Authors: Lorelei James
Tags: #Romance, #Contemporary, #Adult, #Western, #Red Hots!, #Contemporary Romance
33
Lorelei James
He poured coffee from an insulated silver carafe. “I don’t think I asked you last night if you’d set up a meeting time with Chet and Remy today.”
“We’re meeting with them at two.”
Jack frowned. “I was hoping to get it out of the way first thing this morning.”
“They’re working on a job outside of Aladdin and that was the earliest they could get away.” Keely blew on her coffee before she took a sip. Oh. It was heavenly. Not too bitter, not too bland. She took another sip. Yep. Second one just as good as the first.
“You like it?”
“Mmm-hmm. However, I find it…interesting that of all the items you could’ve brought from your place in Denver, a coffeepot topped the list.”
“Not just a coffeepot, a coffeemaker,” he scoffed. “The premier all-in-one brew system using the French press method. And I only buy free-trade Guatemalan coffee beans which makes the entire coffee experience nearly—”
“Orgasmic?” she supplied.
“A dirty and mean sense of humor first thing in the morning. I may learn to like you yet.” He smiled when she stuck out her tongue at him. “After I call the cable company and get us hooked up to the twenty-first century, I’ll head over to Spearfish and pick up a new TV before the two o’clock meeting.”
“Why? I don’t watch much TV.”
“I do.”
“How often do you plan on being here?”
“As long as it takes.”
“I’m assuming the boob tube is going in your bedroom?”
“Where would I put it amidst all those stuffed animals?” Jack shook his head. “It goes in the living room.”
Don’t argue. He’ll just remind you he owns the apartment and can put anything wherever he damn
well pleases.
“Whatever. I’m hitting the shower.” Maybe it was petty, but she stayed under the spray until not a drop of hot water remained. She smeared in her favorite lotion—Sky Blue Lilac Dreams—from head to toe, and ran a comb through her tangled hair, calling it good. Most days she didn’t fuss with her appearance. No exception today because she did not want Jack Donohue thinking she’d duded herself up for him.
Normally she’d walk naked to her bedroom, but with Jack here… Her inner bad girl urged her to saunter buck-ass nekkid right past him. Her inner good girl primly reminded her to cover herself so not an inch of skin was visible.
Her inner good girl won for a change. She wrapped a towel around her torso before she scooted into her bedroom.
34
All Jacked Up
Keely had just finished dressing when she heard loud knocking on the door. Early for visitors but she knew who’d popped by unannounced. Without guilt.
AJ stood on the landing, gripping Foster’s hand. “What’s this pile of garbage about you marrying Jack Donohue?” AJ demanded.
“It’s not garbage.” Keely clapped her hands and Foster ran into her arms with a heart-melting little boy giggle. She lifted him and spun him around to more giggles. “Didja miss your Auntie, Fos?”
“Uh-huh.”
She looked him over, completely smitten. With his dark hair and lanky build, Foster would be the spitting image of his father, Cord, if not for the silvery hue of his eyes, which he’d inherited from AJ.
He slapped his palms on her cheeks. “Play Legos?”
“I swear you only love me for my toys.” She kissed his forehead before setting him down. She grabbed the box out of the toy closet and dumped the contents on the rug. “He’s either gonna grow up to be a bricklayer or a house builder.”
“You are avoiding the question. I want all the details, Keely West McKay, and I want them right now.”
Keely sighed. “I know you can’t have coffee in your condition, but do you want a glass of juice?”
AJ folded her arms across her chest in a belligerent posture. “Nope. Spill. Now.”
“A few months back I bought a building in Moorcroft to turn into a clinic—”
“And you didn’t tell me that either? Geez, K, I thought I was your best friend and now I find out—”
“You are my best friend, but this was something I couldn’t talk about to anyone.”
“Anyone except Jack Donohue?” AJ retorted.
How was she supposed to convince AJ, who could sniff out a lie at twenty paces, the engagement to Jack was real? In AJ’s hormonal state, joking, cajoling and dodging would only annoy her. Best to go on the defensive. Keely offered a brittle smile. “Hard to believe, but I do have a life outside of Sundance and the McKay family. Since I spend half my time working at the VA in Cheyenne, you wouldn’t know anything about that part of my life.”
“So fill me in.”
