“I take it you didn’t see it coming?”
Objectively Grace knew he didn’t mean it as a jab, but it felt like a poke in the jugular all the same.
“No,” she said quietly. “I mean, I was aware of Maureen. She was one of his colleagues, and she was just one of those predatory women that had all significant others staying a little closer to their men at company functions, you know?”
“But you didn’t think it would happen to you.”
Again she listened for a sign of judgment. Searched his face for pity. But instead there was simple understanding.
“No,” she said quietly. “I never once imagined he’d cheat.”
Jake leaned back on the bar stool, pursing his lips as though considering a deep philosophical question. “Well, here’s the way I see it …”
“I didn’t ask.”
He ignored her. “This guy … what’s his name?”
“Greg.”
“And you were together how long?”
“Nine years.”
He whistled. “Did you start dating when you were toddlers?”
“College,” she said with a wry smile. “He was my first serious boyfriend.”
Jake nodded. “Well, that right there is your problem.”
“I’m not the one with a problem,” Grace snapped. “He’s the one who couldn’t keep his dick in his pants. And don’t you dare imply that he must have had a reason to step out.”
Jake’s smile disappeared and his fingers wrapped around her wrist. “Don’t think for one moment that I condone cheating in any situation.”
Grace’s heart began to beat a little faster at the intensity on his face. “Okay,” she said, a little breathless. All of a sudden she was much too aware that there was nothing playful and harmless about this version of Jake Malone. Even worse, she was every bit as attracted to this version as the flirty version.
Crap.
“I know what the papers say about me,” he continued. “That I’m a player and a womanizer and whatever else they like to call happily single men these days. But my women have never, ever overlapped. Fidelity’s nonnegotiable in my book.”
Grace searched his face. “Spoken by someone who’s been a victim of infidelity?”
His eyes went cool and he released her wrist. “Spoken by someone who has morals, Brighton.”
Feeling knocked a little off balance by the suddenly serious turn in conversation, Grace looked at her watch. Forget about food. This seemingly harmless date had gotten deep fast. This was territory she didn’t want to go into with anybody.
Least of all a guy who could too easily make her forget all the reasons she was done with men.
“Okay then,” she said perkily. “Think we’ve got enough material to write an article about this ‘date’?”
He rolled his shoulders back slightly, as though willing away the temporary black cloud that seemed to have settled over him. Then his features relaxed and he was back to normal. “I certainly know the tack I’m going to take with my column.”
Grace bit her tongue before she could press him for details, because she was all too aware that she wouldn’t be asking for the right reasons.
She wanted to know what Jake Malone thought of her. But not for the sake of the story.
Still, she couldn’t resist doing a little digging. Technically this was her first “real” date for the better part of a decade.
“So, I’m a little out of practice at this,” she said, keeping her voice light, as though his response wouldn’t make a difference to her one way or the other. “How’d I do?”
He gave her a knowing look, but to his credit, he didn’t mock her. “You’re asking how this first date compares to others?”
She couldn’t bring herself to answer, but simply raised her eyes to his, hoping like hell he didn’t read the neediness there. Saw from the way his own eyes softened that he did.
Grace wasn’t aware that he’d moved, and wasn’t prepared for the light touch of his knuckle against her cheek. The gesture was as sweet as it was unexpected.
“This wasn’t like other first dates,” he said, breaking the silence.
Her heart sank. “Oh,” she said, ignoring the stab of disappointment. Hating that he had to pity her.
His eyes dropped to her mouth. “It was a hell of a lot better.”
Chapter Six
A week later, Grace thought she was doing an admirable job of avoidance. So far she’d used a bobby pin to clean crumbs from her keyboard, organized her hard drive, and emailed her mother.
By ten o’clock she was almost done cleaning out her desk, and had only thought about Jake Malone twice.