“Thanks for inviting me, I had a good time,” Jared said, as he, Alex, and Sam walked down the front steps of the church after the services had ended.
“What’s the rush?” Sam asked. He and Jared were about the same height, but Sam had the long, lanky build of a basketball player. Whereas Jared was built like a line-backer on a football team. “It’s still early. Why don’t you two go to lunch somewhere?”
“Sam!” Alex protested. She smiled at Jared. “Forgive him. I’m afraid the thought of getting rid of me for the afternoon so he can hang out with his friends was too much to resist.” She regarded Sam. “Vicky’s coming today, or have you forgotten?”
Sam shrugged. “Well, Vicky isn’t going to get here until late. Four or five, at the earliest. You know she had to work this morning. Then she’ll probably take her sweet time driving, the slowpoke.”
Alex knew that was probably true. Vicky, twenty-two, was a very cautious driver. However, she and Jared hadn’t made plans beyond attending church together and she wasn’t about to force herself on him. Although Macon was only fifty miles away, he could have very important business to attend to once he got there.
She looked up at Jared. Every time she looked at him, she felt a tumult in her stomach. A pleasant, expectant twinge that made her smile inside, even when she was able to control her facial muscles. If she smiled every time she felt like smiling around him he’d probably think she was an idiot. “I’ll walk you to your car,” she said.
Jared was, frankly, lost in her eyes. He reached down and clasped her hand in his. “If you don’t need to get home right away, I’d love to take you to lunch. That is what I originally wanted us to do, remember?”
“Then it’s settled,” Sam said, holding his hand out for Alex’s car keys. “I’ll drive the SUV home and put it in the garage, and Jared can bring you home after lunch.”
Alex reluctantly surrendered her car keys. She knew Sam wasn’t going straight home. He’d only said it to appease her. She looked her little brother in the eyes. “Don’t write a check your behind can’t cash, now,” she warned with a grin.
“I’ll be careful,” he assured her, smiling roguishly. He wasted no time leaving.
Jared laughed. “That’s one happy kid.”
“He always is when he’s got plans to have some fun.”
She and Jared continued down the steps. At the bottom, he put his hand beneath her elbow and directed her toward his black Acura. Once they were within a few feet of the car, he pointed his key ring at it and pressed a button. The car’s doors automatically unlocked. He helped Alex in, then jogged around and got behind the wheel.
He smiled at her before turning the key in the ignition. “Alone, finally!”
Alex laughed softly. “Too many people for you, huh?”
“The last time I was in a room with that many people, I was at a conference in Atlanta.”
“You’re more of a solitary man?”
“I do like my solitude, yes.” He turned the key and low strains of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” filled the air.
He reached over to eject the CD.
Alex placed her hand over his. “Don’t. I like John Coltrane.”
Jared raised his gaze to hers. A woman who liked John Coltrane? Could this be another sign that he should not get any more involved with her? The longer he was around her, the more he liked her. One minute, he was convinced that he should simply be honest with her, tell her she wasn’t his type and say good-bye forever, and the next he was making plans to join her home-repair team. Why was he being so indecisive? She was just a woman. A woman he didn’t know very well at all. It should be easy to say good-bye to her and get on with his life.
“Buckle up,” he said, as he put the car in reverse and backed out of the parking space. He didn’t want to express surprise that she enjoyed improvisational jazz. That conversation would probably lead to something else they had in common, and he didn’t want to find out that she also, for example, loved Kung Fu movies and got a kick out of watching football on Sunday afternoon.
He frowned. In the close confines of the car, she smelled wonderful. Her cologne was a soft flowery fragrance with a spicy oriental after-note and was very provocative. He breathed deeply. Nervous tension worked its way up his spine.
“What’s wrong?” Alex asked.
Jared had been so lost in his thoughts, he hadn’t noticed she’d been observing him the whole time. “You’ve got me questioning my ethics,” he said simply.
“Why?”
Jared thought for a moment as he drove the Acura slowly through the crowded parking lot, looking for an opportunity to get on the main road. “I’m not the marrying kind, Alexandra.”
