Chapter Six

Use Your Time Wisely

She stood there for a moment, in obvious discomfort. When she had started this ruse, it had been to cover for a lie…a lie she had told Kim…that Woody was the special man in her life.

And oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive, she thought, staring down at the bridal bouquet she was still holding. When she realized the implications of what she had done, Jordan let the thing drop to her feet. She had compromised her friendship with Kim…lying to her best friend to cover up the fact that her love life really was piss-poor.

Worse than that, she had lied to Woody…who in many ways, she considered an even closer friend than Kim. Oh hell, who was she kidding? Woody had passed the friend stage months ago. She may not have admitted it out loud, but in her heart, she considered Woody more than a friend for a long time.

But she had never told him that. She had relegated her feelings and any emotions he may hold for her to the friendship level. True, she was afraid of being hurt, but she was more afraid of hurting him. Woody Hoyt was a good, solid, dependable man with movie star looks and the manners of a true gentleman. He was the type of man every girl dreamed of waking up to each morning and the type of guy every father hoped his daughter would bring home for the family to meet.

She, however, was hopelessly flawed and not near good enough for a man like Woody. She swallowed hard and blinked back a few tears as Woody retrieved the offending bouquet from the floor and handed it back to her.

"I think this belongs to you," he said, giving her the troublesome bouquet back and smiling softly at her face, reading the confusion and pain with the knowing intellect of a detective. "Come on. Let's get you out of here. Some fresh air will do us both good." Placing his hand possessively once more on the small of her back, he led her through the side doors of the ballroom, into a garden area with a fountain.

Jordan let him silently lead her away from the guests, to slowly circle the fountain, all the time thinking how she had not only just screwed up her friendship with Kim, but now had also blown it with Woody. He would never care for her…respect her…the same way he had before…not after what she had done….

"So I'm perfect, huh?" he asked quietly, the amusement still evident in his voice.

"Hmm? What?" Jordan shook her head, suddenly aware that Woody had not been privy to the battle that was going on in her thoughts.

"Perfect. At some point, when you were describing me to Kim, you said I was perfect…"

Jordan swallowed hard. Evidently all her lying chickens were going to be hatched out tonight. "Yeah. I guess I did."

"That's good to know. Here all these years I've been thinking I had to reach some unspoken standard in order to get you to go out with me…and all this time I didn't. I was perfect already…" he chuckled.

Which made Jordan feel even worse. She tucked her chin to her chest and studied the bouquet she still held in her hands…she felt like dropping it in the fountain and begging Woody's forgiveness.

And then sentencing herself to a life in exile away from anyone else she could lie to and hurt.

"There is no unspoken standard," she whispered, hoping that didn't sound as miserable as she felt.

"There's not? Could have fooled me," he replied, halting their walk so he could look her in the eyes. "Then if there's not…what makes me so perfect, Jordan? Even in your lie to Kim, I can't see you popping out that statement if there wasn't at least some truth behind it." He gently raised her chin so he could force her to look at him.

Nervously, Jordan licked her lips and stared into his blue eyes. A quick glance around the garden area told her that they were alone and the garden was walled. There was no way of escape unless she ran through Woody and back through the doors of the ballroom they came out of.

And with his muscular build, Woody wasn't about to let that happen.

Well, she had screwed up everything else about tonight…why not this, too?

But in a brief moment of inspiration, she realized that after all the deceit of the evening, maybe….just maybe…the truth was the most viable option. "Because you…you…just are.." she stammered. He raised an eyebrow at her. "It's the truth, Woody. You are. You're always a perfect gentleman…you're smart … you're kind to old people and animals and kids…You coach Little League in the spring. You give to the United Way…"

Woody shook his head. "That's not what I mean, Jordan. What makes me perfect for you?" He didn't release her chin, holding her captive to look deep in her eyes…not giving her the chance to do her duck-and-run dance or to lie to him about this.

"Perfect for me? Me?"

Woody nodded.

God, he's not backing away from this one… she thought, getting lost in the crystalline blue of his gaze. "Ah. Woody…there's so…many things," she began, suddenly having a hard time getting her lungs to work properly.

"So tell me," he whispered seductively, his lips suddenly at her ear, finding that sensitive spot right below her lobe.

"Oh." She sucked in a breath. "You're tall…I like tall men."

"And…" he prompted, as she fell silent under his caressing lips on her neck.

"Your…your eyes. Have I ever told you how much I love your eyes?"

"No…as a matter of fact, you haven't. Go on…"

Vaguely, in the back of her mind, she fleeting thought about the fact that Kim and her husband had already left for their honeymoon…there was no need for Woody to keep up this charade.

