Read A Better Reason to Fall in Love Online
Authors: Marcia Lynn McClure
Tags: #Romance, #General, #Contemporary, #Fiction
A Better Reason to Fall in Love (20 page)
Tabby went into the garage, propping her snow shovel against the wall next to the one Jagger had used. She stamped her feet and slipped her snow boots off.
“I’ll just grab my stuff,” Jagger said, jogging up to follow her into the house.
As Jagger stuffed his suit and dress shoes into his black duffle bag, Tabby began to clear the dishes from the table.
She couldn’t shake the feeling of lonesomeness—of longing and melancholy. The night spent in Jagger Brodie’s company had been like a dream, and she didn’t want it to end. Still, she knew it would—that it was all a fluke in the first place.
“Well,” he began, striding to the door that led to the garage, “thanks for the sleepover.”
“Thanks for the rescue,” Tabby said, forcing a smile.
“I guess I’ll be going,” he said. “I need to run over and make sure my Maw Maw is all right and everything.”
Tabby nodded.
Jagger’s friendly grin faded as a slight frown puckered his brow.
“You know,” he began, releasing the strap of the duffle bag so that it dropped to the floor, “that was a really good breakfast.”
Tabby felt her heavy heart lighten a bit. He liked her cooking—and that was something, wasn’t it?
“Thanks,” she said. “It’s literally the least I could do.”
He grinned and moved closer to her.
“You know, there’s something that’s been running through my mind all night,” he said.
“What’s that?” Tabby asked.
He was standing directly in front of her now—towering above her—so close she could smell the leather of his jacket.
“Well, you might wanna…sort of…brace for impact or something,” he mumbled. He reached out, taking her face between his powerful hands. “I’ve been holding this back for too long, and it might come across as a little too…” As his head descended toward hers, he breathed, “Aggressive.”
At the feel of his lips to hers, Tabby felt instantly dizzy. She felt her knees begin to buckle at the sense of his kiss. She reached up, taking hold of his forearms to steady herself as her mouth melted to his. There was very little tentative buildup—no, only a breath of timid hesitation in testing the waters of whether she would accept his kiss. Almost instantly, his mouth was ravaging hers, demanding reciprocation—reciprocation she was shamefully willing to provide.
Jagger Brodie’s kiss was like his music—savory, soulful, seductive. His mouth was as skilled at evoking desire and pleasure in her as his blues vocals were at evoking attraction and admiration. Instantly intoxicated by his wicked-effectual kiss, Tabby felt her entire body tremble with a sudden rush of goose bumps—felt a fresh sense of desire to surrender threatening to overwhelm her. It was as if he were breathing some sort of wild enticement into her—some wild allure she could not resist.
Through the mist of breathless delirium, Tabby struggled to fathom that this was, in truth, a first kiss. How could it be that Jagger Brodie’s kiss could instantly ignite such an exchange of moist, delicious, impassioned fervor? In the very least it was inappropriate—not to mention inexplicable! Yet as she continued to linger in his embrace—for his arms were around her now, pulling her body flush with his own—she couldn’t keep from kissing him! She seriously wondered if he’d breathed some unseen narcotic into her, for it was nothing if not completely out of character for her to kiss a man on the first date.
First date
? she thought.
This wasn’t even a date! This was only bad weather!
Delicious!
she thought.
Unbelievable!
Her limbs were numb. Her mouth was watering for his, even though it was already relishing it.
Just keep kissing me,
she thought.
Oh, please, please keep kissing me!
Well, he’d lost it—entirely lost it. But he didn’t care—not in that moment—not when she was so willingly accepting his kiss. After all, he’d kept his head through a long, dark, warm, romantic night, hadn’t he? Who could blame him for losing it now? Besides, it was ten o’clock in the morning, and his car was idling out in the driveway.
Jagger pulled Tabby more tightly against him. She felt so good—fit so perfectly in his arms! Not to mention the way her mouth seemed to be made to welcome his. He’d been on his best behavior for something like sixteen hours. Shouldn’t he be allowed a little leeway?
