Make Me Crazy (Loco, Texas) (8 page)

“Yeah I kinda knew that already.”

He laughed and kissed her again. As her mouth opened eagerly under his, he groaned, forgetting about the plan. Instead, he lost himself in her, until she pulled away, breathing hard and staring up at him with wide eyes. He couldn’t look away and he ached to bring her back against him.

She cleared her throat, breaking the spell. “So, what’s the next step to getting Jay’s attention?”

It was like someone had poured a glass of ice water down his pants. If she had wanted to break the mood, she had definitely succeeded and Jake wondered if the way he was feeling was all one sided. Maybe she really wasn’t interested in him at all as more than just a teacher.

You need to stop worrying about how she feels, because this was supposed to always be about helping her find a husband, not getting your jollies off.

Trying to keep the irritation out of his tone, he said, “Don’t worry about Jay. By tomorrow, he’ll be eating out of the palm of your hand.”

Rand’s smile was a flash of brilliance. “Thanks Jake. For all of this. You’re a really good friend.”

As she walked inside, Jake had the sudden urge to beat his fool head against the wood of the door jam.

Chapter Eight

Rand was feeling panicked by the time Thursday morning rolled around. She went about her daily chores, and tried to act normal, but she couldn’t seem to calm down. She had dropped off the check for the spaghetti feed Monday morning and left it with Jamie, along with her phone number (in case he didn’t have it) but Jay hadn’t called or dropped by since he saw her with Jake on Sunday.

Maybe they were too convincing and he wasn’t interested anymore? If that was the case, she had no one. She’d already turned down most of the men in town, pinning all of her hopes on Jay and now she was going to lose everything.

Damn it, it was her fault. She’d asked Jake to help her and it wasn’t his fault that he’d been too good. Even Red thought they were serious! Granted his kisses had a way of making her lose all sanity and when he touched her, hot needles pricked her skin, but she had nothing to compare it too. Maybe that happened with all men. Regardless, Jake had already said he wouldn’t marry her, and she didn’t want him to anyway.

She needed to know if Jay was really out of the picture, so she could try to find a backup. She had a good two months and there were other men in other towns, but still…Jay had seemed like a good, solid choice.

When the hands left for lunch she hopped into the truck and headed to the animal hospital.

She walked in the door and Jamie looked up with a smile. “Hey Rand.”

“Hey, Jamie. Could I talk to Jay?”

Jamie gave her a surprised look. “Sure. Hang on.”

“Thanks.” Rand paced in the front while Jamie went to the back. Her eyes kept catching those of Mrs. Donaldson’s golden retriever and the dog let its big pink tongue loll out of his mouth and his tail thumped.

“Miranda, honey.” Mrs. Donaldson called, patting the seat next to her.

Rand prayed Jamie would come out and save her but no such luck.  She sat next to the older woman and found herself with Hank, the golden retriever, whose head was in her lap. She stroked his fuzzy ears while Mrs. Donaldson whispered, “I heard about your predicament, bless your heart.”

Rand gritted her teeth. “I’ll be fine, Mrs. Donaldson.”

“Of course you will be. I expect Jake will make you a fine husband.” The older woman’s eyes were bright with interest.

Rand choked. “Jake and I are not getting married.”

Mrs. Donaldson’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? I just assumed with how cozy you two were on Sunday and a man is only really serious about a woman once he’s taken her to church.”

“Rand, you can come back now.” Jamie came back to the front and Rand wanted to kiss her for saving her. “Just head on into exam room two.”

“Have a good day, Mrs. Donaldson.”  Rand tried not to run from the room, but it was close. She shut the door with a sigh and leaned back against it..

Jay came through the door a moment later and smiled at her. “Hey Rand, this is a nice surprise.”

“It is?” Rand hoped she didn’t sound as stupid as she felt.

Jay cocked his head to the side. “Well, yeah. Is there something wrong with Digger or Scout?”

“What? Oh no, they’re fine. I was actually wondering..well…I had thought maybe we had a…” why couldn’t she think of the word? “Connection?” Jay looked so shocked, her heart sank. “I am so sorry. I am such an idiot.”

“No! I mean…yeah, I thought you were cute, but after seeing you and Jake together on Sunday…I just assumed…”

“No, well, it was just…” She sighed, and decided to be honest. “Jake and I are just friends. He was just trying to help me get your attention.”

