MORGAN STEPPED OUT of his office, pulling his keys from his pocket. He was leaving early, but he had promised Jacqui he would have her father’s place finished tonight and he still had a few more things to finish up. With the farewell party last night for Faith, he was still a little behind. Kari and the others were still at their desks, working on the inventory that had been delivered to the warehouse earlier. The Maggie Karston Community Center would be breaking ground Monday morning and Rutherford Construction was ready to get to work. Neal would be proud, and Jacqui could finally see that everything he said about his company was true. She’d be proud as well.
And she’d be surprised. Neal had agreed to make him in charge of the area as long as he agreed to help branch out all over Mississippi. That was one obstacle hurdled. He’d reach out to Jeannie after the groundbreaking and start the custody discussions. Of course, all of that was centered around Jacqui’s reaction to him staying in Biloxi. He was supposed to help her move Bert into his home tomorrow and he would make a point to talk to her about it then. For now, he had some home renovations to complete.
“Have a great weekend, everyone,” he said as he passed through the ladies’ area. “I am out of here for the day. I expect everyone to be at the groundbreaking, dressed appropriately please.”
“What time is it again?” Becky asked.
“Ten o’clock and yes, everyone can be late to work. After that, I expect those phones to start ringing off the hook.”
“Have a great weekend,” Kari said. Martha just waved as she was on the phone.
He passed through the reception area, reminding himself he still needed to hire someone for the front counter. He pushed the door open and stepped into the bright afternoon sun. Covering his eyes, he noticed Vince rounding the corner from the back. “Cutting out early, are you?” the other man called out to him.
Morgan waved his hand. “I have some final touches to put on Bert’s house before tomorrow. Thought I’d get a head start.”
He assumed Vince would go inside and hang around Kari’s desk, but instead the taller man changed direction and headed for Morgan’s truck. “Why are you doing it?”
Morgan sorted through his keys until he found the truck key. “Because Bert needs it done.”
“No. Jacqui could hire anyone to do it. So, why are you doing it?” Vince shook his head. “She’s been hurting for two years and you’re only going to make it worse.”
Morgan stopped at his truck and turned around to face Vince. “Excuse me? I’m not making anything worse.”
“Yes, you are,” Vince said as he reached Morgan. His posture warned Morgan to be on guard. “You’re going to get her to let her defenses down and then you’re going back home to your family. She’s a distraction to you. Someone to play with while you’re stuck here in our town. In two months, you’ll pack it up, turn in your keys, and head back home, and then what? She’s right back to being a broken woman who won’t let anyone in.”
Morgan swung his keys into his palm and closed his fingers around them in a fist. “I’m sorry. Did someone make you Jacqui’s guardian? I do believe she told you to leave her alone. And aren’t you busy playing tiddlywinks with Kari when you think no one is looking? Is she a distraction to you until Jacqui looks your way?” He stepped closer to Vince who didn’t budge. “Don’t think you know me, Vince. We don’t go out for beers. We don’t talk. I’m your boss, not your buddy.”
“She was a friend. I won’t see her hurt.”
“You won’t see her period, because she told you to go away. Now, I’m telling you to go back to work.”
“You’re going to hurt her.”
Morgan stared at him for a minute and then shook his head. “Go to work, Vince. Don’t give me a reason to fire you.” He turned and walked around to the driver’s side of his truck. Vince was still standing there, but Morgan ignored him. Vince was jealous. He wasn’t going to put up with it, but he could understand it. He turned the key in the ignition and the truck fired up. You’re going to hurt her. Morgan shifted the gears to reverse and wondered if Vince had thought to move or if he was going to get run over. No, Vince, I’m not going to hurt her. If anyone gets hurt, it’s going to be me. Still, it was going to be fun to see the look on Vince’s face when the man found out that he was staying, and Vince was not getting promoted.
Now, he just needed to convince Jacqui that it was the best thing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
She couldn’t believe how ecstatic Brent had been when she told him what she had in mind. She expected some sort of resistance, telling her that she couldn’t just leave the company for an indeterminate amount of time. Instead, he gave her every reason to go and how they could make it work. Lily had soon been brought in the loop and the younger woman just grinned and started making lists. She seemed more excited than Jacqui.
