Her Desert Treasure (Entangled Ignite) (16 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Monty perked up in his seat when he saw the pickup leave the animal hospital. The vet, but who was with him? Definitely not Meg. He waited a few minutes, watching the tan sedan pull out onto the road. Again, he observed the man and woman he’d seen earlier, but no sign of Meg.
Was she there alone now?
He didn’t have to wait long for his answer. Meg drove out by herself in the old station wagon not long after the sedan left.

He laughed to himself. It must grate on her ego to have to drive the piece of shit after he’d totaled her sporty little Mazda in California. Maybe it hadn’t been the smartest thing to do, but he’d been so angry at her grandfather for blowing him off, he hadn’t been thinking about the risk. It had felt good to take something away from her.

“That’s not all you’ll have to part with, little princess.”

He waited for her to put some distance between them, then pulled out and followed her into town. It took a while for her to find a place to park. The downtown area was filled to overflowing with cars and people milling around in the streets, but she managed to find a spot near the city swimming pool and pulled in.

He noticed the older couple waving to her, and watched her lock the car and walk toward them in the center of the park. Slowly, he passed them and pulled over at the end of the block to sit and wait. The three of them wandered around to the different booths, stopping to look at trinkets or sample food. He waited until they were out of sight before he got out of his car and walked nonchalantly over to Meg’s.

There were hundreds of people around, but no one seemed to notice him as he knelt by the rear tire and removed the valve stem cover then pulled a small tool from his pocket. He turned the valve stem slightly and heard the faint hiss as the air in the tire began to escape. Quickly, he replaced the cover, but didn’t screw it down tight. The thought of Meg finding the flat tire pleased him. He knew it was childish, but he enjoyed being able to annoy her, even if she didn’t know it was him doing it. She would soon enough, though.

He stood, brushed off the knees of his slacks, and strolled off in the direction Meg and her companions had gone.

…

Meg truly enjoyed herself. The festival was full of street vendors and musicians. A few people that she recognized from the animal hospital waved as they passed. She was feeling even more certain about her decision to make this place her home and was filled with a pleasant sense of peace. Jake’s parents were having fun as well, picking out souvenirs and toys for their grandchildren, talking and laughing and having a good time. When they’d been there for about an hour, the temperature started to rise so they sat down at an outdoor café for a cold drink.

Bob took a long pull from his iced tea and asked, “What should we do about lunch?”

Meg sipped her water and shrugged. “I’m not that hungry after all the sampling I’ve done. But you two should try the Italian place down the street. It’s terrific.”

“Yes, it’s very good.” Linda agreed. “We’ve been there with Jake before. Of course, you’ll join us, won’t you, dear?”

Meg squirmed. She hadn’t ever had to explain to a boyfriend’s parents that she needed more clothes if she was going to continue living in sin with their son. Now that they knew the truth about her and Jake, there was no sense lying any more. “I really would love to, but I need to go pick up a few things from the cabin.”

“The cabin?”

“The property I told you about. There’s a little cabin there where I was planning to stay until…” Oh, brother. What should she say?
Well Mr. and Mrs. Matthews,
I planned to stay there until your son took me to Heaven with his tongue and his other talented parts, but now I’m addicted and can’t wait to jump his bones again
. “We just thought it would be easier for me to stay at his place since I’m going to be helping out at the clinic.” Sounded reasonable. “That’s why I brought my car. We can meet back at Jake’s later.”

Bob checked the time. “I’d give Jake at least three hours. That’s if everything goes smoothly, and he doesn’t get delayed somehow.”

Meg nodded. “Right, we can meet at his place this afternoon then.”

Bob eyed Meg. “You realize Jake will have my head if I let you go off by yourself and get into trouble.”

She grinned back. “Then I won’t get into trouble.”

They finished their drinks and parted ways with hugs and a round of “see you later”. Meg made her way back to her car and inched through the middle of town until she cleared the heavy traffic. A sense of freedom claimed her as she pulled onto the road that led to her place.
My own place
, she thought and smiled to herself. As much as she enjoyed being with Jake—yes, she could admit she liked him and had begun to trust him—she still loved the thought of building a house of her own in the desert.

