Love in the City (The Complete Collection Boxed Set) Read online

  It was HIM! Jack! He was standing right behind me and looking into the window, too, all smiles, and smirks.

  Unbelievably, right in front of me mixed in the window’s reflection was Virginia, me, and the gorgeous Jack Prescott. Immediately, I stiffened and was paralyzed until I felt his breath at my ear. My knees started to buckle. I think he must have foreseen my reaction, because he stepped in closer behind me and placed his glove-covered hands tightly on my upper arms. My eyes were glued to his in our mirrored reflection and I saw his lips start to move.

  “Ally, turn around,” he whispered into my ear.

  Who could disobey a seductive whisper like that? I knew I couldn’t, so I quickly spun around in his arms, my face just inches away from his wool-covered chest. I’d dreamed and hoped that he’d notice me, and, holy shit; here he was looking down at me with those eyes of his. Right then I knew I was putty in his hands.

  “I thought I’d sneak up on you this time. You’re a hard stalker to lose, Ally.”

  Oh, my God. He knew that I’d been following him. I wanted to die. Now. Once again, all I could do was stand there and look shocked.

  “You look surprised that I knew that you were following me. Take some friendly advice—drop any thoughts you have about working for the CIA.”

  “That bad?” Hey, I finally spoke! Two whole words. Yeah.

  “Yes, that bad. But I did enjoy the panicked look on your face when I deliberately hid from you. Are you feeling better now, Ms. Stalker?” Jack laughed as he drew me in closer to him. Our bodies were almost touching and my head was spinning. What the hell was he doing holding me like this? It didn’t make any sense. He didn’t even seem disturbed by my crazy behavior. He appeared to find it amusing.

  “Feeling better?” I asked confused then realized what he was asking. “Oh, I get it. No, I’m no longer panicked. Well, that’s not totally true.”

  “I have an idea and it looks like you could use some warming up.” He winked at me. Oh, my God, I think he must have had me confused with someone else. This couldn’t be happening to me. He took my hand into his and walked me to the edge of the sidewalk. I stood slightly behind him and watched him hail a cab.

  When a cab pulled up and stopped, he opened the door for me and I slid across the seat as he followed me in. He looked over at me all smiles with a sexy gleam in his beautiful eyes. Without taking his eyes from mine, he told the cabbie where to take us. “The Roosevelt Hotel. Madison and Forty-fifth.”

  “Yes, sir,” the cabbie responded.

  “I have reservations there for the night. Is it okay if I check in early and warm up?”

  I nodded my head as words failed me. Holy shit. He was taking me to a hotel. To a room with a bed. My head was spinning once again.

  He took off his gloves and reached for my right hand. Slowly, he removed my glove, finger by finger. I was practically panting by the time he’d finished and laid my lone glove on the seat.

  “I want to try something, okay?” he said.

  I nodded my agreement.

  “There’s something I’ve been curious about since the day we met.”

  I sat there lost in his words and blue eyes, not daring to move a muscle.

  Very carefully, he moved his fingers toward mine and placed them lightly against my opened palm. And there it was again. That strange, warm feeling moved up my arm just like it did during our handshake back in September. But this time he didn’t pull his hand away. Instead, he wrapped his long fingers around mine and pulled my hand up to his lips.

  He began to gently kiss each knuckle as he gazed at me with rather hooded eyes. I tried to suppress the moan that was working to escape my lips, but I just couldn’t hold it back. I had my fantasy man sitting next to me in the flesh and he was pressing his sweet lips against my shaky hand. It was almost too much to believe or bear.

  “You felt that too, didn’t you?” He lowered my hand to the seat, but didn’t release it.

  “Yes, I felt it. But it wasn’t the first time. I remember feeling it when we met.” My words made him smile even more if that was possible.

  “I felt it too, Ally. At first, I thought it was just a fluke, but there was just something about you. I can’t really explain it.”

  What? Maybe he was attracted to me?

