The hotel had closed the restaurant to non-guests tonight. Not that it did a lot of good, because the place was packed. Understandable, considering the hotel was temporarily home to baseball’s finest and the local sports network was here filming interviews.
Jessa hesitated at the entrance and scanned the crowd. She found Garrett at the bar, surrounded by women. By the look of it, they were all vying for his attention. Not that she blamed them. She’d rarely seen him in jeans, but he sure did rock the denim. He’d paired the faded blues with a plain, black T-shirt, giving him that rugged, bad-boy look women went crazy for. And — by the look of the crowd — a few men as well.
“Good evening, Ms. Montgomery.”
“Hi,” Jessa grinned at the handsome young man.
“Mr. Donovan is expecting you. Your table isn’t quite ready yet, but you may join him at the bar if you’d wish. It looks like he’s already finished up with his interview.”
“Thank you.” Jessa looked to see if the guy was wearing a nametag.
“Jeremy, miss.”
“Thank you, Jeremy.” She smiled in gratitude before glancing in Garrett’s direction again, only to find him watching her. His mouth turned up in a slow, sensual smile. It was that smile. The I know what you look like naked smile. His admirers’ curious glances turned predatory, as if she was the one thing that stood between them and Garrett.
Damn straight she was.
Possessiveness clawed its way to the surface, fire burning in her cheeks. She’d like to show them a little something about who held Garrett’s attention. Who he kissed. Who shared his pleasure. She was the one with that right. Not any of them.
Her hands curled into tight fists at her sides. She couldn’t do this right now. There was no way in hell she could spend the evening pretending she didn’t know what he tasted like, didn’t know the sounds he made when he was buried deep inside her.
She’d never be able to hide the fact that she loved him.
Oh, God.
She had to regroup before she did something they’d both regret. Like act out her fantasy of kissing him stupid to make a statement to all those women.
Concern marred his expression when she raised her hand, conveying to him with her gaze what he was too far away to hear.
Regret.
It weighed heavy on her heart. She wouldn’t trade a moment of their time together. Never that. Regret for the pain of a future without him. A pain that was already piercing her chest.
“Jeremy, would you be so kind as to tell Mr. Donovan that I went back to my room for a bit? I’ll touch base with him a little later.” Escape seemed her best option. Staying here, watching the other women flirt and tease, wondering who he’d choose after she was gone, was definitely not an option. At least not while Jessa felt the need to bitch slap every last one of them.
“Yes, of course.” Jeremy’s sympathetic frown tore at her as he walked away to deliver her message.
She needed a drink. A shot of something to warm her belly and soothe her nerves. She kept her eyes on her sandals on the way back to her room. She was in no mood for idol elevator chitchat.
Jessa pulled her phone from her pocket and started a new text. If she knew Garrett, he’d find a way to work himself free to check on her. She quickly typed a message and hit send, satisfied he’d think she’d forgotten some work that she’d needed to finish. She’d bought herself thirty minutes. Maybe an hour. Long enough to get some liquid courage in her so she could face his goodbye.
God, she was pathetic.
Jessa walked into her suite and went straight to the bar. There were so many bottles to choose from. Clear or amber? Red or blue? For the first time in her life, she almost wished she’d drank more. She’d enjoyed the fruity drinks she’d had with Joanna and Amy, but there was no way she could throw together a drink like that.
Whiskey. Garrett drank a glass after dinner a few times. He’d never had more than one, but if he liked it, it couldn’t be that bad. She sloshed the amber liquid into a glass and brought it to her lips. She fought back a sneeze as the woodsy smell invaded her nose.