It didn’t take her long to reach the gate, and she jumped out to unlock it. Despite the heat, a cold chill ran down her spine with the overwhelming sensation that someone was watching her. Which was silly. After everything that had happened with Kristen and hearing Jake’s story about Carolyn, she was being paranoid.

She quickly got back in the car and drove the short distance to the cabin.

…

Jake had the urge to break every traffic law he knew to get to the airport, but with all the other cars and the condition of the road, he had to rein it in. Luckily, Kristen had fallen asleep after about thirty minutes into the trip so he was spared from having to listen to her non-stop chatter for two hours.

Traffic had been heavy when they first left town, but had thinned considerably now. All he could think about was getting back to Meg. He was still trying to figure out how she had become so important to him in such a short time. It didn’t really matter how it happened, he just wanted to be with her and learn everything about her. To follow these feelings and see where they led. He knew it wasn’t just about the sex, though that had been the best he’d ever experienced. This was a deeper level than he’d ever reached before.

A glance at his watch informed him they were still thirty minutes from the airport. If he dropped Kristen off and traffic cooperated, he could be home before three. He could live with that, especially if it meant being alone with Meg and not having to entertain Kristen for the rest of the week.

He picked up his speed, now even more impatient to get this errand over with and get home. To Meg.

…

Meg hiked the hills, remembering times spent here when she was young. Everything felt like a homecoming, and she relished the feeling.

She’d found several good pieces to add to her growing rock collection and caught herself day dreaming about a special room in her house to showcase it. In her mind’s eye, she could picture it, and oddly, she saw Jake there, too. There was off-the-charts chemistry between them, and now she believed her feelings were more than infatuation.

She wasn’t used to sharing so much, but it had felt good to tell Jake about Troy. There was still a lot for them to talk about—they both had issues—but where Jake was concerned, she found she was willing to put herself out there. For years, she’d carefully shielded her emotions, had only let a few people in, but now she could feel the walls crumbling, and strangely enough, she didn’t mind at all. She checked the time and figured Jake must be at the airport by now. He should be back in a couple of hours.

Wanting to make sure the surveyors hadn’t left anything behind yesterday, she headed for the survey site, curious to see if she could discover what they’d actually been doing. It didn’t take long to reach the spot, and she was pleasantly surprised to find all of the equipment had been removed. What had they been doing here? A pile of rubble at the bottom of the hill drew her eye.

Hiking up the hill to the rocky face to see if she could find where the debris had fallen from, she noticed a crater in the stone wall. Going closer, she realized several small holes had been drilled into the face, and one of them had what appeared to be a thin rope hanging out of it. She didn’t need her degree in geology to recognize it as primer cord used in blasting. If the cord was there, it meant dynamite might be in the hole.

Quickly, she backed away and walked down the hill to the survey site. Why were they blasting here—was Monty Anderson behind it as well as the surveying? What were they looking for?

Ideas churned in her brain a mile a minute while she walked back. She’d been so lost in thought, she hadn’t paid attention to the time. By the time she reached the cabin, it was almost three o’clock. Hopefully, Jake should be home soon.

She’d no more than thought of him when her cell phone rang. She smiled when she saw the number. “Hi, Jake.”

“Hi, Meg.” He said something else, but the static kept Meg from hearing it all.

“Hang on, Jake. This connection isn’t very good.” She walked to the picnic table where reception seemed to be better. “Okay, try now.”

“Can you hear me?”

“Much better. Where are you?” Meg hoped he hadn’t been waiting at home for her for too long.

“That’s the thing, honey. I kind of got stuck at the airport, and I won’t be home for probably an hour. I just wanted to let you know I’ll be a little late.”

…

Jake had thrown all of Kristen’s purchases from The Pointe into one of his own large suitcases so she could get everything on the plane. When she realized what he’d done, she insisted on buying a new suitcase and returning his.

