Yes, it was for the best that he'd left.
So, when he texted and called for the next couple of weeks, I always answered, but politely brushed him off after a few moments of conversation. I appreciated that he didn't want me to feel let down after our...encounter, but I wasn't stupid.
And not hurt in the slightest.
What I didn't count on was Sierra and Ben getting married two weeks after Cameron and Brody. They'd had a casual backyard barbeque to celebrate it, which meant that I spent the evening dodging him.
It seemed that he got the message after the wedding because the calls and texts stopped completely.
I was relieved. Definitely relieved. And not disappointed at all.
As quickly as it began, our connection ended.
That was why it was such a shock when I saw him again just a couple of short weeks after that barbeque-slash-wedding. It was a weekday and he should have been in Dallas, not in Farley.
I was sitting in the diner down the street from Crave when someone slid into the opposite side of the booth.
I glanced up from my college textbook and froze when I saw J.J.'s beautiful smile aimed at me.
"Hello, stranger," he said.
His voice was low and intimate, the same tone he used during our night together.
My knees pressed together hard, an instinctive reaction to the throb between my thighs, but I managed to hide it from him. I hoped.
"Hi, Jay. What a surprise. How are you doing?"
I managed to smile back at him, but somehow he knew that it wasn't sincere.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing, I just wasn't expecting to see you any time soon."
He cocked his head to the side and studied me. "Cam didn't tell you?"
I wasn't going to admit it to him, but lately, I'd been catching myself tuning Cam out when she talked. Not because I didn't want to hear what she had to say, but because I just couldn't seem to focus.
I was also tired all the time. It didn't seem to matter how much I slept, I always woke up exhausted. I'd taken to napping for a half-hour when I got home from work every night. There were even a couple of days I'd "napped" the clock around until my alarm went off the next morning.
If I had health insurance, I definitely would have seen a doctor as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, even with two jobs and no mortgage, I didn't have the money for insurance because I was saving every penny I could to pay for graduate school so I could complete my education debt-free.
My parents had offered to help, but after my father's heart attack my senior year of high school, I knew he would work himself into an early grave to pay for my college if I allowed him.
So, instead of attending The University of Texas in Austin, I'd gone to Texas A&M University in Commerce and obtained my undergraduate degree.
The costs weren't as high and I was able to live at home the first year in order to save money for the next. With the scholarships I'd won or earned my senior year, my tuition was almost completely covered and my only expenses were books, supplies, and gas.
I'd also managed to take dual credit courses in my junior and senior years of high school, even during the summer, which meant I entered college with enough credit hours to qualify as a sophomore.
I graduated summa cum laude three years later with a degree in marketing but I'd decided to continue taking classes until I obtained an additional degree in business. It had taken another two years, but it was worth it. I'd been working and saving ever since in order to pay for graduate school. There weren't many businesses in Farley that would expect me to have an MBA before they hired me, but I wanted to learn everything I could about running a successful business and investing before I left higher education behind for good.
I'd always dreamed of building a business from the ground up. My own would be nice, but I wasn't opposed to working with someone else either.
That was why my job with Cam and Sierra was perfect. Right now, Crave was a small business, but Cameron was a smart cookie. She had plans and goals. She understood investing time and money in her business to make it more profitable.
And she wanted to expand.
Though it was a local ice cream shop now, in five or ten years, she might have three or four stores. In fifteen or twenty years, Crave had the potential to become a chain of shops across the nation. A big, thriving business that would provide jobs and income for decades to come.
I knew that was her dream and the longer I worked with her, the more I could see myself as a part of it.
But before I could help Cam achieve her dream, I had so much to learn.
I just had to regain my focus.
Speaking of focus, I blinked and realized that J.J. was staring at me as though he'd asked me a question and was waiting for an answer. My tired brain whirled as I backtracked through my convoluted thoughts and remembered that he'd asked me if Cam had told me something.
"If she did, I'm afraid I was too distracted to hear it," I confessed.
J.J.'s eyes were sharp as he looked me over, but he didn't look angry. He looked worried. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.
I waved the question away. "It's my first semester of grad school. I'm just adjusting to my new schedule."
He nodded, but I could tell he didn't quite believe me.
"What was Cam supposed to have told me?" I prompted.
J.J. crossed his arms on the table and leaned forward. "That I was coming back to town."
Okay, now I was officially confused. "Coming back for a visit? Did she need me to take over her shift at the shop so she could spend time with you?"
His brow puckered as he frowned at me. "I'm not here for a visit, Lee. I've moved back for good. Brody asked me to come onboard at his company as a VP and I accepted. We finalized everything the week after their wedding and I've spent the last month working out my notice and packing up to move back."
Oh. My. God.
"You're moving?" I asked faintly.
He grinned. "Yeah. Believe it or not, I'm excited about it." He leaned forward on his crossed arms. "I'd definitely like to see you again."
Oh. My. God.
I couldn't think, just kept repeating those three words in my head, over and over. J.J. was coming back. I would have to see him around town all the time. He would probably come into the shop to say hi to Cam.
Losing my virginity to J.J. McClane didn't seem like such a big deal when he lived in Dallas, but if he was here?
I didn't know what I was going to do.
I realized that he was looking at me, an expectant expression on his face. Oh, yeah, he wanted to see me again.
As if I would have time for a date now that I was cleaning eight houses a week, working twenty hours at Crave, and going to graduate school.
I stuck my pen inside my textbook to mark my place, closed it, and stacked the notebook I'd been writing in on top of it. Then, I put my elbows on the table and laced my fingers together. My brain raced as I tried to put together what I was going to say to him.
When I thought I had the best wording settled, I spoke, "Look, Jay, I had fun with you last month, but I've got a lot on my plate right now and I really don't think I could give you the time and attention you would deserve."
He smiled a little. "The time and attention I deserve?"
I knew it sounded prissy but I didn't think it would piss him off as much as me telling him that I had so much on my plate, plus the exhaustion I was experiencing, that I would likely be snoring before we even ordered drinks at dinner, much less got to the bedroom. Or that I didn't want him coming into my life and complicating it.