  I remembered Chelsea telling me that he broke up with the goddess, Marissa, after he found himself having feelings for someone else. She’d told me that he didn’t want to be unfaithful to Marissa, and he needed to see if this other person felt the same way he did. Chelsea mentioned that the other girl often avoided him, so he didn’t really think he stood a chance with her. But he wanted to reach out to her anyway, give it a try.

  Could it possibly be me that Chelsea was speaking about?

  “So there’s something about me?” I had to ask him this question. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around his words and declaration. I needed to hear it one more time.

  He tightened his grip around my fingers and shifted right next to me in the backseat. He pressed his body into mine and looked directly into my eyes.

  “I can’t quit thinking about you, Ally. I know that you’ve noticed me staring at you during our weekly meetings. Every time you looked my way, I’d get lost in your big, brown eyes. Don’t even get me started with your innocent blush.”

  True to form, I blushed heavily as if on cue.

  He laughed and traced his fingers over my cheeks. He looked at my lips then gazed up into my eyes asking for permission. I closed my eyes and parted my lips in answer.

  His lips found mine, and the spark from earlier turned hot with passion. No longer were we suppressing anything. Breathing hard, he moved my scarf away from my neck and starting gently kissing me below my ear. I was aching in the most delicious way.

  I leaned back into the seat and closed my eyes as Jack pulled me even closer into him.

  The only thing I thought of while his warm lips kissed mine was Virginia and her Christmas wish. Like her, my wish had come true, and he was sitting beside me holding me tightly in his arms.

  Jack’s Love at First Touch

  Moving toward the full wall of windows in my Manhattan office, I peered at the skyline and surveyed the neighboring buildings. Granite and glass were surrounding me, but I didn’t feel the sterile coldness as my mind drifted. I thought back to a Thanksgiving week five years ago. I smiled remembering how my sweet wife had become mine.

  It’d been the Monday afternoon before Thanksgiving break, and we were five minutes past the scheduled start of our weekly “all hands on deck” editorial meeting. I scanned the boardroom looking for Ally, rubbing my hands nervously against my thighs. She was usually one of the first reporters to arrive and always seemed prepared. I needed to see her today. Strike that; I had to see her today.

  I stalled and shuffled through the upcoming assignments for the week in an attempt to look calm and in control. Where the hell was she? There was only one chair left unoccupied in the room. It was directly across from me at the other end of the long, shiny mahogany table.

  Staring at the empty seat, I thought back over the last few days. It had been one hell of a weekend. Breaking up with Marissa had been a complete disaster. She knew that something was afoot before I even uttered a word. I’d lost count of how many times she’d asked me if everything was okay. What could I tell her about Ally, when nothing made sense to me?

  “Sorry, Marissa. I’ve met someone who shows no interest in me, and I have to pursue her.”

  Damn, Ally’d been the main attraction in my nightly dreams over the last couple of months. The night before, I’d dreamed that I was making love to her as she lay across the very desk in front of me. Her hair had been spread in a wavy halo around her head. God, what a dream.

  I couldn’t deny it any longer. My attraction to her was intense and somehow growing stronger. The only problem was, my ethereal beauty avoided me like I was the Black Death.

  As I started the board meeting, a flustered Ally stumbled into th
e room. Her face was flushed and those big, brown eyes of hers were hitting me head on. I was completely lost as a sense of relief flooded me. She was here finally.

  A goofy grin spread across my face as Ally took the seat opposite me at the large boardroom table. She mumbled her apologies, but looked at me confused. It must have been my funky smile because everyone else around me shared in her puzzled look.

  “Well, Ally. Glad you’re here. We’re just getting started. I’m going to let our managing editors take our weekly meeting from here. Patrick and Marcy, floor’s yours.”

  Now that I’d handed over the meeting to my editors, I could get back to more important things. Like staring, gazing, and mentally undressing Ally. Watching that beautiful flush on her cheeks, I was beginning to think that she was feeling a bit uncomfortable with my constant eye contact. But I’d be damned if I couldn’t look away from her.

