Page 76 of Making Over Maris

Chapter Thirteen

The next day was pretty fucking miserable because Jack spent most of it with Jenny and Sara in the conference room, putting together the PowerPoint for Tristan’s presentation.

Oh, it would have been wonderful, closeted with Sara and a raging hard-on all day. If only Jenny hadn’t been there.

Jenny was frisky.

The first time she touched him, slipped her hand down under the table to squeeze his leg, Jack jumped. He glanced at Sara to see if she’d noticed. And hell, she had.

But she wasn’t mad.

In fact she appeared amused.

This relieved Jack until Jenny’s hand drifted higher.

He was erect because he’d been thinking about Sara and the book and the coming quiz, wondering what tonight held in store. He didn’t want Jenny to discover his boner. God only knew what conclusions she’d come to. It was bad enough he’d given her the impression he liked her. So as she crested his thigh, he grabbed her hand and gently set it back on the table. Where it belonged.

That didn’t stop her.

She edged closer, pretending to study a slide, and pressed her breast against his arm.

Holy crap.

Had Sara noticed that?

She had. She crossed her arms over her chest, sending him a look that said, “See what you started?” Or something like that.

Two months ago it would have thrilled him beyond words to have Jenny so much as speak to him. But now… Now—incredibly—she was an annoyance.

And it was his fault. For pretending to like her.

Jack felt the weight of a new responsibility on his soul. Women had never paid any attention to him before. They’d certainly never cared what he thought about them. It had never occurred to him that flirting with someone could create expectations.

Clearly he was going to have to take Jenny aside and explain things.

Shit. He’d probably have to apologize again.

But this time it would be easier.

He hoped.

In the end he chickened out and escaped. He made some dumb excuse about needing something from his office and sneaked away and didn’t go back.

Yeah. He was a coward and he knew it. But sometimes a man just had to be a man—and run and hide.

By the end of the day, he was exhausted.

But he perked right up when, as he was shutting down his computer and closing up for the night, Sara came into his office. She kicked the door shut and leaned against the window and grinned at him.

“Coward.”

A flush prickled over the back of his neck. “Yeah. I know.”

“She likes you.”

“I…know.”

“You better let her down easy.”