“Oh, relax already.” The other woman took another bite of her muffin. “There’s no big conspiracy or anything. We’re friends. I’m just helping out.”
“Uh-huh.” Jillian wasn’t convinced. “Lucy, this is really sweet of you, I think, but I don’t want a man in my life.”
“How about in your bed?”
“My—We’re talking about your brother here.”
“Yes and believe it or not,” Lucy said in a whisper, “I know that my brothers have sex. The lucky bastards. I haven’t had sex in too long to think about but that’s not the point at the moment.”
“What is the point?”
“That I’ve seen the way you and Jesse look at each other. Heck, the air between you practically sizzles.”
Jillian took a breath. Lucy was right. She’d been feeling it for weeks now and there didn’t seem any reason to deny it. “That doesn’t mean—”
“It means, you’re grown-ups. You clearly like each other. Obviously, you want each other. So, why not?”
“And this isn’t about matchmaking?”
Lucy slapped one hand to her chest in mock outrage. “Would I do that?”
“Yes,” Jillian said, laughing.
“Okay,” Lucy admitted, unrepentant. “I would. But I’m not. I’m just paving the way to a little recreational sex.” She sighed. “Just because I’m living like a vestal virgin doesn’t mean you have to.”
Jillian thought about it while Lucy went in to get them refills. This wasn’t about love. She did like Jesse. A lot. And boy, did she want him. One night didn’t have to lead to forever. Especially since forever just didn’t exist outside novels. But one night could be something special she’d always remember.
When Lucy came back with fresh coffee, she asked, “So? Does Mac spend the night with me?”
“Yes.” Nodding, Jillian said, “Just don’t expect something to come of this because it’s not going to.”
“Jill, the truth is, I want to see my brother happy. I want to see my friend happy.” Lucy shrugged. “Is that so bad?”
“No, it’s not. And I really do appreciate the thought, Lucy, but I’m just not looking for love.”
Lucy smiled. “Oh, sweetie, that’s exactly when you usually find it.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
The more Jesse thought about attending the gala with Jillian, the more he was worried she might get the wrong idea. She wasn’t the kind of woman to be with for a night and then dismiss. She was a mother, for God’s sake. His sister’s friend. And now she was going to be his business partner.
No way he could be as cavalier with Jillian as he always had been with the other women who had come and gone from his life in a blur. But he couldn’t offer her more, either. So what the hell was he doing?
Jesse walked into the main house, intending to dump all of this on his younger brother and see what Will thought about it all. Truth be told, he needed someone else’s input. His own brain had been chewing on the problem of Jillian for weeks and he was still tied up in knots.
But at the threshold of the great room, Jesse stopped dead. Will wasn’t alone. If he’d been paying attention, Jesse would have seen the strange car parked outside the house. As it was, seeing Megan Phillips Sanders sitting on a couch beside Will caught Jesse off guard.
His brother and the woman he was legally married to were looking at a photo album and hadn’t noticed his arrival.
“Looks like it was a nice wedding,” Will said, flipping through pages.
“I thought so at the time,” Megan said. “I thought it was romantic that you—I mean he—wanted the ceremony to be on a beach, just the two of us. Looking back, I feel like an idiot.”
“You shouldn’t,” Will told her. “I’m the idiot who trusted Rich, gave him the room he needed to steal my life and to trick you.”
Megan laughed shortly. “You notice how we’re both blaming ourselves and not blaming the one person who deserves the blame?”
When Will smiled in response, Jesse was relieved to see it. There hadn’t been many of those smiles since Will came home. Maybe Megan and Will could help each other through the mess that Rich had left in his wake.
“Oh, I blame Rich all right,” Will assured her. “And I’m going to do everything I can to make sure he’s caught and thrown into jail for a hundred years.”
Megan took the photo album and closed it with a slap. “That’d be good.”
Jesse was beginning to feel like some Peeping Tom, so he stepped into the room and said hello.