Authors: Lorelei James
Tags: #Romance, #Contemporary, #Adult, #Western, #Red Hots!, #Contemporary Romance
All Jacked Up (21 page)
“Good to know.” He squeezed her so strongly she could scarcely breathe. She cried harder when he gruffly said, “I love you, baby girl.”
After her dad released her, Keely wiped her tears with her fingers. He handed her a hankie with a crusty, “Here. Don’t understand why the sex that’s always cryin’ about something never remembers a damn hankie.”
She laughed. “Thanks, Daddy.”
“Anytime, punkin. You ain’t gonna believe all they got done already. Chet and Remy are supervising.
So’s Jack. He’s a damn taskmaster.”
“How well I know that.”
Inside the building, she could barely hear above the sounds of progress. Cord and Colby worked upstairs with Carter. In the backroom, Chet and Remy pulled out wiring while Trevor and Edgard gently pried off mopboards.
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Colt, Quinn, Ben and Kade were ripping out lathe and plaster in the front room. Buck, Cam, Brandt, Dalton, Tell and her uncles Calvin and Charles were removing sections of ceiling. Whoa. Carson McKay had called everybody. Her assorted male relatives smiled at her and returned to the grind.
Her dad started toward the front door and Keely snagged his arm. “I can’t believe—”
He winced.
“What’s wrong with your arm?”
“Nothin’.”
“Let me see it.”
He showed her the inside of his left forearm. Beneath the rip in his shirt was a bloody scratch.
“What happened?”
“Me’n Jack were bustin’ a cabinet outta the bathroom. Damn thing sliced me.”
“Come on. I’ll fix you up.” Outside, Keely unearthed the first aid kit from underneath the front seat of her truck. She swabbed the area with a disinfectant pad, smeared on antibiotic cream and covered it with a square bandage. She even placed a healing kiss on it. “There. Good as new.”
“Thanks. Your mama’s gonna give me hell for rippin’ my shirt.”
Keely rolled her eyes. “Mama never gives you hell about nothin’.”
He bussed her forehead. “How little you know, girlie.” He ambled around the corner.
That’s when Keely saw Jack waiting on the steps. Buoyant, she made a beeline for him and he caught her in a tight hug. She swallowed his surprised laughter with a deep kiss that turned unexpectedly gentle.
She whispered, “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For tucking me in last night. For making coffee this morning. For supervising this teardown even though it isn’t part of your job description.”
“My pleasure, buttercup.”
“I’m sorry I can’t stick around and help since I rescheduled my Friday clients for today.”
“Don’t sweat it. With this many guys, it’ll be done fast.” Jack rubbed his lips over hers. “And for being McKays, they take direction surprisingly well.”
Keely rested her forehead to his, feeling all choked up again.
“Baby. What’s wrong?”
“How am I ever supposed to repay them, Jack? Thank you isn’t enough. It’s above and beyond even for family.”
“Not for them, it’s not. They’re doing it for you,
because
of you.”
“Sometimes you are so nice I can’t believe I ever hated you.”
He kissed her again. Longer. Deeper. Sweeter.
“Get a room,” Cam yelled out.
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Lorelei James
“Get back to work,” Remy added.
Male laughter echoed.
“They’re gonna give you crap for the rest of the day for that lip lock, GQ.”
“I’m up for the challenge.”
“Good. I’ll see you later.”
Lucky for Keely the day didn’t drag as much as she’d feared. She finished at the clinic and drove back to Moorcroft, anxious to see the changes.
Dusk had fallen. The vehicles were gone. She unlocked the back door and ventured inside. She didn’t need a spotlight to see the differences; the place was empty. Completely empty. Walls gone. Ceiling gone.
Plumbing gone. Electrical gone. The space was a blank slate. A clean canvas.
For the first time it felt like hers.
Keely tried to envision where the spaces would be divided into patient rooms. What the refurbished woodwork would look like. If the tin ceiling would gleam after one hundred years of grime was removed.
Giddy, she spun around on the wooden floor, arms flung open wide, laughing. Trying to capture the moment—her dream was finally within reach.
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Jack was ready to walk out the door when Keely whirled in like a tornado. Her mouth ran a million miles an hour.
“So I drove back to Moorcroft after I got off work and I’m stunned. I cannot believe they finished all of it today. I’m peeing my pants I’m so pumped.”
“There’s a visual I needed, Keely.”
She took in his appearance. “Where are you goin’ all duded up?”
“Out with Carter. Wearing clean pants and a sweater hardly qualifies me as duded up,” he said dryly.
“Whatever you say, GQ.” She bussed his cheek. “You look nice and smell even better. What’re you guys doin’?”
“Eating first, then hashing through details for a couple projects I’ve lined up for him.”
Keely looked at him quizzically. “You Carter’s pimp?”
“In a manner of speaking. He’s greatly underappreciated in the western art world.” He adjusted his sleeves. “No big deal. I do what I can to get his name out there. Pass along commercial contacts.”
“I never knew you were so invested in Carter’s career.”
“And you can’t tell anyone, either,” he warned. “He’d be pissed as hell if he thought I’d blabbed to you.”
“But we’re in
luurrve
. You’re supposed to tell me everything.” Keely left a smacking kiss on his mouth. “Don’t worry, my lips are sealed. I’ll see you later.”
“Where are you going?”
“My dart league starts at eight.”
Jack narrowed his eyes. “You play in a dart league? Why didn’t I know that?”
“I figured you’d think it hopelessly lowbrow so I didn’t mention it.” She hopped from foot to foot as she took off her boots. Then she sailed into the bedroom.
He followed her and leaned against the jam as he watched her undress. “How long have you been playing darts?”
