Authors: Lorelei James
Tags: #Romance, #Contemporary, #Adult, #Western, #Red Hots!, #Contemporary Romance
“You’re never home long enough to eat a meal, let alone cook one.”
Doc’s gaze fell to her coffee cup. “Maybe I’m seeking changes in my life too. I’m tired of all work and no play.”
“If you’re looking for a man to play with, I can hook you up with one of my cousins.”
“Just one?”
Keely blinked at her. “How many do you need?”
Dr. Monroe’s sly smile gave her a younger, playful appearance. “Enough to keep me from getting bored.” She drained her coffee. “Let’s see what torturous schedule Brenda lined up for us today.”
Hours later, Keely kicked the foot exerciser beneath the bench in the PT room. She glanced at the clock and handed her last client of the day a towel. “I’ll see you next week, Gladys.”
“But I’m feeling better, Keely. I don’t need to—”
“Yes, you do. You had a hip replacement. My job is to make sure you’re doing your exercises and not spending all your time watching TV.”
Gladys looked petulant. “It’s not like I have anything better to do.”
Keely scooted forward on her rolling chair and took Gladys’s hands. “I understand you miss Paul. But letting your health deteriorate… He wouldn’t want that for you. I don’t want that for you. You shouldn’t want that for yourself.”
Her eyes clouded with tears. “What am I supposed to do?”
52
All Jacked Up
“I’m not advocating you start kickin’ up your heels at the Golden Boot, but you need to do a physical activity every day. The simple exercises I showed you are enough. Keep a log this week of what you’ve done, how you’ve felt afterward, and we’ll go over it next week, okay?”
“That’s fair. Thanks for not yelling at me.”
“Oh pooh. I’m not exactly a drill sergeant.”
“Which is why I keep coming back to you, sweetie.” Gladys rubbed her thumb across Keely’s engagement ring. “This is new. Pretty and shiny, like new love. What is your young man like?”
A pain in the ass
.
Not a response poor Gladys would understand since she’d lost her husband of fifty years just last fall.
“Jack? He’s…smart.”
Gladys harrumphed. “Details, girlie. What does he look like?”
Keely rattled off, “Tall, dark and handsome doesn’t even begin to describe him. He’s gorgeous, outrageously sexy, with this killer smile and these intense green eyes that just seem to bore into my soul.”
She froze. Good Lord. Had she really regurgitated that out loud? She actually sounded like a lovesick fool.
Maybe you are.
“Men like that are always good between the sheets too.”
Lifting her gaze to Gladys’s, she said, “No comment.”
“Which tells me everything I need to know.” Gladys winked and pushed to her feet.
Keely followed Gladys into the waiting room. Her PT sessions were “open door policy” meaning family members could pop in and observe the session. Her eyes narrowed on the man lounging outside the therapy room. “Jack? What are you doin’ here?”
“I thought I’d surprise you. Take you out for dinner.” He pressed his mouth to hers while her jaw hung half-open in shock. His lips moved to her ear. “Do you really consider me outrageously sexy, cowgirl?”
“In your dreams,” she whispered back. Not that she wanted to revisit the explicit sexual dreams she’d been having damn near every night since Jack had moved in.
“Now isn’t that sweet,” Gladys said dreamily.
Sweet as snake oil.
“Since my intended doesn’t intend to introduce us, I’ll introduce myself.” Jack clasped both Gladys’s hands in his. “Jack Donohue.”
“Gladys Johansson. You can call me Gladys. Actually, you can call me anytime.”
“Need help out to your car?” Keely asked, trying to sidestep Jack.
“No, sweetie. You go on and get ready for your young man.”
Jack grinned. “I’d be happy to walk you out while Keely is gussying herself up for me, Miz Gladys.”
Keely snorted.
53
Lorelei James
“I’d like that.” Gladys waggled her fingers at Keely. “Toodles until next week.”
When Jack sauntered back in, still smirking, Keely bit her tongue against lashing out at him for his presumptive behavior, not only with her, but also with her client.
“She is a sweetheart. Reminds me of a lady back home who used to serve me cookies and lemonade after I mowed her lawn. I always ended up staying and chatting with her for an hour or two.”