All that time in the car and now she decided to pick a fight. He calmly suggested that she just get it back to his parents when they returned to Chicago, but she started throwing a bit of a tantrum, saying that her things needed to be repacked correctly, and she thought Jake’s suitcase was ugly. One of the security guards took notice and came to see what was going on. That led to Jake getting angrier and more frustrated, which in turn caused the guard to take him aside for questioning.

Kristen had worn a pleased half smile the entire time. He ran his hand through his hair and blew out a breath. “I can’t wait to see you,” he told Meg now.

“Me, too.”

“So are you guys still at the festival?”

“Um…no. I wanted to come out to the cabin to pick up some things. If I’m going to be staying with you, I’ll need my clothes.”

The thought of her without clothes distracted him for a minute but then something clicked. “Alone?”

“Yes, Jake. Completely alone.” She sounded exasperated. “I haven’t seen so much as a chipmunk since I’ve been here. It’s all right. In fact, I’m getting ready to go back to your place now.”

“I’m sorry.” It was that caveman thing again, he realized, but he couldn’t shake the notion that something wasn’t right up at her cabin. “Okay, then I’ll see you at home in a while, right?”

“Yep. I’m going to load things up and take off.”

“’Kay. Be careful.” He hesitated a moment, feeling both awkward and…a little of something he couldn’t put a finger on.
Off
, maybe. His gut continued to tell him that things weren’t as they should be, but he couldn’t be sure that wasn’t just because of the Kristen-induced hassle at the airport. Doing his best to shrug away the sensation, he added, “I’ll see you soon.”

“See you soon.”

…

Meg disconnected and turned to go back inside, but noticed the car was leaning at an awkward angle. Her right, rear tire was completely flat. How had that happened? She didn’t remember hitting anything on the trip out, maybe she’d picked up something sharp on the gravel road.

Sighing, she set to work hauling out the heaviest suitcase she’d just loaded in order to remove the tools that were stowed under a panel in the back of the wagon and released the spare tire from under the car where it was located. Luckily, Grandpa had taken the time to teach her how to change a tire as well as change her own oil and other basic vehicle maintenance. She liked not having to rely on someone else to do those things for her, but she had found a good mechanic back in California who did repairs on her car.

She went about loosening the lug nuts, which took a while since they were on so tight, then set the jack under the frame and started the process of lifting the vehicle enough to get the tire off. She worked up quite a sweat getting the thing changed and loading the flat into the car. She would take it to a service station tomorrow to have it fixed and would ask Jake to check the lug nuts to make sure they were tight enough. Satisfied things were taken care of, she dusted off her hands and headed to Jake’s.

…

Bob and Linda were getting into their car when Meg pulled in. They waved and came toward her as she got out.

“There you are, Meg. We spoke to Jake, he should be here any time. We’re going to go listen to some of the bands in the park and then meet you later. We left you a note inside.”

“That sounds great. I think I’ll go clean up a little before Jake gets back. Have fun.”

They waved, and Meg jogged up the steps and into the house. She had stripped down to her bra and panties by the time she got to the bathroom and then slipped those off as she waited for the water to heat. Stepping beneath the spray, she let out a contented sigh as the warm water washed over her. Scrubbing away the day’s griminess, she’d just begun to let her mind wander over the discoveries she’d made on the mountain when the shower curtain flew open, and she was face-to-face with a very naked Jake Matthews. She let out a little yelp of surprise and covered her heart with her hand in an effort to slow it’s erratic pace.

Jake grinned and raised an eyebrow. “Is there room in here for one more?”

Meg nodded slowly and watched as he stepped in behind her, pulling the curtain closed. Without another word, he turned her to face him then dipped his head and took her mouth in a ravaging kiss. He pulled her closer, their bodies sliding against each other. His erection ground against her belly, and his hands slid to her butt. When he finally let her up for air, there was no missing the emotion in his chocolate brown eyes. He continued to knead her behind and lowered his forehead to hers.