After they played in the water a little longer, they dried off, went back to the car, and then drove higher into the forest. They hiked up to the El Yunque peak. It was a decent workout and an incredible view. Jade tried to ask Jesse questions to draw him out as they hiked, but she failed miserably. He was an expert at turning the conversation back on her, and before they finished the hike, he knew all about her only sister, Teal, who had just fallen in love with a football player, Stetson Strong. He knew about how she’d gotten her MBA from Stanford and worked for several different property management companies before working her way up to the CEO of Jewel’s Property Management division, Curtis Slade’s assistant—which was all a waste now. The only things she didn’t spill were about her celebrity blog and her narcissistic parents. The parents she rarely talked about, and she didn’t want him to clam up if he knew aboutCream the Celebrity.Most celebrities she’d interviewed seemed to love sharing with her and her fans. Jesse didn’t appear that way. If he was even a celebrity.
They arrived back at the vehicle, leaving tracks of mud behind them. Jade was wishing she could swim in another waterfall pool and find something more about Jesse; he’d only revealed that he had six siblings and had been raised all over, but mostly in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Hence the Jesse James alibi, she supposed. Who was he? She was going nuts. He hadn’t even admitted where he normally lived, claiming that the Jewel resort was his home base for a while. He was obviously wealthy, if she was reading the indicators correctly: he’d been to all the vacation spots where he’d claimed to swim in a waterfall, was able to make a luxury resort his home base, and his Lexus was extremely nice. She’d assumed it was a rental, but now she wasn’t so sure.
Jesse drove the Lexus’ sports utility around the loop at the top of the forest road and headed back down. Jade’s mind was scrambling for ideas to draw him out, but her surroundings proved to be a distraction. The windows were down and the massive sunroof was open as Jesse slowly navigated the curvy road so Jade could soak in all the scenery. Jade liked being able to see the outside world.
“Hamburgers,” Jesse suddenly proclaimed.
“Excuse me?” Jade turned to him, confused.
“I smell hamburgers. Do you?”
“No.” She laughed softly. “All that hiking has you hungry?”
“I’m starved. It’s almost five, and I haven’t eaten since breakfast. That’s not natural. Aren’t you hungry?”
Her stomach growled at that moment, and they both laughed. “I guess I could eat.” She perked up when she spotted a small restaurant on the right-hand side of the road. “I didn’t notice this going up. Who knew there’d be a little restaurant in the rainforest?”
“What did I tell you?” Jesse asked triumphantly. “Some smart man put it here, knowing other men would be starving with all that hiking and swimming.”
“You men have all the knowledge. I bow to you, the master of sniffing out hamburgers.”
“At least I’m a master of something.”
They unloaded from the car again and walked into the little restaurant and up to the bar to order. Jade realized she really liked being around Jesse and wouldn’t mind getting to know him better. It was a complete one-eighty from how her day had started, with Curtis’s accusation of embezzlement. Yet she still knew so little about Jesse, and she was leaving on Sunday for the cruise. If things kept going as well as they had today, maybe he’d be interested in coming to visit her in Florida. It wasn’t as exotic as all of this, but there were still a lot of fun things to do.
Thinking of Florida reminded her that she’d quit her job. Dang. Maybe she’d relocate to California, where she could be closer to celebrities and update her blog and social media more regularly than once every couple of weeks. She tried to do a teaser early in the month and then have a new spotlight on a celebrity toward the end of the month. People seemed to like it, but she always got comments and emails wanting more, and it wouldn’t hurt her ad money either.
Yet it was getting harder to find willing and interesting subjects since she’d already interviewed all the famous people she knew personally. Now the willing ones she was finding were usually social climbers, and the interesting ones were usually more reclusive. She shot a side glance at Jesse as they waited for their food at a semi-clean picnic table. He was intriguing, handsome, but she didn’t like that he was hiding something from her. With parents like hers, she would never fall for someone who couldn’t be honest with her.
She pushed those worries from her mind just like she was ignoring the stress hanging over her from Curtis’s accusations. Her lawyer had said she shouldn’t worry, so she’d try not to. There was nothing wrong with enjoying time with an attractive man. Seeing the color of his eyes would make it all the better.