Jacquie D’Alessandro - A Sure Thing?

Jilly wanted to refute the statement, but it was so true, that to do so she surely risked getting sizzled by a lightning bolt. She pressed her fingers to her temples, then shook her head in frustration and defeat. "What am I going to do, Kate?"

"That depends. How strong are your feelings for him?"

"Strong. I strongly feel he's all wrong for me."

Kate looked toward the ceiling. "I meant your feeling feelings."

Unease trickled through Jilly's veins. "I'm… I'm not sure."

"Well, maybe you're not sure, but I am. Jilly, there's only one type of woman who could look at that array of beautiful men standing three deep at the bar and not see something that interested her."

Jilly shot her a look. "I'm not a lesbian."

"I know. Jilly, you're in love."

Jilly nearly spewed her margarita. "I am not."

"Of course you are. Good grief, you might as well have it tattooed on your forehead in big, neon-green letters. I suspected as much, but when you didn't even bat an eyelash at that divine, dark-haired Adonis, I knew."

"I didn't see you ogling the Adonis."

"Of course not. And do you know why? Because I'm in love ." Kate leaned back and smiled triumphantly. "I rest my case."

Damn it, she needed to find herself a friend who wasn't a lawyer. Yet, the words echoed in her mind until the realization that Kate was right hit Jilly like a blow to the head. Good God, she wasn't merely attracted to Matt, she loved him. Loved everything about him. His smile. His laugh. His sense of humor and fun. His integrity. His work ethic. His obvious love for his family. His inability to throw a decent snowball. The way he touched her. Kissed her. Made love to her. Jilly's unease turned into full-fledged panic. A strangled sound escaped.

"What's that noise?" Kate asked.

"My emotional gears shifting without benefit of a clutch. Damn it, I can't be in love with him!"

Kate's eyes filled with sympathy. "Too late. Tell me, how did things go at work with him today?"

Jilly blew out a long breath and briefly squeezed her eyes shut. "Awful. Awkward. Even when we were nowhere near each other, I was aware of him every minute."

"And when you were near each other?"

"Torture. My heart beat fast, my hands turned clammy, my stomach jittered, and I wanted to remove his clothes-with my tongue."

"Oh boy. You're in love all right. Bad case."

"But I don't want to be in love with him. Why did I have to fall in love with him? He's my co-worker for crying out loud. And he's bossy. You know how that irritates me."

Kate hiked up her brows. "What bossy thing has he done now? Worse than arranging the facial for you?"

"Very funny. Well, he'd obviously planned to drive me home from the resort."

"Yeah, he deserves an ass-kicking, all right."

Jilly sizzled her with a scowl. "I didn't need him to drive me. I'd already called a cab."

"All right. Did he argue with you about it? Try to force you into his car?"

"Well, no."

"What else?"

The distinct feeling that she was on the losing end of this battle eased through Jilly. "He brought me the milk for my coffee in the break room this morning," she said in a small voice.

Kate laughed, then leaned forward. "Jilly, you've been so determined for so long not to allow a man to take care of you that you've become unable to distinguish 'bossy' from 'thoughtful.' So he tries to arrange things-so what? Hasn't he also deferred to your wishes?"

She reflected for several seconds, and the truth behind Kate's words dawned like the sun rising over Jilly's head. At work, Matt was definitely a take-charge guy, and it was one of the reasons he was so good at his job. She couldn't fault him for that. And away from work, while he did exhibit take-charge tendencies, they were, as Kate said, thoughtful gestures. Romantic gestures. Polite gestures. And he had on several occasions deferred to her wishes in a very gentlemanly way.

Jilly blinked. "I think maybe I was looking for and assuming he had faults that he doesn't really have."

"Of course you were."

A sensation like air streaming from an untied balloon filled Jilly. "Well, what kind of doofus does that make me?"

"You're not a doofus. You're cautious. And in this day and age, that's a good thing."

"But I still don't want to love the guy, Kate. This affair could totally screw up my career. How can I make these feelings go away?"

"It's love, Jilly, not a sinus infection."

"Hurts just as much."

"No one said love was painless. But isn't that better than feeling nothing at all?"

"I sincerely doubt it." She blew out a long breath. "Well, I guess I have three choices." Ticking them off on her fingers, she said, "One-I can continue my affair with Matt, assuming he's willing, and let the chips fall where they may."

"Pros and cons of that?"

"Pro is I'd get to be with the man I've unfortunately allowed myself to fall in love with. Con is that when the chips fall, as they inevitably will, I'll be left with a broken heart, and an impossible work situation that could derail my career."

Kate winced. "What's choice number two?"

"Stay as far away from Matt as possible and pray that my feelings will lessen over time."

"Not to discourage you, but I don't think there's enough hours in the day for all the prayers that plan would require. What's the third option?"

"Strike up a conversation with the dark-haired Adonis at the bar and hope for the best. If he can make me forget Matt for even one minute, I'm willing to give it a try." She cracked her knuckles, rolled her shoulders, then stood. "Wish me luck. I'm goin' in."

Comfortably dressed in a beat-up Mets sweatshirt and jeans, long-neck bottle of icy beer in one hand, TV remote in the other, Matt sat in his favorite recliner and aimlessly channel surfed, trying his damnedest not to think of the one thing he couldn't erase from his mind.

He was failing completely.

He glanced at the clock: 10:00 p.m. Was she still out on her date? Probably. She was likely at some romantic restaurant right this minute, smiling at Brad the dentist. Or maybe dinner was over and they'd gone back to his place. Or her place.

His fingers tightened on the cold glass bottle, and he squeezed his eyes shut in a futile effort to banish the image of another man enjoying her company. Touching her. Kissing her. Making love to her.

Seeing her today at work had been nothing short of torture. The instant she'd appeared in the break room, he'd wanted to touch her. Throughout the remainder of the day, it had required an incredible amount of effort to get any work done. Yet even when he'd managed to do so, part of him had always been on "Jilly alert."

He heaved a long sigh and shook his head at his own folly. Clearly he harbored deep-seated, masochistic tendencies to allow himself to get involved with another coworker. How many freakin' times did he need to make that mistake?

His even bigger mistake had been his gross miscalculation in his ability to forget Jilly. Had he actually believed he could share a weekend of sexual fun and games with her, then simply place the entire affair into a neat little file labeled "over and done with"? Good God, he needed to have his head examined. Oh, he'd known some awkwardness would enter into the mix, but he'd figured they'd both just move on.

Problem was, he had absolutely no desire to move on. And he definitely didn't want her to move on. No, he sure as hell hadn't counted on feeling like this. So… dismembered. Like someone had ripped out his heart, and grabbed his soul while they were at it, then dumped them both in the East River. He thunked his head back against the soft leather headrest. What the hell was wrong with him?