Craving Jess Read online

  What a weekend. She'd asked her best friend to make love to her, and he'd done everything but that. Even now the memory of his mouth on her breasts with the warm water from the shower falling across her chest made her shake. She should be happy. But she wasn't. Why hadn't Damon taken them all the way?

  All the way? What, was she in high school? Maybe Jackson was right. She just wasn't any good at the whole sex thing. There was something about her that made men stop and think twice.

  Her nostrils flared and she blinked the moisture from her eyes. She had a ton of work to keep her mind off Damon and his lack of desire for her.

  My god, the man had been rock hard! Why didn't he want to have sex with her?

  She snapped a pencil in two. Focus, Jess. Work.

  "Jess! Spill it!” Laurie Starr, Jess's freelance assistant, moved a stack of paperwork from Jess's extra chair, perched on the edge, and clasped her hands. “Was it as awesome as you thought it would be?” The younger woman tucked a stray blond wisp behind her ear and grinned.

  Jess closed the office door and slouched against the wood. She'd almost forgotten the glee she'd felt Friday when she and Laurie had discussed her upcoming date with Jackson. That seemed a lifetime ago. “It was one of the worst dates ever had in the history of dating.” She quickly gave Laurie the details.

  Covering her eyes, Laurie shook her head in commiseration. “Always hated the slobbery ones. Shame such a hot guy turned out to be a prick."

  Jess blinked. Laurie had been so helpful when she realized who Jess's crush was. Less than a week after she'd let the information slip, Jackson miraculously asked her on a date. She'd never even dreamed he'd notice she was alive.

  "Sorry.” Laurie blushed. “I just had such hopes for that guy."

  "Damon agrees that he's a jerk."

  Laurie's head snapped up. “Your neighbor?"

  Jess reached for the power button on her computer. “Mm-hmm. And I also screwed that up."

  Laurie leaned forward. “How do you mean?"

  Jess typed in her password without sitting and stared at the monitor. She wanted desperately to share her feelings about Damon with Laurie. But Laurie's advice had resulted in the date with Jackson, and that had been a disaster.

  She didn't have that many female confidants, especially since her sister currently lived in Europe. Though Laurie had worked for Jess for two months now, they'd only recently crossed the line into talking about personal issues.

  "Damon and I have been friends for a long time.” She held up one hand when she heard Laurie's mouth open. “Just friends. We are not each other's types. Anyway, I had some wine on the date with Jackson, and when I got home I rather stupidly propositioned Damon, my best friend."

  Laurie raised her eyebrows. “You end the date with your dream guy and proposition your best friend in the same night?"

  "Well, yeah.” Geez, that did sound pretty loose.

  Jess moved her bag from her chair, slid in front of her desk, and pulled up her interoffice email. She felt Laurie's intense stare on the side of her face.

  "So what'd he say?"

  Jess paused, her hands above the keys. “He said yes.” She started typing, hoping she looked nonchalant.

  A chair appeared next to her and Laurie grabbed her arm. She didn't speak until Jess turned away from her monitor.

  "Your friend said yes?"

  Jess nodded, chewing her bottom lip. Her face warmed. Well, at least she wouldn't be cold anymore.

  "To what, exactly, did he say yes?” Laurie's eyes narrowed, but her lips curved in an odd smile.

  Laughing nervously, Jess pushed back from her desk and out of Laurie's grasp. “I told you, I'm not his type. I embarrassed him into it. I mean we—okay, we fooled around a little, but it was pretty clear that his heart wasn't in it. He didn't—he had the opportunity, but he never.... “Jess cleared her throat and glanced at Laurie, now sitting back in the chair with her arms crossed. “I need to get a cup of coffee."

  Jess snatched her mug and fled from Laurie's Mona Lisa smile.

  Twenty seconds later, Jess reached the small snack room and marched straight to the coffee maker. She poured the last half-cup into her mug and stared at the pot. If she were anyone else, she'd just leave it empty. But she couldn't do it. She exhaled loudly and pulled out the filter. Making quick work of refilling the coffeemaker, she had just finished when an ungentlemanly snort sounded behind her.

