Maggie stood before the keyboard, idly working out a melody, humming as she did. Suddenly, I gazed across the open space and my eyes lit on Jess, who’d just finished charming his guests with a joke. The laughter died away, and for a moment the man’s eyes held mine in a sexy stare. The darkness I saw inside them was frightening and I looked away.
“Hey there, girl, you and I have got a date,” he called to me as if I should understand exactly what he meant.
I looked at his smiling face, blushing coyly. Jess always made me nervous. He finally excused himself from the couple he’d been speaking with and sauntered over, just as Patrick headed toward the bathroom. Although Jess was only a few inches taller than me, he always seemed to tower above me, his presence overwhelming, being both benign
