Page 87 of Perfectly Matched: Harbor Falls Romance Collection

“So, Jack, tell me. What have you been doing all of these years?”

Jack fiddled with his napkin, glanced off, and then back again into Jasmine’s eyes. He could get lost in the depths, no doubt about that fact. Her eyes had always drawn him in, as if pulled directly into her soul. At this moment, he honestly didn’t know how to answer her question, because as of a few minutes ago, when their gazes connected again, it was like the last fifteen years of this life had not even existed.

Suddenly, he was eighteen again and staring into her eyes across a pizza and Coke, on a late Friday afternoon.

“Working mostly. You?”

Jasmine nodded. Jack glanced about the restaurant again. Why in hell hadn’t he suggested something nicer? Mario’s Subs was an Old Harbor Falls classic, but hell, he could have done better than this. He wasn’t eighteen anymore.

After all, this was Jasmine.

“I guess I could say the same,”

she said.

“School and then work. That’s pretty much been my life.”

Jack looked back into her face.

“I can honestly say I haven’t done much else, either. Nothing exciting here.”

He laughed and Jasmine smiled.

God, he loved that smile.

“I didn’t finish up at the university.”

Her eyes widened.

“Oh? What happened?”

Jack shrugged.

“I stayed a year and a half. Sam graduated and came home. He had a brainchild over the summer to start Haven’s Hill Nursery—that’s our business—and I was into it, too. You know, landscaping, selling flowers and trees and shrubs, and so on. Once the business got off the ground, I decided not to go back to school. Sam needed me. It’s been good for us the past few years.”

Jasmine’s gaze held the connection.

“That’s fabulous, Jack. Your own business…”

She let her words trail off and Jack wondered what she was thinking. Did she see a loser sitting in front of her who dropped out of college? A farm boy?

He looked her over again. Expensive clothes. She’d done well for herself.

“I went to Georgia State,”

she said, and then added almost apologetically.

“for seven years.”

“Seven? Wow. Music?”

“No. Law. I’m an attorney.”

Shit. If he thought he was out of her league earlier, he knew it now.

“Sounds important.”

Shrugging, she said.

“I think so. Some may not, but I love what I do. I fight for the rights of children and families. I’m a child advocate attorney.”

Something tickled at the back burners of his brain. Children. They had talked about having children. How many had they said they wanted? Four? Five?

“Those children are fortunate to have you,” he said.

She was the one to glance off this time.

“Actually, it’s my privilege.”

Silence twittered about them.

“Do you have children, Jasmine?”

He had to know. It almost pained him to ask but he had to. Because if she had children, then probably she had a husband….

Her gazed landed square on his. “No,”

she said.

“No children. I’ve never really had a serious relationship since…”

She stopped and looked to the table. Toyed with her fork. Paused.

“Children just don’t seem to be in the cards for me, but maybe this way is better. I can help so many more.”

And then, glancing up, she added.

“What about you, Jack?”

He echoed her words.

“No. No children.”

“Married?”

“No. Not married.”

“Me, either,” she said.

It seemed, then, that they both sighed. Jack realized he’d barely touched his sandwich. Jasmine took another bite of her salad. Finally, he mustered up enough courage to reach out and touch her hand resting on the table.

“Jasmine.”

He cleared his throat.

She stopped chewing, glimpsed at their touching hands, and then looked up into his eyes.

Jack stumbled over his next words.

“I just… Oh hell. I have to say this. I’m not sure why you are here, what your plans are… But I need some time with you. To catch up. I don’t want to do that over a meatball sub and salad. And I don’t want you to leave until we’ve had time to talk.”

He paused and watched her face.

“Jasmine, we really need to talk.”

She finished chewing her salad and swallowed.

“What are you saying, Jack?”

Before he lost his nerve he blurted out.

“Drive me to my house. I sent Sam back to the farm earlier with my truck. We can catch up in private. On the way, I’ll call Suzie to see if she has a room for you tonight at the inn.”

The look she gave him then was akin to flight or fight, and he wasn’t certain which direction she was going to take. He half expected her to flee, the way she had years earlier.

But she surprised him. Her fingers curled around his palm.

“Jack. I think that’s a great idea.”

****

The inside of Jasmine’s Audi shrank incredibly the moment Jack got in and sat in the passenger seat. His presence took up every inch of available space, and his essence held captive every one of her senses. She couldn’t breathe. He sucked the air out of her lungs. Every nerve ending under her skin was on high alert. The air tasted of the scent of male. And all she could hear was the beating of her heart in her chest.