  Her lips squeezed into a pinched frown. She cut her eyes to the side. She did not want to engage in conflict this early. But she knew in her heart that it was coming—the post-date encounter with Jackson Charles. She was an idiot for dating someone from work.

  Jackson, looking harried and annoyed, stood between two of his peons. One of them had obviously issued the snort. The minions gazed at Jess with nearly identical sneers. Snort dug an elbow into Jackson's side and whispered something that made the other man laugh.

  But not Jackson.

  He stepped from between his companions and brushed past Jess without uttering a word.

  Despite her Friday-night disgust, Jess still harbored the shame of being treated poorly by a man she'd thought to be a prime catch. She tightened her grip on the mug and gritted her teeth. No sense in humiliating herself further by responding to Jackson's obvious snub. The man was slime. She'd found that out on the horrible date. He'd done everything possible to make her not like him. Why should she care if he snubbed her now? She abandoned her coffee mug and left the room, her taste for the beverage bitter as the last dregs of coffee in the pot.

  "I'll be right in,” Laurie told her as she passed.

  She waved Laurie off. She didn't care if her assistant took all day. She wasn't up to any more conversation.

  * * * *

  With infinite wisdom, five years earlier the Jacob brothers had built a sandwich shop in the center of a block of small businesses. Once bigger firms took over the surrounding space, the Jacobs refused to sell. The resulting prime location made their shop the center of activity for blocks around during lunch hour.

  Not one to buck tradition, Jess sat at the same table each day and consumed the same meal since she'd gone to work for the Idea Factory—a large house salad, extra croutons, no dressing, four whopping huge buttery garlic breadsticks, and a bottomless iced tea. Usually she brought her freelancer with her, but today Laurie had declined, saying she had personal business to attend to.

  Jess would have preferred the company, especially after Jackson's two buddies made themselves comfortable sitting not three tables away from her. She'd never known how hard it was not to look at someone who sat in her direct line of vision. The fact they kept commenting on how chilly the temperature in the shop was today made Jess's appetite dwindle rapidly.

  She smashed a crouton with her fork and wondered if she could get away with eating in her office without getting sucked into working through her lunch hour.

  Snort caught her eye as he stood and tugged at his tie before taking a step in her direction. Great, here it comes.

  Just when she'd decided to smack him on his designer suit with a breadstick if he came any closer, tanned muscular arms slid around her shoulders from behind and a tantalizingly familiar scent of man teased her.

  Snort stopped in his tracks and went back to his companion. Jess paid them no more attention. Instead she turned to hug Damon.

  "You're a sight for sore eyes,” she quipped.

  Damon scowled at the two men and took an empty chair from a nearby table. He straddled the chair, facing it the wrong direction as his muscular forearms rested on the seatback.

  "Had an appointment in the area. Knew you'd be here.” He pilfered a tomato from her salad and popped the whole slice into his mouth.

  "Funny. You've never come to see me at work before.” Her insides were strangely warm, and Jess found she had an appetite after all. She chose to eat her cucumbers first, deeming the broccoli too much of a tooth risk with Damon sitting so close.

  "I could say
the same about you. You never come to my gym."

  Jess laughed. “You know my feelings about working out—no pain, no pain."

  "Seriously. It's more than just people bulking up. Now that we're competing with that other gym, we're teaching a new self-defense course. There's aerobics, and—"

  Jess gave him a half-hearted smile.

  "And you have no intention of ever taking me up on the free membership."

  She shook her head and picked up a breadstick. She preferred to work out in the privacy of her home, or by running at dawn. No way did she intend to parade her mediocre bod in front of people addicted to looking fantastic.

  Of course, Damon made his living from those people. And even though he spent a great deal of time at the gym, she knew he had a healthy lifestyle, not an addiction to narcissism. She let her gaze drift over his chest. Did the man ever wear shirts that didn't show his physique to perfection? She drew her eyes from the open vee in his shirt and found him staring at her.