His handsome face broke into a wide grin. “I’m flattered that you thought I was worth so much effort.”

“I’m guessing that means you aren’t interested,” she asked, just trying to confirm.

“I was…I mean…” He ran his hand through his hair. “I’ve been in this pretty dysfunctional on again off again relationship, and it’s kind of…”

“On again?” She offered, her hopes dashed with his confirming nod.

“Yeah. I’m sorry. You just seem like a nice woman and I know you’re in a tough spot…”

“It’s okay, Jay. Thank you for being honest with me,” she said, trying to control the shakiness of her voice, mentally thinking of who else was left.

No one. You went out with the top choices, and the rest were either too old, too young, or in the “hell no” category.

“Hey, good luck okay,” he said, and she dumbly mumbled a good-bye, waving at Jamie as she passed. She didn’t want anyone to see her frustrated tears as she left the office and raced to her truck. She was in desperate need of a beer.

Rand walked int
o
The Watering Hol
e
, straightening the skirt of the black dress she’d found in her grandmother’s box. It was off the shoulder with a tight bodice and a flowing skirt. She’s left her hair down and wavy, but in lieu of heels, she’d worn her black flats.

She saw Red by the bar and when he glanced her way, she gave him a little wave. At first, he got this really dopey grin and then his eyes bulged out and his mouth dropped.
  Leaving his beer on the bar, he walked over to her, letting out a rather loud, “Holy hell!”

“Is that good or bad?” Rand nervously looking around the bar.

“It’s good. You’re…” His voice trailed off and he cleared his throat. “Jake’s a lucky guy.”

Rand laughed. “Jake and I were just pretending to be dating. He thought it would be a way to get Jay to notice me, but turns out, he’s not interested. So here I am, back to square one, trying to pick up a man in a bar.”

“Wait, you two were faking,” Red asked, and she nodded. “It looked real to me.”

“Nope. All an act. We were going to tell you, but Jake thought your expression was hilarious.”

“Yeah I bet,” he said, his eyebrows lowered in a scowl.

Maybe she had lost her mind (or just all hope) but she reached out and wrapped her arms around Red’s waist, looking up at him with fluttering lashes. “Oh come on. Don’t be sore. Remember that time you and I convinced Jake that Warren Duffy had been the one to hot-wire his truck and put it in the field? He was so mad at us after Warren popped him one.”

She had surprised him, hopefully in a good way. She was new to this flirting business, but if she was going to lose her life and livelihood, she might as well lose her mind too.

Finally, Red’s arm wrapped around her waist and he squeezed her. “Want a beer?”

“Yep. I would very much like a beer right now,” Rand answered, letting him lead her over to the bar.

“Hey Rand,” Wilson Taylor called to her as they approached. He let out a low whistle, his hazel eyes twinkling. “You look real good.”

Why hadn’t she thought of Wilson? He was good looking, one of the good guys in town, and drove into the city during the week for work.

“Thanks, Wilson,” she said, giving him a wide friendly smile.

When he smiled back, she noticed the tell-tale bulge in his lip where his dip had been stuffed.

Which wouldn’t have phased her two weeks ago when she was still thinking about marrying a man and living platonically. But now that she’d been kissed…

Maybe she only liked kissing with Jake because they were friends
?
Her gaze shifted to Red as he ordered their beers
.
Would she like Red’s kisses?

Red handed her the bottle of Bud and tapped the neck of his to hers. “To the future husband, whoever he may be.”

Rand pushed down the panic in her throat and took a long pull from the beer.

Walking int
o
The Watering Hol
e
, he found Rand standing on top of a chair with Bob Haskins beside her, shouting out numbers quickly. Red was laughing as he tried to pull her down and Jake felt the pulse in his temple throb with rage.

Making his way over to them, he tapped Red’s shoulder. “What the hell is going on here?”

“Jake!” Rand cried, smiling as she noticed him. “Bob’s going to find me a husband.”

“Like hell he is.” He reached out and pulled her off the chair. “What happened to never drinking again?”

She leaned against him and looked up at him through her lashes. “I’m not really drunk. Not like last time.”

“She’s fine, Jake. I was handling it,” Red said, and Jake wanted to punch his best friend’s dopey, grinning face.

