2. Annie
1379 Words
2
Annie
“Annie,” Jordan said warily. He still held the door open, letting freezing air into the lovely heat of the boutique, as if he needed an escape route. Just in case. “What are you doing here?”
I crossed my arms over my chest, immediately hitting the defensive wherever Jordan was concerned. “Believe it or not, but some people frequent the same places as you.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.” He clenched his jaw. “I just…”
“I know what you meant,” I snapped, turning back toward Sophia.
Her dark eyes were wide and bright when she saw Jordan standing there. He closed the door at her approach. Escape no longer needed.
“Hi, Sophia,” he said with an enthusiasm that I hadn’t heard from him in years. His normal response to seeing and talking to me was tightly controlled warfare.
“Jordan,” Sophia gushed. She brushed past me and swept into his arms. “So good to see you again.”
I bit my tongue to keep from gagging. Instead, I clenched my hands into fists in the pockets of my peacoat.
Ah, so when Sophia had mentioned that she had a meeting, she’d meant, date. Sophia, the owner of The Wine Boutique, was dating Jordan Wright. My not-quite ex. If you could even call our one passionate night together and subsequent months of anger and deterioration a relationship. Most days, I didn’t. Today I did.
Three years ago, Jordan and I had fallen head-over-heels in a matter of hours. It still felt indescribable even to me. That one moment he could just be the hot guy at the bar and the next, I couldn’t get enough of him. Then he’d left for Vancouver, forever in my mind as that perfect one-night stand. Until he’d moved to Lubbock and ruined everything.
“Sorry about this. There was some miscommunication with a client,” Sophia said. “I’m going to try to work this out, and then we can have our meeting.”
“Sure. No problem. What’s going on?” he asked.
Our eyes met across the space, and heat blossomed in my body. I stifled it, ignoring the way he still ignited something hot and needy in my core. It was purely s****l. I couldn’t help that he was probably the hottest guy I’d ever met in my life, and who wouldn’t want to f**k a guy this attractive?
He was six foot four of pure muscle with wind-tousled dark hair that sometimes swept into his chocolate eyes, which always looked straight through me. He peeled off his overcoat to reveal the black suit underneath that molded to his muscular physique. I could picture the six-pack and V-lines beneath. Somehow, my imagination had only intensified his body in my mind.
With that body and a quick mind that missed nothing, all signs should have pointed to us banging constantly.
Instead, here we were. A chill colder than the January wind against my bare legs settled between us.
“Some i***t at the medical school wrote down the wrong date for our party,” I told him. “Sophia doesn’t have any drivers tonight and there’s no way to get three thousand dollars worth of wine to the event now.”
“We’ll find a way to make this right,” Sophia assured me. “I can stay a little later if Jordan doesn’t mind waiting.”
“I don’t mind,” he said. “You can’t get ahold of any drivers?”
She cringed. “No. Everyone’s already left for the weekend.”
“Maybe we could get a few cases in my car,” I suggested with a shrug. “I’d probably have to make a couple trips, but at least it’d get done.”
“We could do that,” Sophia said uncertainly.
Jordan interrupted. “I…have a truck.”
All of my blood dropped into my toes. I felt woozy. Oh, this was not a good turn of events.
Sophia brightened. “That would be so helpful,but…what about our meeting?”
Definitely, definitely a date. But…maybe Jordan didn’t know?
“We can reschedule. I don’t want you to lose business. We need to keep small businesses around for the sake of our economy.”
She laughed softly. “Says the man who is a executive at Wright Construction?”
“Absolutely,” he agreed. “We started out as a small business.”
Oh God, I could not stay for the business-talk foreplay.
“Well, great,” I said, running a hand back through my now-hopelessly-tangled red hair. “That might solve our problem. You’re just our knight in shining armor, aren’t you?” I said with just enough saccharine sweetness for him to second-guess my sincerity.
Jordan’s eyes shot up to mine. Calculating and defensive. I saw all the things he wanted to say run through him like a window to his soul. But then he seemed to remember Sophia standing there—his not-quite date, just like I was his not-quite ex—and he decided to let it go.
He smiled brilliantly. Blindingly. “I’d be happy to help. I’d hate for the whole party to go without wine.”
“I’d really appreciate that,” Sophia said when I didn’t immediately thank him for being the best person this side of the Mississippi. “You can pull your truck around back. I’ll get everything together to load up.”
“Sure thing. I’ll meet you both in the back.”
Sophia smiled again, putting her hand on his sleeve. “Thanks, Jordan.”
I actually rolled my eyes this time. Unfortunately, Jordan saw it—because of course he did—and he just grinned wider before departing. This day sucked.
Sophia showed me the way through the back of the store and into their warehouse, where cases of wine were stacked nearly to the ceiling. She opened a garage door, which let in a burst of cold air, and Jordan backed into the spot with his heavy-duty F-250. Who the hell knew why he needed a truck like that, but I couldn’t deny that it was a fine-ass truck…and he looked hot as f**k, jumping down out of the cab.
I never would have guessed that the guy I’d met in too-nice dress shoes from Vancouver would three years later be driving a lifted F-250. Texas sure owned a person.
“All right, what am I loading?” he asked.
Sophia walked briskly around the warehouse, pointing out how many cases of which wine I needed for the party. Jordan lifted the first load like it weighed nothing and set it into the back of his truck. I tried to pick up a case of wine and my back groaned in protest.
“Jesus,” I muttered, dropping it back down the inch I’d managed.
“I’d leave that for Jordan. They’re each about fifty pounds,” Sophia said.
“Yeah, I guess I’ll leave that for Jordan.” Not to be outdone, I kicked off my stupid shoes and hopped into the bed of his truck.
“What are you doing?” Jordan asked as he dropped down another case. “You’re going to freeze.”
“I’ll be fine.” I shoved against the case of wine and positioned it into place. Maybe I couldn’t lift the case, but I could make this go faster by shoving them into place. Plus, it kept my blood pumping, so I didn’t think about the cold. I just wanted to get this over with and not see Jordan Wright’s handsome face again for a very long time.
By the time we finished loading, I could barely feel my feet. I grabbed the slingback straps of my heels and nodded at Sophia.
“Nice doing business with you.”
“I’m so glad that we got this figured out,” she said. “Good luck with the person who put in the wrong order.”
“Oh, have no fear. He’s going to get an earful.”
Sophia laughed and held her hand out. “I hope we can work together in the future.”
“Likewise.”
We shook, and then I found Jordan waiting next to his truck. Right. I still had to deal with him.
“I’ll just, uh…follow you?” Jordan asked.
“Just head to Spirit Ranch. I’ll meet you there.”
He looked at me blankly. Right, he wasn’t from here.
“You have no idea what Spirit Ranch is, do you?”
“Should I?”
Fair question. He probably hadn’t been to a wedding in town. Or any number of other events that were held there. That wasn’t exactly his repertoire.
“Just meet me out front. You can follow me.”
“Sounds good.” He waved at Sophia. “Sorry about all of this. I’ll text you for the reschedule.”
She and nodded as he retreated. He hopped in his truck and veered off toward the entrance.
“Thanks again,” I told Sophia.
“Enjoy the wine.”
“Will do,” I told her. I trekked through the warehouse, back through the store, and out to the parking lot.
Which was the moment when I realized that I’d left my headlights on.
- Writer
