Jack couldn't help smiling the rest of the evening. He had done it. He had her. And it was a relief to know that her resistance to letting their status as couple be known was not because she didn't want a relationship, but because she thought she was some kind of diversion for him. The woman was anything but a diversion; he couldn't keep his mind away from her.
He closed his laptop with a click, resigned to the fact that he wasn't going to get any more work done tonight. Instead he made his way into the cramped little kitchen—he had to find a way to get her to move in with him, he felt claustrophobic in this place—and made himself a gin and tonic. He tried not to concentrate on the way she looked as he held her head in place and bucked into her mouth. What had he been thinking? But the images flooded his mind and his groin tightened in response. It had felt so damn good. And watching her had felt so damn good. A thick mass of red hair cascading down her back and falling into her face against that smooth pale skin and, God help him, those freckles. The pert little nose struggling for breath. Had he hurt her? She was probably never going to let him in her mouth again.
Jack groaned. He could almost feel the hotness of her breath; feel the fullness of those pink lips brushing against his dick. His erection was in full force again and she hadn't even left with Nicki half an hour ago to go prance around in that soft pink sweater that luxuriously hugged her curves. The swell of her bust, the accentuation of her waist, and those hips. The capped sleeves of the sweater accentuated those long, slender arms that ended in the most beautiful hands he'd ever seen. Every day she sat down and over-charged women to put acrylic nails on their hands, and all the while Ally sported her natural nails, well groomed but free from polish. Perfect without trying. And she had no idea. She and Nicki were perfect for each other. A package of truly lovely women, wandering about with shields of sarcasm and disinterest to hide insecurities that made absolutely no sense.
He wondered absently how Nicki was doing, lately, with her quest to keep every man at bay by letting that absolute loser ex-boyfriend of hers hang around. He'd never met the guy but was still disgusted by him.
Ally had told Nicki that she loved him. She loved him. That was probably the best part. He'd been so surprised he'd forgotten to say anything in response before Nicki shuttled her out the door. But say what? That he loved her? Loving her was one thing, but actually telling her? It was so much easier for women.
The shrill ring of his cell phone pulled Jack away from his thoughts. One glance at the caller ID had him rolling his eyes. Liam had been back in the states for a week now but insisted the entire office had changed in the 6 months he spent in Hong Kong and called Jack about thirty times a day to demand explanations for imaginary changes. It was too good to have him back in town for Jack to complain. He flipped open the cell phone, "Let me guess, 'they' moved the coffee filters."
"No, I was going to talk to you about your assistant, the law student."
"Uh huh?"
"I bet we could get her enrolled in a good charm school. She's a nasty little thing."
Jack smiled. "What do you want, Liam?"
"Ah, I'm bored. Are you at home? I was thinking about dropping buy. I can bring pizza."
"It's eleven o'clock!"
"It's never too late for pizza. Come on—my treat."
"Nah, man, I'm not at home."
"It's eleven o'clock!"
Jack laughed. "See you at the office tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow's Saturday."
"Like I said. See you at the office tomorrow."
"Yeah yeah. Hey, where are you? You're not sleeping at your desk tonight, are you?"
Jack scoffed. He'd never slept at his desk-- his office had a couch. "I'm at my girlfriend's place."
"Figures. So when do I get to meet the woman who stole my drinking partner?"
"I asked her, but she says she'd rather be strung up by her toenails than sit in a room with more than one lawyer in it."
It was Liam's turn to scoff. "That's a figure of speech, I'm sure."
After saying goodnight Jack snapped the phone shut, but opened it again almost immediately and dialed Ally's cell phone.
"Don't look now but there's a cool glass of water looking this way, and he ain't looking at me. Behind your right shoulder." Nicki turned to look over her shoulder as Ally hissed, "I said don't look!"
"Remember I told you about my on-again-off-again guy-person?"
"That's Adam? But—he doesn't look like a loser."
"No, that's not Adam. That's Adam's friend Matt."
"Matt as in dog park guy?"
"When did I tell you about dog park guy?"
"When you were complaining that the one guy you were really crushing on turned out to be a friend of your crackpot ex. He keeps glancing over here. His with some girl and she's starting to get annoyed."
Nicki sipped her Diet Coke. The girl probably had no reason to get her nose out of joint; he was probably just compiling a list of things to report back to Adam about. She noticed Ally studying her quizzically and sat up straight, making an effort to look neutral. So Adam had a cute friend. So what? It would be so tacky to go after him. Plus, he was with someone.
"Maybe they aren't together. Another guy just joined him and the girl went off."