Just a few more minutes—just a few more moments of being drunk with the desire she poured into him—just one last taste of her—that’s all he needed. Then he’d let her go, get in his stupid car, and drive away.
Tabby shivered with pleasure as Jagger ground one last, deeply impassioned kiss against her mouth. She gasped when he broke the seal of their lips—teetered back just a little in regaining her senses.
“You must think I’m a real player,” he mumbled, running his fingers through his hair and shaking his head, as if he were as surprised by his actions as Tabby was by hers.
Tabby shyly glanced away from him. “No,” she said. “But I don’t even want to know what you think about me.”
He breathed a chuckle as he reached down, tugging at the strap of his duffle bag.
“Only good things,” he said.
She dared to look up at him and was relieved when she saw he was smiling at her. Rather guiltily smiling, but smiling all the same. He winked, adding, “I guess my Gilligan persona is shot to hell, huh.”
Tabby giggled. He amused her, to the very core of her sense of humor.
“That’s all right,” she told him, “because I never bought it in the first place.”
He breathed a soft laugh.
“Thanks for breakfast,” he said. His smile broadened. “And for sharing your bed with me.”
“You’re welcome,” she giggled. The sense of his kiss was still on her lips and in her mouth. She was still trembling at having been in his arms.
“You’re sure your friend can pick you up in the morning?” he asked, opening the door to the garage. “I can always run out this way for some hamster food.”
Tabby shook her head, for as much as she would rather ride with him to work than she would Jocelyn, she knew it was out of his way.
“Jocelyn can pick me up. I’m sure she can,” she said.
“Okay, then,” he said. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, Miss Flanders.”
“Yeah,” she breathed.
She followed him through the garage, watched him get into his car, and waved as he smiled and drove away.
Almost instantly, Jocelyn pulled up into Tabby’s driveway.
As she got out of her car, she said, “Tabby…I could have sworn I just saw none other than the Derrière-inator himself driving down your street.”
Tabby blushed. “Oh, it was His Royal Hineyness all right.”
A broad smile of understanding spread across Jocelyn’s face, and she whispered, “He was here?”
“It’s a long story,” Tabby said.
“Well, I’ve got time to hear it.” Jocelyn glanced around. “Where’s your car?”
“Like I said, it’s a long story.”
Jocelyn giggled. “And like I said, I’ve got plenty of time to hear it.”
Tabby laughed, shaking her head, still bathing in disbelief.
“Well, I guess if you saw him driving away…then I didn’t dream up the whole night. That’s comforting at least.”
“The whole night?” Jocelyn exclaimed.
Tabby laughed and ran both her hands up through her hair and down over her face. “Yes, the whole night,” she squealed with excitement. “And I swear this to you, Joss…I’ll never be the same again. Never.”
CHAPTER TEN
“Making out with Jagger Brodie,” Jocelyn giggled the next morning as she pulled into the office parking garage. “I still can’t believe he spent the night at your house. I still can’t believe you had the chance to see the Derrière-inator in his underwear and you turned away!”
“Jocelyn!” Tabby scolded. “I couldn’t just stand there and…and see him in his underwear.”
Jocelyn shrugged. “Why not? Remember the Marky Mark Calvin Klein ad that hung in Times Square for, like, centuries? Everyone saw Mark Wahlberg in his underwear. What’s the difference?”
“There’s a world of difference, Joss, and you know it,” Tabby giggled.
Jocelyn parked the car. “I wonder if the Derrière-inator wears Calvin Klein underwear.”
Tabby shook her head as she opened the car door to step out.
“Well, I guess we’ll just never know,” she said.
“Don’t be so sure,” Jocelyn teased as they hurried toward the elevator. “This could be it, Tabs! This could be the start of one of those ‘anything-is-possible’ things you’re always talking about. Seriously! Doesn’t it seem like everything is just falling into place? It started with Emmy and Luke…then me and Armando…even Naomi and her poetry professor. And now, you’ve spent the night with Jagger Brodie and—”
“We were snowed in at my house, Joss,” Tabby interrupted. “It sounds scandalous when you say it any other way.”