By the time she left the office, the only other person left to tell was Morgan. She still wasn’t sure what his reaction would be, but she needed to find out before she went any further in her plans. Lily had only shooed her out the door, so they could know how to get things moving. There were still two months before Morgan was to return home, but neither Brent nor Lily were waiting for time to pass. “Besides,” Lily said. “If you’re right and he is slowing down because he’s afraid of hurting you, knowing he is going back to Orlando, then the sooner you tell him you’re going with him, the sooner you two can work things out between you. And soon, you’ll have that big empty house all to yourself…” Her eyes told Jacqui exactly where the dark-haired assistant’s mind went.
Jacqui laughed as she grabbed her keys and purse. What she hadn’t told Lily, however, was that the same thought had passed through her mind and warmed the valley between her legs.
When she pulled into the parking lot of Rutherford Construction twenty minutes later, her stomach was a fluttering mess of nerves. The conversation she was about to have scared her more than any boardroom meeting she ever sat through. This wasn’t business; this was life, and she was afraid of messing it up.
“He’s not here.”
Turning toward the voice, she saw Vince standing by his truck sorting through some tools. The knot in her stomach just tightened. “Do you know if he’s coming back or where he’s going?”
He gave a nod. “He said something about finishing up some things at your dad’s house.” He dropped the drill in his hands into a toolbox in the bed of his truck and walked to where she stood by her car door. “He’s using you, you know?”
“Excuse me?” She heard him. She just didn’t believe him. She had seen Morgan when he first came to town and he was not that man anymore. He wasn’t playing her. Was he?
“He’s not going to stay here, Jacqui. He has a family back home. A career. Friends. This is just a detour for him to butter up his boss and you’re something to keep him occupied while he’s here. Why are you letting him do that to you?”
Each word he said struck her heart like a knife until she gave herself a mental shake, gripping the doubts that threatened to flood over her. “I know what he has back home.” She crossed her arms, a barrier between what Vince was spewing and her own emotions. “I know he’s not staying here. I have never been stupid, Vince, only lacking control in the midst of grief.”
He reached for her and she pulled away. He hesitated and then lowered his arm down to his side. “Why couldn’t you open up to me? I was always that person, right there, and you still turn your back on me. Why?”
She swallowed the dryness that filled her mouth. “We were a mistake, Vince. I’m sorry, but it’s true. I turned to you when I had nowhere else to go with my pain and it was wrong. You have always been a good friend to me, but I have never been in love with you. I’m sorry.”
He gazed off to the side. “Do you love him?” His voice was soft, almost as if he feared asking the question.
“I don’t know. But I do know I want to see where this goes, so much so that I am willing to go to Florida with him.”
Vince snapped back around to her, his mouth open, eyes wide. “You’re leaving Biloxi?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, to be honest. I just know that I need to follow this path.”
He rubbed the back of his neck as he stared at her, the pain in his eyes prevalent. “I love you. I can’t help it. I do. And I’ll be here when this thing with him runs its course.”
Jacqui tried to smile at him. “I won’t be here even then, Vince. Besides, don’t you already have someone waiting for you?” She pointed back toward the office and as he turned, he saw Kari standing there in the doorway, watching them. “She deserves better from you.” And with that, Jacqui turned and slid back behind her steering wheel. It was time to talk to Morgan and see just how big of a fool she was making of herself.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
One of the things Morgan enjoyed about working with his hands was that it left his mind free to travel its own paths of thought, which was good because there was quite a bit going through his mind at the moment. He role-played the conversation he was going to have with Jacqui about his decision to stay in Biloxi, trying to predict every question or objection that would come up. He wanted to be prepared for every detour of the conversation or reaction she might have. Then, he worried he was making a major mistake. He had been married twice and royally screwed those relationships up. Of course, he wasn’t the same man he was back then. He had never ceased chasing skirts before and yet, with Jacqui, he didn’t want her love while he was checking out another woman’s ass. He wanted Jacqui. Period.
Morgan old man, perhaps you’ve finally grown up.
He finished installing the ramp on the back porch, leading down to the yard, and went inside to wash his hands and grab one of the beers he had brought with him. As he twisted the top and took a long pull of the coldness, he heard the front door open. “Hello?” The sound of Jacqui’s voice brought a smile to his face and stirred other parts of him as well.
“In the kitchen!”
He watched as she walked through the doorway, her heels clicking on the tile floor. Her hair hung around her face, a curtain framing her tender eyes and lips. He couldn’t stop smiling as he soaked her in, her long legs that he had yet to feel wrapped around him, the curves that shaped the body he wanted to hold onto, not just for a night, but forever. No one had made him think of forever before, and it was that thought alone that made him realize he was making the right choices.
