she? I knew there was something going on.” Her mother was nothing if not determined. “Let me guess. She wanted to know if I was seeing anyone. I hope you told her you didn’t know. Or did you tell her I was? Because that would seriously help.”
“She didn’t ask me if you were seeing anyone.”
“Oh.” She straightened. “What did she ask?”
“She wants me to fire you so you’ll move back to Los Angeles, fall in love, get married and give her grandchildren.”
Larissa felt heat flare on her cheeks. Humiliation made it hard to think, let alone come up with something reasonably intelligent to say.
“She already has two married daughters,” she muttered. “Why can’t she leave me alone?”
“She loves you.”
“She has a funny way of showing it. Are you going to fire me?”
Jack raised both brows this time.
She drew in a breath. “I’ll take that as a no. I’m sorry. I’ll do my best to keep her away from here. The good news is Muriel is due in three months and the new baby will be a distraction.” In the meantime Larissa would figure out a way to convince her mother that she’d moved to Borneo.
“Anything else?” she asked.
“Yeah, there is. Your mother said you’re never going to settle down and get married because you’re secretly in love with me.”
* * *
JACK HADN’T KNOWN how Larissa was going to react, but he’d guessed it would be a show. She didn’t disappoint. Her face went from red to white and back to red. Her mouth opened and closed. With her jaw tightly clenched, she muttered something like “I’m going to kill her,” but he couldn’t be sure.
Nancy Owens’s words had hit him like a linebacker. Larissa in love with him? Impossible. For one thing, she knew him better than anyone except Taryn and to know him was to understand he was all flash and no substance. For another, he needed her. Love meant a relationship and having a relationship meant she would eventually leave. No. There was no way Larissa could be in love with him.
But he’d been unable to shake the words and had realized he had to get the truth from the only person who actually knew.
Larissa drew in a breath. “I don’t love you. We’re friends. I like working for you, and the charity work is terrific, and I know you have my back, but I’m not in love with you.”
Relief eased the tension in Jack’s always aching right shoulder. He kept his expression neutral.
“You sure?” he asked.
“Yes. Positive.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m pretty hot. I could understand you having a thing for me. You’ve seen me naked. Now that I think about it, your reaction is inevitable.” He sighed. “You love me. Admit it.”
Larissa’s mouth twitched. “Jack, you’re not all that.”
“But I am. Remember that fan who had my face tattooed on her breast? And the one who begged me to father her child? And the woman in Pittsburgh who wanted me to lick her—”
Larissa rested her arms on the desk and dropped her head to her arms. “Stop. You have to stop.”
“Stronger women than you have been unable to resist my charms.”
“In your dreams.”
“No. Apparently in yours.”
She looked at him then, her blue eyes wide, her mouth smiling. “I give.”
“In the end, they all do.”
The smile faded. “I’m sorry about my mother. She shouldn’t have said that. I swear I am not, nor will I ever be, in love with you. I love my job and you’re a big part of that. But we’re friends, right? That’s better. Besides, you have terrible taste in your ‘let’s end this now’ gifts.”
“Which is why I let you buy them.” He hesitated a second. “We’re good?”
“The best.” Her smile returned.
The last of his worry faded. This was the Larissa he knew. All funny and earnest. Hair pulled back in a ponytail and not a speck of makeup on her face. She wore yoga pants and T-shirts and always had some cause to discuss with him. She believed the world was worth saving and he didn’t mind if she used his money to try. They made a good team. He didn’t want to have to do without her and having her love him...Well, that would have changed everything.
* * *
JO’S BAR WAS the kind of place you’d only find in a quirky small town. From the outside, it looked perfectly normal, but the second you stepped inside, you knew that this was a bar unlike any other.
For one thing, it was well lit. There were no dark shadows, no questionable stains on the floor. The colors were girl-friendly mauve and yellow, the windows were uncovered and the big TVs were always tuned to the Style Network or Project Runway.
Larissa walked inside. She saw the countdown sign that pointed out the number of days until the new season of Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders: Making the Team started and grinned. Yup, life was different here and she liked it.
She glanced around and saw her friends in a booth by the windows. They looked up and waved her over.
When she’d first decided to leave Los Angeles for Fool’s Gold, she’d been nervous about starting over. What if she didn’t fit in? What if she couldn’t make friends? But those fears had been groundless, she thought as she waved back and crossed to the big table.
“I saved you a seat,” Isabel said, patting the empty space beside her. “You’re just in time to join the debate about whether we’re going to order nachos for the table and have margaritas and pretend we don’t have to get back to work or if we’re going to be good and order regular lunches and drink iced tea.”
Larissa settled in the chair. She glanced at Taryn and grinned. “My vote depends on my boss. If she’s drinking, I’m all in.”
Because right now, a drink sounded great.
What had her mother been thinking? The same question had circled in her brain for much of the morning. Talk about humiliating and inappropriate. As soon as she’d calmed down and could talk about it rationally, she was going to have a very long chat with her mother.
She was lucky that Jack had handled the situation with his usual easy charm, but jeez. What if he’d thought her mother was telling the truth? She didn’t want to think about it.
Love Jack? She had flaws but being an idiot wasn’t one of them. Besides, they were a great team. She would never mess with that.
“You okay?” Taryn asked quietly.
“Yeah. Great.”
Because faking it was much easier than telling the truth.