“Whatever,” Jocelyn said, dismissing Tabby’s comment with a wave of her hand. “I mean, the whole thing is wild! Armando knowing the Derrière-inator, Professor Lowery’s brother being David who works with us…it’s crazy!”
“It is crazy,” Tabby said as they stepped into the elevator.
As Tabby and Jocelyn stepped off the elevator into the office entry, they were met by an absolutely glowing Emmy.
“You guys will never believe this!” Emmy whispered excitedly, falling into step with them.
“You will not believe the tale Tabby has to tell!” Jocelyn whispered.
“Really?” Emmy asked, momentarily distracted.
“It can wait,” Tabby said. The more she talked about her evening and next morning with Jagger, the more she began to feel as if she shouldn’t, as if talking about it would somehow cancel it out—make it seem as though it never happened.
“Okay,” Emmy said, more than willing to tell her own story first. “Luke was able to call me yesterday!”
“Oh, Emmy!” Tabby and Jocelyn exclaimed in unison.
Tabby was so happy for Emmy. No wonder she looked radiant! Tabby had never been able to imagine how lonesome Emmy must feel with Luke being so far away—and in constant peril. She imagined that being able to hear his voice was the most fantastic thing in the world to a woman waiting for a soldier to return.
“It was so wonderful!” Emmy sighed. Her cheeks were absolutely rosy with delight. “Just hearing his voice…it makes me feel like I can make it…like it’s all real, and he really will be home in a couple of months.”
“Did he propose?” Jocelyn asked.
“Not exactly,” Emmy said, though her deepening blush was an indicator that he’d at least mentioned it to her. “But that’s not what I wanted to tell you,” she continued. “Tabby, you know your whole Kevin Bacon theory thing? The way we’re all connected—Armando, Jagger, Professor Lowery, and us?”
“Yeah,” Tabby said, nodding.
“Well, I was telling Luke about it, and I asked him if he’d ever bumped into Professor Lowery at Boston University. And guess what? He actually knows him!”
“What?” Jocelyn gasped.
“It’s true!” Emmy squealed with excitement. “He had two classes with good old poetry-spouting Professor Anthony Lowery. Luke says he was one of his favorite professors…
and
that they had lunch together a couple of times a week…that they became pretty good friends. Are you freaking out or what?”
Tabby stopped cold in her tracks. “Are you serious, Emmy?”
Emmy giggled, nodding emphatically. “Can you believe it? Me and Luke, Joss and Armando the cliff-diving restaurant owner, Naomi and Professor Poetry Man…”
“And now, Tabby and the Derrière-inator have…um…connected,” Jocelyn interrupted. “So it’s a slam dunk. Right?”
“What?” Emmy gasped. “You’ve
connected
with Jagger Brodie? How?”
“It’s a long story, Emmy…and none of this is a slam dunk yet,” Tabby said. “It’s freaky…weird…unbelievable…but…”
“He spent the night at her house Monday night,” Jocelyn whispered to Emmy. “They got snowed in when he gave her a ride home…and then…then they made out after they shoveled the driveway.”
“What?” Emmy giggled.
“We did not make out, Joss,” Tabby scolded in a whisper. “I swear, you exaggerate so much sometimes.”
“He kissed you?” Emmy whispered.
“Yes,” Tabby answered, unable to keep from smiling at the reality of it.
“Did it last longer than sixty seconds?” Emmy asked.
“Well, yeah, but—” Tabby began.
“Then it counts as making out,” Jocelyn said.
“Hey, ladies,” David Lowery said as he strode past them.
“Hi,” Emmy managed to answer.
“It’s meant to be!” Jocelyn said once David was out of hearing distance. “Me and Armando, Luke and Emmy, even cynical Naomi and the professor…and now you and Jagger Brodie! It’s, like, awesome!”
“He drove me home and got stuck with me, Joss,” Tabby reminded.