One More Kiss (Affair Without End Book 2) by Susan Ward

tell me about the job and the phone call.”
    I glance down at my hand, focusing on my fingers poking at the piece of parsley on my breakfast plate. What a useless thing parsley is. I look up. He’s still watching. Waiting. Insisting.
    “Please, don’t be angry with me,” I whisper.
    Jack’s eyes change. Surprise. “I’m not angry. I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on with you. Why you’re suddenly intent to shut me out. And what I’ve got to do not to have you do that.”
    Jeez—I’m making us all fucked-up again, and I need to stop this.
    I sigh. “What do you want to know?”
    “Well, how long you’ve been looking for a job, for starters. And why you didn’t tell me.”
    “Since I graduated. OK? Finish school. Look for work. Perfectly normal and perfectly dreary. And I’m not real thrilled about the fact that I’ve been this close—”I hold up my thumb and index finger with just a hair between them. “—to having to move back in with Doris. So pardon me for not wanting to talk about me.”
    “How long has money been a problem for you?” He’s staring at me concerned and…surprised?...like it’s something new about me.
    A part of me feels slightly affronted and a part of me just plain pissed. “Like always. My entire life. Some of us aren’t born on pretty little estates in a land called Hope, rich boy. Broke is a perfectly normal thing.”
    He rolls his eyes and I can see that I’ve irritated him.
    “You need to tell me these things.”
    “Why?”
    His golden brows shoot upward. “Because I can’t know what you need from me unless you tell me.”
    I lift my chin. “Well, I don’t need anything because I got offered a job this morning. I can fix my own problems.”
    He stills. “What job? Did you accept it?”
    Why is he staring at me that way?
    “I interviewed with Sandy Harris for an administrative position in his public relations department. He called back. We spoke this morning and I accepted the job.”
    I don’t have a chance to figure out why I just told a half-truth and a half-lie just then. Everything about Jack changes in way I find confusing and unsettling. He gazes at me for a moment, searching my face, and then frowns.
    I change course. “I know why my dad’s been calling me.”
    Jack arches a brow. “You called him back?”
    “No. Sandy called him for a reference,” I explain. “My dad actually gave me a good one. I didn’t anticipate that. For dear old dad to come through for me.”
    My flippant remark is followed by a knot that rises in my throat—I never expected this kind of emotional disquiet talking about my dad—and I look away, focusing on the window.
    “Why wouldn’t he give you a good reference?” Jack says quietly. “You’re wonderful, Linda.”
    I suck in hard on my lower lip trying to keep everything inside me from coming out. The only reply I can manage is to roll my eyes over Jack’s compliment.
    “God, you’re a frustrating woman,” he breathes taking me in his arms and dropping a kiss on my head.
    “I think that’s why you like me.”
    He snorts. “Maybe. Why do you like me?”
    I lean back just enough so I can see him. “I can’t think of a single reason.”
    He laughs. Then he’s all serious eyes, serious expression again. “Don’t shut me out, Linda.”
    I crinkle my nose. “I’m boring. Why do you want in?”
    He makes a face back at me. “You’re not boring. You’re the most interesting woman I know, and I love you.”
    He sets me back from his arms and climbs from the bed. He takes our breakfast tray out to the living room. He steps back into the bedroom and asks, “You did remember to tell Sandy you couldn’t start for a few months, didn’t you?”
    Oh shit …I manage to hold it together and nod.
    He pulls out shorts, a pale pink cotton t-shirt and flip-flops. He turns, smiling at me. “This is the last leg of the last tour ever. It makes me so happy to know I’ll be doing this with you. I don’t