Annie nodded, but Jordan still saw doubt in her eyes. Without thinking, she pulled Annie closer. Annie didn’t hesitate and her arms snaked around Jordan’s waist. As soon as Annie was pressed against her, Jordan knew it was a mistake. They had hugged before, of course. But never quite with the intimacy of this hug. She wondered if Annie could feel the energy between them.

“We really need to stop doing this,” she said, her eyes still closed as Annie’s face was buried against her neck.

“Why?” Annie murmured.

“I think you know why.”

Annie pulled back but only enough to meet her eyes. “Do I?”

“We’re awfully close to that line, Annie.”

Annie’s smile was slow, sweet. “I think we’ve already crossed the line, Jordan.”

Jordan smiled too. “Mentally, yes.”

Annie pulled away a little more but didn’t completely untangle from her. Her eyes were open and honest, and Jordan tried to decipher what she saw there.

“Something’s…happening to me,” Annie said. “I feel…different.”

“Does that frighten you?”

“No…yes…maybe a little,” she said with a smile.

Jordan reached out, brushing her fingers across Annie’s cheek, then lower, caressing her lips with the barest of touches.

“You know you never, ever have to be afraid of me,” she said.

Annie swallowed. “It’s hardly you I’m afraid of, Jordan.” She smiled slightly. “Maybe you should be afraid of me.”

Jordan smiled too. “Oh, that, I definitely am.”

Annie took another step away from her, breaking their contact.

“So? You’re leaving. When?”

Jordan sighed. “Tomorrow. He already had my flight booked.”

“And you’ll be back home when?”

Home? Yes, this did feel like home. When had that happened?

“Hopefully on Saturday,” she said.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about the store. I’ll take care of it.”

“I’m not worried,” she said.

Annie nodded, then motioned to the house. “I think I’m going to shower and get to bed early.”

Jordan nodded. “Sure.”

Annie made it to the door, then stopped. Jordan held her breath as Annie walked back over to her. She leaned closer, kissing Jordan…not on the cheek, like she usually did. Not on the lips, either. No, on the corner of her mouth, just enough to let Jordan know that they had indeed crossed over the line.

“Goodnight, Jordan.”

“Goodnight.”

Jordan stood still, watching as Annie went back inside. She turned around to the bay again. What was happening? Her pulse was racing, her heart was pounding and she had a difficult time catching her breath. Oh, she knew exactly what was happening.

Did Annie?



Chapter Twenty-Seven

Annie stared at the laptop, her chin resting in the palm of her hand. She couldn’t seem to concentrate on the inventory this week. Oh, who was she kidding? Had she even tried to do inventory? No. All she could see was Jordan driving away that morning.

In the light of day, they’d both been a little…well, she didn’t want to say distant, but perhaps more careful with what they said, what they did. She still couldn’t believe she’d kissed Jordan like she had. What in the world had she been thinking?

She leaned back in the office chair and stared at the ceiling. She knew exactly what she’d been thinking. She nearly panicked at the thought of Jordan leaving. The intimacy of the hug they shared had been so…so sweet, so innocent and yet so very thrilling it made her pulse race. She couldn’t remember a time—ever—in her life where a hug from someone had made her feel like that. Something about Jordan caused her to…to crave her touch, made her want to touch Jordan, to be close to her. And the kiss? She’d be lying to herself if she said it had been an accident that she’d brushed Jordan’s lips with her own. Shocked by her actions? Sure. Jordan had been as well.

And this morning they’d not mentioned it. Jordan had been packing, and she’d made a quick breakfast for her even though Jordan had told her not to bother. Bacon and toast were hardly a bother. They’d shared breakfast and coffee and made small talk, nothing more. Jordan promised to call her and Annie had promised to take care of the inventory and ordering for the week. She’d walked out with Jordan and right before Jordan had gotten in her SUV, she’d pulled Annie into a tight, quick hug. They’d stared at each other, but no words were exchanged. Annie had been shocked that she’d felt tears threaten when watching Jordan drive away.

“Damn hormones,” she murmured.

Yes, indeed. Damn hormones. They apparently were wreaking havoc on a number of her senses.

She shook off her thoughts, trying to turn her focus to the inventory instead. It had to get done. Not only had she promised Jordan she’d handle both it and the ordering, Brandon had told her they were nearly out of the “I’d Rather Be at the Beach” T-shirts that were so popular, as well as popcorn supplies. She ordered the popcorn supplies first. As Matt had told her many times, never run out of popcorn.

