Authors: Lorelei James
Tags: #Romance, #Contemporary, #Adult, #Western, #Red Hots!, #Contemporary Romance
All Jacked Up (12 page)
Ah hell, now he’d hurt her feelings. He was batting a thousand today. “Mom—”
“I didn’t mean to speak out of turn. And I understand how much you value your privacy. But to be honest, I can’t wait for grandchildren to spoil. The sooner the better.”
“I’m planning on getting a lot of baby-making practice in. Soon.” Jack grinned when his mother gasped and whapped him on the arm.
His brother inserted himself into the conversation. “Well, ain’t this just great? Us all together celebrating how my big brother stole my girl away for himself?”
“Justin David Donohue. What a horrible thing to say to your brother.”
“It’s true. Jack wanted, no, he
encouraged
me to break up with Keely so he could have her. Tricky, huh?”
“Get over it. That was years ago. Whatever happened between you two—” he warned Justin not to put Keely in a bad light in front of their mother, “—is over and done with. Keely and I crossed paths long before you entered the picture, so technically, she was mine first.”
Justin belligerently folded his arms over his chest. “You must’ve worked some serious magic on her because Keely hated you, Jack. She called you—”
“Every name in the book, I know. We laugh about it now, actually. Sometimes Keely even uses it as a term of endearment.” He smiled and gave his mother a one-armed hug. “Speaking of…I need to have a word with my soon-to-be blushing bride.”
Jack felt Justin’s glare singeing his hair as he wandered toward Keely surrounded by her friends.
Too
bad, bro. You fucked up. She’s mine now.
He hovered on the outskirts of the circle, waiting for his beloved to acknowledge him.
She didn’t.
So Jack set his chin on her shoulder and palmed her hips, trying not to be distracted by that damned lilac scent. “Hey, baby.”
Keely immediately stiffened up.
Everyone in the group noticed. He half-chided, “Relax. I won’t tickle you in front of your friends.” He dropped his voice. “All my favorite ticklish spots are strictly between us.”
Muffled laughter.
“Anyway, can you all excuse us? I need to steal her away for a minute.”
Murmured assent followed. And miracle of miracles, Keely didn’t argue.
Jack clasped her hand and towed her behind him.
71
Lorelei James
Halfway down the empty hallway, Keely jerked out of his hold. She put her hands on her hips.
“What’s so all-fired important you had to drag me away?”
“Where in the hell do you get off telling my mother, for Christsake, that we’re going to start a family—a big family—right after the wedding bells stop pealing?”
Her mouth curled in an impish smile. “I was cementing our cover, Jack. I thought you’d be happy.”
He got right in her face. “Nothing about this situation is making me happy, Keely. Especially not every goddamn one of your brothers threatening to gut me—
gut me!
—like some redneck code of vengeance if I do anything to hurt poor little ol’ you.”
“Then you’d better make me happy, huh?” she said sweetly.
Jack crowded her against the wall, bracing his hands on either side of her head. “Try again.”
“What do you expect me to say? I have no control over my brothers.” Keely drilled him in the chest with her index finger. “And speaking of… Since when does
your
brother get to act all, ‘You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, baby’, when that stupid asshole dumped
me
?”
“Fuck if I know. I have no control over my brother either.”
They glared at each other.
“If you have nothing else to chew my ass about, let me go.”
“Not a chance, buttercup.” He searched her eyes. No teasing warmth. Just cool appraisal. “Why are you being like this?”
“Like what? Business-like? Isn’t that how you wanted it between us in private? You turn the charm on and off with me whenever it suits you. Why can’t I do the same to you?”
“Because even though this engagement is fake, you’re not, Keely. I don’t want you to become like me.”
Her eyes shot daggers at him. “God, you piss me off.”
“Why? What did I say?” Hell, he thought what he’d said made sense. He’d been honest with her for a change.
“Just when I want to punch you in the kidney for bein’ a total jackass, you show me a part of you that ain’t half-bad.”
Jack’s heart sped up. “Which part?”
“That part. The real, sweet, sincere side of you. You didn’t toss off a sexual comment like ‘I’ll show you the best part of me, baby’. You act as if this is more than us cementing our cover. You act like you care about me.”
