Jack (7 page)

“But—”

“Please,” Jack pleaded. “I promise I’ll get you when it’s over.”

Nicki planted both hands on her hips and Jack suspected she wasn’t going without a fight.

“Jack, I’ve been dealing with these guys for a lot longer than you have.”

“I understand that, but you’re not in New York anymore. You’re in my town now. Let me handle this.”

She hesitated with one hand poised on the doorknob. “Promise me you won’t get hurt?”

Hurt by these guys? Jack laughed. “I promise. Now go back inside and close the door.”

Finally she nodded and did as he asked.

“Is that the looker you were parked naked with by the river tonight?” Bobby whispered after Nicki disappeared back into the bathroom.

Jack cringed and could only picture the reaction on the faces of Trey, Matt and especially Jimmy.

Jimmy muttered a curse beneath his breath. “Now I owe Jared twenty bucks. He said you’d have her naked before week’s end.”

 “We weren’t naked.” Jack ground his teeth.

“Not totally, but from the waist up you both were,” Bobby clarified.

“That might not count. Maybe I didn’t lose after all.” Jimmy sounded hopeful.

Feeling spiteful, Jack decided to burst his brother’s bubble. “You lose anyway. We went skinny dipping in the pond today.” He smiled in victory at Jimmy’s second and even more foul curse in the dark.

Trey moved closer to him. “What’s going on with you and Nicki?”

Good question. “We’ll talk when this is all over with.” Maybe by then, Jack would have an answer.

Matt glanced out the window, then pulled back. “We appear to be at a standoff, boys.”

“I could call for backup,” Bobby suggested.

“This is gonna be hard enough to explain. I mean, all of us, here and armed.” Jack nodded toward his teammates.

Bobby sighed. “You’re right.”

“Jack, I have an idea.” It seemed Nicki was determined not to stay safe in the tub as he’d asked her to. She came out, squatted and crab-walked her way across the floor to him.

At least she hadn’t stood in front of the window and made herself a nice target. He let out a patient sigh. “Okay, darlin’. What’s your idea?”

“I want to talk to them.”

“You aren’t going outside.” His voice came out sounding a bit more feral than he expected.

“I’ll yell from here.”

He let out another breath of frustration. “All right. Give it a try if you think it will help.” He supposed it couldn’t hurt.

“Hey, guys!” She raised her voice and yelled from the floor.

“Nicki, baby. Come on out. Tony misses you,” Paulie the Pudge called back.

“Yeah, I really miss him too, but I got to tell you something. I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t.”

Was Nicki’s New York accent getting stronger just from talking to these two?

“What’s that, Nicki baby?” Paulie asked. Jack was happy to see they were responding well to her.

“Remember a few months back, when Tony was screwing around with Johnny Bag-o-Donuts’s wife? Well, when Johnny found out and accused Tony, Tony said it was you she was fooling around with. So Johnny told your wife and that’s why she left you.”

“Johnny Bag-o-Donuts?” Jack whispered to Nicki.

She shrugged. “He likes donuts.”

“What? My bitch wife got the house and half my money in that settlement. You sure about this, Nicki?”

“Paulie, I was Tony’s hostage for a week. You hear things. Guards forget you’re there and talk. I’m sure.”

“Son of a bitch. But what am I supposed to do about this? I can’t cross Tony. He’d kill me.”

“You could both drive away from here and forget you ever found me,” Nicki suggested. “You may not be able to confront him, but you sure don’t want to make him happy by bringing me back, do you?”

Jack heard Paulie ask Vinny, “What do you think?”

“I don’ kno’,” Vinny answered predictably.

“This is worse than a really bad movie,” Matt mumbled from a dark corner.

Paulie and Vinny seemed to reach some decision and he yelled, “If we forget we saw you, will this here deputy forget he saw us?”

Jack raised a brow in question at Bobby.

Bobby shook his head and laughed. “I wouldn’t know how to explain this in a report anyway.” He moved closer to the window. “You drive straight out of here, cross my county line and don’t look back, and I’ll pretend I never saw you.”

Paulie nodded. “Deal. Stay safe, Nicki baby. Tony’s not going to stop looking for you, you know. You really pissed him off.”

“Thanks, guys. You stay safe too.”

There were a few minutes of flying mud and spinning tires during which Jack feared they’d all have to go out and give the two idiots a push. Finally the rent-a-car fishtailed its way back onto the path and down the road.

Jack slid down the wall and sank gratefully onto the floor next to Nicki. “It’s over, darlin’.”

“No it’s not, Jack. They’re right. He’ll never stop looking for me. I’ll be on the run for the rest of my life. I’ll have to leave here…” Her voice broke.

Matt lit the kerosene lamp and the room came into view again.

“I don’t think he’s going to have time to bother with you, Nicki. I think he’ll be a little busy soon.” He grinned wide.

Jack slid his weapon back into its holster. That left his hand free to grab Nicki’s. “We took care of him, Nick. Rather, Matt did. Either way, he’s likely going to be locked up for a very long time.”

“Really?” He could almost see the weight lift from her shoulders.

He squeezed her hand reassuringly. “Really. Let’s go home.”

Chapter Seven

The sun hadn’t been up for more than an hour, but Jack was already slumped at the kitchen table, both hands wrapped around a now cold cup of coffee.

“I have to say, this is a pretty pitiful sight.”

He looked up and saw Trey standing in the kitchen doorway, looking far too chipper for Jack’s taste. “Don’t start with me, Trey.”

“You’re really going to let her fly back to New York and never see her again?”

“That’s not how we left it. We agreed we’d stay in touch.” Jack glanced at the clock on the stove. By now, Nicki’s plane had already taken off. His chest tightened as he pictured her speeding farther away from him with every passing minute.