“If you were handling this, then you wouldn’t have let her drink and she wouldn’t be making a fool of herself,” Jake snapped, grabbing her arm. “Come on, I’m taking you home.”

Jake noticed Rand’s bulldog expression as she ripped her arm out of his grasp. “You aren’t the boss of me.”

“Hey, Hansen, we weren’t done.” Jake felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned to face Branson who had an angry scowl on his face.

Jake shook his hand off. “Yeah you are. I’m taking Rand home now.”

Branson’s scowl bled into a sneer. “Jealousy doesn’t become you, Hansen. Obviously there’s a lot more to Miss Miranda than we all thought. Now, why not step back and give someone else a turn? I want to get a better look at what she’s been hiding all these years.”

Jake looked down at Rand and realized she was wearing a black dress that showed off her creamy round shoulders. The tops of her beautiful breasts could be seen from his vantage point and his scowl darkened. “Where did you get that dress?”

 “It was my grandmothers. Why are you acting like this?”

Jake shrugged out of his jacket and laid it over her shoulders. Not because her dress was really so immodest but because he didn’t like Branson ogling her. He turned back to the other man and said, “I catch you looking at her again and I’ll break every bone in your pretty face.”

Branson was either drunk or stupid. He tried a fake away before throwing his fist forward and catching Jake in the cheek. Jake stumbled back into Rand who fell against Red, and all hell broke loose. Jake jumped up and tackled Branson to the ground, sat on his chest, and started pounding him. Someone grabbed him and pulled him off, but he kept trying to shake them off until he heard Rick Johnson’s deep voice boom, “You want to fight, you take it out of my bar!”

Jake pulled away from the restraining hands and looked over to where Rand had been only moments before, but she was gone.

Rand really wasn’t drunk, she’d only had the one beer, but she was angry and frustrated. Red tried to insist on taking her home, but she had told him no. She hadn’t been mean about it, but she also wasn’t going to let any man control her. Not Red. And definitely not Jake.

How dare he start ordering her around like she was a child? She was a grown ass woman.

Angrily, she walked through the door of her house and Scout greeted her with a rapidly moving stump of a tail and a whiny meow.

“Yeah, I get it, you’re starving and I suck. Thank you so much.” Flipping on the light she grabbed up the water dish and food bowl, and filled both, muttering to herself.

The sound of flinging gravel and a slamming door outside told her Jake was out front. Putting the bowls back on the floor, she walked to the front door just as he started banging on it.

Opening it roughly, she looked up at him and noticed the side of his face was swelling.
  She reached up to touch his face before she remembered she was irritated with him. “Ouch. You okay?”

“No, I’m not okay. You were auctioning yourself off in a bar to the highest bidder. Whatever R.E. had planned for you with that stupid clause in his will, I doubt it was that you marry whoever paid the most,” he shouted at her.

“Stop yelling at me. You are not my grandfather, my father, or my husband. You have no right to act like I’m at your beck and call or that you’re my keeper!” She shouted back.

“Let me tell you, you need a keeper! You have caused me more grief in the last two weeks than any other woman has my whole life,” he countered.

“Well, you can just stop, because I’m fine! Just freaking dandy. You know, this is all your fault!” She stepped onto the porch, and pushed her finger into his chest.

“What’s my fault,” he asked, grabbing her hand to stop her poking.

“You had to go and kiss me! Now all I can think about is kissing and I want to keep doing it! Before I could just pretend I didn’t mind being alone and I could live with a man for a year without any hanky panky, no problem. But I like kissing! And that is all your fault!”

Taking the hand he had captured, he pulled her against his chest. “Do you like kissing?” He was no longer shouting, his voice had dropped to a soft, coaxing tone.
  “Or do you just like kissing me?”

Staring up at him in the porch light, she swallowed hard. “I don’t know. I don’t have anything to compare it to.”

“You don’t need to compare anything,” he said, two seconds before his mouth covered hers.

Rand was highly aware of everything involving Jake’s kiss. His spicy cologne, soft mouth, and the hard muscles under his t-shirt were high up there on her favorite-things-list now a days.
  She melted into his body, and kissed him back with abandon.  His hands tangled in her long hair and she slid hers inside his open jacket, down over his chest, stomach and waist. She marveled at all the hard bumps and ridges under the thin cotton of his shirt and how badly she wanted to touch him with nothing between them.