Arrogant Devil(89)

She doesn’t even notice my fumbling, but now my nerves are stronger than ever. We can’t do this. I can’t date Jack. I’ll just break it off with him and then I’ll never have to tell Helen, and sure I really think I love him, but there are other fish in the sea and lots more cowboys where he came from. Phew, glad that’s settled.

“Jack!” someone shouts in the living room, and the subject of all of my fantasies has just arrived. I can hear him greeting guests in the other room with that husky, deep voice, and my heart is a fluttering little mess. My hands are shaking so badly, I have to stop chopping carrots.

Helen smiles. “Oh, Jack’s here!”

I keep my mouth zipped shut. The only reaction that won’t give us away is a non-reaction.

When I don’t move, she quirks a brow. “Aren’t you going to go say hi?”

I reply like this: “Oh…hmm…um…yeah…ha!”

She looks at me like I’ve just suffered a stroke in her kitchen, and then Mr. Sexy Cowboy walks through the doorway and all my well-planned tact flies straight out the window because he’s so handsome, my mouth waters.

“There you are,” he says with a smile.

Helen glances between us like she’s confused. I try for the same expression. Yes, I know, Helen—why is he looking at me like he’s seen my panties up close and personal? So strange!

Jack isn’t having it. He marches right up to me, bends down, and presses a kiss to my lips. My knees buckle a little. When he’s made his point, he pulls back, wraps his hand around my waist, and turns us to face Helen.

“Helen, your sister was worried about telling you that we’re dating, but you know I’ve always preferred to be direct.”

Oh.

My.

God.

I drop my face into my hands.

“Wait…what?!” she exclaims.

What a fun way to die—of pure mortification, right in the middle of my sister’s newly remodeled kitchen.

“For how long?”

“Oh, I don’t know…a month?” Jack answers nonchalantly.

She doesn’t exactly sound upset, which gives me enough courage to glance up at her. Her hand is on her mouth and her eyes are welling up with some fluid that looks a lot like tears.

I cringe and rush toward her to grab her shoulders so she’s forced to listen to me. “I swear this is as unexpected to me as it is to you. I hated him when I first moved here!”

Jack nods. “It’s true. I was a real asshole. Also, she wasn’t exactly the ideal hire.”

“But then we sort of became friends?” I look to him for help. “Right? I don’t know.”

“No, it’s been more than that on my end for a while—since the rope swing.”

My mouth drops open. “Even then?”

He shrugs, all confident and unruffled by this obviously awkward conversation.

Wow. Okay.

Then, in the most shocking turn of events, Helen yanks a towel off the counter and rushes over to pop Jack’s bicep.

“Jack McKnight! I asked you to help my little sister get back on her own two feet, not to leg-sweep her into your damn bed!”

She winds up the towel again, but he’s learned his lesson and moves out of the way before she gets him again.

He holds up his hands in defense. “I did help her!”

“You better not be taking advantage of her,” she snaps with a protective tone.

I blush a dark red. “Believe me, he’s not.”

Jack grins at that, which only pisses Helen off more. She’s really going to bat for me, which is definitely a new thing. I like it.

It takes a bit more convincing before Helen will calm down and stop growling at him about dating “her baby sister”, but she does eventually come around. In fact, she tears up she’s so happy for us.

“You two—” she sniffles. “I can’t believe it. If you’d asked me before, I would have said it’d never work, but now that I see you together, it makes perfect sense.” She’s shaking her head. “Jesus! What else are you going to surprise me with?! You two aren’t engaged are you? Oh my god, am I going to be an aunt?!”

I don’t bother telling her it’s actually impossible for me to be pregnant at the moment. Instead, I laugh and shake my head. “I swear this is it. No more surprises.”

After that, the rest of the night is a whirlwind. Jack and I sit beside each other during dinner and though I’d like to crawl over and sit in his lap, I resist and am a very good dinner guest. I keep my hands to myself, even when, as Helen serves dessert and we’re all sipping coffee, Jack leans back and drops his arm on the back of my chair. I want to reach over and touch his thigh, but I don’t trust myself. My libido has a hair-pin trigger at this point. Sure, I’ve had orgasms, and don’t get me wrong, they’ve been W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L, but there’s something missing, something I want even more—something I’ve decided I’m finished waiting for.



30



Meredith



Neither one of us is talking on the drive home. The radio is playing softly in the background, and we’ll be back home in fifteen minutes…fifteen minutes of quiet country roads. I look back over my shoulder and see one of his jackets in the back of the truck, probably forgotten from winter.