Part 8 (2/2)

”Good to know, good to know,” murmured Brenda next to me. ”I'll ... um ... leave you to molest each other with your eyes then.”

Her words registered. Pulling my gaze from Jack's was like trying to break a piece of salt.w.a.ter taffy. I shook my head and headed to the bar. ”Paulie, how soon do you think we can get these folks out of here so we can lock up?”

”I don't think the guys are gonna make a clean get away. If they want to ditch these girls, I'll need you to take 'em out the back and give 'em a ride home, okay?”

”What? No, Brenda can do that,” I said, panicking.

Brenda pa.s.sed by again, her hands full of plates. ”Sorry, hon, I could kick myself, but I walked. No-can-do.”

”Paulie,” I pleaded, grasping at straws. ”If they walked here, they can walk home. Can't they? Or you take them, I'll lock up. And maybe they don't want to ditch those girls.”

”I really 'preciate that Keri Ann, and you know I trust you with locking up, but I want to make sure those girls go on home and safely. I don't want none of them hanging around here and causing trouble when they realize them boys've gone. 'Sides, the guys already asked me for help in leavin'. We need to give 'em a quick getaway, not send 'em home on foot so they can be followed.”

A loud cackle stood out from the round of laughter at the table.

Paulie lifted a hand and signaled to Devon, who nodded at Jack, and they both excused themselves from the table.

I tensed.

”Aw!” said the girl on Ashley's other side. ”You guys gotta go to the restroom in pairs? I thought only us gals did that?”

Devon just laughed. ”Nah, Jack's gotta go, I'm just going to see Paulie about us maybe staying here with you ladies a little longer.” Clearly, he was a practiced hand at extracting himself from these situations.

I exhaled a resigned breath and headed to the kitchen before Jack could catch my eye again. I was about to be alone in a confined s.p.a.ce with him, I didn't need to get any more psyched out. I knew I was beaten. The sooner we got this over with, the better.

I grabbed my bag, and saying a quick goodbye to Hector and the other guys in the kitchen, jogged out the backdoor into the cool spring night to get my truck. It roared to life, and I did a quick turn around and brought it to idle with the pa.s.senger side lined up to the door I'd just exited. One row, three people. Someone was going to be extremely close to me.

I rolled down my window and breathed the sea air, tainted with restaurant refuse, deep into my lungs. Then I closed my eyes and counted slowly, trying to bring my pulse back to some sort of resting rate, and waited.

Devon came out the back door of the restaurant first and ducked to take a quick look inside the truck. Making sure it was me, I guess. He winked, like he was in on some huge secret, then opened the door, stepping aside so Jack could enter first. He hesitated for a split-second before climbing in.

I turned my face and looked stoically out the dark winds.h.i.+eld in front of me, as if every cell of my body and senses weren't attuned to Jack settling his tall frame inches away from where my thigh rested on the seat. My knuckles turned paler on the steering wheel. My skin actually felt hotter on that side of my body.

”Thanks, Keri Ann,” Devon said as he got in and slammed the door closed, causing a breeze, laced with Jack, to wash over me.

G.o.d.

I threw the truck in gear and pulled out of the parking lot onto the dark street, the headlights sweeping over the palmettos lining the sidewalk.

Closer To The Edge by Thirty Seconds to Mars came on the truck radio.

”No problem,” I croaked. I was weak at the moment. I was tired, and emotionally spent, and totally on edge. And worse? I was aroused. I had been all evening. For some reason, my body hadn't gotten the memo that Jack was not to be involved with me in any way. I'd managed to find the strength that morning to push him away, even as my body had been responding. Responding to the memory of how it felt to be with him, which was far more potent now that it was a real memory, than when it had been just a concept so many months ago. G.o.d, I wanted to shut my mind down, but I needed it to keep my wits about me.

s.h.i.+fting in my seat, I turned down the road to Devon's house.

Jack took a deep breath beside me and leaned his head back against the seat. His hands dropped together between his jean-clad thighs, causing them to spread slightly and b.u.mp against my knee.

I jerked and ground my teeth.

”Sorry,” Jack murmured and pulled his leg away again.

I flicked my eyes over to his closed ones and didn't miss the small quirk of his dimple.

Devon was looking at me from across Jack, all innocence, with his brows cinched up and arms folded.

”So, how long are you in town, Devon?” I asked, my voice steady and conversational.

He smiled. ”For a while, actually. I'm producing a movie in Savannah that Jack will be starring in, so this should be home for a while.”

My heart thudded. I glanced at Jack then back at the road. ”That's great. Good for you. Both.” So he came back for a movie, not for me. Of-freaking-course, Keri Ann. Seriously, I could be a dumba.s.s sometimes.

And why should that bother me, when I didn't want anything to do with Jack? I glanced back at Devon, ignoring Jack's eyes on me. ”Gosh, well, if that means scenes like tonight are going to become the norm, you better find some groupies to take your drunk a.s.ses home. Coz I'm not doing it.”

Devon snorted with laughter. ”Monica would have my hide.”

”We're not drunk,” was all Jack said quietly.

I pulled into Devon's driveway, s.h.i.+fting the gearstick into park, and turning down the music. No, no, no, no, I will never forget came the lyrics from the radio. Instantly, I was. .h.i.t with a wave of longing. Longing to go back to the beginning with Jack.

Devon thanked me and opened the door. He climbed out, and after a nod at his cohort, closed it behind him.

I whipped my eyes to face Jack. ”What the ...” My words trailed off as Jack leaned in toward me, his scent, his Jack scent that I remembered so well ... pine ... soapy ... clean, surrounded me.

My pulse raced.

The truck's headlights reflected off the white house in front of us, slicing across his eyes, making them glow. A deep green forest floor, sucking me in.

”Jack-”

Our air mingled. Mine were quick shallow breaths un-synched with my starving need for oxygen and reality.

”You think I'm only back because of the movie in Savannah, don't you?”

I licked my lips nervously, and nodded.

Jack's eyes followed the movement.

”I begged,” he whispered. ”I pleaded, and I sold a little more of my soul to make it happen.” His mouth tilted up into a grimace.

”I don't understand why you'd do that, Jack.”

”Yes, you do.” He leaned closer, and his arm came up to brace on the driver's side door. ”Seeing me whisper in that girl's ear tonight bothered you, didn't it?”

”No,” I managed.

”Liar. Do you want to know what I was telling her?”

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