After rambling on about her need for secretiveness she sighed. “Long story short, I contacted an approved historic restoration company, only to discover that Jack owns the company. We got to talking and the more time we spent together, the more things…changed between us.”
“How long since this ‘change’ has taken place?”
“Two months. Give or take.”
“And you didn’t think to mention to me or anyone else in the family that you’d fallen for the man you used to hate?”
“It’s not like that—”
35
Lorelei James
“It is for me. I still sorta hate him on your behalf, K…” AJ’s nose wrinkled. “I cannot wrap my head around the fact you’re marrying him.”
“Hate is a strong word for the man who’s your landlord,” Keely said sardonically.
“My landlord?” Her eyes widened with understanding. “For Healing Touch Massage?”
“Yep, which means he’s also Macie’s landlord for Dewey’s Delish Dish, and India’s landlord for India’s Ink, and Skylar’s landlord for Sky Blue.”
“You’re kidding me. Jack owns the Sandstone Building?”
“Uh-huh. Jack Donohue is Western Property Management. Evidently he owns a half a dozen different rental properties across several states.”
After a minute or so, AJ snapped, “So Jack’s been having a big chuckle keeping that information from us?”
“You’ll have to ask him.” And Keely couldn’t wait to witness India’s reaction. Talk about ripping him a new one. That woman redefined
in your face
and she was ten times worse when she was knocked up. Heh heh.
The bathroom door creaked. Both Keely and AJ spun toward the sound. Jack strode out.
Keely clenched her jaw to prevent it from falling to the floor. Holy freakin’ shit. Jack was shirtless.
His upper body was a mass of defined muscles—his pecs, biceps and triceps were as perfect as the smooth bronze skin covering his immense frame. His waistline tapered into a flat abdomen and slim hips, hugged by the low-slung jeans. She’d never seen Jack wear jeans. The man who lived in suits looked…well suited to 501s.
The tips of his dark, wet hair brushed his shoulders, reinforcing his wild look. His mouth curled up in a sultry smile when his gaze connected with Keely’s.
A powerful lust steamrolled her.
Jack crossed the room with panther-like grace.
Her body stiffened when he nuzzled the side of her neck and circled his big hands around her upper arms.
“You didn’t leave me any hot water again, babe. I had to take a cold shower.”
Oh hell. He smelled delectable. Despite his claim of cold water, his chest felt hot enough to scorch her clothes. “Sorry. Maybe you oughta sweet-talk the landlord into replacing the tiny overworked water heater.”
“Your sweet-talking gets you whatever you want with me. And a cold shower was probably in my best interest this morning after last night.” Jack straightened and smiled at AJ. “Mrs. McKay. Nice to see you.” His gaze momentarily dropped to the swell of her abdomen. “Congrats. When are you due?”
“Four months. Take that into consideration when you’re picking a wedding date. Keely does not want her matron of honor to be nine months pregnant in the wedding pictures.”
36
All Jacked Up
“So noted,” Jack murmured.
“Look!” was shouted behind them.
They turned toward Foster, who’d stacked the Legos in the shape of a house.
“That’s great.” Jack crouched down and admired Foster’s creation. “Interesting how you used red at the bottom and yellow at the top. Very original.”
Foster blinked silvery eyes at Jack.
“He’s a little shy,” AJ said.
“Nah. He’s just thinking. You’re a craftsman, aren’t you? Me too. Let’s see what we can come up with. I used to spend hours playing Legos. I forgot how much I loved them.” Jack settled next to Foster and grabbed four long sections of white block and lined them up on the base.
Keely melted a little, seeing Jack engrossed in playtime with her nephew. She never imagined he’d be the type of guy who’d sit on the floor and play Legos.
Don’t fall for his softer side. It’s not real. It’s part of the scam.
Wasn’t it?
AJ tugged Keely into the kitchen. She whispered fiercely, “Okay. I’ll admit I see his appeal. Not only is he unbelievably good looking, he’s got an amazing body and he likes kids—”
“And don’t forget he’s loaded,” Keely added.
AJ whapped her on the arm. “That is
not
how you choose a man you’ll spend the rest of your life with. I imagine the sex is pretty rockin’ too?”
Keely’s gaze skittered away and she prayed AJ would drop it.
No such luck.
“Oh. My. God.”
She couldn’t look at AJ, fearing her best friend had guessed the truth about the Jack situation.
