Page 40 of The Best of Friends

He hurried her through the store to the doors at the rear. “This is our workroom. We replace watch batteries, do minor repairs, that kind of thing. Anything big is sent upstairs, where we have two full-time jewelers.”

Jayne hadn’t asked for an explanation, but he felt the need to keep talking. Mostly because, for one brief second, he’d been thinking that he wanted to kiss her. Kiss Jayne.

Talk about trouble. She was his sister’s best friend, his mother’s… he didn’t know how to define her relationship with Elizabeth, but it was a complication. She wasn’t his type. She wasn’t…

He stopped by the elevator and looked at her. She looked back.

“Do you need a glass of water or something?” she asked. “Did you hit your head?”

“No.”

Why not Jayne? She was smart, funny, easy to be with. The only difference between her and the women his mother had wanted him to meet at the brunch was a trust fund and family connections. Neither of which had ever mattered to him. He wasn’t saying he was ready to propose, but there was no reason not to explore the possibilities. Assuming she was interested.

He pushed the up button.

She eyed him cautiously. “I have professional medical training, so if you need help, just say so.”

“What I want is your opinion. That’s why I asked you to come by.”

“You said something about meeting a new designer. Does Rivalsa know you’re cheating on her with someone new?”

“We have multiple designers working for us,” he said as the elevator doors opened and they stepped inside.

“Uh-huh. Just promise me I’ll be in the room when you explain that to you know who.”

He pushed the button for the fourth floor. “I have another house viewing scheduled in a couple of days. Want to come with me?”

“Sure. Maybe something nicer this time. You know, with a real view. And that kitchen? I doubt you could serve more than seventy or eighty people.”

He laughed. “You’re saying it was too much?”

“I’m saying you’re going to need a series of ‘you are here’ maps to find your way around.”

They walked out onto the fourth floor.

“The conference room is over there,” he said, pointing toward the glass doors.

“I thought there’d be more security,” Jayne said, her voice quiet. “A metal detector and one of those things you have to put your palm on. This is very disappointing.”

“We don’t keep the actual jewelry up here.”

“Damn. And I brought my cat burglar suit and everything.”

“Next time,” he promised.

Jayne looked at him and raised her eyebrows. “You say that now, but I’m not sure I can trust you.”

“What does that mean?”

“Apparently, you’re the kind of guy who says one thing and does another.” She smiled. “You moved out of your mother’s house.”

He shuddered. “I had to. She was…”

“Too close?”

“Oh, yeah. She called you?”

“Uh-huh. She’s not a happy camper. I’d get her something small but tasteful, if I were you. But she’s pleased with your choice of hotel. If you have to leave the safe confines of her home, at least you’re suffering at the Four Seasons.”