“I do care about you, Keely. More than I should.” Jack brushed a damp tendril of her glossy hair behind her ear, letting his finger trace her perfect, beautifully shaped jawline.
With his every inhalation, Keely’s scent teased him. Warm. Flowery. Womanly. He leaned closer, drawing in a deeper breath. When their gazes clashed and Jack saw raw desire swimming in the amazing 72
All Jacked Up
blueness of her eyes, he stopped fighting the inevitable. He framed her face in his shaking hands and said,
“Fuck it,” before he smothered her mouth with a blistering kiss.
73
She was kissing Jack Donohue. Kissing him like crazy. Kissing him like she’d fantasized about after he’d kissed her so thoroughly at Colt and India’s wedding reception.
It was so much better when they were both sober.
Keely slid her hands beneath his suit coat up his muscular back. Oh man. Such a hard-toned body.
Such an insistent mouth. The hint of cologne on his heated skin wafted up from his open-collar shirt.
Drugged. She felt utterly drugged by his masculine scent and the sheer power of his body pressed to hers.
Jack wouldn’t let their lips part for more than a second before he dove back in for another mind-blowing kiss. His tongue was hot velvet and smooth as whiskey as it glided and stroked and teased. He seduced her, reduced her to a trembling mass of need with just the power of his avid mouth.
“Sweet Jesus, Keely,” he muttered against her lips. “I want you so fucking bad.”
“Jack—”
He kissed her chin. “Steamy, raunchy sex is a more productive outlet for our frustrations than flinging insults.”
“I agree,” she moaned when his lips slowly feathered down her throat, hitting every sensitive spot with unerring accuracy.
Jack sucked the tender slope between her shoulder and her collarbone, letting his breath fan the damp spots as his tongue licked to the other side.
The gentle sweep of his thumb in front of her ear as his firm lips and sharp teeth assaulted her neck caused her whole body to quiver with unbridled lust.
“I want to hike up your skirt and fuck you right now against this wall. Raw.” His mouth brushed the shell of her ear. “Hard.” He blew oh so softly. “Fast.”
Her sex moistened and clenched with want.
Then she and Jack were face to face. His wild eyes didn’t fit his matter-of-fact tone. “Say you’ll let me do every dirty thing to you I’ve ever fantasized about.”
“You’ve imagined having sex with me?”
“Always,” he admitted. His rough whisper launched another blissful shiver through her. “Since you were barely sixteen.”
Keely blinked at him, trying desperately to believe his incredibly sweet bullshit. “Strange way of showing it, GQ.”
All Jacked Up
“We both know you would’ve lorded it over me. I fought it. No more.” He pressed his pelvis into the cradle of her hips, letting his cock rub her belly button. “Say yes.”
As if she could possibly say no. Keely raked her fingers down his back, wishing her fingernails were leaving scratches from his shoulders to his tight ass. “Yes.”
Jack’s never-ending kisses morphed from brutal to sweet. Passion tempered with unexpected tenderness. Her head was buzzing. Her blood was humming. Her body was doing the boot scootin’ boogie.
The kiss waxed and waned, burned and soothed, so she almost didn’t hear the giggles. When the noise finally registered, louder, Keely managed to break her lips free.
“Jack. We have an audience.” She peered over Jack’s broad shoulder. Her nephews and nieces were gawking at them.
When she attempted to extricate herself, his possessive embrace increased. “Who cares?”
“They’ll tattle to everyone.” Keely caught the eye of Kyler, the self-appointed ringleader. “Keep this to yourself, okay?”
Kyler’s enormous grin revealed two empty spots where his front teeth had been. “No way.” He raced down the hall in front of his entourage. In the main room, he shouted, “Hey, guess what?” The crowd quieted. “Aunt Keely and Jack are kissin’ in the hallway!”
Laughter broke out.
Kyler snatched his moment in the spotlight as his due. “And they were kissin’ so much they didn’t even notice us. We waited, but it didn’t seem like they were ever gonna stop. They were kissin’
forever
.”
Keely groaned. Her forehead fell to Jack’s chest. “See? Now everyone knows we were sucking face.”
Jack kissed her crown. Twice. “And we’da gotten away with it too if wasn’t for them meddlin’ kids.”
She snickered and looked up at him. “I never would’ve pegged you as a
Scooby Doo
fan.”