“What?”
“This is the real deal for you, isn’t it?”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because you’re not regaling me with tales of the size of his penis, or how he screwed you in the bathroom at Coors Field, or how you went down on him on a twisty mountain road, or the wicked tricks he can perform with his long tongue.”
“So?”
“So, keeping the intimate details to yourself means what happens between you two is too personal to share.”
Or there aren’t any down and dirty details to share.
AJ hugged her and sniffled in her ear. “I’m happy for you, K. Even if Jack isn’t the man I’d choose for you.”
37
Lorelei James
Me neither.
“Thanks.”
Keely silently breathed a sigh of relief. If she’d convinced AJ about the legitimacy of the engagement, she should be home free as far as the rest of her family buying it.
“What’s going on?” Jack rounded the corner with Foster, burning Keely with a pointed look.
“Girl talk. AJ has great ideas for the centerpieces for the engagement party. A bouquet of Wyoming wildflowers—”
Jack held up his hand. “You promised no party details, remember? I need the keys to your truck for my trip to Spearfish.”
Keely opened her mouth to belt out,
Oh hell no, you ain’t touchin’ my truck
when she noticed the challenge in his eyes. “Jack, darlin’, I can drive. In fact, I’d love to go with you since we’ve spent so little time together recently.”
“See how sweet she is?” Jack said to AJ with a totally fake smile. “But I realize you have tons of stuff to do around the apartment today—cooking, cleaning, pressing my work shirts, organizing my side of the dresser before we pore over the plans with West Construction this afternoon.”
“That is true.” She heaved a dramatic sigh. “Swapping cars today will work out great.”
Alarm danced through Jack’s eyes.
She bit her cheek to stop the laughter. Jack babied his 760li Series BMW. The notion of handing her the keys would give him a nervous breakdown.
Which would serve him right.
38
“I see some things haven’t changed between you two,” AJ said. “There’s a fight brewing and I don’t wanna be around for the making up part.” She took Foster’s hand. “Come on, son. Aunt Domini has a bowl of Cheerios with your name on it downstairs at Dewey’s.”
Foster didn’t hug Keely goodbye. The only thing that interested the kid more than Legos was food.
The door slammed.
“Did you tell her the truth?” Jack demanded.
“No. She thinks because I haven’t been regaling her with tales of our kinky sexual exploits that this must be
wuv, twue wuv.
”
“Quoting
The Princess Bride
will not steer my focus from the fact you are
not
driving my car today or any other day, buttercup.”
“Why not? We’re engaged. It is my right to drive it, especially if you’re taking off in my truck.”
“Where do you need to go today?”
Nowhere, but she wasn’t about to admit that to him. “I have a life, Jack. I have a job. I need a car.
And no, I’m not asking anyone to ferry me around town when there’s a perfectly good car sitting in the parking lot. Besides, people would gossip that my fiancé doesn’t trust me to touch his precious Beemer.”
Jack loomed over her. “I
don’t
trust you. Do you have any idea how much I paid for that car?”
“Way, way too much?” she asked sweetly.
He growled.
“Who cares? It’s just a car.”
“Just a car? It’s a feat of German engineering—”
“Some feat! It doesn’t have a trunk big enough to hold more than a French press coffeepot made in China and a bag of Guatemalan coffee beans.” When he snarled, she jabbed him in the chest with her index finger. “Here’s the deal. The only way I’ll let you borrow my truck to pick up that all important big-screen TV is if you let me drive your car.”
Jack paced to the living room. Muttered to himself and stalked back to her. “Fine. But if anything happens, and I mean a single rock chip or an itty bitty scratch, I will take it out of your hide, understand?”
“Completely. I’ll treat it like it’s my own.”
Lorelei James
And that’s probably why Keely got a speeding ticket not two hours later.
But it’d been so damn tempting. A V-12 with 360 horses under the hood? And a long stretch of empty black road in front of her? Sheer heaven.
She’d neglected to mention her love of fast cars to her intended. Trading in her old Corvette, after the years she’d spent zipping through traffic in Denver and opening the throttle on the deserted highways of the west, had broken her heart. But when Keely moved back home for good, she knew Wyoming weather could change in a heartbeat. Making the long, lonely drive between Sundance and Cheyenne in the winter months was dangerous and necessitated a four-wheel drive truck.