eyes widened. “My being there wasn’t part of the deal.”
“At the price you quoted, you’re well compensated for your time.” He looked her squarely in the eyes. The younger Jodie he’d known had always been honest and trustworthy. A real Girl Scout. She knew she’d overcharged, and he guessed her conscience would force her to honor his conditions.
As if abruptly realizing he still held her hand, Jodie withdrew hers from his grasp.
Jeff shoved back from the table and stood. “I’ll see you at eight o’clock Saturday morning at my place.”
Jodie rose also. Her graceful movement called attention to her stunning figure, and he had to tear his gaze away. He strode to the door, opened it and turned to her.
“Pleasure doing business with you, ma’am.” He didn’t try to hide his smile. He’d won, and she knew it. He stepped outside and closed the door behind him.
* * *
JODIE SANK INTO HER CHAIR before her knees gave way. She rubbed damp palms on her slacks and drew a deep breath in a futile effort to calm her racing pulse. When Jeff had stepped from behind the display shelves, he’d looked like the epitome of every woman’s dream. The perfect image for a Marine recruiting poster: tall, with broad shoulders, riveting gray eyes, neatly trimmed thick dark hair, a chiseled movie-star face marred only by a scar above his right cheekbone and a roguish smile with perfect teeth. And those muscles. Not a trace of flab. Just rock-hard strength. No wonder she hadn’t recognized the lanky teenager from high school who’d always needed a haircut, a shave, clean clothes and a decent meal.
And that voice. Deep, commanding, mesmerizing. If he’d asked for anything more than catering, she didn’t know if she could have resisted.
Her hands trembled and she clasped them together on the tabletop. What had he done to her? She hadn’t felt this shaken since Randy Mercer had swaggered into her father’s hardware store fifteen years ago. She groaned at the memory and laid her head on her hands. That time, two weeks later she was pregnant with Brittany.
God, she had to get a grip. She’d vowed never to let an attractive man overrule her good judgment again, and she’d managed just fine.
Until today.
Until Jeff Davidson had blasted in from the past, a gung-ho, kick-ass Marine who’d tossed her to the mat without so much as crooking a finger. She’d been certain that her exorbitant pricing would scare him off, but he hadn’t even batted those incredibly long eyelashes at the outrageous figure she’d quoted. He’d merely smiled and caught her in her own trap. She should have just said no. Now she’d have to donate her excessive profit anonymously to his project to ease her guilty conscience.
She drew another deep breath. He’d taken her by surprise, that was all. Next time she’d be prepared to resist his good looks and charismatic charm. Such attributes could only lead to trouble. She wouldn’t trade Brittany for anything, but Jodie had promised herself when her baby was born that she’d never, ever let her senses override her reason again.
Plenty of men had expressed an interest over the years. Jodie had briefly dated a few. But all had fallen short of the high standards she’d set after her first and only disastrous sexual experience. No one in Pleasant Valley had measured up to the qualities she admired in men, with the exception of her dad and her brother Grant, of course.
And none of the men she’d dated had exhibited the least interest in Brittany. Some had stated outright that the child was a deal-breaker in a relationship. So Jodie had remained single and happy. Men were definitely off her diet.
Her reaction to Jeff had been a fluke. It wouldn’t happen again.
She pushed to her feet, dismayed to find her legs still shaky, grabbed the coffee mugs from the tabletop and headed for the counter. While tucking his check into the cash register, she glimpsed Jeff out front astride his vintage Harley and talking to a policewoman. A satisfied smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She hoped Officer Brynn Sawyer was giving him a ticket. Serve the handsome devil right.
She had stowed the mugs in the dishwasher when the bell over the door tinkled. Afraid Jeff had come back, she felt her pulse rev and her face flush. When she turned, however, it was only Brynn.
“You’re still in uniform.” Jodie hoped Brynn wouldn’t notice her reddened face, although the officer, trained to observe, never missed much. “Didn’t your shift end hours ago?”
Brynn perched on a stool at the counter. “I’ve been catching up on paperwork.”
“Want coffee?”
Brynn nodded. Even in her severely cut blue uniform, the tall, shapely woman with dark auburn hair was a knockout. Men had been known to exceed speed limits merely for the pleasure of being pulled over by Pleasant Valley’s gorgeous cop. Brynn, however, remained unaware of her beauty. She was too married to her job to pay attention to much else, especially the gaggle of admiring guys who often hovered around her. Totally focused, she performed her duties with above-and-beyond devotion. Everyone in town felt safer with Brynn on patrol.
“I’ve got some new material,” Brynn said, a twinkle lighting her midnight-blue eyes.
“Not more lawyer jokes, please,” Jodie said with a fake groan and filled her coffee mug.
Brynn had a thing about lawyers. And Yankees. Otherwise generous and open-minded to a fault, Jodie’s friend couldn’t tolerate either as a group. But if an individual attorney or Northerner needed help, Brynn was there in a New York minute.
“How many of those lawyer jokes do you know?” Jodie said.
“Only three.” Brynn’s grin was wicked. “The rest are true stories.”
Jodie couldn’t help laughing. Brynn always cheered her up, even after her worst rows with Brittany.
Brynn dumped artificial sweetener and cream in her coffee and stirred. “How does a pregnant woman know she’s carrying a future lawyer?”
“There’s no stopping you, is there?”
Her friend’s grin widened. “She has an uncontrollable craving for baloney. What does a lawyer use for birth control?”
“I give up.”
“His personality.” She barely paused for breath. “What happens when you cross a pig with a lawyer?”
Jodie laughed. “I’m afraid to ask.”
“Nothing. There’re some things even a pig won’t do. What do you call—”
“Stop, please.” Jodie struggled to speak through her laughter. “Is this how you interrogate suspects? Lawyer-joke them until they crack?”
“Now there’s a thought.” Brynn cut her a probing glance. “Guess you saw Jeff Davidson.”
“He has a catering job for me.” Jodie worked to keep her tone casual.
“You don’t do catering.”
Jodie shrugged. “I do now.”
“For the dorm