  If she kept the eye contact, would he see the heat she was feeling? He blinked slowly, his thick black lashes narrowing as his gaze flicked over her chest and back to her face.

  Did he just check her out? Jess tilted her head to the side. Nah, probably just recalling her embarrassing attempt at seduction from yesterday. After all, he had his fill of seeing her naked. What appeal could there be in seeing her dressed?

  Damon took another tomato slice. He ate it and then dropped his hand on the table next to hers. His fingers brushed over the back of her knuckles, and for just a moment, laced between her fingers.

  Jess held her breath. The brief touch ignited all sorts of wanting within her. Wanting for his body against hers, yes, but for something more, something lasting.

  "You disappeared on me yesterday,” he said.

  She licked her lips, her eyes not leaving the tantalizing way his long fingers caressed her skin. “I thought I'd overstayed my welcome."

  Her pulse jumped to life, as if electricity from his body leaped into hers where they touched.

  "No. We were just getting started.” He turned her hand over, raised the palm to his mouth and kissed the sensitive center.

  "Oh,” she whispered.

  "Maybe we could try again?"

  "I'd like that,” she blurted before she could stop herself. Did she mean the kiss to her palm or the offer of more one-on-one practice? She didn't even know her name right now, she was so dazed.

  He smiled. Just a slow Damon-smile, but this time, today, this smile, kicked something to life inside of her. She wanted him, oh yes. Definitely. But she wanted him to want her. Really want her, not just as a friend doing her a favor.

  Damon broke eye contact by checking his watch and scooted his chair back. “I'm sorry. I've really got to get going.” He hesitated, then leaned in and kissed her cheek.

  Damn him.

  He left the shop, pausing to move around Laurie, who entered with Jackson.

  Jess frowned.

  Damon winked at the blond before departing, and she felt a surge of anger.

  She rubbed her temples. This was getting ridiculous. Damon winking at Laurie? Had she just imagined the heat she'd felt from him only moments ago? She must be kidding herself to think Damon had any interest in her. This had to stop once and for all. She'd just go by the gym after work and tell Damon that she'd changed her mind and was letting him off the hook. Clearly she was a poor judge of people's emotions, because she thought she'd seen heat and desire in Damon's eyes. But he could just turn it on and off so fast?

  And Laurie? She might not know that was Damon she'd sent her charming smile toward, but she darn well knew what a jerk Jackson had been, and she was having lunch with him?

  Jess felt a migraine coming on.

  * * * *

  By the time her day ended, Jess's headache had faded enough to let her forge ahead with her plan. She stepped inside the double doors of The Body Zone and scanned the room.

  She slid sideways, peering around the large reception desk. Damon was holding court four machines back with two flawlessly sculpted women.

  Not that they looked particularly strong. No, starved was more like it, though it did seem like their chests might have swallowed some honeydew melons.

  The taller of the two swiveled her right foot back and forth and tugged petulantly on the strap of her second skin jog bra. She stretched her other hand toward Damon's left bicep and stroked the muscle. Her friend followed suit by squeezing Damon's other arm.

  A pounding annoyance started in Jess's neck. Her veins pulsed right to her temples, ratcheting her headache back up to a throb. She watched for Damon's reaction, wanting him to discourage the women. He didn't look thrilled with the attention, but neither did he back away.

  The tall flirty female waved daintily at a machine, and Damon demonstrated the correct method for use. He switched places with her, nodding encouragingly at her attempts. The tart patted her straining bosom with her bone-dry workout towel. She used the material to flash even more cleavage, pretending she had managed to produce beads of sweat from the mounds of silicone.

  Jess swallowed. Now that she had a better view of the woman's face, she realized the chesty-chick was Damon's type of woman. Flawless makeup and completely immobile shellacked hair.

  Abruptly Jess pushed herself from the edge of the counter and turned toward the door. She'd nearly made her escape when a lean hand landed on her waist. She caught her breath.

  "Trying to get outta here without saying hello?"

  Jess turned and managed a smile. “You were busy."