She managed to put Jordan from her mind as she went about her office tasks, again thankful for the interface Steven had done with the inventory. It made it so much easier to place orders. She’d just pulled up the last vendor’s website when the back door to the store opened. She expected Brandon and was surprised to see Loraine, Jordan’s mother, smiling at her.

“Annie, hi. I hope I’m not interrupting.”

“I was about to place our last order for the week.” It was then she saw the familiar Subway bags.

Loraine held them up. “I understand Jordan had to go to Chicago unexpectedly. I brought lunch, if you’re interested,” she said.

Annie smiled at her. She’d only seen Loraine once since they’d had them out for dinner, and that was one Saturday when she and Jordan had gone to the restaurant for lunch. She assumed Loraine’s presence here now was Jordan’s doing.

“That was thoughtful of you,” Annie said. “Please come in.”

“The office looks completely different,” Loraine said as she looked around. “No clutter, for one thing.” She glanced at the sofa. “This is new, right?”

“Yes. Jordan replaced the old one. It was…well, rather worn,” she said, hoping she wasn’t blushing. Since Jordan had brought in the new leather sofa, Annie no longer had visions of that night with Matt. However, Loraine’s mention of the old sofa brought them back in an instant.

Loraine nodded. “Well, finish with your order. I need to wash up.”

“It’ll only take me a second,” she said. “There are water bottles in the fridge out there.”

“I’ll grab a couple.”

Annie made quick work of her order, clicking the submit button just as Loraine came back in. She closed the laptop, then joined Loraine on the sofa.

“I hadn’t even thought about lunch,” Annie admitted. “Jordan usually takes care of that for me.”

Loraine laughed. “Which is probably why she suggested I come by.”

Annie smiled. “I figured she had something to do with it.”

“She was rather evasive on the phone. Do you know why she had to go back?”

“Some client in Tokyo,” Annie said. “Apparently things weren’t working out with her assistant.”

“She’s never been very forthcoming about her job,” Loraine said. “I really have no idea what she even does.”

Annie nodded. “No, she doesn’t talk about it much at all. Based on how many hours she says she works, I imagine it’s very stressful.” She opened her sandwich, finding the usual turkey. It even had the added sweet banana peppers that she liked. Apparently Jordan had been exact in telling her mother what to get.

“I hope I got it right.”

“Perfect. I don’t know why, but I’ve been craving peppers lately.”

“I had the weirdest cravings when I was pregnant. Onions, of all things. I could practically eat them like an apple,” she said with a laugh. “And when I was pregnant with Matt, I went through a whole month where I ate pineapple slices on my hamburger, which I had nearly daily. Then one day I had it and it was the nastiest thing I’d ever tasted. To this day, I can’t stand pineapple.”

“I’ve had cravings for Mexican food,” Annie said, “but that doesn’t always sit too well with me.”

“How’s your morning sickness?”

“All but gone, thankfully. My doctor said after the first trimester, it should lessen.”

“Do you like your doctor? Jordan tells me she’s in Corpus.”

“Yes, I like her. I’ve only been to her twice so far.”

Loraine put her sandwich down in her lap. “I don’t mean to pry, but has your mother become more involved?”

Annie shook her head. “Not yet. We had my parents out to the house for dinner,” she said. “I thought maybe…well, they didn’t know where I was living, who I was living with. I thought having them out, having them see me, might bring them around.” She shook her head. “My mother can’t seem to get past the fact that I’m pregnant and unmarried.”

“They know Matt is the father?”

“Yes.”

“And now that he’s gone, that probably makes it worse for them. There’s no chance of a marriage now.”

Annie took a bite of her sandwich, debating whether she should tell Loraine the truth about her and Matt. She decided she didn’t want her to think that they had been on the brink of marriage.

“Matt and I…well, I liked him fine. We had known each other forever, of course. But we were just together the one night,” she said. “We weren’t actually dating. I’m sorry if that shocks you. Or disappoints you.”

“Matt was always very open about who he was dating. Quite unlike Jordan,” Loraine said. “Now that I think about it, he only mentioned you in the context of the store. He always spoke so highly of you. Whatever happened between you two for that one night, it’s none of my business. You were both adults.”