anyone else up yet so she walked to the front door and opened it.
Andrew stood on the porch. He held a single red rose in one hand and a stuffed bright-green monkey in the other.
“It’s possible I behaved badly yesterday,” he said with a shrug. “More than possible. I want things to work between us.”
She didn’t know what to say. While she was relieved to not be fighting, she wasn’t exactly in the mood to throw herself into his arms. Which meant that there was a whole lot more for them to deal with.
“Andrew, this is really confusing for me,” she said. “You’re right. We were apart too long. Things have changed.”
“Is there someone else?”
“No,” she said without thinking, then had to wonder if that was true.
Not Jack, she told herself. Okay, yes, they’d gotten intimate, but just the one time and nothing since. He was her past. The problem was Andrew might not be her future.
He handed her the monkey. “I brought you this. I thought it would make you smile.”
She took the ridiculous stuffed toy. “He’s adorable. What about the rose?”
“That’s for me. I plan to wear it in my teeth.”
He bit down on the stem, which made her laugh. Andrew always made her laugh. Wasn’t that a good thing? Shouldn’t she want to be with him?
“You want some coffee?” she asked. “I have a pot going.”
“Sure.” He took a step inside, then grimaced as his cell phone rang. “Sorry. I’m dealing with some stuff at work. Give me ten minutes?”
She nodded and stepped inside. Still carrying the monkey, she returned to the kitchen. Only this time she wasn’t alone. Colin stood pouring coffee. He wore jeans, an unbuttoned shirt and nothing else. But it wasn’t his unusual outfit that got her attention. Instead there was something about the way he stood. Something in the tilt of his head or the set of his shoulders.
“Colin?”
He turned and smiled at her. “Morning.”
A single word but in a voice she’d never heard from him. It was low and confident. He was a man at peace with himself and the universe.
She felt her mouth drop open. “You had sex with Betina.”
Colin didn’t even blush. “It wasn’t sex, Meri. It was making love. And, yes, we did. She’s amazing. She’s the woman I’ve been waiting for all my life.”
With that, he collected two cups of coffee and carried them back to his room.
Meri laughed out loud. She set the monkey on the counter, then turned to find someone to share the good news with.
But she was alone in the kitchen, so she ran upstairs, taking them two at a time, then burst into Jack’s office. He was on the phone but hung up when he saw her.
“You look happy,” he said. “So it’s not bad news.”
“I know. It’s fabulous. I saw Colin. He’s someone completely different. He and Betina slept together and I think they’re seriously in love. Isn’t that fabulous? Are you jazzed?”
One corner of Jack’s mouth turned up. “Good for Colin. I didn’t think he had it in him.”
“Oh, there was a tiger lurking behind those silly plaid shirts. And we’re a part of it. We got them together.”
Jack held up his hands in the shape of a T. “There’s no ‘we’ in all this. They got themselves together.”
“Don’t be silly. We pushed. And I mean we. You were a part of it. You acted like a matchmaker. I’m so proud.”
He groaned. “Leave me out of it.”
She crossed to the window, then turned back to face him. “This is great. They may get married. We can go hang out at the wedding and take all the credit.”
“I don’t think so.”
She wrinkled her nose. “You’re not getting in the spirit of this. It’s happy news.”
She spun in a circle, holding her arms out and tilting back her head. Soon the room was turning and turning. She lost her balance and started to fall. Which should have worried her, except Jack was there to catch her.
She collapsed against him, then smiled up into his face. He had the most amazing eyes, she thought absently, then she dropped her gaze to his mouth. That part of him wasn’t so bad either.
“You need to slow down,” he told her.
“No way. Light speed isn’t fast enough.”
“You’ll get hurt.”
What were they talking about? She found she didn’t know and she sort of didn’t care. Not as long as he held her.
“Jack,” she breathed.
He released her and stepped back. “Meri, this isn’t a good idea.”
Then it hit her. She’d run to Jack instead of Andrew. That couldn’t be good. Had Betina been right all along? Had there been more on the line that getting revenge or closure or any of the other reasons she’d given herself for wanting to sleep with Jack? Dear God, what had she done?
“I have to go,” she whispered and hurried out of the room. She ran all the way to her bedroom, then closed the door behind her and leaned against it. Where did she go from here?
Jack poured coffee. As he raised his mug, Colin walked into the kitchen.
Meri was right-there was something different about the guy. An air of confidence. He wasn’t just a nerd anymore.
The love of a good woman, Jack thought humorously. Apparently the old saying about it being able to transform a man was true. Lucky for him, he’d escaped.
“How’s it going?” Colin asked.
“Good. With you?”
“Great.”
“No one seems to be talking trash in the dining room today,” Jack said.
“Meri gave us the day off.”
Probably to ensure that Betina and Colin spent more time together. It was just like her.
“Andrew was here before,” Colin said.
“What happened?”
“Something with his office. He had to leave.”
“You sound relieved.”
Colin shrugged. “He’s not my favorite.”
“Mine either.”
They were an interesting group, these scientists, Jack thought. Brilliant and humble, funny, determined and willing to make fools of themselves on Jet Skis. They looked out for Meri. Hunter would have liked them a lot.
“What?” Colin asked. “You have a strange look on your face.”
“I was thinking about Meri’s brother. He would have liked you. All of you.”
“Meri talks about him. He sounds like a great guy.”
“He was. A group of us became friends in college. We called ourselves the Seven Samurai. It was dumb but meaningful to us. Hunter was the connection we all had with each other. He brought us together. Held us together.”
Then he’d died and they’d drifted apart.
Jack thought about his friends-something he didn’t usually allow himself to do-and wondered how they’d enjoyed their months in Hunter’s house. Had their worlds been flipped around and changed or had the weeks passed quietly?
“It’s good to have friends like that,” Colin said. “Meri’s a lot like him. She draws people together. Gets them involved. She handpicked the team for this project. They let her do that because she’s so brilliant.”
Jack nodded. Meri’s brain was never in question. “She’s more outgoing than she used to be.”
