“You too.”
“I see your body finally grew into that head.”
At least May had the decency to try to stifle her laugh. Unlike Mace, who let it ring out over the room. Treacherous bastard cat.
“Yup, I sure did.”
“You went into the... ” She snapped her fingers trying to remember. “Marines? Right?”
Mace laughed harder.
“Navy.”
“That’s right. Sorry. It’s been a lot of years.”
“I see that.”
“So why are you here exactly?”
Smitty gritted his teeth but answered politely, “I’m partners with Mace. We own the security company handling your party.”
“That’s nice.” But she didn’t seem to mean it or care. Her eyes had already started scanning the room.
The male wild dog from the stage placed a glass of champagne in her hand.
“Was I right about the shoes?” he asked with a big smile.
“Let it go about the shoes.”
“Think you can dance in them?”
“Of course. Why?”
“I wanna swing you over to Don Lester.” The billionaire? “See if we can tag team him.”
“Why? We’re having dinner with him next week.”
“Yes, but I want to do this now.”
“Why don’t you do this yourself?”
“One, I’d look stupid dancing alone. Two, he likes you.”
“If you hadn’t insulted his wife... ” she muttered before swigging back half a glass of champagne.
“That was an accident. I wish you’d all let it go.”
Jess handed her glass to May, who promptly finished it. It seemed the dogs weren’t squeamish about sharing.
“Mace, I’ll talk to you later. There’s some work I think I can get you guys.”
“Sounds great.”
Brown eyes focused on him and Jessie again leaned in and gave Smitty a small hug. “It was great seeing you again, Bobby Ray. We should keep in touch.”
But before he could even debate whether it was worth getting her number, she was off dancing with some wild dog to tag team a billionaire.
May gave them both a brief smile before moving off toward the rest of her Pack.
Mace nodded his head. “Oh, yeah, man. She is so into you.”
He glared at his friend, feeling uncharacteristically angry, and snarled, “I knew that time you were laid up in the hospital after that firefight I should have put that pillow right over your head.”
The rest of the evening was uneventful and went slowly. Painfully slow. All Smitty wanted to do was go home and sulk in peace and quiet. Instead, he found himself watching Jessie Ann work a room rather than doing his job. Thankfully his staff did theirs and they had no problems. As a business, the night was a screaming success. Smitty, however, couldn’t seem to enjoy it. He even blew off the hot little jackal’s blatant proposition. A proposition he normally would have been all over.
The last of the vans headed off back to the company’s office parking lot, leaving him and Mace.
“What are you grinning at?” Smitty asked while leaning against his car.
“I’m grinning because I’m happy. Tonight went perfect. I have some leads on other jobs, lucrative jobs, and my wife is going back to her job come Monday. I didn’t think that would make me happy, but it does.”
Smitty shook his head and smiled. “Is she still out in Northport?”
“Oh, hell no. She’s back at our Brooklyn place. Which is where I’m headed. I didn’t want her out on the Island any longer. I fear for her safety. As it is, I’m sure the town burned our house down by now. To ensure we would never return.”
Before the two friends could part company, the side door opened and the wild-dog Pack walked out. As late as it was, they still seemed to be filled with tons of energy. They discussed going to an all-night diner for a late dinner–early breakfast. Jessie Ann led the way, wrapped in a fur coat, strutting toward the corner. One of the males caught up to her and put his arm around her shoulders, whispering something in her ear. She laughed and pushed him away.
They walked to a big, black Hummer and pulled the doors open, piling in. Jess opened the front passenger side door but stopped and looked around, her eyes finally finding him and Mace. She smiled and waved.
“Thank you, guys! It went great.”“You’re welcome,” Mace answered for them. All Smitty could manage was a wave. Then the Pack closed the doors and the Hummer drove off.
“You all right, Smitty?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking about how much little Jessie Ann has changed.”
“People change. It happens.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
But he liked his little Jessie Ann. More than he’d realized. And now she was gone forever.
Jessica Ann Ward sat in the passenger side of one of the Pack’s Hummers and stared out the window. She knew it was coming, she simply didn’t know when. Leave it to Phil to break the ice.