Okay. That showed her a different side of Jack. Which seemed ironic, since earlier she’d been reflecting on those different, unknown, sides of herself.
“I’m starved. Where can we eat around here besides Dewey’s?”
“I’m sure you’re used to finer dining establishments than what’s available in the Sundance-Moorcroft metro area.”
“Glad you think so highly of me,” he muttered.
“If the tasseled loafer fits…”
“Nice dig. Only took you thirty seconds. You’re slacking, buttercup.”
Keely shrugged. “I’m tired. My brain is sluggish. How about pizza?”
“No.”
“Subway?”
“No.”
“There’s bar food at the Rusty Spur and the Golden Boot.”
Impatiently, he said, “Just ride with me and we’ll find someplace, okay?”
“I’ll save you time and gas. If you’re hungry there are two options. Dewey’s or the Twin Pines.”
“Let’s go there.”
“I can’t. I can’t step foot in the place, actually.”
“Why not?”
“Umm. I’ve been banned from Twin Pines. For life. I think.”
Jack’s too-handsome face registered shock. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Nope.”
“What did you do to get banned for life?”
“I was in a bar fight.”
“You started a bar fight?”
“No, but I sure as hell didn’t back down from one when someone else did. Stuff got broken. Bottles, tables, noses.” She waved him off. “Old news.”
“Not to me, but disturbing news nonetheless.” Jack scowled. “Dewey’s it is.”
“I’ll meet you. I have to close up and file my paperwork.”
54
All Jacked Up
Keely considered changing her work clothes, but Jack would think she’d gussied herself up for him, so no dice. In Dewey’s, she spotted him in the far corner booth. He stood, waiting to reseat himself until after she’d sat. Okay. That gentlemanly courtesy was impressive. And sweet. And unexpected.
Nervous, because this felt like an actual date, she flipped through the menu even when she’d memorized it ages ago. “What are you having?”
“Chicken fried steak.”
“Sounds good. Been a while since I’ve had it.”
“Careful, we’re actually agreeing on something.”
“Maybe it’s a full moon.”
His answering bad boy grin had her heart doing the two-step.
After the waitress took their order, Jack stared at her with unabashed interest. “What?” she said testily.
“I don’t even know when your birthday is.”
“It’s not like you’ll be around to shower me with expensive presents.”
“We need to know some of that stuff about each other before the engagement party.”
True. Especially in light of suspicions all wasn’t right with said engagement. “May twenty-third. I’m twenty-seven. You?”
“April fourth. I’m thirty-four.”
“You’re an old timer, eh?”
A slight scowl. “I’d say experienced.”
“So, Mr. Experienced, what other secrets do we need to share?”
“Start with the basic first date stuff. What’s your favorite food?”
“Steak. Followed closely by bacon. Followed closely by chocolate.” She picked up a straw and rolled it between her fingers. “I’ll bet I can guess yours.”
“No, you won’t.”
“Yes, I will.”
There was that wicked grin again. “I dare you to try.”
Keely considered him. “This is way too easy, Jack.”
“So stun me with your insight, cowgirl.”
“Poached salmon. Wild rice pilaf. Brussel sprouts. Plain cheesecake.”
A stricken look crossed his face.
She smirked. “I totally nailed you didn’t I?”
Jack angled across the table. “Not. Even. Close. But I am intrigued by the thought of you nailing me.”
Oh. Hello lust. “The thought of nailing you has me equally intrigued.” She offered him a coquettish look. “Are you a breast or a thigh guy?”
55
Lorelei James
That caught him off guard enough his gaze actually dropped to her chest. “Ummm. What?”
“Or chicken?” she taunted softly.
His hot eyes returned to hers. “My favorite food is not chicken. It’s not a nice juicy rump…roast, although I admit to being more of a butt man than a breast man.”
Keely blinked. She was quickly losing control of this conversation.
“I’ll give you one more chance to nail me,” Jack said with a sexy rasp.
“Only one?” she cooed back.
Jack’s hungry gaze zeroed in on her mouth. “Playing fast and loose will only encourage me to play the same. Be certain you’re prepared for what that entails.”
Yikes. “Speaking of favorite foods, I’m betting yours is some kind of wild game that fits with your personality. Boar?”
