“I have one more thing, and it’ll probably need to go in the bed of the truck,” I said.
He followed me out to the garage, and I pointed to the chest.
“It’s beautiful,” he said, grazing the top of it with his fingertips.
“It was my grandmother’s,” I whispered.
He looked up at me. “Were you close to her?” he asked.
I nodded. “She was the best. I miss her every day.”
He sent me a tight smile. “Sorry you lost her,” he said.
“Besides the memories, this is all I have left of her.”
“Why’s it in the garage?”
“Richard doesn’t like it.”
“Fucking asshole,” he whispered. He bent to move it, but it was a pretty solid piece of furniture.
“Need some help?” I asked.
“Like a girl can handle this?” he shot back.
I rolled my eyes. This wasn’t the first time I’d moved this particular piece of furniture. “Oh yeah, tough guy?”
He chuckled. “Fine. Help me.”
We moved it together, both of us grunting under its weight, until we got it right under the bed of the truck. All we had to do was lift it in, but it wasn’t going to be easy.
“I have an idea,” he said. “Do you have a blanket?”
I nodded and went to get one.
He placed the blanket on the ground and then perched the chest on its shortest side. He leaned the chest lengthwise against the tailgate, and then he gracefully jumped up into the bed of the truck.
Okay, that was hot.
He checked it out and saw that his plan was going to work, and then he hopped back down. My eyes were glued to his tight ass. “Can you get up into the bed and just watch for me?” he asked.
Oh my God. Did he really just say that to me? I’d love to hop in his bed and watch.
I giggled.
“What?” he asked.
“What you just said.”
He thought for a minute, and then he chuckled. “I’ll rephrase. Can you please get into the bed of my truck and watch this piece of furniture for me to ensure that it doesn’t topple over and crash into a million pieces?”
“Sure, Jesse. I’d love to get in your bed and watch.”
He grinned and then helped me step up into the bed of the truck not nearly as gracefully as he had.
He heaved the chest up, and his plan totally worked. I watched to make sure my furniture was safe, and just as we finished adjusting the chest and wrapping blankets around it for protection, I saw Richard’s Mercedes pull around the corner and head for our driveway.
Fuck.
We were caught.
I was seriously hoping to escape without having to see him, but now I’d been caught, and worse, I had been caught with another man.
“Shit,” I mumbled as we both stood in the bed of the truck next to the chest. He looked up and watched as Richard pulled up. “Have you two ever met?” I asked.
Jesse nodded. “A few times. Football games, probably.”
“Once or twice, then. He almost never goes.”
“Want me to put him in his place?” he asked with a grin.
I smiled back. “More than anything. But probably not a good idea.”
He nodded.
Richard parked on the street since Jesse’s truck and my car were taking over the driveway. He got out of his car and wrapped the strap of his laptop bag around his shoulder.
He barely acknowledged Jesse. “Veronica, hi sweetheart,” he said when he approached us. We both just stared at him.
“Jesse, this is Richard,” I said, feeling forced to make the introductions.
“Hey, Rick,” Jesse said with a little wave. I stifled a giggle. Richard hated when people abbreviated his name more than anything, and I wanted to kiss Jesse for somehow knowing that.
Well, if I was being honest with myself, I had wanted to kiss Jesse long before before he called Richard “Rick.”
“Have you signed the papers yet?” I asked. I hadn’t seen them on the table in the kitchen or on the desk in the office, so I assumed that he hadn’t.
He shook his head. “I was hoping we could talk about that,” he said thickly.
Great.
“Why don’t I head out and give you two some privacy?” Jesse said, trying to diffuse the tension.
It didn’t work.
“Is this the guy you’re shacking up with?” Richard asked.
Way to make things totally awkward, Richard. Fucking asshole was right.
“This is the man who is letting me crash at his place,” I admitted truthfully, not moving from the bed of Jesse’s truck. I felt safe there, like I was on “gool” – our word for the safety zone when I was playing tag as a kid.
What would really make me feel safe was Jesse wrapping arms around me, but this wasn’t the time for those thoughts. It was bad enough that I was having them, let alone having them while I was standing there talking to my husband.