  Damon cocked his head toward the machines behind him. “With them? Nah. They're always playing dumb.” He tugged her back into the facility. “And I'm starting to wonder how much of it is just playing."

  Jess covered her mouth to smother a laugh.

  "But they pay their membership fees, and that's what counts.” Damon grinned at her. He squinted at her forehead and lifted a hand to her face. “You've got one of your headaches. You gotta stop letting that place stress you out."

  Her job was the usual cause of her headaches, so Jess let it take the blame for this one. He was the only person she'd ever met who could tell when she had a migraine.

  The vein above her right eyebrow swelled slightly whenever her head hurt. Damon had pointed it out once before.

  "You should take me up on the membership. Exercise would probably make you feel better."

  "You know I don't like to work out in front of people."

  "Well, since you've never come in here before, at least let me give you the tour."

  Jess let him take her hand, ignoring the seeping warmth that edged up her forearm. Damon didn't need to know about her exercise schedule. They knew practically everything about each other, and she felt entitled to a little mystique.

  They ended the brief tour in his office. She waited for him near the door while he answered his ringing phone. The man's muscles bulged even when he stood still. She thought about all the times he'd innocently touched her in the past and mentally kicked herself for not seizing those moments when they occurred. How could she have missed this? Her best friend was sexy.

  After so much intense personal attention from him, she languished in a chair, sitting on her legs with her feet tucked beneath. A sharp giggle in the hallway brought her out of her daze, alert and curious. Two decidedly female voices spoke in a stage whisper meant to be heard.

  "That Damon is so freaking hot. I just want to strip him bare and ride him all night. Did you see the way he held my arms while we were at the rowing machine?"

  The voice faded up the hall. Jess hid the flare of jealousy that flashed through her and slanted a sideways peek under her lowered eyelashes in Damon's direction. The phone was still pressed to his ear. He spun the index finger of his free hand next to his head in a gesture that said the woman in the hall was nuts.

  Just like that she made up her mind. Heck with consequences, she was going through with it. She and Damon were fr
iends. So what? They'd be fine. A little sex never hurt anybody. She just had to make a few preparations. She could be his type. She merely had to try harder.

  Nearly skipping, she approached Damon and kissed his cheek. “I'll see you later,” she whispered.

  Not waiting around, she marched out of the office and into the main area. Melon-chest was propped against a shelf for small weights, her dainty towel just behind her foot.

  Jess grinned. She swiped a damp yellowed towel from an oblivious man nearby and switched it with Melon-chest's clean one. Let her pat those mounds with that.

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  Craving Jess: Chapter 4

  When Damon opened his front door, the downstairs of his house was pitch dark. He hadn't meant to work so late, but Rick had insisted on starting installation of mirrors in the new aerobics room. The job had taken hours and his back ached right between his shoulder blades from carrying the wide pieces of glass and holding them in place as Rick took his time to fasten them to the wall.

  He shoved the switch to his post light on and shut the door. He dropped his bag of damp exercise clothes on the floor and stepped into his kitchen. He grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and twisted the cap, guzzling nearly the whole thing at once. His thirst doused, he glanced up at the clock. Ten-thirty. Damn.

  He walked around the counter and pushed the blinking light on his answering machine. He hoped Jess wasn't too mad about him not showing up. She hadn't called his cell phone, so maybe she'd just given up.

  Two “see you Sunday and don't forget to bring a dish” messages from his mother, and one “what time will we be starting work in the morning” call from Rick. No calls from Jess.

  He squinted across his unlit living room and through the windows toward her house. The whole place was dark. Not even a flickering TV glow. Odd. Jess hadn't told him she'd be out late tonight.

  He opened his deck door and listened. The yappy Papillons next door were outside running in their yard, but he couldn't hear anything out of the ordinary. He frowned.

  Where could she be?

  Closing the door only halfway, he marched back to his phone and picked up the receiver. He punched in her number quickly and waited. No answer, just her voicemail. He held the phone in his palm a moment before hanging it up. He was being a dweeb. Jess was allowed to have a life that didn't include him.