Rev It Up (Black Knights Inc. #3)(10)
Okay, and why hadn’t she thought to change into something a little more fabulous than an old Texas A&M sweatshirt and this threadbare pair of Levi’s?
Oh yeah. Because she’d been scared out of her mind while walking out the front door of her town house, and all she’d been able to think about was getting this little reunion over and done with double-time, as her brother would say.
“They” said confronting one’s fears was the only way to conquer them? Well, in her opinion, “they” were all a bunch of idiots.
“Hey!” he declared, frowning when she leaned back in the chair. “The ragin’ Cajun gets the love, but I don’t? I haven’t seen you in nearly four years, woman. You better come here and put one on me.” He tapped a finger against his cheek.
And there he went again, regarding her with such genuine pleasure she almost began to wonder if she’d imagined the way he treated her. Then, a brief image of her waiting for him in the rain outside the base stabbed into her brain like a pickax and the harsh words he’d spoken rang in her ear like a death knell.
Stay strong, Shell. Don’t let him see how much this hurts.
“Rock gets the love,” she grumbled, fighting the tears clogging her throat. That particular memory always evoked the same reaction in her, “because although I don’t know where he’s been recently, I’m pretty positive it was woefully short on friendly faces. You, on the other hand…” She gratefully accepted the cool glass of chardonnay Frank handed her. She sure as heckfire wasn’t going to say no to a little liquid courage right now. “…have probably spent the last couple of years with Alpha Platoon working your way through all the base bunnies you’d failed to sample during your stint with Bravo Platoon. And I’m sure they were extremely friendly.”
Instead of coming back with a snappy rebuttal as per usual, Jake’s jaw hardened to living stone, his eyes flashing in the low light of the covered courtyard.
Well, at least that took care of those dastardly dimples…
“Some things change, Shell,” he said quietly.
Her heart somersaulted at the solemnity, and something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on, in the tone of his voice.
“Yeah,” she stared at the scuffed toes of her sneakers, trying to ignore the nearly overwhelming desire to believe him. She was such a softhearted fool. “And then again, some things never do.”
A strained silence settled over the courtyard then, broken only by the sound of Rock’s boots clacking against the pavers when he pushed up from his chair to stroll over to the giant stainless steel grill. He lifted the lid in order to transfer a load of sizzling steaks onto a big platter, and Michelle absently watched him cover the plate with tinfoil before he plopped half a dozen fat bratwursts onto the grill.
All the while, she could feel Jake’s piercing gaze on her flushed face.
Yes, some things never change.
His effect on her body temperature being one of them…
“Woo-ee!” Rock exclaimed, adjusting his sweat-stained John Deere ball cap as he turned away from the grill and let his eyes ping back and forth between the two of them. “Y’all are making me nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room fool of rockin’ chairs. Why don’t you kids just kiss and make up? Let bygones be bygones and all that?”
Let bygones be bygones?
As if it was that easy…
She glanced at Jake. Whatever odd tone she’d heard in his voice and whatever strange expression she’d glimpsed in his face vanished when he winked and once again tapped his cheek with a finger. “Yeah, Shell. Let’s let bygones be bygones. Get your fine fanny over here and lay those famous lips of yours on me.”
She knew she had no choice but to set her glass of chardonnay on the ground and push up from her chair.
With men like her brother and Jake, men trained to catch and analyze the smallest blip of human emotion, making a big deal out of one little peck on the cheek was tantamount to waving a pair of semaphore flags and yelling at the top of her lungs that she wasn’t unmoved by Jake’s sudden return.
She couldn’t give him the satisfaction.
So, surreptitiously taking a deep breath, she gathered her courage and walked over to him. Hiding the trembling of her hands by lacing them behind her back, she bent at the waist, careful to keep any part of her body from touching any part of his body, and placed a perfunctory peck on his warm, rough cheek.
Something hard and painful unfurled in her chest as she sucked in the intangible mix of salty sea, warm sand, fresh laundry, and coconut suntan lotion.
Jake always smelled like a day at the beach.
“There, now,” Rock drawled, grinning. “One big happy family.”
Chapter Two
Jake closed his eyes at the feel of Shell’s lush, warm lips, and sucked in the sweet scent of vanilla that always surrounded her in a soft cloud.
He remembered the first time he’d ever seen her, the day she’d gotten a job transfer from Texas to southern California, making her San Diego’s newest and brightest pharmaceuticals representative. He’d just pushed through the door of the Clover Bar and Grill when she launched herself into Boss’s arms and then preceded to break into a happy dance that’d had her dangerously curvy hips doing a shimmy-shake that immediately affected him below the belt.