Alex turned in her seat to stare at him. “We’ve just met, Jared. And you’re already talking about marriage? Believe me, I don’t want to marry you, either.”
“Not yet, but the point is, you will eventually want to get married one day and have children. I don’t. Therefore, we’re probably wasting each other’s time.”
Alex laughed. “Couldn’t you tell me this before I got in the car with you? I could have gone home with Sam.”
“No, I don’t think I could have,” Jared told her. He looked at her with such longing that Alex felt compelled to remove her seatbelt, lean close to him and kiss him on the mouth. She was grateful for the tinted windows, because if the other parishioners had seen her lay one on him like she was doing, they would have been scandalized.
Jared pressed down on the brake pedal and put his arms around her. The first kiss was tentative at best. She was testing whether or not he would kiss her back. He was caught off guard by her decision to go in for the kill. But the second time their mouths came together, there was no holding back. Tongue tasted tongue, and liked the flavor. Her mouth was as sweet as he’d imagined it would be. His was, too. She moaned with pleasure. He cursed the day he’d met her.
When they parted, they looked into each other’s eyes for a solid minute. A car horn blared behind them.
“I guess we’re holding up traffic,” Jared said hoarsely.
Alex calmly moved over and refastened her seatbelt. She was quivering on the inside. What had possessed her to kiss him? She really didn’t care. Maybe she’d kissed him out of curiosity, or perhaps desperation, because she feared this might be her last opportunity to do so. It didn’t matter. He was right. They weren’t suited for each other. She was an independent woman, but she did eventually want to get married and have children. If he didn’t, there was no future for them.
As Jared inched the Acura forward, she said, “What makes you think you’re not the marrying kind?”
Jared glanced at her before returning his attention to his driving. “From the time I was fifteen, I knew my father was cheating on my mother. I would try to help him hide it from her. Not because I condoned what he was doing, but because I didn’t want to witness my mother’s pain if she found out. As I grew older and started dating, I found myself behaving just like my father. Something always goes wrong in my relationships, Alexandra.”
“Something?” Alex asked skeptically. “Can’t you identify what always goes wrong in your relationships?”
“In the past, I would always find a reason to break it off before it got too serious. Then I started being honest with the women from the beginning. I told them I wasn’t interested in a serious relationship, just a good time. Some agreed to that, even though there was still drama whenever I’d break up with them. Others chose to walk away before anything could get started.”
“Which is what you’re hoping I’ll do?” Alex guessed.
“I’m being honest with you, Alexandra. I’m drawn to you. I don’t know why. Sure, you’re a beautiful woman, but I’ve known lots of beautiful women I had no trouble resisting. I wanted to kiss you the moment our eyes met.”
Alex watched him as he spoke. Was she being played? She’d heard of playboys who put the burden of the relationship on the woman so that they wouldn’t have to take responsibility for any part of it. If the woman got hurt, then so be it! It wasn’t his fault. He’d been up front with her from the get-go.
Jared appeared sincere to her. But wasn’t that the hallmark of a good con man, his sincerity? Well, she was going to call his bluff!
“Then it’s up to me? Is that what you’re saying? I can choose to see you with the knowledge that getting serious is out of the question, or I can tell you good-bye right now?”
“I’m hoping you’ll decide to see me.”
“I’m tempted, Jared. I’m very attracted to you, too. As you could tell from that kiss. But you’re right about me: I do want a husband and a family one day. So I think you should take me straight home, please.”
A few minutes later, Jared pulled the Acura into the driveway of Alex’s Southern-style home with its wraparound porch. Alex turned to him. “Then I suppose your promise to Mother Maybelle about the home-repair ministry is null and void?”
“No, I never lie to women like Mother Maybelle. I don’t want her to put a hex on me or something.” He was trying to keep it light, but he certainly didn’t feel like laughing. He felt saddened at the prospect of never tasting Alex’s lips again or holding her voluptuous body in his arms. Their eyes met and held. He respected her decision, though.
