Well, gee, if it was all about him.
She couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes even as she reached out and squeezed his arm. “I’m trying. I’m seeing Jack tonight, after the wedding.”
“His name is Jack?” Beckwith narrowed his eyes.
“Yes.” And she was in love with him.
“Jamie.”
She about jumped out of her bridesmaid’s dress and probably would have if it wasn’t for the double-sided tape. Damn, that was Jack’s voice, and it was coming from no more than two feet behind her.
“Oh, hi,” she said as she turned and offered a weak smile.
“Do you know this…person? Everything okay?”
“Uh-huh.” She nodded rapidly. “I’ll be back in a second; we’re just finishing up here.”
“I’ll wait for you outside the door.” Jack pointed ten feet down the hallway. “Right there.”
He obviously wasn’t going to go back into the reception without her, so Jamie was going to have to work hard to get rid of Beckwith. As Jack started down the hall, she opened her mouth to encourage Beckwith to leave, when she noticed him frowning.
“Who was that?” he asked, leaning around her to watch Jack’s retreat.
She raised her eyebrows. Who was the psychic here? “That was Jack. Tall, Dark, and Touch My Soul.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Yes, it is.” Was he kidding? Jamie stared at him. “The one you saw in the cards. I met him on the subway when I slammed his spaghetti into him.”
Beckwith pulled his lip back. “That is not the man I saw in the cards. This one’s sexy and all, but he’s not the guy I saw. Your soul mate looked more like Tyler Bond from the rock group The Gris Gris. You know, with the tattoos? Sings that song about not being able to satisfy lust. Anyhoo, that’s what your man looks like. I’ve never seen that guy”—he pointed down the hall at Jack—“in my life.”
“Are you serious?” Jamie felt the blood drain from her face.
“Totally.” Beckwith twisted the back of his platinum hoop earring.
“But that’s the guy I slept with.” She stuck her thumb out and jerked it in Jack’s direction. And that was the guy she’d fallen in love with.
“Well, why in the name of Liberace would you do that?” he asked, astonished. “Clearly you are not ready for love if you meet the man of your dreams, then sleep around on him.”
Jamie laughed so loud she actually produced a snort.
Chapter 20
Jack kissed his sister good-bye. Saw Pops into Steve’s SUV. Grabbed an uncorked bottle of champagne from a passing waiter.
Then went in search of Jamie.
Once he found her, he was going to rip that bridesmaid’s dress off and crumple the hell out of it when it dropped on the floor and he stepped on it. He was going to tear into Jamie’s hair and let all those straining curls loose. He was going to put his lips on every sweet, soft spot on her body.
But first he had to find her.
“You seen Jamie?” he asked Allison, who was lined up at the bar doing shots with Finn.
“She’s talking to your mom over by the door.”
Oh, great. He was tempted to ask Allison to go get her for him, but then he squared his shoulders and thought the hell with it. He was thirty years old, and his mother was already acting like a child. He shouldn’t do the same.
“Thanks.” He started to walk away, but Allison grabbed his sleeve.
She looked up at him with dark—heading toward drunk—eyes. Allison always looked as if she could be strutting down the catwalk, exotic and confident. Jack was comfortable with her, because they both mutually understood they liked each other as people, but weren’t in any way attracted to each other.
“Jonathon…be careful with her. Jamie’s always taking care of everyone else, but sometimes she needs someone to take care of her, too, you know what I mean?” Allison jerked on his sleeve so his wrist swung back and forth. “Jamie’s, like, gold and the rest of us are copper.” As Jack blinked, she started laughing. “God, that was a really sucky metaphor. I’m drunk, aren’t I?”
“I think so, darling,” Finn said cheerfully, and tossed back another shot.
“Well, don’t think you’re going to be able to take advantage of that.”
“I’d never dream of it.”
Jack disengaged his sleeve from Allison’s damp grip. “Why don’t you head home, Allison, and call it a night? And I know what Jamie’s worth. I really do.”
She was a grade A bond. A hot commodity. A blue chip company. The real deal.
“Oh, that’s so sweet. Look at his face, Finn. You really like her, don’t you?” Allison patted his cheeks. “You should tell her how you feel.”
“I’m trying to, but you won’t let me go.”
She let out a laugh. “Good point, lover boy. Fine, go, leave us.”
So he did. With a wave and a deep breath when he saw Jamie was still chatting with his mother. But he put on a smile and went up to them. “Sorry to interrupt, but I’d like to offer Jamie a ride home.”
Jamie bit her lip. “Well, uh, that’s very considerate of you, Jack—”
His mother interrupted. “I thought you were taking your grandfather back to the nursing home.”
“Steve did.” Took Pops back to Jack’s place, that is. But now wasn’t the time to confess he’d moved Pops out of the nursing home, or go into detail describing how Pops was still getting his daily physical and occupational therapy, that the apartment was handicap accessible for the wheelchair, and that he had a call button if he needed emergency assistance at any time when his nurse wasn’t doing her daily check-in.
No, he wasn’t about to get into that, not with Jamie standing there and Caroline and Brad still in the room. And he also didn’t want to mention that he had made arrangements with Steve for him to spend the night at Jack’s apartment with Austin and Pops. Or tell Jamie that he had booked a hotel room five minutes after she had agreed to spend the night with him, since he’d thought having a wild love fest with an old man and a teenager in the next room might be a little tacky.
“Oh, wonderful. It will be a miracle if they arrive at the nursing home alive. Steve thinks the speed limit is just a suggestion. He offered us a ride back home tonight and of course I refused.”
“You’re spending the night in the hotel?” Jack asked, horrified. That was something of a mood killer to know his mother was staying in the same building.