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"It’s late"

Jack drank the last of his cocoa and took the et out of her place before he broke down and kissed her again If he did, he knew she’d pull the plug on their "friendship" He wouldn’t give her a reason to push hile under her skin until she couldn’t live without him

He already knew he could spend every day with Jessie and never get enough

The beginning of the week sped by Betork and a few stolen hours shopping for Christmas, Jessie’s days ran into each other Danny talked about Jack and the zoo so much that Monica told Jessie she felt as if she’d been there "You will remember to introduce me to him on Friday, won’t you?" Monica teased

"Give uy, not exactly a fa etting ready for hile Danny settled into the couch for h the first hour without crashing, but it was his routine, and it worked for the both Jessie and Monica They didn’t usually get calls after eight

Jessie answered it when she didn’t recognize the number "Hello?"

"Is this Jessie?"

The voice was slightly familiar, but Jessie couldn’t place it "This is Who’s this?"

"Hi, Jessie, it’s Brad, from the Christmas party at The Morrison"

Jessie was stunned She’d coht Hello"

"I haven’t called at a bad time, have I?"

"No, um, hold on" Jessie covered the receiver of the phone and spoke to Monica in a hushed voice "It’s that guy from the party Brad"

Monica narrowed her eyes at her "What about Jack?"

Talk about guilt Instead of saying anything else to Monica, Jessie stepped into the privacy of her bedroo eyes away "Sorry about that I was getting my son settled"

"I can call another tiood"

"Good" His voice was kind, and so that stood out as creepy, either

"Hoas your trip?"

"My trip?"

"Didn’t you say you were out of town last week?" She reht Fine, I have a few clients back east that needed attention"

OK, so he was a business?"