was?”
He took a deep breath, and let it out. “Why you told your father’s aide about our … kiss that night. Why you made it sound like I had initiated it, but more than that, I wonder why you told them at all? That was private, between us. I could only assume that—”
“That I had seduced you, and then run to tell my father about it as fast as I could and blamed it on you as a way to get out of having a bodyguard, and to shove it back in my father’s face.”
“Well, yeah.”
“Here’s a news flash, Jonas,” she said. “I’m all grown up now, and I don’t play those games anymore. I’m not my father. What you see is what you get.”
“Well, your father was pretty pissed. He took me off the job, and his aide suggested that there could be trouble for me and my brothers if I got anywhere near you.”
Tessa’s mind went still. So she was right in her intuition. Her father had found a way to come between her and a man she wanted. Or had she done that all on her own? She hadn’t been entirely forthright with Jonas from the start—he may have made the first move that night, but only because she had been pushing him to.
“Listen, I remember showing them where we were standing when the attack happened. Howie was there. Where you had fallen back, and how I had grabbed the bat, but I didn’t say anything about us kissing. I guess they could have assumed, but I swear, I didn’t tell them what was going on,” she said. “And if anyone is playing games here, it’s the senator. I told you what he did before, with my college boyfriend. He may like you working for him, but—”
“He wouldn’t think I was good enough for his daughter,” Jonas finished flatly, and she nodded.
“It’s possible. He sees everything as reflecting on him, his career. But I don’t think that. I never thought that. I never would use you. Not like you thought I did.”
She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly feeling cold. Then Jonas was there, pulling her in, holding her tight.
“I’m sorry, too. I was such a mess at the time, but I should have told you about my sight. I should have asked you before I assumed what had happened. I believe you, Tessa,” he said, kissing her cheek gently and taking her arms from around her middle, twining them around his back.
She held on tight, seeking a deeper kiss, as if trying to let him know with her whole body how much she cared, and how much she never would cause him any pain, not if she could help it.
Heat rose between them, but this wasn’t the place to pursue their newfound intimacy.
“I want to talk to my father as soon as possible about what happened that night, and set it right. I absolutely will not let him blame you for something that was not your fault at all,” she said vehemently.
“Well, I wasn’t exactly blameless, Tessa. And I would rather you didn’t talk to your father, if that’s okay. I can handle it. Let’s set it aside for now, okay?”
“Okay,” she said reluctantly. She wasn’t surprised that he would want to handle it on his own, but still felt that she should do something to make it right.
The car stopped, and she frowned, hearing the sound of music playing out in the neighborhood, resisting the urge to argue with him for the moment.
“The electricity is back on,” she said, but saw no evidence of that except for the music. The streetlights were still out, though the dawn was bathing the street in soft, after-storm light.
“Thank you so much, Collins. It was so nice to meet you. Tell Kate I will be in later today to check on her and help her get home,” Tessa said, offering the older man a hug, which surprised him, and which he seemed happy to accept.
Jonas shook Collins’s hand, and they waited as the car left.
“Well, at least the rain has stopped,” he observed. “Where is the music coming from?”
“Looks like Lydia’s having a party,” she said, noting the candles and flashlights visible through the window of the tattoo parlor, and the sign in the window that announced a Blackout Party.
“Hey, where have you been?” a voice behind them asked, and Tessa turned to find her friend and neighbor Scott, who owned the deli across the street, walking toward them carrying a huge cooler.
“My friend Kate had a medical emergency,” Tessa explained as Scott put the cooler down on the sidewalk. She gave him a hug and watched as he shook hands with Jonas. “It’s been quite the adventure getting to her.”
“How did you end up in scrubs?”
“We were soaked, so a nurse took pity on us.”
“Nice. So your friend is okay?”
“Yes, we made it just in time, and she’s fine. What’s happening here?”
“They aren’t predicting the power’ll be back on until sometime tomorrow, so I had to use these cold cuts and salads before they went bad. Lydia had the idea to throw a blackout party for people around the neighborhood.”
“Clever,” Tessa said.
“Good to see you, too, Jonas. Wondered where you had gotten to, and was sorry to hear about your eyesight. Rotten break, but it’s supposed to come back, right?” Scott asked, and Tessa saw Jonas straighten uncomfortably, nodding.
“Yes, that’s what they’re saying,” Jonas confirmed briefly.
Tessa frowned. She should have told her friend Lydia to keep their previous conversation about Jonas private, but it was too late now.
“Come on in and have a sandwich or something. It’s turned into a pretty good time,” Scott said, picking up his cooler again.
“We just came from dinner, so—” Tessa started, but then Lydia appeared in her doorway, clapping excitedly.
“You’re back, and you’re okay! I’m so relieved. I went over to get you for the party, and the place was all closed up. I wondered where you’d got to,” she said, and then smiling, noticed Jonas. “But now I can see you had other things to do.”
Tessa rolled her eyes at her friend’s unrestrained glee at seeing her with Jonas.
“We’re really beat, Lydia,” Tessa tried to beg off, but Lydia wasn’t hearing any of it, and linked her arm through Jonas’s, standing up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek.
She looked at Tessa and made a silent mime that Tessa could not quite decipher. She probably wanted all the details about her night with Jonas, knowing Lydia. Tessa nodded, letting her friend know she would catch up with her later.
Even Jonas’s surly demeanor cracked at Lydia’s happy welcome, and he offered her a kiss back.
Tessa knew he’d always enjoyed Lydia’s visits, the two of them quipping and harassing each other like siblings.
Lydia didn’t have any family, and Jonas didn’t have any sisters. Tessa figured her friend enjoyed the brotherly back-and-forth she had developed
