Montana Reunion (8 page)

“Thanks.” She snuggled further
beneath the quilt he’d brought her. “I was worried about him. Even when I was
busy smacking the ground,” she said ruefully.

Jack’s stare was enough to wipe the
smile from her face. The room went from warm to ice cold, like a polar breeze
had blown through with all its fury.

“Do you have
any
idea what it was like for me when I was looking for you?” he
growled.

Maddison
shook her head. She’d never, ever seen Jack like this, so… on edge. As a
teenager he’d been brooding and angry, but grown-up Jack was nothing like that
boy. He’d come back from looking for her horse like a cranky bear with a thorn
in his paw. And she couldn’t blame him.

“When I saw your
horse trot past
without you
?
When I found you lying on the ground?”

She’d always thought he’d hated his
dad for blaming him. But she knew it wasn’t just that.
Jack blamed himself too
.

“I’m sorry. I was trying to blow
off some steam and I decided to pop over the jump.”

“Yeah?
Well it was a crappy idea.”

He spun around, marching back into
the kitchen, dismissing her. But she wasn’t so easily put off.
Wouldn’t let him walk away like that with so much anger bottled up.
Because she could tell that wasn’t him exploding, blowing his lid.
Jack was so tightly wound and she knew this
had barely scratched the surface of his pain.

“Jack, stop,” she called out,
pushing the quilt off and carefully standing.
Maddison
hobbled through the living area, following him into the kitchen.

Jack was standing with his back to
her, hands splayed palm down in front of him on the counter, his big body half
folded forward. She could see how deep his breathing was, knew that he was
struggling, that he was doing his best to stay in control.

“Jack, I’m sorry,” she said, voice
low as she gingerly walked toward him.
Maddison
placed her hands on his back, gently let them rest there. “All I wanted was to
have some fun and come over and see you. I never meant for this to happen.”

He didn’t reply, stayed silent, but
she knew he was listening.

“I can’t even imagine how you felt
when you found me. But you did the right thing for me, and we both know that
you did the only thing you could for your mom that day.”

He swung around then, grabbing hold
of her elbow to stop her from falling over. His gaze was dark, his usually
chocolate brown eyes swirling with black.
Angry
.
“How can you be so sure?”

“I know it in here,” she whispered,
touching her hand over her chest, finger tapping to her heart. “And if you’re
honest with yourself? You know it in here too,” she told him, placing her palm
warmly against his chest, over his heart this time.

Jack continued to stare at her,
never blinking. She was about to move, about to step back, when Jack grabbed
hold of her.
Hard.
One hand kept a tight grip on her
elbow, the other slid around her waist, tugging her forward so quickly she
didn’t have even a second to resist.

His mouth crushed hers, forced her
into a kiss that she was powerless to refuse away from, and one that she
couldn’t have ended no matter how much she wanted to. Jack’s lips were soft one
moment and rough the next, his tongue dipping into her mouth so carefully and
then so insistently, making her desperate for more. She was gripping onto his
shirt, refusing to think about the pain in her leg, surrendering to him in
every way she could.

Jack was relentless, like a man
possessed. Maybe he was trying to run away from his memories, wanted to take
his mind off his anger,
needed
an outlet. Whatever the
case, she didn’t care. All she cared about
was
this
. Feeling his lips locked on hers, his body pressed firm against her.
Because this made her forget
everything.

But she didn’t have time to relax
into it and enjoy the moment. Jack grabbed her around the waist, tugging her
even closer, lifting her off the floor and leaving her with nothing to do other
than wrap her legs around him. Let him take her weight. His mouth never left
hers and neither did his hands, even when he sat her on the counter, leaning
further into her, one hand on her bottom, the other at her waist, not letting
her retreat one inch.

Maddison
moaned, pulling him even tighter to her.
So
much for keeping her hands off Jack.

The phone rang, startling both of
them. She refused to let him pull away, clutched at his shirt over his
shoulders, to keep him in place and focused.

“No,” she murmured, even as he
stroked the side of her face and stepped back.

“You want your mom coming over here
to see if you’re okay?” he asked, voice low. “Because I’ll put money on it
that’s
who’s
calling.”

Maddison
sighed and put her palms flat to his chest to push him away.
“Fine.
Answer it.”

He grinned and turned around,
reaching for the phone.
She couldn’t get
enough of him
. No matter how much she tried to tell herself that she
couldn’t ruin the relationship between their families, if things didn’t work
out.
Because as soon as she so much as looked at his lips she
was a goner.

If only she had the guts to yank at his
shirt until the buttons popped and have her wicked way with him…

“It’s your mom.”

He passed
Maddison
the phone. H
ow the hell had he ended up
kissing
Maddison
like a man possessed
again.
Not listening to the part of his brain that
usually steered him in the sensible direction.

Jack watched as she spoke to her
mom, reassured her that she was fine, that she was just going to stay put for
the night at Jack’s place.

The night
.
The last thing he
needed was her here for the night. Although maybe it would give them a chance
to discuss what the hell was happening between them.

Bullshit.
He was lying to himself and he knew it. Because when it came to
Maddison
, all he could seem to think about was…

“Is it okay if I stay?”

Jack cleared his throat.
Teach him to have his mind in the gutter.
“Sure.”
It wasn’t like he could say no without sounding like a prick.

They stood, staring at one another.
She was probably as confused as he was.

“So, um…” Now it was
Maddison
clearing her throat.

“You hungry?” he asked.

“Yes.” The smile was back on her
face, eyes dancing like he’d said something way more interesting than he had.
“What shall we cook?”

He’d been planning on a quiet night
in, something easy when he was exhausted from a long day working.
Not with
Maddison
in the kitchen with him.
Not with exhaustion being the least of his
worries.