  As the meeting adjourned, I tried to catch her. However, she was closer to the door and the only way to get her attention would’ve required me to walk across the damn table.

  Fate was working against me! I’d missed another chance of talking to her.

  Over the next couple of days, I tried to run into her somehow. Really run into her. I longed to touch her again. That simple touch on the first day we met still had me craving for more. My connection to her was undeniable, but what were her feelings for me? Part of me was afraid to find out.

  After spending a gluttonous Thanksgiving Day with family friends in Woodbridge, Connecticut, I returned to Yale early in the evening. I sent the next day’s edition of the Yale Daily News to press, and then decided to escape the confines of my campus apartment on Friday by planning a night’s stay in New York City at The Roosevelt Hotel.

  I thought of inviting someone else to tag along; however, I needed some time away by myself to try to regroup. Since Ally had successfully eluded my charms, I knew I had to devise a plan to woo her.

  Friday morning I rolled out of bed, showered, dressed for the cold and headed to New Haven Station. I grabbed a Red Bull and a bagel, tucked a copy of today’s New York Times under my arm and met the cold day head-on. I’d thrown a few things into a backpack for the overnight stay. I didn’t need much and it felt good to get away. And since someone else was manning the News’ publishing tomorrow, I was free now for over twenty-four hours.

  After purchasing my roundtrip ticket, I leaned against the buzzing Coke machine on the station platform. Glancing at the ticker board time display, I saw that there was ten minutes before the next train to Grand Central arrived. As I opened the newspaper, I briefly glanced into the terminal doors and noticed the line at the coffee shop was long.

  Finally, the train pulled up to the station, I folded up my paper under my arm and entered the closest car. For some reason I preferred to sit with my back toward the front of the train. I took out a pen from my pocket and started to write a list of ways I could break the ice with Ally. Twenty minutes later and no ideas, my eyes became fixed on the paper in front of me. I was drawing a complete blank.

  It was baffling to me, but I felt like an insecure fourteen-year-old boy trying to feel his way up his girlfriend’s shirt, hoping that his wandering hands would make it to second base without their being pushed away. Perhaps I feared that she’d reject me and I’d never get to hold her tight or smell her hair as I shared a pillow with her after making love. With that thought still fresh in my mind, I closed my eyes and drifted into a semi-conscious sleep still trying to stay aware of the train’s stops and starts.

  Upon reaching Grand Central Station, I stretched out my stiff limbs and made my way to the car’s exit. I briefly glanced at a young woman seated a few rows from me. She was wearing one of those puffy down jackets, which hid her curves and made me curse the cold. A newspaper was gripped tightly in her small hands. Strangely, she was holding it super close to her face.

  “Poor girl,” I muttered wondering if she had extremely poor eyesight.

  After winding through the underbelly of Grand Central, I finally made it to the main terminal. It was one of my favorite places in New York City and always a hub of activity. Stopping in the center of the expansive open terminal, I looked up to see the twinkling lights overhead. As I turned my head slightly, I caught a glimpse of Puffy-coat Girl. As I looked closer at her, I realized that she was Ally, my Ally.

  It’s my lucky day! Quickly turning, I tried to figure out what to do next.

  Should I go and talk to her? Walk up and say “hi”?

  Wait! A funny thought crossed my mind. Could she be following me? What could she be doing here standing a mere three feet away from me? She was on the same car of the train with me and had that silly newspaper practically plastered to her face. I had to know if my suspicions where correct or if it was just wishful thinking.

  I proceeded to the street-level exit. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her wrapped in that monstrous, silver coat walking closely behind me with her head angled toward the ground. Damn, she was following me. My palms started to perspire and I tried to think of a quick plan. It had to include an element of surprise. I wanted to catch her off guard and needed to play it just right.

  Originally, I’d planned on taking a cab to Herald Square to do a little shopping at Macy’s. However, taking a cab would’ve separated me from my hot little shadow. I laughed thinking that maybe, just maybe, I had read all those “stay away from me, you’re not my type” signals incorrectly. Perhaps she felt the same as I did—a strange and compelling attraction, a need to be near, desperate to touch. I hoped she felt a portion of what I’d experienced in regard to her since we’d met.