So much of yesterday had been spent recovering from the events of the night before that he felt like they’d barely had any time together. Nicki had immediately gotten in touch with her father to tell him she was all right. The man had high blood pressure and she was afraid the stress of the last few weeks had taken a toll on his health. She wanted to see for herself he was okay, and let him see she was fine too, so she’d found a direct flight to New York that left at oh-six-hundred this morning.

Jack had offered to get up early and drive her to the airport, but she’d insisted she could take a cab. It was probably better this way. Get the goodbyes over with in private.

Jack rubbed at the strange pain that had been in his chest since the night before.

Trey watched him closely. “What’s wrong with your chest?”

“Heartburn or something.” He pushed the mug away. “It’s probably the coffee.”

“Your mother’s coffee is as good as her pie, so I doubt it.” Trey pulled out a chair and straddled it backward, a stupid-looking grin on his face. “What color are Nicki’s eyes?”

Jack frowned. “What the hell kind of question is that?”

“Just answer it.”

“Deep blue, like the color of the ocean when you see it from really high up in a plane. Why?”

“Ha! I knew you’d know.” Trey broke out into a broad smile. “You love her.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Just because I know what color her eyes are doesn’t mean I’m in love with her.”

“Does your ‘heartburn’ hurt worse every time you think about her leaving?”

Jack rubbed his chest again, wondering why his discomfort was making Trey so happy. “Yeah, but so what? It’s a coincidence.”

Trey shook his head. “You once told me I was either too stupid or too stubborn to realize I was in love with Carly. Which one are you, Jack? Are you too stupid or too stubborn to admit you have feelings for Nicki?”

Jack’s breath caught in his throat as the truth of his own words being turned back on him hit hard. He buried his face in both hands. “Both, I guess. But how is this going to work? She’s a New York City girl. She’s not going to move down here to Pigeon Hollow and continue to shovel manure for my brother now that she’s not in hiding anymore.”

Trey raised a brow. “Go after her, Jack. Hop on a transport. You’ll be there before nightfall. I’m betting after all that’s happened recently, she’s had enough of New York.”

“Who’s had enough of New York?” Jared wandered in the back door and joined the conversation uninvited. He walked over to pour himself a cup of coffee.

“Nicki. She flew back home to New York this morning to be with her father,” Trey answered for him.

Jared took a sip and shook his head. “No, she didn’t. She’s outside in the yard right now.”

Jack sat up straight at that information. Had Nicki missed her flight? As horrible as it seemed to be happy she’d missed it, he was still glad she had. All he cared about now was making sure she didn’t leave. Before Jared or Trey could say another word, he jumped from his chair and was out the door.

Nicki leaned against the rail of the fence, watching the mare with her colt and feeling totally at ease for the first time in a month. She’d probably never been safer than at this very moment. There were still two mysterious black-clad, military-type friends of Jack and Jimmy’s on the property. Not to mention the fact that Jared and his barn hands had proven they could also be armed and ready for anything.

Her father had called on the phone extension in the barn late last night. Tony was all over the New York news. He’d been arrested for tax evasion and racketeering. All his files and computers had been seized. They’d denied his request for bail. Tony had a heap of trouble to deal with now. Hopefully he’d be much too busy to remember her.

Even so, her father had said he’d feel safer with her out of New York for a little longer, so she’d happily agreed to remain where she was. Staying on the farm was no hardship. She’d come to really love it here. Not to mention it’s where Jack was.

What a difference a day made. She sighed. Now if only Jack would get out of bed so she could surprise him. He thought she’d flown back to New York.

As usual, she didn’t hear Jack until he was right behind her. She smiled as he slipped his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. She tilted her head to one side and let him kiss from her ear to her collarbone.

Groaning in pleasure, she finally managed to say, “Your family’s going to see us if you’re not careful.” Not that she really wanted him to stop.

“I don’t care.” He spun her around, and she saw how serious his face had suddenly become. “I’m trying to convince you not to go back to New York. To stay here and be nearer to me.”

She opened her mouth to tell him she wasn’t going back. In fact, her father was talking about selling his farm in New York and retiring down here, but Jack put one finger on her lips to silence her.

“Nicki, I can’t promise you it will be perfect. I’m away a lot, but I’ll be with you every second I can if you’ll let me.”

She waited, and since he seemed to be done, she finally got to tell him what she’d been dying to.

“I’m not going back. I’m moving down here. My father’s coming down next week to see me and we’re going to look at a small horse property Jared told me about for sale in the next town.” She smiled at the surprised look on his face. “So it looks like I’ll be around whenever you are.”

He whooped, picked her up and spun her around until she was dizzy. She was laughing when he finally stopped spinning them.

Jack didn’t put her down. She remained level with his gorgeous gold-flecked eyes. Nicki wrapped her legs around his waist and became very aware of the alignment of their anatomy. “I don’t think I can wait until dark for the drive-in to open tonight. What do you say we go on upstairs to my apartment right now?”

“Are you sure your papa’s definitely not coming until next week?” He looked very tempted by her offer, even while trying to be respectful of her father.

She laughed. “I’m sure.”

Jack grinned. “Then I think that is an excellent idea.”

About the Author

As an award-winning author of contemporary erotic romance in genres including military, cowboy, ménage and paranormal, Cat Johnson uses her computer so much she wore the letters off the keyboard within a year. She is known for her creative marketing and research practices. Consequently, Cat owns an entire collection of camouflage shoes for book signings and a fair number of her consultants wear combat or cowboy boots for a living. In her real life, she’s been a marketing manager, professional harpist, bartender, tour guide, radio show host, Junior League president, sponsor of a bull riding rodeo cowboy, wife and avid animal lover.

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