Jack nodded. “We can audition a bunch of them if you want, and you can pick whichever one you think is the best fit. Or we know some great DJs—you’ve got options.”
“That sounds wonderful.” Dimples appeared as she smiled again. “Why don’t we arrange to see some of them tonight?”
He hesitated. “Uh…you know, I think I’d prefer we do it during business hours.”
Charlene rolled her eyes. “Right. Because it’s unprofessional for you to fraternize with clients.”
He offered another nod.
“Jack…” She set down her cup and reached for his hand, snatching it before he could pull away. “I get that you don’t want to get in trouble with your partners at DreamMakers, but…” her eyebrows waggled, “…what they don’t know can’t hurt them—or us. There’s no reason why we can’t see each other on the sly.”
Jack gulped. Crap. And here he’d thought she’d been cool with the end of their fling.
“We had fun together, didn’t we?” Her voice lowered to a seductive pitch. “I mean, I know I had fun.”
“So did I,” he said awkwardly. “But…um…yeah. The thing is…” A breath flew out. “I’m seeing someone.”
Charlene’s hand left his abruptly, unhappiness clouding her expression. “Oh. You are? Since when?”
“It’s pretty recent. Like, really recent,” he confessed. “But it’s an exclusive thing, you know?”
Her head jerked in a nod. “I get it.”
She avoided his gaze, and he stifled a sigh as a fresh wave of awkwardness swept over their table. Hell. This was what he got for being such a damn player. Flings and one-night stands were all fun and games—until they ended.
“I’m sorry if this is awkward for you,” he said quietly. “If you want, I can ask Dean to be your point man from now on.”
Charlene finally met his eyes. “No, that’s fine,” she said, her tone terser than he liked. “We’re both grown-ups. I’m sure we can plan a memorable celebration for my parents without our brief history getting in the way.” As if to punctuate her not-so-convincing conviction, she picked up another piece of paper and slid it across the table. “This is a list of the out-of-town guests who are flying in. They’ll need hotel rooms and transportation from the airport.”
“We can handle that.”
“Good. Okay. Let’s talk flowers.”
Jack swallowed another sigh. Shit. It was going to be a long morning.
Pepper stood at the railing of the fifth-story apartment balcony, supposedly to examine the view Kendra had informed her was killer, but really she wasn’t concentrating nearly as hard as she should.
She’d forgotten she and Kendra were scheduled to go apartment hunting that Saturday. Heck, she could have had anything on the calendar for that day, and it would have been forgotten in the mental blur of wondering when Jack was going to call.
She refused to be the one to chase him. All it would have taken were two moves on her phone, and she could have a text message flying his way. But no way.
No way would she let herself appear that needy.
Except if he didn’t call by this evening she might have to reconsider. Maybe go back to his place and knock some sense into him, but hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.
She pulled out her phone again to double-check if she still had battery power, and catching herself in the act just pissed her off even more.
“I like this place best of all we’ve seen so far,” Kendra said, resting her elbows on the railing next to where Pepper stood. “The kitchen is a little small, but the bedrooms are a good size, and I really like that there’s two bathrooms—we wouldn’t have to share.”
Pepper pulled herself back to attention. If she wanted out of her parents’ house stat, she needed to focus. “Two bathrooms? Really?”
Kendra nodded. “Didn’t you see there’s one off the bigger bedroom? Come on, I’ll show you.” She exited the small balcony and headed back into the living space. “There’s enough room in here we could put a couple of work desks, or do you think it would be better to put them in our bedrooms?”
A rude noise escaped before Pepper could stop it. “I know we had desks set up like that in our dorm room, but I really don’t want my office in my bedroom. Bedrooms are for other things.”
She swallowed hard, thinking exactly what kind of bedroom things she could be enjoying before the day was out.
“You’re right,” Kendra agreed, leading the way down the tiny hallway, past the main bathroom to the master bedroom. She opened what Pepper had originally thought was a closet door, and pointed inside. “See? Just a shower, sink, and toilet. But it’s got a window, although the view doesn’t look like much.”
Pepper snuck into the miniscule room, checked out the view, and laughed. “That right there is some of the best graffiti in town. Do they charge extra for that?”
There was barely enough room for the two of them when Kendra joined her, peering outside. “Fire escape. That’s good.”