shower, open up my laptop to get some more work done, and not drink any wine.
While I definitely wouldn’t have minded a glass, wine led to poor decisions. Like texting or calling a man who hadn’t been taking my calls or texting me back. Which meant no wine and no Jesse.
Just peace and work.
After I stepped out of the shower, I wrapped a towel around myself and reached for another to twist my hair up, desperately trying to stick to the plan. The apartment was quiet though, and it was making my thoughts as loud as they always got at this time of night.
This was normally when I’d think about him. When I’d try calling or texting just like I had been since Jane had come to see me, but after I’d missed that last call of his at Miranda’s cabin, I hadn’t heard so much as a peep in return.
My heart ached at the thought, so I shoved it away, but reached for my phone on the bathroom counter anyway. Not to check for anything from him, of course. I was waiting on a callfrom a client, so when the device suddenly started ringing right on cue, I smiled and instantly accepted the call.
This client would be the exact distraction I needed right now. “Hi, Melissa. I’m so sorry. Just give me one moment?—”
I shot toward the bathroom door to prevent her hearing the echo, but before I’d even reached the door, a completely different voice spoke up. “Did you miss me?”
Every muscle in my body seized. That voice did not belong to Melissa Rupert. Instead, it was warm, smooth, and infuriatingly familiar, the sound of it doing ridiculous things to my heart.
Slowly, I pulled the phone away from my ear, staring at the screen like it might’ve lied to me, but it hadn’t. I simply hadn’t checked it before I’d answered.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered into the microphone before bringing my phone back to my ear.
“That bad, huh?” There was a smile in his voice. I could hear it. “What are you doing right now, Jacque?”
I adjusted the towel around my chest like it might somehow give me control of the situation. “Why do you want to know? You’re in France and we broke up.”
“You might want to rethink that.”
Genuinely surprised, I paused just past the bathroom door, but at least I’d made it into my bedroom. “What am I rethinking?”
“All of it,” he said. “Where I am. What I’ve been doing. Whether we are, in fact, broken up.”
Suddenly very aware that I was in nothing but a towel, I went to my wardrobe and pulled out a shirt and some panties. “That’s rich coming from a guy who hasn’t been taking my calls or answering my texts.”
“I missed this.”
“Missed what?”