She heard him turn in his seat to face his wife, Sabina.
“Golly gee, darlin’,” he said in what had to be the worst rendition of a Southern accent Jess had ever been forced to listen to. “You sho’ look good in them fine shoes.”
“And you are... I can’t quite place you,” Sabina responded in her Russian accent that was suddenly that much thicker.
“Why, I’m the young man you once had a big ol’ crush on and I’ve now grown into a manly buck of a wolf. Don’t you remember?”
“Um... no.”
Finally, Jess couldn’t take it anymore. She burst out laughing, her Pack joining with her.
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” she playfully yelled at Phil. “I wasn’t that bad.”
Danny, May’s husband, stopped at a red light. “When you walked over, he was like this.” He held his hands out at least eleven inches apart. “But when you were done, he was like this.” He held his forefingers about two inches apart.
Jess covered her face with her hands, her laughter causing tears to flow down her cheeks. “Stop it!”
“Sweetie, it went brilliantly,” Sabina cheered. “You crushed him.” She always said that sort of thing with so much relish. And Phil always looked so turned on by it.
“What y’all missed,” May added, “was all the chest thumpin’ he was doin’ with that big cat.”
“Big is right,” Phil agreed. “Now that was a big head.”
May laughed in disbelief. “I can’t believe you said that about his head.”
“Well, it was large!” Jess argued to the four people she was closest to in the universe. The original members of their forty-strong Pack.
“I mean that thing was huge. I’d sit there... under the bleachers... hiding, terrified... and I’d think to myself, ‘If he tips his head to the side, will he completely fall over? Like the Elephant Man?’”
“Oh, my God, Jess!”
“What? You ask a lot of weird questions when you’re hiding under bleachers.”
Danny found a fabulous parking spot right outside the diner.
“You guys think I’ll see him again?”
“No,” they answered in unison.
Jess sighed in relief. “Good.” She waved at her outfit. She’d borrowed the dress and fur coat from Sabina, but unfortunately, she’d paid good money for the shoes.
“I can’t keep this up on a regular basis. And I hate these shoes. My feet are freezing and I fell on my ass in the bathroom.”
“Those shoes make that outfit,” Phil complained. “So suck it up.”
“Give me my sneakers, May.”
“You’re going to put sneakers on with that dress?”
“When did you become Karl Lagerfeld?”
Phil leaned into his wife. “They’re being mean to me, my love. Destroy them.”
“I’m hungry,” Sabina said. “I want waffles and I want them now. Or someone will pay dearly.” She looked at Phil and they all knew she meant that “someone” was him.
“Okay. Okay. My little Russian love bug. Calm yourself.”
While the others got out of the Hummer, Jess pulled on her sneakers. Yeah, it was over. No matter how good Bobby Ray Smith might look, she was over her little “wait until he sees me now” moment.
Christ, though, the man did look good. Tall with mile-wide shoulders and his entire body rippling with muscles under his black midlength leather jacket, black turtleneck, and black jeans. And those watchful, amber eyes staring out under that dark brown hair, most of which reached to his collar. Probably a relief after so many years in the military.
Yeah, the man still looked damn good.
She wished she could say she truly had no idea he’d be attending this party, but her Pack never did business with anyone they hadn’t thoroughly investigated. And although she knew Mace through his sister and their mutual charity activities over the past five years, it wasn’t until Danny gave her the information on his business that she saw Bobby Ray Smith’s name listed as his partner.
At that point, she knew what she had to do. As childish and ridiculous as it seemed even to her, she couldn’t resist. And, as always, her Pack had been more than willing to join in.
But now it was over. She’d showed him exactly how far she’d come, and it felt great. Yet, she had more important things to deal with now, moving Bobby Ray Smith officially into her past.
Although there definitely remained a part of her that still wished she’d gotten a chance to kiss him that night in the gymnasium. Just so she could stop wondering what it would be like. By now she felt certain she’d built it up to gargantuan proportions the poor man could never live up to.