  I kept walking toward the glass revolving doors that led to Fifth Avenue. As I reached them, I slowed my gait to a snail’s pace. Leisurely, I pushed the glass forward and the suction from the movement made a whistling sound. Once again, I spotted my sweet stalker just paces away.

  She was hot on my trail and we proceeded south at a fast clip toward 34th Street. The Lord & Taylor building appeared on the right after we crossed over a couple of streets. Turning my head to watch for oncoming cars as I crossed, I kept close tabs on Ally’s position behind me. At the last crosswalk, she barely made it to the other side before a reckless cab driver nearly plowed her down. Idiot cabbie. I nearly blew my cover as I fought the urge to run to her aid. Instead, I discreetly watched her dash to safety.

  I steeled myself and trekked on, taking a deep breath trying to relax, as I’d become pretty geared up. I thought about stopping at Lord & Taylor’s to work my magic and turn the tables on Ally, but the crowds were too thin for my liking. My covert operation required wall-to-wall gawkers. Only a large, stagnant cluster of people would guarantee my plan’s success.

  My toes started to tingle as I carefully scooted across 5th Avenue and walked down 34th to the Holy Grail of Christmas crowds, Herald Square. Just before we were in front of Macy’s, I pulled my black stocking cap out of my coat pocket with one hand, tilted my head to the side and glanced at Ally. Just as I’d thought, she was catching flies with her mouth agape while her face tipped upward looking seven stories up to the top of the store’s roof. She was completely overpowered by the lavish display of commercialism. Macy’s has a way of putting unsuspecting window shoppers into a holiday trance of some kind.

  Having my stocking cap safely in hand, I put it on. While she was lost in the red and green haze, I darted and squatted down next to a magazine kiosk near the kickoff window. It was where Macy’s preferred its herd of onlookers to begin their “ooh and ahh” finger-pointing parade.

  With my crazy hair tucked away, I crouched down out of Ally’s sight. The attendant at the kiosk was beginning to wonder what the hell I was up to. He probably thought I was preparing to steal the December copy of Cosmo that my hand was pressed against. Smiling until my frozen face smarted, I looked up at the attendant from my peculiar position.

  “Hey, man. I’m trying to hide from that beautiful brunette over there. She’s the one in the s
ilver puffy coat.” I nodded my head in Ally’s direction. The man acknowledged Ally with a wiggle from his eyebrows and grinned in a knowing way.

  “Yes, man, she’s hot as hell. And I’m trying to surprise her. Early holiday present and all,” I lied, partially. The man brushed his hand across the thin air signaling that my plan had passed muster.

  Ally moved closer to the windows, still scanning through the crowd for me. She must’ve realized that she’d lost my “scent” because I observed a forlorn expression upon her beautiful face. It pained me and thrilled me at the same time. She wanted me. Her exasperated appearance gave her away. It was more than a game, as she appeared to be on the verge of desperation.

  After walking and circling the area on her tiptoes, she stopped dead in her tracks and dropped her head toward the ground in a sign of defeat. But I’ll be damned if those windows didn’t draw her like a magnet. It’s nearly impossible to stand in Herald Square and ignore them.

  Cautiously, I rose from my squatted position. I held my head low and moved toward her, as she stood frozen in front of a window.

  Relief set in. My plan had worked. Gingerly, I walked up behind her excusing myself as I gently sliced my way through the horde.

  Almost there. Her brown hair was shining in the sun like a beacon. My heart raced.

  Ten feet away.

  I mumbled a few, “Excuse and pardon me’s.”

  Bull’s eye.

  Adrenaline was running through my body. The anticipation had revved me up.

  She was completely absorbed while reading the words displayed on the window. A Cheshire Cat smile slid across my face as I secretly watched her. God, she was adorable, almost childlike as she stared in awe at the magical montage. My eyes were fixed on her face as I waited and hoped that our eyes would lock together in the window’s reflection.