Chapter One
Tonight was it. If it killed her, Kim was making a move.
Now or never.
“Courage,” she commanded. “You can do this.” Arching on tiptoe, she used the small powder room mirror to awkwardly apply a coat of shimmery mauve to her lips, knowing she’d need all the help she could get.
There, almost… Misplaced lipstick edged the rim of her lips and she wiped it into line, stepping back to survey the result.
“Not so bad…” she told herself.
Normally ponytailed, the long golden hair she’d brushed to shining draped freely in waves and huge, petrified brown eyes stared back. Her blouse rode awkwardly on her shoulders, making her yearn for a soft, comfy, broke-in tee rather than this starched straitjacket, which hinted subtly at her cleavage and was far too cotton candy pink.
Pink. She hadn’t worn this color since she was four and her mother forced her into a frilly dress for Easter. Subsequently, she’d covered it in chocolate bunny and green dandruff shampoo that didn’t get out the stain.
Right about now she’d rather be in that dress. At least it covered her chest.
Nerves drumming, Kim tugged the shirt into place then forced an alluring smile. With her blushed cheeks, it came out looking more like a clowny grimace.
“Crap.” Maybe she was better off just being her natural, nude-lipped tomboy self…but the thought incited a strangled groan. “As if that’s working…”
Whether she was pretty or not, Jackson was used to trendy divas fresh out of the fashion magazine. Always perfect sluts—ahem, beauties.
Kim, on the other hand, was a whopping five-two, whose greatest claim to dressing up was dark denim, who, up to today, hadn’t applied makeup since her prom a decade ago—which he’d escorted her to.
But she had one thing on her side. Love.
Jackson Hanley had owned her heart for years. And he loved her, at least as a best friend. They did everything side by side…worked together, shared the rent. Rooted at football games. Rode four-wheelers at her parents’ farm. Went rock climbing and out for cheap, late-night fast food and horror movies. Everything but that.
Well, she was sick to death of being one of the guys. Sick of him pinching her cheeks and calling her Kimmy, as if she were some kid sister. Sick of watching the string of endless women go by—with her man. Sick of him looking at her as if he could consume her…then quickly averting his gaze.
Sick, all the same, at the thought of leaving him.
Philly was two hours away. Literally a hundred miles. But this was it.
A long-distance friendship she could handle. But if there was any chance Jackson wanted her, as she suspected, as she so badly wanted him…she had to know. Not just walk away.
Hopefully Jackson took the bait, showed some real interest…
Squaring her shoulders, Kim forced herself to exit the bathroom, moving with lead feet back across the waiting room of Design Works to her office where she perched on the edge of the desk.
And now she waited.
Heart thudding a mile a minute, she checked her watch. “Five of five.” But Jackson was still with a web customer and there was no telling if he’d run late today or not. If he did, Kim might just crawl under the desk and call it quits.
She was risking a lot. Her pride. Their friendship. If she made a fool of herself, there was no way she could ever look him in the eyes again.
She’d lose him entirely.
Maybe she should just call it quits, accept that job. No humiliation to suffer. They could stay friends, just a hundred miles apart. She’d get over him.
A minute ticked by. Then another.
Tick…
Tick…
Tick…
Finally, brassy laughter burst through his office door, resounding off the marble floors and brick walls. Out came Jackson with Ms. Veronica Parker dangled on one well-muscled arm. Her jewelry glistened in the light, her curves, accented by a skin-tight teal dress that played up the woman’s gorgeous eyes, made Kim want to die.
“Kimmy,” Jackson crooned in that ready-to-cut-loose, sexy voice of his. “What’d ya say we call it a weekend?”
God, she loathed him calling her that.
God, he was too damn gorgeous for her own good. Or his.
That body, tall and confident with just the right amount of muscles. The way he always kept his wavy hair a tad too long and it fell in disheveled curls at the nape of his neck. That strong, angular jaw and Roman nose and amber-colored eyes that made her melt when he half smiled, tweaking a dimple.
“About time,” she croaked out. Real smooth. “You sure make for a boring employer. Files and phone calls…phone calls and files. Blah.”
It really wasn’t that boring. After all, she got to be around him all day. But this had never been a permanent situation… Just her helping Jackson out with his new company and him helping her out with a job to hold her over until she finally finished school. Having to single-handedly support her way through college had set her two years behind Jackson, who luckily—or really, unluckily—had bitter parents vying for his college bills to prove who loved him most. As if money could buy love. Make up for years of mistakes.