Alex went into her purse and produced one of her business cards. “We meet at the church, at noon, every third Saturday of the month. From the church, we go to the home that needs repairs. There will be six of us. Gayle and Ruben, two other gentlemen and myself, and now, you.” She forced a smile. “Call me if you forget what I’ve just said.”
Taking the card, Jared said, “May I kiss you goodbye?” His eyes caressed her face. He wanted to commit every inch of it to memory. Silly of him, really. He was going to see her again on the third Saturday of May. That wasn’t so far away.
Alex lowered her gaze to his sensually curved mouth. She wanted to kiss him again. But why get used to something when you were to be denied it from then on? It was better to go cold turkey.
“Sorry, Jared,” she said softly. She quickly got out of the car and closed the door behind her. “So long.”
She didn’t look back as she strode away.
Vicky arrived at around four that afternoon. Alex and Sam were in the kitchen preparing Sunday dinner when they heard her old Toyota pull into the driveway. There was no mistaking the chug-chug of the motor nor the ever-present backfire of the exhaust pipe once she turned the engine off.
Alex put down the tomato she’d been slicing and looked over at Sam, who was putting a pan of homemade dinner rolls, his specialty, into the oven.
“That’s our girl,” she said, a broad smile on her face. She hastily wiped her hands on a dish towel, hung it on the peg next to the stove, and hurried out the back door, with Sam close behind.
Sam knew to stand back if he didn’t want his ears assaulted by shrill screams of delight or to be caught up in a group hug. He didn’t mind the hugs so much, but his sisters’ screams sometimes left his ears ringing.
Sure enough, the moment Vicky and Alex saw one another, Vicky let out a yell that could probably be heard all over the neighborhood, and Alex let out one of equal volume. Sam just stood back and shook his head.
Then they were hugging and jumping up and down simultaneously.
At five-seven, Vicky was not quite as tall as her big sister, but she was shaped similarly, with long legs and a curvaceous figure. She had a head full of hair, too, but she cut it so often you could never know for certain how long it would be from month to month. Apparently she was letting it grow out, because it was nearly to her shoulders and colored a rich auburn. Her natural hair color was black.
“Girl, you look good!”
“No, you look good!”
“We both look good!”
“You’re both nuts!” This from Sam, who had come forward to join in the group hug. After the embrace, Vicky stood back and gave him the once-over. “Boy, when are you going to gain some weight? Ain’t they feeding you at UF?”
“You look like you’re eating enough for both of us,” Sam said, looking down at Vicky’s ample hips. She wasn’t fat. She was just well-endowed when it came to her gluteus maximus.
“This here is a Georgia butt,” she joked. “Fed on grits and catfish.” To which her brother and sister burst out laughing.
“And undoubtedly anything else you can get your hands on,” Sam quipped.
He and Vicky were always ragging on one another.
Later, as they sat around the table in the dining room, Sam confided to Vicky, “Our big sister met a man.”
Sam hadn’t been at home when Jared had dropped Alex off, so he didn’t know her lunch date with Jared had never gotten off the ground.
Vicky’s light brown eyes sparkled with excitement. “Really? Tell me all about him, Alex.”
Alex smiled. “There’s really nothing to tell, Vicky. We’ve just met.”
“He owns a construction company,” Sam volunteered. “He’s new in town, and Alex landscaped his yard. That’s how they met. And they look at each other like no one else exists.”
Alex’s eyes stretched at Sam’s revelation. If Sam had noticed, no doubt others had, too. She wished she’d been more circumspect about her attraction to Jared. She’d apparently worn her heart on her sleeve for everyone to see. “Now, Sam,” she said gently. “Don’t exaggerate.”
“If I’m lyin’, I’m flyin’,” Sam said emphatically.
“And you ain’t flyin’,” Vicky said. She regarded Alex with clear eyes. “Is it true, Dearest?” She and Alex shared a fondness for the Emma Thompson film, Sense and Sensibility. They identified closely with the sisters in the film, who often referred to each other by the endearment “Dearest.”
Alex met her sister’s eyes across the table. “I’m afraid so.”
Vicky screamed her pleasure and stood up to go around the table and hug her sister. “Thank the Lord! At least one woman in this family is on the right track when it comes to the male sex. I’m so happy for you, sis.”