Or was it his?

No, it was hers. The blood pounded in her ears.

This was Jack. Beside her. Crowding into her private space. Her bubble, as her kids would sometimes say.

She liked it. Somehow, it all felt incredibly warm and safe and… Right.

“I’m looking forward to seeing your place,”

she told him, barely getting the words out. She kept her eyes on the narrow Harbor Falls street in front of her.

“Is it near your parents’ farm? Otherwise, you’ll need to show me the way.”

Jack watched her from the side. The heat of his stare hit her cheeks. She hoped to hell and back she wasn’t blushing. He used to tease her when her cheeks flamed. Her skin was light enough that a rosy glow showed through her darker complexion. Right now, she felt on fire, and she hoped she wasn’t showing it.

How long had it been since she’d felt flushed?

Years. Maybe.

“Just head to the farm. When we get close, there’s an extra turn or two. I’ll let you know. I have a small piece of land near the back, close to the lake.”

Jasmine glanced his way. “Oh?”

She looked at him long enough to see his gaze narrow and a slight grin break across his lips.

“Yes, Jazzy. I built a house on our spot.”

At that moment, Jasmine’s heart catapulted. She nodded.

“Then I’m pretty sure I know the way.”

****

Jasmine, 1999

The place I felt the most secure, the most me, was in Jack’s arms. And when he was kissing me, I didn’t have a care in the world. Everything else went away.

Who I am.

How I grew up.

None of it mattered. To me or to Jack. And tonight, lying in his arms in the bed of his pickup truck, wrapped up in a couple of sleeping bags to keep us warm, and staring up at the stars, everything was perfect.

Jack knew the stars and the constellations. There’s you, Gemini, he’d say and point to constellation. And there’s me, Aquarius. One day I’m going to shoot across the sky and be with you forever. I’d cross the sky for you, Jazzy, he’d say. I love you that much.

Growing up in town, I was used to noise at night—cars, people talking, music—especially before I went to Ms. Leinie’s. My father’s house was small and across the street from a bar. Not to mention the train that ran through my part of town in the night. I learned to ignore the sounds so I could sleep at an early age. Ms. Leinie’s was different, but there were other noises. The old house creaked with the wind, her cats running and playing in the night, a thundering herd on the old hard wood. Her dogs barking occasionally from their preferred sleeping spots.

But this was real quiet, and I loved it out here. Our favorite spot—tucked away on the backside of Jack’s parents’ farm, the last bit of flat land before the foothills of the mountains and close enough to the lake you could hear water lapping the shore.

Jack leaned over, propping his head on an elbow, and peered into my eyes. The light was on in the cab of the truck, lending a small glow over us through the back window. His eyes twinkled in the moonlight as he traced my face with his forefinger.

His sexy smile, that half-curled lip, and those dreamy chocolate brown eyes…

Mine. All mine.

His light touch sent a tremor of need through me. A need that only he sparked. I’d never been with a boy before sexually. Not until Jack. And I never wanted to be with another boy again. I can’t imagine ever feeling the way I do for anyone else.

Ever.

Leaning in, he captured my lips. Rolling slightly over me, he groaned.

“As soon as we get out of college,”

he said softly.

“we’re going to have babies. Lots of babies. Just so you know.”

I giggled. He’d said things like that before. I knew Jack wanted a family. If he could get by without going to college and move straight into work and being a family man, he wouldn’t have minded. But college was something his parents insisted on.

“After graduate school,”

I reminded him.

“Then we can talk.”

He frowned.

“That’s at least five years.”

“We’re only eighteen, Jack!”

Grinning, he leaned forward and caught my lips in a kiss.

“I know. I am impatient. All I can think of when making love with you is making beautiful babies that look just like you.”

“Jack! Really?”

I laughed.

“It’s true,”

he said.

“You will make beautiful babies.”

“We will.”

I marveled at the wonder of it all. How many other eighteen-year-old men wanted babies? Thought about babies? Most were trying hard not to make them.

“You’re insane,” I added.

“I’m horny.”

Well, there was that.

“Now you’re normal.”

“God, I want you again, Jazzy.”

I giggled. We shouldn’t. I didn’t care.

Jack was mine. I was his.

And we were still naked in the sleeping bags.

“We still have a little time,”

I whispered, rising to meet his lips and kiss him back.

He shifted lower to my chest, his mouth catching a nipple and sucking. The sensation zinged to between my legs. Hot. I was already hot for him.

“Jack,”

I breathed. “Lower.”