Light Me Up

“Oh. Hi.” Angela glanced rapidly between them. “You two—Well. What can I get you?”

“Just coffee.” Jack’s voice came over Melissa’s right shoulder; she was ridiculously conscious of his body close to hers. “This is Melissa.”

“Yes.” Angela nodded uncomfortably. “We met.”

Melissa beamed at her, unable to resist a little torture. “I’m the college-friend look-alike.”

“Oh … yes.” She gestured desperately toward the other side of the shop. “Coffee’s over there, help yourself, on the house, let me know if you want anything else.”

Jack was laughing, a deep chuckle that was frankly delicious. “Angela, it’s okay, she—”

“Hey, Angela.” Bonnie sailed into the bakery and pretended to have just caught sight of them. “Oh! Hi, Jack. Hi, Melissa. Do you two know each other?”

“Melissa has seen the pictures. We’re here to talk it out. Bonnie, go pot ferns. Angela, go bake a cake.”

“Are you kidding me? Miss this conversation?” Bonnie sent Melissa a sly wink behind Jack’s back. “Dish up the muffins, Angela. Front-row seats for the showdown are available.”

“No.” Jack took a threatening step toward Bonnie. “You are not staying—”

“Ooh, good idea, Bonnie.” Angela threw Melissa a grin while Jack growled at Bonnie. “Chocolate chip, oatmeal cranberry, lemon blueberry …”

“Over my dead body.”

“If that’s necessary, sure, Jack.” Angela bent down and started picking out muffins. “You don’t mind if we’re here, do you, Melissa?”

“Of course not.” Melissa suppressed a giggle. Nice to see Jack wasn’t always in control. It actually made him more appealing. “I’m happier in a crowd when I chat with my stalkers.”

“Oh, me, too.” Bonnie plunked herself into a chair and patted the one beside her for Melissa, then pointed to the chair opposite and looked expectantly at Jack. “Sit.”

Jack sat, glowering at all three of them. “Apparently I am outnumbered.”

“Outnumbered, outclassed, outwitted and outmaneuvered.” Bonnie rested her elbows on the table and her head on laced fingers. “Now, Melissa. First of all, let us reassure you about Jack.”

“Yes. We must.” Angela put a paper plate of divine-looking muffins on the table. “He might look and act like a complete creep—”

“Hey.”

“—but he’s a total sweetheart.”

“And a very talented photographer,” Bonnie added.

“I promise you are completely safe with him.” Angela sat down and beamed at Jack.

“Absolutely.” Bonnie nodded vigorously. She and Angela exchanged glances. Their confidence slipped. “Well … pretty safe.”

“Yeah …” Angela bit her lip. “I’d say more or less safe.”

“If you have people around.”

“Hired to protect you.”

“Who are armed.”

Jack brought his hand down on the table, enough to make the muffins jump. His lips twitched. “Stop. Now. You are not helping.”

“Of course we’re helping.” Angela turned to Bonnie in concern. “Aren’t we?”

“Well …” Bonnie looked troubled. “Now that I think about it, we might not be. Melissa?”

“You are both helping. A lot.” Melissa nodded her most gracious thanks. “It was pretty frightening seeing those pictures, but now, hearing from both of you that Jack is probably a sociopath … well, I feel a lot better.”

Angela and Bonnie burst out laughing. Jack put his head in his hands and groaned. Melissa gave in and cracked up with the women, and for a few seconds, felt a sweet glow of belonging. Which was silly, since she didn’t.

“All righty, then.” Angela got up and pushed in her chair, smiling fondly at Jack. “Our work is done.”

“We’re outta here.” Bonnie grabbed a blueberry muffin and kissed the top of Jack’s head. “You’ll do fine, Jack. Just be yourself. Or maybe … hmm. No, actually, if I were you I’d be someone else. Anyone, really.”

“Yeah, thanks a hell of a lot. Both of you.”

The women walked off giggling, Bonnie to her shop, Angela into the bakery kitchen, leaving silence and intimacy behind them.

Melissa clasped her hand around her mug so she wouldn’t show her nervousness. “They are hilarious.”

“Uh-huh.” Jack didn’t bother hiding his amusement. “And they knew exactly what they were doing.”

“Trying to reassure me?”

“Did it work?”

Melissa shrugged. “Yes. I guess. Some.”

“I’m glad to hear that, Melissa.”

She moved uneasily. Something about Jack’s deep voice saying her name was way more intimate than it should be, and she felt her guard go up again.

“How long have you known them?” Stupid question, but she needed words to break the tension.

“Five of us bought the building together. All graduates of UW Seattle, a few years ago. We get along, which is good, because launching businesses is not a job for sissies.” He leaned back in the chair. “What do you do?”

Melissa jerked back to the conversation, having been calculating his age. Twenty-six? With his smooth confidence, she would have put him a few years older. “I’m a human-resources specialist at the corporate headquarters of Au Bon Repas, the kitchen-supply store. We do business all over the world.”

“Oh, yeah, Angela’s always drooling over your catalogs. You like what you do?”

“It’s a good place to work, supportive and with a proactive corporate culture. Happy employees make our department’s job easier. And I have a great boss.” For some reason, though the phrases tumbled out in the usual way, they sounded stilted and overblown.

“Nice.” He stretched his long legs to one side, hands folded across his tight abdomen. Her job recitation must have hit him as funny because he was smiling. Or maybe he was just thinking about how gorgeous he must look. She wished she could be totally immune. “What do you do for fun?”

Urgh. Melissa hated that question. It sounded vaguely suggestive, as if guys were hoping she’d say, I like to get drunk, rip off my clothes and give blow jobs to strangers. Wanna go?