His lips lifted. “Wrong. This round goes to me. My favorite food is homemade meatloaf. Followed closely by mashed potatoes and gravy. Followed closely by corn on the cob.”
“Holy crap. That’s so…Midwestern of you, GQ.”
“Surprised?”
“Very.” Down home cooking appealed to Jack more than haute cuisine? Man. He’d surprised her like four times today. “Your turn to guess. What’s my favorite movie?”
“Easy.
The Princess Bride
.” He grinned. “What’s mine?”
“
The Jerk
,” she shot back.
Jack laughed. A deep, rumbly, sexy sound and she caught herself wanting to smile and sigh at the same time.
“Try again.”
“
Jackass
?” she tossed out.
More laughter.
“Okay. I give.”
“
True Lies,
” he said.
“That seems appropriate.”
Silence.
Keely fiddled with the straw, rolling it back and forth in the condensation.
Jack snatched her hand, stopping the fidgety movement.
Talk about big hands. Not soft, girly hands either, but rough. Manly. His fingers were long and thick, sprinkled with just enough dark hair to be masculine, not apelike. God. It’d been forever since she’d had a real man’s hands stroking her bare skin. Would Jack be gentle? Teasing? Or forceful?
“Keely?”
She shifted her gaze up. The curiosity or guilt he saw in her eyes caused a spark of heat to flare in his.
56
All Jacked Up
Jack stretched across the table until their mouths were a kiss apart. “We’re fucking kidding ourselves that we can keep this platonic for much longer.”
The growly timbre of his voice destroyed any smartass comment she might’ve conjured. She wanted to hear that growling noise against her throat, in her ear, on her belly, on the insides of her thighs.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she breathed.
“Like what?”
“Like you want to—”
“Isn’t this sweet, you two lovebirds holding hands and whispering naughty nothings to each other.”
Keely looked up at India with murder in her eyes.
Jack recovered quickly. “India. Nice to see you looking so…round. Congratulations.”
“Oh, bite me, Donohue. Babies rock but pregnancy sucks.” India cocked her hip against the side of the booth. “Since you’re gonna be part of the family now, I expect my rent won’t go up.
Ever
. Especially in light of the fact you withheld the information about being our landlord.”
Jack muttered something about false expectations.
Now this was better. Watching Jack get raked over the coals for a change.
“How are the engagement party preparations going?”
Talk about a short attention span. “Mom is doing everything. Jack’s mother is coming Friday to help.
We’re staying out of the way.”
“So how is it that you guys ended up together?” India asked.
Keely changed the subject. “You feeling okay?”
“Fine and fucking dandy. Fat as a frog. You’ve gotten worse at deflection, by the way, so suck it up and answer my question.”
“Pregnancy has made you mean.”
“
Meaner
. Start talking about how this love match came about.”
“We’re blaming you and Colt.”
Jack went board stiff across from her.
“What did we have to do with it?” India demanded.
“Your wedding reception was the first time Jack and I acted on our attraction to each other, wasn’t it, darlin’?”
He nodded and kissed her hand.
“Once we started working together…it was pointless to resist.”
“It was destiny,” Jack murmured.
“This sappy crap is making me want to barf,” India said.
The waitress dropped off their food. “India, your order is done. I’ll get it and meet you at the register.”
“Thanks.”
57
Lorelei James
“Is it your night to cook?” Keely asked innocently.
“Ooh, you’re as funny as my husband. I’m starved all the freakin’ time.” She shouted, “Hey, Bea, throw in like a dozen cookies too, willya?”
With that India waddled away.
“Pregnant women are so easily distracted by food.”
Jack frowned at her. “Is there any place we can go in this town without running into one of your relatives?”
“Nope.” Keely released his hand and reached for her steak knife, half-resentful, half-glad India had ruined the moment.
Jack wasn’t surprised they finished the meal in near silence. In near record time too.
He paid the check and Keely headed upstairs to the apartment. The thought of watching her sexy ass shake as those long legs climbed the stairs made his dick hard.
Damn her relatives. She’d almost admitted she wanted him as much as he wanted her. He was to the
fuck it
point—he was fucked if he did and fucked if he didn’t fuck her. Might as well grab some smokin’
hot sex while he could get it.