“I’d love to meet him.”
“Why?” Jesse asked sharply.
“HR wouldn’t give me his number, but I think he’d listen to me if I told him my side of the story.”
“I guess that’s a good reason.”
“You guess?” She glanced at him. His jaw was clamped tight, as if he were the one being wrongly accused. “I’m being accused of embezzlement. I think that’s a pretty good reason to want to meet the owner and have my side of the story told.”
Jesse pulled through the circle and out toward the main road. “Is that the only reason?”
She glanced out the window and admitted, “I’ve always wanted to meet him. I like his name: Joshua Jewel.”
“So, you must like my name, Jesse James.” He pumped his eyebrows.
She glared at him. “I would if it was a real name.”
He didn’t flinch as he pulled onto the road and headed for the nearby highway, driving to the west. “It is a real name. Shared with the famous outlaw and my buddy who was once married to Sandra Bullock.”
She rolled her eyes. “Your buddy, huh? Have you been married four times as well?”
“Nope. Never married. You?”
“Nope. I’m a lonesome loser as well,” she said. “Why haven’t you married?” She looked him over. “From what I can tell, you’re a Handsome Harry, you seem successful, and you’re not too awfully creepy.”
Jesse laughed, driving easily with one hand even though traffic was heavy as they cruised through San Juan. “So from what you can tell, I’m handsome and not creepy?”
“It’s hard with your face all covered.” She angled toward him. “Now if you’d take off the hat and sunglasses, I could give you a better evaluation.”
“Keep dreaming,” he said.
She folded her arms across her chest and turned back forward. “Don’t flatter yourself. I have much better dreams than gazing into your eyes.”
“I hope so. So tell me what you think about the Strong family. You were saying your sister’s pretty close with Stetson Strong?”
“Yeah.” Jade started talking, and he encouraged her with questions. Apparently, Heath and Hazel Strong were friends of his, and he’d stayed at their Park City resort a few times. They talked through each of the Strongs that they’d met and shared some funny stories about Stetson’s nephew, Austin, who’d added Jade to his list of girlfriends moments after meeting her.
“So where are we going?” she asked at a break in the conversation. He was a master at drawing her thoughts out while revealing very little about himself.
They’d been driving along a freeway for almost an hour, and now they turned onto a route as picturesque as the rainforest had been yesterday, driving up above verdant valleys that sloped sharply away from the road. It looked like what she’d imagined Vietnam or Hawaii would look like. She’d had no clue that Puerto Rico was this beautiful and lush.
“Well, you like waterfalls, so I thought I’d take you to a bigger one.” He grinned at her with such warmth that she instantly forgave him for being vague about himself.
“I love waterfalls,” she found herself gushing, bouncing slightly in her seat.
“I’ve noticed.”
She ignored the sarcasm in his voice. “What’s this one called?”
“Cascadas de Gozalandia.” He almost had a Spanish accent as he pronounced it.
“Okay, I’m never going to remember that, so I’ll be bugging you for that name again. Maybe you can text it to me?” She hoped her voice didn’t sound too hopeful, but she’d love to have his number and know that she might see him again after today.
“Sounds good,” he answered easily.
She smiled and bit at her lip.
He confidently traversed some different roads as if he’d driven this route a dozen times. They went through tight streets, up and down sharp inclines. These streets would be a nightmare in the snow, not that it had ever snowed here. As it was, a light rain was pattering on the windows.