Too fast for conditions. He’s lucky I don’t chase after him and slap him with a ticket.” He walked around to the back of the car and hooked the chain to a metal plate beneath the back bumper. “So, are you and him—”
“Together? No,” Caley said. “We’re just … old friends.”
“You know, he once threatened to beat the crap out of me if I did more than kiss you on our date.”
“I guess you weren’t too scared of him.”
Jeff grinned. “Hey, I knew why you went out with me. It wasn’t too hard to see what was going on between you two. He made things pretty clear.”
“No,” Caley said. “There was never anything. He was just … like an older brother.”
“I don’t think so,” Jeff said as he walked back to his truck. “I’m pretty sure the guy was in love with you.”
Caley stepped out onto the road, puzzled by Jeff’s revelation. How could he have gotten all that from a simple warning? Still, Jake had admitted as much, only she thought he’d been teasing. What if it was true? What if his feelings had run much deeper than she ever suspected?
Jeff hooked the chain to his truck. He slowly pulled it taut. A moment later, her car began to move as it was gradually drawn back onto the road. “That’s good!” she shouted.
Jeff parked the truck. He walked to the front of her rental car and examined it. “No damage,” he said.
“Thanks.” Caley reached for the door and Jeff quickly opened it for her. “I’m lucky you came along.”
“Hey, there’s a good band playing out at Tyler’s tomorrow night. We could catch some dinner and then head out there. I mean, if you aren’t busy with family stuff. And I promise I won’t try any funny business.”
Caley hesitated. There was absolutely no spark between her and Jeff, and she didn’t want to lead him on. Besides, if she wanted sparks, she had the Fourth of July fireworks in Jake. “I’m trying to spend some time with my sister.”
“Yeah, I heard she was getting married. Your mom told me when I saw her in town yesterday. That’s a surprise. Little Emma Lambert and Sam Burton. Hard to believe they’re old enough to get married.”
“Maybe Emma and I will stop by and check it out,” she said. A girl’s night out might make her sister reconsider getting married. She had far too many oats to sow yet and Tyler’s Roadhouse was known as a single girl’s paradise.
“Well, then, I’ll see you if I see you. I know the guy at the door. Just give him your name and he’ll let you in without the cover charge. You drive careful now, Caley. I don’t want to catch you in another snowbank. If I do, I might have to toss you in jail.”
He opened her car door for her and she got inside. As Caley drove off, she glanced in the rearview mirror. Jeff Winslow was an attractive guy. And now that she was single again, she ought to have been flattered that he’d turned his attention to her.
Caley had never put much stock in sexual chemistry, but now she finally understood what it was all about. When she and Jeff sat in the same test tube, nothing happened. But when she got mixed up in a beaker of Jake, the combination erupted into heat and passion and uncontrolled need.
There was a strange connection between them, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was. Something was drawing them together, a power that was impossible to resist. And with every moment that passed, Caley wondered why she even bothered to try.
Her phone rang and Caley reached to get it out of her purse. But then she drew her hand away. For the first time in her professional life, she didn’t want to think about work. She didn’t want to answer some silly question or explain some figures on a report. She just wanted to be left alone for a day. Grabbing the phone, she switched it off, the Mozart tune ending prematurely. She’d deal with work later. And besides, the last thing she needed was a ticket courtesy of Jeff. She had more important things on her mind.
Her thoughts returned to Jake. There was one major fear holding her back, a fear that she would repeat past mistakes. What if they did have sex and what if it was the most wonderful experience of her life? And what if she fell in love with Jake all over again?
Those feelings had been buried so deep for so long that she’d thought they were gone. But the moment he’d kissed her, they’d floated back to the surface. Caley was much stronger now, but Jake had the capacity to sweep her off her feet, to make her lose touch with reality and reason.
She drew a ragged breath. Though it was frightening, this power he had over her, it was also liberating. When she was with him, she could let go and enjoy herself. For the first time since she was a teenager, she looked forward to getting up in the morning. While she was here with Jake, she didn’t have to worry about all the public relations fires she’d have to put out in the course of a day, all the upset clients and curious reporters and skittish stockholders. She could relax and just be herself.
Why was it that Jake was always a factor in the choices she made? She’d gone to school at NYU because she thought it would impress Jake. She got a job in public relations because Jake had once told her she was good at solving problems. She’d worked herself ragged in the past seven years because, deep inside, she wanted to prove that she didn’t need Jake in her life to be happy.
And where had it gotten her? Caley sighed softly. Right back to where she started, still chasing after Jake Burton. But this time, he was chasing after her, as well. And she now had control over what happened between them—until, of course, he touched her. Then all bets were off.
“That’s the problem,” Caley said. “I can control my attraction for Jake as long as we aren’t close to each other. But I’m so attracted to him, I can’t stay away. I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t.”
BY THE TIME she got back to the inn it was nearly noon.
There was no one at the desk when she walked in, but Caley found her younger sister at a table in the dining room, a binder open in front of her. She munched on a breadstick as she flipped through the pages.
“Your maid of honor has arrived,” Caley said, pulling out a chair across from Emma.
Her sister looked up and smiled. “Good. I need someone to distract me from all these details. My mind is so filled with minutiae that it’s starting to leak out of my ears. Flowers, music, candles, dinner. I thought we were planning a small wedding, but it’s starting to take on a life of its own.”
Caley sat down, then reached out for the binder, scanning down her sister’s “to do” list. She didn’t understand why brides worried over such silly decisions. “This is the list of music? Go for the Pachelbel’s “Canon” for the processional and “Ode to Joy” for the recessional. Red roses with my bridesmaid’s dress would be too much. White would be better. And not the hybrid roses but the cabbage roses. Vanilla-scented tapers for the candles—you know how much Mom loves those. And surf and turf for dinner, that way you’ll please everyone.” Caley slammed the binder shut. “There, that was easy.”
Emma blinked in surprise. “Caroline Lenore Lambert! You can’t just decide so quickly. All of these things have to be discussed.”
“With whom? Sam? He doesn’t care. I’ve heard that brides often focus so much time and attention on the wedding that they