“There’s just one problem,” Alex said when her sister let go of her.
Vicky’s smile faded. “What is it?”
“Jared told me that he’s a confirmed bachelor, and, well, I told him I didn’t want to see him again.”
Vicky pursed her lips, thinking. After a moment or two, she said, “Is that all? A confirmed bachelor, huh? That was before he met you. And it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind. Give him a second chance!”
That night, just before she turned in, Alex walked past Vicky’s bedroom door and heard sniffling on the other side. She grabbed the doorknob, was about to open it without knocking, thought better of it, and knocked.
“Just a minute!” Vicky called.
Alex could hear her walking in the room and closing a dresser drawer. Then Vicky swung the door open. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and she held a wadded up tissue in her palm. She smiled wanly as her eyes met Alex’s.
“Kenneth broke up with me,” she said softly.
Alex hurried inside and pulled her sister into her arms, rocking her gently. All evening Vicky had wanted to catch up on Alex’s life, and Sam’s. Whenever they’d suggested she tell them what had been going on in her life, she’d changed the subject. Now Alex knew why. Kenneth Bowman had been the love of Vicky’s life. They’d met in their freshman year. Both were destined for pre-med. Kenneth wanted to become a pediatric surgeon, and Vicky wanted to become an obstetrician/gynecologist.
Alex held her at arm’s length so she could look her in the face. “I knew something was wrong when you made that comment during dinner. Now, tell me, what happened?”
Fresh tears came to Vicky’s eyes. “He’s getting ready to do his internship at a hospital in California. He said a long-distance relationship wouldn’t work.”
They went and sat on the bed and turned to face each other. Alex shook her head. “I don’t buy that, do you?” She felt Vicky was holding something back.
Vicky paused to blow her nose before replying. “No, I didn’t believe that for a second. That’s why I pressed him. He finally admitted that he’d been seeing Cecile Wells on the side for months.”
“That girl you brought home with you for Christmas one year?” Alex was truly puzzled.
Vicky nodded in the affirmative. “It seems that Cecile fits in his social circle. He comes from old money, you know. So does Cecile. Both their fathers are doctors. He told me he loved me, would always love me, but he had to think of his future. He said when it comes time for him to marry, Cecile would make a better match.”
“That pig!” Alex said vehemently. “What did you tell him?”
“I told him to go straight to hell, no detours, just straight there, and never to bother me again because I didn’t have time for trifling males who didn’t know their own minds. Love me? He didn’t love me, because if he had loved me, he never would have cheated on me with Cecile of the bony posterior!”
Alex was glad to see the fire back in Vicky’s eyes. She laughed shortly and hugged her. “That’s my warrior-woman! You want me to go to Athens and kick his behind? Because you know I’ll do it.”
Vicky breathed in deeply, and exhaled. Her eyes were clearer now, as was, it seemed, her perspective on her break-up with Kenneth. “No, I don’t want his legs broken. I want him to be in the best of health when he sees how well I’m going to do without him. The best revenge is living well. I’m not going to rant and rave and hope that one day he’ll learn the difference between true love and the pursuit of wealth and power because that would be a waste of my energies. Some people never learn the difference.”
“Amen,” Alex wholeheartedly agreed. She hugged Vicky one last time and got to her feet. “I have the whole day off tomorrow. Let’s go to a day spa and get the works. My treat!”
Vicky grinned. “I could use a massage.”
Cartwright Lawn and Garden Service’s work week began on Tuesday and ended on Saturday. Alex had established that schedule long ago because most of her residential clients preferred their yards to be done on the weekend so they’d be at home while the work was being done. The bulk of the commercial contracts were handled from Tuesday to Friday. Oftentimes work took them out of town, as the job she’d done for Jared’s brother-in-law, Fletcher Henderson, had done.
