She’d given herself ten points for managing not to freak out. Instead, she’d suppressed her crazy and gone through their morning routine of drinking coffee and eating breakfast. Then he’d left to go run errands, and she’d frantically dialed the number for the bar, knowing with the time difference that Fritz would be getting ready to open.
“We don’t open till four.”
The surly, gravelly voice was like the beacon of a distant lighthouse in a blinding fog. “Fritz! It’s Nessie. Do you have a minute?”
“Well, now, you know I’ll always have time for my favorite redhead, but ain’t you supposed to be in Hawaii?”
“I am, but I need someone to talk to, and I can’t talk to Lucie about it.” She paused and then amended it with, “Yet.” One of the things she’d decided was that she was going to come clean with Lucie about the fling with Jax after her honeymoon was over. Vanessa didn’t think it would upset her friend, but in case it even bothered her in the slightest, she didn’t want it to ruin what should be the happiest week of her life.
“That’s not like you, Red. What you got goin’ on? Someone givin’ you trouble, girl? You tell me who it is and I’ll set ’em straight when I get down there tomorrow.”
“No, no, it’s nothing like that. Um…” She took a breath, closed her eyes, and spit it out. “I’m sleeping with Lucie’s brother, Jackson.”
A slow whistle came through the cell speaker. “Keepin’ it in the family, are ya? Okay, so what’s the problem? He not giving you the cunny quakes?”
It wasn’t easy to shock Vanessa, especially when it came to the outrageously hilarious things that often came out of the retired Naval rescue swimmer’s mouth, but that was definitely a new level of outrageous. The fun thing about her relationship with Fritz, though, was the smartass—and often crass and inappropriate—comments they tossed back and forth. It had caused more than a few bar patrons to look at them strangely over the years.
She welcomed the smirk on her face at the familiarity of their banter. “Just because you have issues getting the ladies to scream your name, old man, doesn’t mean everyone else does.”
“Hah! When I’m with a woman the sex is so good my neighbors need a cigarette. So don’t you go accusin’ me of not satisfyin’ the ladies.”
Vanessa busted out laughing and felt some of the tension leave her body. “All right, so we’ve established that both you and Jackson have no issues in the sack. Gee, I can’t tell you what a relief that is. Not to mention the spectacular imagery that gave me, thank you very much.”
“At least you don’t sound like a scared little rabbit anymore,” he said with tenderness in his voice. That he’d sensed her anxiety over the phone and tried to quell it the only way he knew how truly touched her. He really was a big teddy bear at heart. “Now, tell me what’s really botherin’ ya.”
She raked a hand through her hair and fisted a chunk until the sharp pain at her scalp forced her to relax her grip. Say it, say it, say it! “God, this is crazy,” she muttered. “I can’t believe I’m actually going to say this…”
“Speak up, darlin’, my hearin’ ain’t what it used to be.”
“I think that maybe…I mean, it’s possible…” Somewhere in the back of her mind Vanessa knew she was acting ridiculous. For shit’s sake, she was actually wincing as though the words dangling off the tip of her tongue could actually cause physical pain. “…that I might be—just a little—infatuated, in lust, or whatever you want to call it, with Jackson.”
Her breaths ceased, remaining trapped in her lungs as she waited for a response, a guffaw, a something. But the only sound that came through was the rasp of his fingers running over the ever-present gray stubble on his jaw. She’d bet he had his elbows on the bar, one hand holding the receiver of the old rotary phone, the other creating the sandpaper noise that seemed to get louder with every passing nanosecond.
“Fritz, say something,” she pleaded. “Tell me I’m crazy because I’ve only known him a few days. That getting involved with my best friend’s brother is asking for trouble. That I’m a hypocrite because he practically breaks every one of my Rules.”
“Well now, Red, why would I have to say any of those things when you’re already thinkin’ ’em?”
“See? I knew it.” She slumped forward on the couch and dropped her head into her hand. “Oh, this is bad. Bad, bad, bad.”
“Now wait a minute. Just because I pointed out you’re already thinkin’ those things doesn’t mean I agree with any of it.”
Vanessa swore she heard a needle screech its way across a vinyl record somewhere. “You don’t?”
“Hell no, I don’t. Now you listen to me, and you listen good. You know I love you like my own, but Jesus Christ, yer the dumbest smart woman I know.”
“Beg your pardon?”