Undeniable (Undeniable, #1)(23)

At twenty-five, Jase was a fairly gorgeous man in the Marine Reserve with a high-and-tight haircut and a kick-ass body. The club whores flocked to him like flies to shit, and Dorothy—pretty, but in a girl-next-door sort of way—knew this and simply accepted it. She was prime old-lady material. She was a good woman who obviously loved him, put up with his shit, and had no problem with having to put up with more. Only, she would never be his old lady because Jase already had one.

I wasn’t sure how to feel about Jase, knowing what I knew. From what I saw, he treated her well enough. I watched him slip money in her wallet when she wasn’t looking, and most important, he didn’t carouse in front of her, but still…

He was married to a girl he knocked up in high school (information also gleaned from Dorothy), and while I could understand that he was unhappy with his situation, he should have rectified it before he involved himself in someone else’s life.

But this was typical. And I was used to it. I was also used to keeping my opinions to myself.

“Earth to Eva,” Dorothy said in a singsong voice while waving her tiny hand in front of my face.

I jerked my head up, and she started laughing.

“Did you hear anything I just said?”

“No,” I said honestly. “I was lost inside my head.”

“She’s always lost inside her head,” Kami announced.

I cut my eyes at her. “Speaking of head…where are Cox and Ripper?”

It was lunchtime, and I hadn’t seen either of them since they dragged Kami off again last night.

“Sleeping me off,” she stated proudly. Both Dorothy and I burst out laughing.

“Speaking of which,” she continued, popping her last bite of ham sandwich into her mouth. “I should go wake them up.” She slipped off the barstool and sauntered through the kitchen, looking graceful and beautiful despite her lack of sleep and vigorous exercise.

“Hey, Deuce,” she purred.

I spun around. Deuce was standing in the doorway, arms above his head, his hands grasping the top of the door frame, causing his muscles to bulge and his black T-shirt to ride up, revealing a fabulous abdomen. He was also covered in grease. Head to toe.

Kami was looking up at him like he was a hot fudge sundae.

“Go easy on my boys, woman; they got shit to do today.”

He moved aside to let her pass and slipped onto the stool she had just vacated.

“You’re gonna kill me, babe.”

I took a sip of my coffee. “What?”

“That f*ckin’ dress, babe. Killin’ me.”

I glanced down at my strapless sundress. It was dark green, virtually shapeless, soft cotton that hung just slightly above mid-thigh. It was simple, comfortable, and very me. And not at all sexy, not compared to the clothing women like Kami wore.

“Um…seriously? It’s like a big green bag.”

He narrowed his eyes. “No, babe, it’s not.”

Jase chose that moment to barrel into the kitchen. He crossed the room and literally swept Dorothy off her feet into a passionate embrace, like the ones you see in movies.

“Missed you, baby,” he groaned into her mouth.

She giggled. “You saw me yesterday.”

With her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms around his neck, he strode back through the kitchen.

“Eva!” Dorothy yelled. “Are you going to be here for the barbeque?”

“Twenty-four hours,” Jase growled. “Babe, it’s been twenty-four horrible f*ckin’ hours, and you’re talkin’ ’bout barbeques. This is me time, and you need to focus. You gotta let me get you your own place; you gotta leave that man, so I can see you whenever the f*ck I want, and you’ll be f*ckin’ focused. On me. You gotta let me take care of—”

The doors closed behind them, leaving Deuce and me alone.

“Speakin’ of the barbeque, how long you stayin’, babe?”

My gaze slid back to Deuce. I couldn’t tell by his expression if he wanted me to stay or not.

“Babe?”

“Um…”

Laughing, he reached out and pulled me into his lap. His hands wrapped around my middle, and he buried his face in my neck.

“How long you got?” he murmured.

“All summer,” I whispered.

“Then you’re stayin’ at my cabin.”

Oh God. He wanted me to stay all summer. At his cabin.

“The clubhouse is fine with me,” I whispered, reeling from this new development.

“No, babe. I know you’re used to it, but I don’t want you seein’ all the f*cked-up shit the boys are always doin’.”

“It doesn’t bother me.”

He snorted. “Me f*ckin’ Miranda bothers you.”

“Not if it’s in the past tense.” I narrowed my eyes. “It is in the past tense, right?”

He snorted. “You’re here; it’s in the past tense.”

Huh. I wasn’t sure I liked that answer.

“OK,” I said slowly, “then it doesn’t bother me.”

“Babe. Old ladies don’t hang at the club. And they sure as shit don’t sleep here. You know that.”

What?

What!

I twisted around in his lap, so we were face-to-face. “What did you just call me?”