One thick shoulder rose and fell. “Does it matter? I gave you the job, you said you like the job. Least you can do is give this a chance.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“You do that.” A ghost of a smile touched his lips. “I know all about addictions and wanting things that aren’t good for you, Lena. End of the day, it’s up to you to decide whether to take control and fight it or not.”
Jimmy Ferris as an illegal, dangerous, controlled substance. Funnily enough, I could see it. The man affected me on all the levels no matter how much I tried to resist, damn it.
He headed for the door, closing it slowly behind him. “Night.”
“Night.”
# # #
A bang like a shotgun startled me from sleep. I shot up in bed, blinking into the semi-darkness. What fresh hell was this? A blurry shadow stalked toward me.
“Wha—”
“Get up,” ordered Jimmy. “We’re going jogging.”
“Have you lost your fucking mind?”
“Rise and shine. Day one of your intensive desensitization-to-me program is about to begin.” He threw back the drapes, letting the weak sunlight seep in. “You got tennis shoes, right?”
I fumbled on the bedside table for my glasses and shoved them on my face. The world unblurred. “God, Jimmy. It’s barely past dawn.”
A black Nike flew in my direction. I only just managed to deflect it. “Hey!”
“C’mon. Move it.”
Next came a set of baggy old grey sweats, chucked onto the end of my bed. His lordship was already decked out in all black designer running gear. Ready and raring to go. “You got a sports bra in here somewhere? Girl your size, I’m thinking you’d need one.”
“Get out of my drawer.” I threw back my blankets and stalked over to him. “Do not go through my underwear, you asshole.”
He ignored me and kept right on burrowing through the drawers. “In my line of work, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before. C’mon. You need to get ready.”
“I repeat, are you insane?”
“Told you, I’m not breaking in another companion, so I’m going to help you help yourself. We’re going to work our way through that little list of yours so you can get past these silly feelings of yours. If anyone can kill a crush, it’s me.”
“You know where you can shove the list. And if you need help, let me just fetch a rubber glove and some lube and I’ll be right with you.”
With a sigh, Jimmy straightened. He held his fisted hand high, slowly uncurling his fingers. Way up high over my head dangled a pretty pair of black silk panties. “Say you’ll go jogging with me and I’ll give them back.”
“I’m so tempted to just punch you in the junk right now and be done with it. I mean, it has to happen sooner or later, right?”
He made no move to cover himself, showed no weakness. Instead, one side of his mouth curled upward and a dimple appeared. My stomach dropped. I’d been right, definitely at least one dimple. He gave the panties in his hand a jiggle. Given my lack of height and Jimmy’s abundance of it, there was no way I could reach them.
“Do you actually expect me to jump around like an idiot?” I asked in a withering tone.
“It would amuse me.”
“Don’t make me kill you at this hour of the morning, Jimmy. It’s not civilized.”
The semi-smile disappeared and he dropped the panties into my waiting hand.
“Thank you.”
“You give the list some thought?” Hands on hips, he stared down at his nose at me.
I had, long and hard, in fact. While getting away from Jimmy might make sense, it also hurt. Guilt snuck in every time. Maybe he and my replacement wouldn’t get along, I mean, Jimmy and I often didn’t get along. But we did it in a way where he stayed sober and on track. So I guess in the main way that mattered, this lopsided partnership was a success.
“What do you want here, Lena?” He rubbed at his temple. “I know you’ve dealt with some dickheads in the past, but that’s not the situation here. I’m not out to do any damage. I just want you to keep doing your job.”
“I know.”
“Man,” he groaned. “Would it help if I said ‘please’?”
“I‘m not sure,” I answered honestly. “Maybe. Do you even know how to say that word without attaching any undue sarcasm and irony to it?”
He is head fell back as if in a silent plea to heaven. “Please.”
“Please, what?”
“Come jogging with me. Do the list. Stop this shit. Lena, please?”
He seemed sincere, and he was right, I didn’t completely, one hundred percent want to leave. Also, it was important to reward good behavior.
“Okay, Jimmy. Let’s give it a go.”
# # #
“Oh good god, I hate you.” I panted, dragging my sorry ass after the bastard to whom the sentiment belonged.
“See? It’s working already.” Jimmy hadn’t even broken a sweat yet. The athletic ass might as well have been out for a stroll. “Plus, you’ll be healthier. Everyone wins.”
“I’m healthy. I eat fruit.”
“In pie doesn’t count.”
If only I had laser beams for eyes. Damn the lack of technology.
“Not saying there’s anything wrong with you,” he said, turning to face me. Still jogging, the fucking show-off. If only he’d fall on his ass, I’d enjoy that so much. His gaze flitted over me, lingering overly long, though not unappreciatively strangely enough, on my hips. “I like a little junk in the trunk.”
I whispered expletives because there wasn’t enough breath in me to actually say them out loud.
“We jog every day, slowly work up your distance, you can eat more pie. How does that sound?”
It sounded like he was a patronizing judgmental asshole. I flipped him the bird.
“Lena, look at me.”
I stopped, I looked. Also, I slumped over and gasped for breath because multitasking is important for the modern woman.
“You’re a pretty girl and your curves are cool,” he said, still moving on the spot. “Getting a little healthier won’t hurt, though. Raise your energy levels, stuff like that.”
Jimmy thought I was pretty?
Of course, he could have just been being kind. Either way, it didn’t matter, not really. So my belly should just stop swinging about all lunatic like and be still. Though the jibe about pie still pissed me off. People from a local restaurant stocked the fridge, there were salads, grilled meats, pasta, and yes, occasionally pie. Like I made them put it in there at gunpoint or something. What I ate was none of his business and his opinion shouldn’t even matter.
It shouldn’t and yet it did.
“I don’t need to conform to your ideas of beauty,” I said, once my breath had been located.
He’d been staring off at the oversized houses and fall trees around us, but now his gaze snapped back to me. “Course you don’t, never said you did.”
“Not all of us are born looking perfect like you, Jimmy.”
“You’re pissed?” He stepped closer. “Lena, I’ve got a lot of flaws. We’ve been living in each other’s pockets for a couple of months now so you of all people know that. Not liking the way you look isn’t one of them. You want to chew me out over something, pick another topic, you’re way off on this one.”
Neither of us spoke for a moment. We faced each other, our breaths misting in the cold morning air.
“I might be slightly defensive about this,” I admitted eventually.
“I might have noticed.” He pushed his hair back from his face. “I probably also didn’t say it right. Add it to my list of flaws, has trouble expressing himself.”
“Especially in ways that are socially acceptable.”
He gave me an amused look. “You think that matters, what everyone thinks?”
“Sometimes. To a degree.”
He snorted. “You can’t affect what people think, Lena. They wanna think the worst, they will. I’m not wasting energy trying to make everyone happy. I have enough on my hands just keeping my own shit together.”
There was wisdom in his words, though they weren’t entirely accurate.