“I have
Scooby Doo
boxers.”
“Aren’t you full of surprises?”
“You’ve no idea of the surprises I have in store for you.”
“Bring it on.”
He made a low, sexy noise in his throat and his eyes flashed heat.
“But first, we oughta face the curious crowd, huh?”
“I suppose.” Jack stepped back. He kissed her knuckles, and gestured for her to go first. “After you.”
“Huh-uh, bucko. Together in a united front.”
“As soon as this party is over, I’m hauling your ass back to the apartment to celebrate our engagement.” His insistent voice tickled her ear. “Don’t even think about chickening out on me, cowgirl.”
“I am so ready for you to prove you’re cock of the walk, GQ.”
“Let’s get this over with.”
75
Lorelei James
Catcalls and wolf whistles greeted them as they crossed the threshold. Someone shouted, “Speech!”
Someone else shouted, “Toast!” Yet another person shouted, “Let’s see another kiss!”
Jack sensed her unease and murmured, “Trust me to handle it?”
“No.”
He chuckled. “Tough. There’s no way to get out of it now, and I don’t want you slipping up and calling me Jack-off in a fit of pique.”
“Fine. Just…don’t embarrass me on purpose or anything, okay? I hate that.”
“Hey.” He blocked her from the crowd’s view. He held her chin and peered into her eyes. “Keely. I’d never do that.” Jack’s mouth brushed hers in a kiss so sweet and earnest her fears vanished.
More catcalls.
Jack led her to the front of the room behind the cake table. Keely kept her gaze focused on Jack’s striking profile.
“Thanks to everyone for coming today. And Kyler, buddy, you’ve got incredibly bad timing.”
Laughter.
“The truth is, I’ve been gone all week, and I was extremely late getting here today, which didn’t please my intended at all. And she shared that displeasure with me. Several times. Loudly.”
More laughter.
Her stomach roiled. Damn him. He’d sworn he wouldn’t embarrass her.
Give him a chance. Trust him like he asked you to.
Keely inhaled and let it out slowly.
“Which comes as no surprise to most of you. Keely and I haven’t exactly been… What’s the word I’m looking for, buttercup?”
“Civil?” she supplied.
Another round of guffaws.
“Yes, we haven’t exactly been civil to each other over the years. So we were more shocked than anyone when our feelings for each other changed in such a short amount of time. But the fact of the matter is, I’m absolutely crazy about her, and she feels the same about me.” Jack’s questioning gaze hooked hers.
She blew him a kiss. “Keep going, Jack darlin’, you’re startin’ to get back in my good graces.”
Muted laughter.
“I speak for both of us when I say we’re happy to be here amidst our families and friends, celebrating what we both wanted but never thought we’d find. Thank you.” He brought Keely’s left hand to his mouth and kissed her engagement ring.
She laid her palm on his cheek; her fingers traced the hollow beneath his cheekbone. She would’ve been content with that little PDA. But Jack wasn’t.
76
All Jacked Up
He curled his hand around her neck and yanked her forward for a prolonged kiss that damn near melted her fillings.
While she basked in the moment, pressed against Jack’s body, his mouth controlling hers with possessive kisses, and clapping surrounding them, Keely almost wished this engagement was the real deal.
The photographer snapped a billion pictures. Keely’s face hurt from smiling. Her feet hurt from wearing heels. And somehow through it all, Jack found a way to keep her laughing, as well as lacing every sentence with sexual innuendo.
It was enthralling. It was scary as hell because there was no going back now. They’d be lovers before the end of the night, guaranteed.
After the party ended, Keely shooed Jack away to spend time with his family while she helped clean up the party remnants.
“I have to say, Jack’s little speech completely changed my mind, K.”
Keely folded a pale lavender satin tablecloth. “Changed it about what, AJ?”
“About how you and Jack feel about each other. It was very romantic. Funny. Sweet without being silly.” AJ snatched the tablecloth, stacked it with the others. “But I’ll confess—the biggest convincer? You two making out when you weren’t aware anyone was watching.”
She froze. “Omigod. How many people saw that?”
AJ shrugged. “Enough.”
“Great.”
“We all thought it was.” She sighed. “Reminds me of when me and Cord first hooked up. Man. We could not keep our hands off each other.”