she murmured, avoiding Jesse’s gaze. He just nodded.
Lizzie did not fail to detect the speculation in her sister’s eyes as Sandy looked from her to Jesse and back again.
Guess she’d better get used to seeing that look in other people’s eyes, too, when they saw her and Jesse together—until it became obvious the incident at the wedding was all there ever was going to be between them.
Sandy spun around to the wall behind her. ‘The paintings look amazing the way you’ve hung them.’
‘I have to give credit where credit is due,’ said Lizzie, indicating Jesse with a sweep of her hand. ‘He put them all up.’
‘The boss is the one who chose them,’ said Jesse.
‘The boss?’ asked Lizzie.
‘That’s you,’ he said. ‘I jump to your command.’ His words were light-hearted but his already deep voice dropped an octave or two as he spoke.
She had to disguise her gasp of awareness with a cough. Oh, she could think of lots of commands she could give to beautiful Jesse, alone and behind closed doors. But not when they were ‘just friends’. Not when he was her sister’s brother-in-law. Not when he was a man who had a reputation for toying with women’s hearts.
She was spared making any kind of smart reply by Jesse himself. He glanced at his watch. ‘I didn’t realise it was that late. Gotta go.’
‘Your two hours are up?’ she said, still intrigued by the limit he had given her on his time.
‘What two hours?’ asked Sandy.
‘Something to do with his shoulder,’ said Lizzie.
‘Yeah, my shoulder, that’s it,’ said Jesse gruffly. ‘I’ll pick you up at ten tomorrow,’ he said to Lizzie. ‘Bye, Sandy.’
Lizzie watched in silent admiration as Jesse strode out of Bay Bites with a masculine loping grace. His back view really was something to see. Broad shoulders tapered to a tight behind. Worn denim jeans hugged muscular legs. And those tanned brown arms rippled with muscle. If he were any other gorgeous guy than Jesse Morgan she’d want to give him a wolf whistle. ‘No!’ said her sister, once Jesse was out of earshot.
‘What do you mean “no”?’
‘I saw the way you were looking at Jesse.’
‘And you weren’t too?’
‘Of course I wasn’t,’ Sandy said primly. ‘He’s my brother-in-law.’
‘And that doesn’t stop you appreciating what a finely crafted specimen of masculinity he is?’
‘Of course it does,’ Sandy said. ‘I’m a married woman.’ But then the giggles she was suppressing pealed out. ‘I wouldn’t be female if I didn’t appreciate how hot Jesse is. And he’s a nice guy too. But he’s a commitment-phobe of the first order.’
‘I know, I know. If you told me once you told me a million times.’
‘And at the wedding you totally ignored my warnings.’
‘That was different. Cut me a break, Sandy. I was lonely. Starved for male company. Heck, starved for adult company outside of a commercial kitchen. And Jesse was...was irresistible.’
Lizzie swallowed hard against a hitch in her voice when she remembered the magic of those hours with Jesse. It hadn’t been just physical—for her, anyway. At the wedding she’d seen a spark of ‘what might have been’ if circumstances had been different.
‘I love Jesse to pieces. But I don’t want to see you hurt.’ Sandy paused. ‘Or, for that matter, see Jesse hurt.’
‘What do you mean, “see Jesse hurt”?’
‘Were you serious about him at the wedding? Or was he just a fling before you got back to the reality of being a single mum?’
‘Of course I wasn’t serious—how could I be with all those warnings echoing in my head?’ Though there had been moments when she’d been guilty of daydreaming of something more. ‘Jesse was fun. A diversion. He made me laugh at a time when I didn’t have a whole lot to laugh about.’
‘That’s what I mean. We’d be angry if a guy toyed with a pretty woman just for a diversion. Why would it be different for a woman with a handsome guy?’
‘You can’t be serious. I wasn’t toying with Jesse. It’s not the same thing at all.’
‘Isn’t it? Seems to me there’s a lot more to Jesse than he lets on. Sometimes I think it might be a disadvantage to be as good-looking as he is. Does he ever wonder if women flock to him because of how he looks or because of who he is?’
‘It’s not something I’ve thought about,’ Lizzie said.
‘People think women are throwing themselves at him all the time and he wouldn’t care if someone dumped him like you did. He was gutted when you went home without another word to him, though he tried to hide it.’
‘R-really?’ was all Lizzie could manage to stutter. Could that be true?She’d only thought of her own hurt feelings. ‘There...there was a misunderstanding. But we’ve sorted that out. It’s been six months. I...I’m sure there’ve been other women for him in the meantime.’
It was ridiculous, but her heart twisted painfully at the thought of Jesse with someone else. Even now, when she’d put him strictly off-limits.
She’d been stabbed by a sharp and unexpected shard of jealousy when she’d rushed back to the wedding reception to find Jesse with the woman she now knew was his cousin. Her jealousy had been disproportionate to the incident, she knew; after all, she’d had no claim on him. Seeing him laughing with the lovely woman had brought its own brand of pain but had also ripped the scab off buried memories of Philippe’s behaviour. Never, never could she allow herself to fall for a man like that again.
‘Jesse hasn’t mentioned any girls,’ said Sandy slowly.
‘Would he tell you?’
Sandy shook her head. ‘I guess not. He seems to live by the code “a gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell”.’
‘That’s a good point in his favour. But there’s no need for you to worry about me and Jesse. We’ve agreed we’re going to try and be friends as we’re connected by family, but that’s all.’ No-strings fun. That was how he’d described it and it wouldn’t happen again.
‘Good,’ said Sandy with rather too much emphasis. ‘Please keep it that way.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Jesse is so not for you.’
Lizzie felt stung by Sandy’s assumption. ‘I know that. I’ve figured it out all by myself. I don’t need my big sister to tell me,’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘I am not interested in Jesse as anything other than...than an acquaintance. Someone I have to try to
