All Jacked Up (Rough Riders #8)(67)

Jack suspected April didn’t get out much. Or didn’t have romance in her life. He shot a sideways glance at Henry, discreetly picking his nose.


“It was late afternoon in my decrepit old building,” Keely began. “We were dusty and dirty from working all day. I was sweeping up the millionth dustpan full of mouse droppings, when Jack yelled across the room, “Hey, buttercup, marry me.”


Female groans.


Jack grinned. “Keely, my love, that wasn’t how it went down at all. We had been working hard all day. But when I looked at you, the golden glow of the late afternoon sun shining on your hair and face, I didn’t care you were dusty and dirty. I didn’t care you were sweeping up mouse droppings. All I saw was the most beautiful woman in the world. I knew right then I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.”


He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles.


Keely blinked at him. Repeatedly.


Shit. Was she blinking back tears?


“Jack definitely wins as the most romantic version.”


He broke eye contact with Keely to smile at Henry’s wife. “See? It’s all about perception.”


Keely set her left hand flat on the table. “It also helps he bought me a huge engagement ring.”


Jack was frustrated Henry insisted on talking politics and sports, not about the restoration project.


Keely had held her own tonight, but she looked wary when April volunteered to walk her back to the hotel.


After they left he managed to sneak away to make a phone call.


Half an hour later, his cell phone rang as he entered his hotel room. “What’s up, buttercup?”


“Imagine my surprise when I heard a knock on my door. I was hoping you’d snuck past the guards to have your wicked way with me. I wasn’t expecting room service.” He heard the smile in her voice. “I certainly wasn’t expecting steak, a side of bacon and a gooey chocolate brownie. If you were here, Jack Donohue, I’d kiss you.”


Making her happy made Jack grin like an idiot. “What else would you do?”


“Snarl if you tried to snatch even one small bite. Sometimes you are so sweet I can’t believe…” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, thank you.”


“You’re welcome.” He stretched out on his bed. “Now about that phone sex…”


“Not tonight dear, I have a headache.”


He laughed.


“Seriously. Two days of us not making—” she paused, “—loud noises as we’re f*cking like animals would be good for us.”


Had Keely almost slipped up and said…making love? It wasn’t love between them, just great, raw, anything-goes sex. Just a byproduct of their deal. She knew that, right? She hadn’t actually believed any of the romantic crap they’d spewed tonight, had she?


Didn’t you believe it?


“No changing my mind on this. And can I just say you looked absolutely yummy tonight? You sure do fill out a suit, GQ.”


“Keely—”


“I’ll see you sometime tomorrow, Jack. Sweet dreams.”


Chapter Sixteen


The second day in Milford had gone better than the first. The committee was enthusiastic about the additional changes Jack suggested. He’d nailed the presentation.


Once again he and Keely were separated during the formal dinner. Afterward, she was surrounded by various women, leaving him no chance to speak to her alone. When he’d finally returned to the hotel two hours after she’d left, Keely hadn’t answered her cell phone. He asked her about it this morning, she claimed she’d forgotten her charger and the battery was dead.


Jack looked at her, sleeping in the passenger seat of his car. She’d slept the entire way from Milford to Salt Lake City. Ditto for the short flight to Denver. Keely had wandered off by herself in the Denver airport to browse the gift shops. On the flight from Denver to Rapid City she’d stared out the window. And she’d fallen back asleep shortly after he’d pulled onto I-90. Jack was frustrated because this…retreat wasn’t like her.


Outside of Spearfish, he said, “Do you want to stop someplace and eat?”


“No. I’m not hungry.”


“You sure? You haven’t eaten much today.”


“I think I know when I’m hungry.”


“Maybe I’m hungry.”


“Then stop the goddamn car and get something to eat. You’re drivin’.”


Surly cowgirl speak. Yeah. She was pissed all right.


Jack ignored her until they reached Beulah. He exited off the interstate. The only thing open was an Exxon station. Scratch that idea.


As he stopped at the lone stop sign, he noticed a gravel road. Posted on each side with a DEAD END


sign and a Beulah Municipal Cemetery sign.


He hung a sharp right.


“If you hafta take a piss, there was a gas station right back there. You don’t seem like the type to whiz in the weeds anyhow.”


Jack didn’t answer. He drove past the cemetery to where the road ended. He shut off the car, pocketed the keys and climbed out.