Short Rides (Rough Riders #14.5)(31)

Keely growled at him again.


“Maybe I did mention I might be working late. But that doesn’t change the fact that I couldn’t get ahold of you when my workday ended.”


“Since when am I at your beck and call, Jack Donohue?”


Where the hell had that come from?“You have to admit it’s pretty irresponsible for you—a pregnant woman in a rural area—to forget your phone. What if you’d had car trouble?” he demanded.


“Then my brother, who was scouring the county for me, could’ve given me a ride home since you called the f*cking sheriff’s office like I was a runaway wife. I absolutely cannot believe you’d—”


“Keely. Calm down.”


“Calm down?” She reached for her boot. “The f*ck I will!”


The first one missed him, but the second boot hit him square in the shin. “Goddammit, that’s enough!”


“No it’s not! You have no idea how furious I am right now.” Keely picked up a potted plant and started toward him. “You humiliated me in front of my whole family, Jack. And no doubt you’ll blame this, like you blame everything else, on my out-of-control pregnancy hormones!”


“Trust me, buttercup, this psycho redneck behavior is one hundred percent you, and has nothing to do with the baby—” was all he got out before she hurled the flower pot at his head. “I cannot f*cking believe you just did that.”


“Then you’d better not come into the kitchen because knives are a lot harder to duck, asswipe.” Keely stormed into the house. She slammed the door and he heard the snick of the lock as she locked him out.


Locked out. Of his own goddamned house.


Jack yelled, “Real mature, Keely.”


Yeah, real mature yelling at your pregnant wife.


He slumped into the closest chair.


How had this escalated to this point?


You overreacted.


Okay, maybe the call to Cam had been unnecessary. But Keely didn’t really believe that he’d called her family to find out where she was as some attempt at humiliation? He’d never do that to her. Jack knew how hard she’d struggled not to be seen as the baby who needed constant supervision and protection. But he’d been frantic because it was so unlike her to be incommunicado for that long. Wanting to know where she was wasn’t a control thing. He missed her, and yeah, he’d felt guilty for snapping at her and blowing her off. He’d initially called her to tell her he’d finished work early because he wanted to spend time with her. But it’d turned into full-blown panic at hour three.


All he could do now was give her time to calm down. After being married for almost four years he ought to know a way to fix this.


Grovel.


Like hell. He ought to spank her.


Jack swept up the dirt and broken pot. He dug in her purse for her house keys and ended up finding her cell phone—her completely dead cell phone.


At least she’d had the phone with her.


Like that would matter now.


After he’d let himself inside, he wandered into the kitchen. He washed his hands and face, and eyed the butcher block for missing knives.


Then he wandered through the rest of the main level. Keely wasn’t in the bathroom, den, living room, dining room or out on the back deck. He scaled the stairs to the second floor. Not in the nursery. Or the other three bedrooms.


The door at the end of the hallway, which led to their bedroom suite, was shut.


Probably locked.


Too bad. He’d kick the damn door in if he had to.


But it wasn’t locked.


Jack stepped inside the moonlit room and froze when he saw Keely standing by the big bay window.


She wore a nearly see-through white cotton nightgown that made her look like a goddess in the moon’s silvery glow. The way her dark hair trailed down her back, the swell of her abdomen and the heavier weight of her breasts only added fuel to the fire of lust burning inside him.


That’s when he knew what she needed—what they both needed.


He moved in front of her and trapped her gorgeous face in his hands, tilting her head to meet his gaze. Then his mouth crashed down on hers and he kissed her with every ounce of passion and hunger she aroused in him just by existing.


Keely didn’t deny his kiss or fight him, except to grab his shirt to pull him closer. They kissed crazily; mouths avid, bodies straining.


Jack herded her toward the bed. He broke the kiss, sliding his mouth to her ear. “Keely. I love you. So goddamned much. And I need you. Now. Like this.”


“Yes. God, please.”


He lifted the nightgown over her head. He filled his hands with her breasts and teased her neck with open-mouthed kisses and tiny sucking bites.


She arched into him and moaned.


“Sit,” he ordered and inserted himself between her thighs. His hands followed the contour of her belly, amazed at how her body grew and changed every day. “So beautiful,” he murmured. “Every inch of you.”


“Jack, I—”


He took her mouth again.


But sneaky Keely wrested control, her sensual kisses destroying him while she unbuttoned his shirt. Her hands raced over his torso, her fingers digging into his flesh. Then her mouth was on his chest, her tongue flicking his nipples between soft, suctioning kisses.