Jillian gave him an understanding smile and one more soft, brief kiss. “It’s better this way, Jesse. No promises made, so none broken. We’ll be partners—for now,” she reminded him and he didn’t much care for having his own words tossed back at him.
“And then?”
She stood up. “Then, we’ll be friends.”
He gritted his teeth and said, “I don’t normally want to bend my friends over a table and—”
She inhaled sharply and interrupted him. “That’s not helping.”
“Not trying to help.”
“Why not?” she asked. “Isn’t this just what you wanted? If I hadn’t said it first, wouldn’t you have given me the speech?”
“A man can’t have this conversation naked,” he muttered and swung out of the bed to snatch up his pants. Tugging them on, he zipped and buttoned them before talking to her again. “Once I give that speech, I’m not ‘friends’ with the woman I’ve given it to.”
“First time for everything,” she said.
“I don’t want to be your friend, Jillian.”
She threw her arms up and shook her head. “Then what do you want?”
He looked into those grayish-green eyes and realized that what he wanted was her. Sex hadn’t eased that desire, it had only inflamed it. So no, he wouldn’t be her friend. He wouldn’t be her lover, either. Or any other damn thing. Once their partnership was over, they’d have nothing between them.
And he didn’t like how empty that made him feel.
“You. Damn it, I want you.”
“Then don’t go yet,” she said, untying her robe.
He didn’t.
CHAPTER NINE
Jesse dressed to leave a couple of hours later and he thought he’d never done anything more difficult than walking away from this woman when she lay there naked and warm, a soft smile on her face. And that was the main reason he had to go.
He’d told himself that sex with Jillian would clear his head, get her out of his system. Sadly, the reality was that she was deeper inside him now than she had been before.
“I’ve got to get back to the ranch,” he said. “Gotta be up at dawn to get a couple of the horses ready to be sent home.”
She nodded, held the sheet to her breasts and sat up. Pushing that mass of blond hair back from her face, she murmured, “You don’t owe me an explanation, Jesse. You don’t owe me anything.”
He scrubbed one hand across his face. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I know that. You won’t.”
Yes, he would, Jesse told himself. Because sooner or later, Jillian would start expecting more from him. She would start looking at what was between them as a relationship. Strong and smart, she was still female, and every woman he’d ever known eventually started looking for promises. And he couldn’t do that.
Because when he made a promise, he kept it. So he was careful with what he said. He couldn’t give Jillian and little Mac what he already owed to his sister’s son and the memory of the father that little boy had lost.
With that thought firmly at the front of his mind, he picked up his hat and jammed it onto his head. “Guess I’ll see you.”
“Yes, you will. Tomorrow,” she said. Then she laughed. “Don’t look so panicked, Jesse. I’m not going to the ranch to hunt you down. Just to pick up Mac.”
Idiot. “Right. I’ll see you then.” He walked to the door, opened it and looked back at her. “Lock this after me.”
She was smiling as he left and Jesse told himself to make sure he was nowhere near the ranch when she arrived to pick up her little girl.
* * *
Two days later, Lucy and Jillian were outside the empty shop that would soon be filled with the scent of baking pies. She should be looking at the shop with Jesse, Jillian thought. He was her partner, after all. But she hadn’t spoken to him since the night they’d been together.
If he was avoiding her, then he was doing an excellent job of it.
“I’m so glad Jesse helped you get this started,” Lucy said as Jillian opened the door with the key provided by the real estate agent. “A little surprised, but glad.”
“Surprised why?” Jillian asked, looking over her shoulder at her friend.
Shrugging, Lucy continued. “He’s more of a stand-back-and-observe kind of guy. This is the first time I remember him doing anything like this.”
Jillian thought about that for a moment and told herself it didn’t signify anything. He was being kind, that was all. When she paid back his investment, the shop would be all hers and that would probably be the end of her time with Jesse.