I shook my head and put a finger to my lips. A few more steps, and we’d be safe. I hoped. I was betting that everyone we’d left behind was afraid of the woods. Me? I’d grown up on and around Jarvis Mountain, climbing trees and playing hide and seek with the neighborhood boys. Thank God.
Once we couldn’t see the house anymore, I found a clearing and slowed. “Okay.” I’d caught some pine needles in my hair, and one foot was covered in mud up to the ankle, but I supposed all things considered, I was pretty grateful to be alive and whole. And stranded with Mr. Yummy.
When I looked back, Jack was smiling at me. Really smiling. “You know this place.”
I shrugged. “Yeah.”
He reached over and pulled a twig from my bangs. “Geez, Beth, I’m sorry. About all of this.”
I placed a hand over my heart in mock surprise. “What? An apology from the mighty Michael Francis Xavier Jackson?”
He brushed a thumb against my cheek. “Yeah. And I only give out one or two a year, so it’s your lucky day.”
“Lucky?” I laughed out loud; I couldn’t help it. “Sure it is. That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking to myself the last couple of hours.”
He sobered a little, and his hand dropped to my shoulder. I didn’t move; I wanted it there. Actually, I wanted it in other places, but my shoulder would be a good start.
I tried to calculate how far down the mountain – a mile? Maybe two? This side was steeper, I knew that much. And the trails I’d explored as a kid were probably overgrown by now. But it seemed as though we were looking at a good old fashioned hike to get us off Jarvis Mountain. I leaned into the weight of Jack’s hand, heavy and comforting and soaking straight into my veins. And I decided to ask the thing I’d been wondering all along.
“So tell me,” I began.
He lifted an eyebrow.
“This – all this – Madame Asia, the VIPs, Spooner – how the hell did you get all messed up with it in the first place? And why don’t you just…I don’t know, get out of it?”
“That’s a lot easier said than done.” The cool mask of self-confidence and bravado dropped away, and for a moment I saw, really saw, the person Jack must be, underneath it all. Kind. Sincere. A little uncertain, even. Definitely someone I wanted to get to know better.
“The DiNardos were good to me when I needed it,” he said after a moment. “I’ve known them forever. They took me in when my bum of a dad deserted me.”
Hmm. Didn’t know that.
“They have money, ya know?” he went on. “Connections. Knowing them was a good place to be for someone who grew up with nothing. Less than nothing. And I figured that if keeping all that meant marrying Lorraine, then I could deal with it.”
“Until you really thought about spending the rest of your life with her.”
“Yeah. Until then.” He reached for my hand and wound his fingers through mine. Fireworks. Oh, yeah. Big, fat sparkly ones.
“So your business is really flowers, huh?”
“It really is.”
“I dunno, Beth. I’m guessing maybe you know about more than just roses and lilies.”
I dared to meet his gaze, dared to let it linger on his mouth and then his eyes so there was no mistaking the way he was turning my bones to liquid. “You aren’t far off. You wouldn’t believe how many people want advice about what to give, how big, what color, how much money to spend…yeah, I’ve learned more about people from working in this business than I ever would have thought possible.” I paused. “And I think you can get out of this. If you really want to.”
He studied me. “I don’t know...” His eyes widened, and I thought I might fall inside them and never come up again for air. Not that I cared.
“Sure you can.” And I would have told him how, but just then Jack folded me in his arms and crushed my mouth with his, and nothing else mattered but his hands peeling away my clothes and the way my heart leapt inside my chest.
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