“Checking up on me?” He gave her a wink to make sure she knew he was joking.
She smiled as she set her purse on the counter. “Not at all. I wanted to discuss something with you and Vince said you were here.”
“Vince? You went to the office?” He wondered how much of an ass his foreman had made of himself.
“I did, but you, obviously, weren’t there. So I came here.” She pointed to the beer. “Have an extra one of those?”
“I have all you want.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her as he reached for a beer from the cooler. He twisted it open and passed it over to her. “So, what did you need to talk to me about?”
He watched her take a sip of her beer and then leaned back on the counter opposite where he stood, both hands holding the cold bottle. He could tell by her expression that she was struggling with what she wanted to say and suddenly a fear of what was coming next filled him. He had misread her and she was here to tell him so. This was the goodbye speech, it’s not you, it’s me. Of course, Morgan always knew it was him that caused the relationships to end.
She gazed up into his eyes, a small smile crossing her lips. “I have really enjoyed spending time with you lately, getting to know you. You’ve helped me to see how boxed-in and cold my life was. I needed that.” She pushed herself off the counter with her ass and stepped across the floor until she was right in front of him. He could see her hands shaking a little. The beer bottle was only something for her to hold onto to control the shivers. “I need to know if you meant what you said the other day, that you think of me all the time, that you want to spend more time with me.”
He stared into her eyes, the gold flecks of her hazel brown shimmering in the light, mesmerizing him. Her breath was warm on his face, she was that close, and he wanted nothing more than to sweep her up into his arms and hold her to him. Leaning forward, he kissed her nose softly. “Yes, I meant it. I want to be with you, spend time with you, hold you, take care of you. I want it all.” He set the beer bottle on the counter, took hers out of her hands and set it beside the other, and then wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing her body tight against his. “I want it so much, as a matter of fact, that I’ve decided to move here. I’ve even talked to Neal about running this office.”
“Wait. What?” She leaned back so she could see him better. Her face confused. “You’re not going home?”
He chuckled softly at her reaction. “Nope. Oh, I’ll go back for a little while to talk to Jeannie about changing our custody arrangements and get the rest of my things, but that won’t take long. I’m staying here. With you.”
She started laughing and he could only stare at her, confused himself now. “Oh, Morgan.” She patted his chest. “We are such a mess. I came here today to tell you that I was going to move to Orlando to be with you.”
He wrapped his arms around her tighter, kissing her neck as they both laughed at their lack of communication. After the laughter subsided, he leaned back to gaze into her eyes again. “You amaze me.” Leaning in, he pressed his lips to hers in a hard press of passion, his tongue slipping between her lips to taste her. She squeezed him to her as well, one hand sliding up his back and onto the back of his neck. He relished the feel of her breasts against his chest as he slid a hand down her back to cup her ass, bringing a soft moan from her lips.
When the kiss was finally broken, her smile caught his breath. “We have a problem,” she said, grinning at him.
“Oh?” He was smiling as well, the curve of her lips contagious.
“It seems that I’ll be in Orlando while you’re here. We’re back where we started.” She leaned up and bit his lip tenderly. “What are we going to do about that?”
He bent to where he could kiss her neck, leaving tiny bite marks as he did, his tongue licking the flesh between his teeth. “How about,” he spoke between nibbles, “you come back to Orlando with me to get things settled there.” He felt her hand slide over his abdomen and down. “Then we come back here to live.” He groaned as he felt her hand on his swelling cock. “I can…travel back for Dustin…and you’ll be here to take care….of your father.” His voice was getting huskier as passion heated the blood in his veins. He slid a hand down the waist of her slacks, his hand touching the flesh of her ass.
She kissed his neck, wet, sucking kisses, as she continued to stroke him through his pants. “How about we worry about that later? I think we have other, more pressing, issues at hand, right now.” And to emphasize her meaning she pressed harder on his cock.
He placed a finger under her chin and brought her lips back up to his, pressing them together as he leaned down and scooped her up into his arms. “Which way?”
She nodded with her head. “Guest bedroom is that way.”
He wiggled his eyebrows at her as he carried her towards the back of the house and the passion that awaited them in each other’s arms. As he laid her down on the bed, his first thought was that he had definitely made the right choice, and then all thoughts from then on were about pleasing the woman before him.