But there was no way she wanted him to stop, either. So she tried to comply with his wishes.

"You're there for me, Woody. You've always been someone I can trust…and depend on when I have to. You've never let me down. And coming from a woman who's been lied to most of her life by men she thought loved her, that's a sincere complement." She felt his lips grow still on her neck and he pulled away to look her in the eyes again. Fearing she had offended him, she rushed on…

"You're not afraid to let me be who I am…you respect me…you may not always agree with me, but you respect me. You're kind to me…and gentle…and more patient than I deserve." She pulled away from him and looked down at the damn flowers that had pulled her thoughts in this direction… aware that she had probably ruined any chance she had with this man…and would never be his. "I may have stretched the truth to Kim when I described our relationship, Woody, but I wasn't lying when I said I thought you were perfect. You are…you're a wonderful guy…the ideal man…" Far too good for someone like me…she thought, as she felt him take her arm and begin to slowly stroll around to the other side of the fountain. She grew a little more despondent with each step.

If Woody was nothing else as a detective, he was a good people-reader. He could read body language better than the average policeman…and used it to his advantage. And this situation with Jordan was no different. Jordan may be thinking that tonight was going to end up disastrously, but she was wrong.

And if he had anything to say about it, she was also wrong about sleeping alone tonight.

"The ideal man…." he pondered out loud, pulling her attention out of her wallow of misery. "I've been called many things in my lifetime, Jordan Cavanaugh, but ideal is not one of them."

She forced a laugh. "Well, there's a first time for everything…Consider it a complement."

"I will…especially coming from you."

"And just what does that mean?" she asked, starting to turn towards him, a little indignant at his implication, but Woody's hand on her arm kept her facing forward.

"It means…that whether you realize or not, you do have a standard, Jordan Marie Cavanaugh. And I, Woodrow Wilson Hoyt, have met it." He didn't try to keep the note of triumph out of his voice.

Lowering her head again and feeling the heat rush to her checks, she had to admit he was right. "I …I guess so," she said, almost meekly, taking a half-step ahead of him.

"Do you know what my ideal woman is, Jordan?" he asked suddenly, stopping her in her tracks.

"N…no…" she answered, still sounding timid. Whatever his concept of the perfect woman was, she was sure she didn't fill it. "I don't know…" the rest of the statement stuck in her throat. She wanted to say I don't know…and I don't want to know because I'm sure I'm not her.., and damn it, that would just hurt too much.

"Well, she's petite…"

Well, at least I am small…thank God for good genetics and DNA….

"But big enough in all the right places…." She could hear the chuckle in his voice.

Okay…so I'm petite all over…lost out on that count…

"She's stubborn…and even more stubborn when she thinks she's right…She's opinionated, will stand her ground and not let anyone push her around…"

He must like Irish women.

"But she's also one of the most compassionate women I've ever met…loves her friends like family and will bend over backwards to help them." He stepped up closer behind her and gently put his hands on her bare arms. "She's more than just smart…she's intelligent and trusts her instincts…which are stellar, by the way." He gently ran the fingers of one hand up her arm to thread through the soft tendrils of hair on her neck. "And she has this beautiful, brown hair…" The other hand softly trailed down her other arm to her waist and turned her around. "And she has these honey-colored eyes that I could get lost in…and that I know would turn the color of sweet chocolate when I make love to her…"

Jordan studied Woody's face for a second…reading everything that was there. He wasn't acting any longer. The look in his eyes told her he was more serious right now than he ever had been with her. "Woody?" she breathed, their lips now millimeters apart.

"And her name is Jordan Cavanaugh," he finally whispered before closing the space between their lips.

He kissed her thoroughly, doing more than just shaping her lips this time. He gently traced her bottom lip with his tongue, asking that she do more than just kiss him chastely Eagerly, she opened her mouth and was rewarded by a kiss whose depth and emotion made her toes curl up in her uncomfortable shoes.

How long they stood their in that garden, neither one of them would remember. Jordan just knew when Woody finally broke the kiss, and moved away, she was even colder than when he pulled away on the dance floor…and this time every nerve ending in her body was protesting his absence. She instinctively moved closer to him again.

Always a gentleman, Woody obliged her wishes…kissing her again, this time letting one arm stay at her waist, keeping her close, while the other hand splayed across her backside, pulling her closer still. Jordan felt her body dew all over and was gasping by the time he released her, leaning on him for support afterwards.

"You know…I think it's time we took Kim's advice," Woody whispered in her ear.

"Hmm? What?"

Woody took her hand and put it on his shirt pocket where she could feel the room key card. "That we use our time wisely…"