Mondays usually found Alex doing housework, maintaining her own yard, or shopping, which she loathed. Nothing was more monotonous and boring to her than walking down the aisle of a supermarket, filling her cart, and then having to empty it again onto the counter for checkout. This Monday found her doing just that, although after she and Vicky had spent the day getting rubbed down, being given manicures, pedicures, and fresh hairdos. Vicky had volunteered to get dinner started. There were steaks in the freezer, but Alex needed to get the salad makings, fresh corn on the cob, and something for dessert. When she had looked at Sam, hoping he’d accompany her to the grocery store, he’d feigned total absorption in a hockey game on ESPN. “Right,” she said, unconvinced. “You love hockey, just like I love shopping!”
He’d only grunted and concentrated even harder on the screen.
“Okay,” she said. “Don’t expect me to bring back that ice cream you like.”
“Aw, sis,” he’d moaned pitifully.
“Oh, you heard that, didn’t you?” She laughed and left him to his game.
She was bending over, picking up Sam’s favorite flavor of ice cream from the bin, when Jared walked up behind her. He took time to peruse the shapely curves of her hips in the well-worn jeans she had on before saying, “Going to spend the evening curled up on the couch with a big bowl of ice cream?”
Alex smiled as she straightened to her full height. By the time she’d turned around to face him, though, she’d managed to mask her delight at seeing him again behind a bland expression of mild interest. “Hello, Jared.” She glanced at the basket in his hand. Just like a confirmed bachelor, she thought. Your basics: eggs, milk, cheese, and bread. Oh, and imported beer.
Jared hoped he’d been able to school his facial muscles before she’d turned around. Excitement had seized him once he’d recognized her exquisite form a few feet away. He had not been able to get her off his mind for the past twenty-four hours. She’d been with him throughout the drive to Macon, while he prepared for bed, this morning in a business meeting, this afternoon as he consulted with his partner about the new project in Macon, and on his drive back to Red Oaks. He’d gotten back in town twenty minutes ago and had stopped by the first supermarket he’d spotted to pick up some breakfast things.
They fell into step beside one another, Alex pushing her cart and Jared carrying his basket. “Did you do something different to your hair?” he asked.
Alex smiled lazily. “Vicky thought I needed some color, so I got streaks in it. Does it make me look awful?”
Jared abruptly laughed. “If you only knew what I was thinking the moment I saw you, you wouldn’t have asked me that.”
Alex was glad they were alone in the frozen food section. “What were you thinking?”
She paused in the aisle and observed him. He was wearing dark suit pants, black dress shoes, and a white long-sleeved shirt. He’d probably doffed the tie some time ago. The shirt was open at the collar, and she noticed for the first time that curly, dark brown hair grew on his broad chest. That glimpse enticed her, made her want to walk up to him and slowly finish unbuttoning his shirt, then run her hands, with slow deliberation, over his chest.
She was so deep in her daydream that she almost thought she’d misheard him when he said, “I was thinking that you are the most beautiful sight I’ve seen all day.”
Alex smiled warmly at him. “How sweet,” she said softly. She continued down the aisle with him right beside her.
“How sweet?” Jared said, disappointed by her unemotional reaction to his compliment. “I say you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve seen all day, and you say, ‘how sweet’?”
“Jared, after our conversation yesterday, you really shouldn’t be giving me compliments anyway. We agreed that we’re acquaintances only, didn’t we? We’re going to work on the home-repair ministry together, and that’s all. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
She stopped again to await his response.
A frown drew Jared’s brows together. “I slept on it and decided I was too hasty in my decision not to convince you to give us a try.”
“I slept on it, too, and I’ve decided I made the right decision,” Alex told him. “It’ll save us both a lot of heart-ache.” She held his gaze like a magnet. He could no more look away from her than stop breathing. Alex went to stand directly in front of him. When they were a mere foot apart, she said, her voice low and sultry, “We have to do the sensible thing and resist each other, Jared.”
Resist her? Jared wanted to kiss her right in the frozen food section. Her luscious lips were moving, but he could barely hear her for the pounding in his ears.
“So whenever we see each other, let’s remember that, shall we?” she continued. With that, she turned her back on him, collected her cart and left him standing there.
Jared didn’t move for a minute or two. He had to wait for the tightening in his groin to subside.