“You mind if I let the dog in?
She’s kind of used to hanging out inside these days.”

“Why would I mind?”

Jack chuckled. “Well, she’s kind of
smelly, and I don’t recall your family letting your working dogs in the house.”

“Don’t you remember how I used to
sneak our dog into my room at night?”
Maddison
laughed as she shuffled back into the center of the kitchen.

“Yeah, and I recall your mom having
a fit when she found out.”

“Go get the dog. I’ll take a look
in your fridge.”

Jack watched to make sure she was
okay hobbling on her own, before heading to the back door and whistling for
Rosa. She was never far away, and he liked the company. Up until now he’d
preferred the conversation with Rosa than with his dad. Now the old dog was all
he had.

 
“Hey girl,” he said, dropping to his haunches
to give her a pat. “Best behavior, okay?”

The dog gave him a look and trotted
off, obviously seeing
Maddison
in the kitchen and
wanting to know what was going on.

Jack groaned.
He was happy on his own. If he married
Maddison
,
it wasn’t going to be about love. It was going to be about convenience.
About companionship and helping one another out.
Which meant he had to stop giving in to lust, because she’d take
more from that than he would, and he didn’t want to hurt her.

Jack walked back into the kitchen
and found her reaching into the back of his fridge. He went up behind her,
touched her arm to let her know he was there. He’d just wanted to make sure she
wasn’t hurting her ankle, but now he was wondering if touching her had been a
smart idea.

“How old are these olives?” she
asked.

“
Ahh
, I
have no idea.”

She pulled them out anyway.
“They’ll do. They keep for ages anyway.”

Maddison
hobbled a little, placing them on the counter and going back to the pantry.

“You’re walking better.”

“Yeah,” she said, looking over her
shoulder and smiling. “It’s better when I’m not thinking about it. And I think
the anti-
inflammatories
have worked.”

And
he’d be better off
it
he wasn’t thinking about her.

“You have raisins in here
anywhere?” she called out, disappearing into the walk-in pantry.

“Not sure.” Didn’t sound like
something he would buy.

“So I’m pushing my luck for
capers?” she asked, walking out with a jar of something he couldn’t remember
purchasing. “I know there’s no chance of actual caper berries, so I’m trying to
improvise here.”

“I don’t even know what they are,
so yeah.
Definitely pushing it.”
He walked in behind
her. “What are you cooking anyway?”

“Chicken Marbella,” she announced,
sliding past him like she was doing her best to keep her distance, to not touch
him. “I need white wine too, and white vinegar. Would you mind putting the oven
on for me?”

Jack did as he was told. “You don’t
have to cook, you know.”

“What else are we going to do?”

He cracked up at the same time as
her face turned beet red.
He could think
of plenty other things.
“You’re absolutely right. Cooking is exactly what
we should be doing.”

Maddison
opened a few cabinets until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out
a large dish, then opened the chicken thighs she’d found in his fridge and
placed them in. She looked up when he held out the wine bottle.

“Is it too early for a glass?” he
asked.

“No,” she said with a laugh.
“What’s the old saying about one for the pot and two for the cook?”

He grinned and uncorked the top. “I
have no idea what you’re talking about, but
I’m liking
that saying a lot.”

Maddison
held her glass up when he passed it to her. “I think a toast is in order.”

“Yeah?
For being alive or for taking one of my nine lives?”

Her smile was soft, gentle. “Old
friends reuniting,” she said, touching their glasses together. “It’s been a
long time since I’ve been back, and it’s about time I had some perspective.”

“Meaning?”
He took a sip and leaned forward, elbows on the counter as he watched her. She
was back to preparing the food, like she was trying to stay distracted, keep
herself busy.

“My boss keeps calling me. She
can’t stand the fact that I’m actually taking some time off, despite everything
that’s happened to me lately and the fact that I never, ever take vacations.”

“Is it worth it?” He had to ask.

“I used to think so,” she told him,
washing her hands and reaching for her wine again. “I love what I do most of
the time, but I’ve lost that balance. It’s what I want and it isn’t at the same
time, and I know that doesn’t make sense at all. I just feel like I’m in this
gray area of not knowing what I want or where I want to be.”

Jack watched the way she moved
around his kitchen, enjoying the fact that he was sitting back and being cooked
for. Part of him wanted to get as far away from
Maddison
as he could, to protect himself.
But the other part?
That was telling him to forget about everything else and just enjoy her company.
The last few years had been all about hard work and no play, which was maybe
why he was finding
Maddison
so damn tempting.

“When are you going back?” He was
almost hoping she’d say never.

Maddison
bunched up her shoulders. “Soon, I guess.” She sighed. “I was supposed to be
here for as long as I needed to be, have a decent amount of time off, but
suddenly everything’s
supposedly
falling apart without me.”

He stared straight into her eyes as
she leaned forward, elbows on the counter, glass stretched out in front of her.
“Did it ever cross your mind to say no?”

That made her
laugh
. Jack watched as she shook her head at him. “I think there’s a
reason you’re your own boss here, Jack. You probably wouldn’t do so well as
someone’s employee.”

“You reckon? I’m not sure being on
my own is something I enjoy. Not anymore.” He was flirting and he knew it.
And it felt good.

Maddison’s
eyes darted away from his. “I’m
gonna
tend to this
chicken,” she said, expertly changing the subject. But as she turned, he saw
from the look on her face she had a heap more to say.

Jack waited. Because he knew
Maddison
, or at least he
had
known her, and when she pulled her
deep in thought face
he knew better than to rush her.

“I know I said it before, Jack, but
I’m sorry it was you who had to find me earlier.”