Keely whipped off her shirt. “In a league? Six months. But Colt taught me to play when I was a kid. I was a lousy shot with a bow and arrow. He thought darts might teach me hand-eye coordination, but I just ended up liking darts more than shooting bow.” She flipped through the hangers in the closet.
“What other hobbies do you have that I don’t know about?”
Lorelei James
“Darts ain’t exactly a hobby. It’s an excuse to hang out with my friends and drink beer. They’ve been trying to get me to join a volleyball league but it doesn’t interest me. I’m in a book club, but half the time I don’t read the damn ‘literary’ books they pick because they’re total downers.”
“What would you rather read?”
“Erotic romances.” Keely winked. “As far as other activities? I’m on the volunteer list for the community center and fill in when someone’s sick or on vacation. Oh, and I like to dance.”
Jack wondered if her excessive social calendar was because she didn’t like being alone. “You don’t ever stay home and relax? Kick off your boots and stay a while?”
“Sure. But my idea of relaxing and yours are way different.”
Why did he bristle? “Meaning what?”
“I relax when I’m asleep. Reclining in front of the TV as a way to relax? No thanks. I’d rather do things with real live people instead of pretending what happens on a sitcom or dramedy or reality show matters. Connections matter to me. And there’s nothing more relaxing than laughing with family and friends.” Keely buttoned the last button of the India’s Ink dart league shirt.
For Christsake. This woman played in a dart league sponsored by a tattoo shop. She had tattoos. She drove a dirty pickup. She had fifty different colored pairs of shitkickers. She had a social life to rival Paris Hilton’s. Did he have a single thing in common with her besides phenomenal sex?
Yes. You need each other to get your careers on track.
Sometimes Jack forgot the big picture. Sometimes he forgot their relationship wasn’t real. What really pissed him off was sometimes he even forgot Keely wasn’t his type.
“Speaking of families. Last night Channing dropped the bomb she’s having a girl! No one tells me anything important these days.”
“Well, it’s important you don’t make plans for tomorrow night because we need to talk about the Milford trip.”
“But Thursday night is my night to—”
Jack held up his hand stopping her protest. “I don’t care if it’s your night to shoe horses or to craft quilts or to can pickled beets. I need you here.”
“Fine.” Keely brushed past him. In the doorway to the bathroom she turned. “Have fun with Carter.
But don’t wait up for me.”
Don’t wait up for me.
Jack ground his teeth together. Three hours had passed and her parting shot still rankled.
“Jack? Buddy? You’re gonna have an embolism if you keep scowling like that. So tell me what’s up.”
“Your sister drives me fucking crazy.”
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“And that’s news?” Carter laughed. “The fact you two haven’t killed each other by now is newsworthy. Never in a million years would I have predicted you two as a couple.”
“Join the club.”
“So tell me…what did my little sis do to piss you off? Earlier at the jobsite you guys were goin’ at it hot and heavy. I thought my dad was gonna get the hose out and spray you down.”
Jack scraped his hands over the razor stubble on his jaw. “I don’t understand why she has to be doing something all the time. Why can’t she just stay home? It’s like she can’t stand to be by herself.”
Carter didn’t say anything.
At first, Jack wondered if he’d overstepped his bounds. Then he worried Keely had kept something important from him. “What?”
“Keely didn’t tell you how she’s spent the last five years?”
Jack squirmed. He should’ve kept his mouth shut. He should know all about his fiancée’s past. If he showed his ignorance, Carter would get suspicious.
“Jack?”
He shook his head.
“It figures she didn’t fill you in.” Carter signaled the waitress for another round.
When Carter didn’t start talking, Jack got both worried and pissed off. “You can’t drop something like that into conversation and leave it there to fester, McKay.”
“It’s not festering, Donohue. I’m debating.”
“On what?”
That blue gaze identical to Keely’s pinned Jack in place. “On if I should keep my big mouth reputation in the family and just flat out tell you, or if I oughta let it fester so you’re forced to ask Keely about it. Part of me thinks if she would’ve wanted you to know, she would’ve told you herself. But part of me thinks it’s your right to know.”
When the waitress swung buy with more beer, Jack ordered two shots of Wild Turkey.
Carter leaned back in the booth. His posture wasn’t lazy, but challenging. “If you think getting me drunk will make me spill my guts, you’re barking up the wrong tree, pal.”
What was up with this family and the colorful colloquialisms? “The shots are for me, not you.”
The silence stretched between them until the waitress brought the whiskey shots. Jack drained one and set the other aside.
“You’re a lot like her, you know.”
Jack’s gaze shot to Carter’s. “Keely?” He snorted. “Right. Talk about oil and water. Fire and ice.
Concrete and glass.”
His comment must’ve alleviated Carter’s misgivings. He set his elbows on the table. “If I tell you this, Jack, I need your word that you will not tip off Keely that you know.”
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“I won’t.”
“After Cam and Domini got married we were all together for some family holiday. The kids were watching a movie in the family room, the babies were asleep and it was just adults around the dining room table, which rarely happens. We’re bullshitting, teasing one another, like we always do, when someone, I don’t even remember who, tossed off a comment about Cam not pulling his weight with the ranch—a total joke, right? I mean, we’d just gotten Cam interested in being part of the family again and none of us wanted to fuck that up. So they start picking on me and I volleyed it back, and the next thing we were all ragging on Keely.
“Even before she’d moved into Domini’s apartment she’d disappear for days—sometimes weeks on end. As far as we knew, she worked part time at the VA in Cheyenne a couple days a month and that was her only job. We wondered if she had a guy on a string keeping her away from home. So we teased her about being too busy chasing tail to get a real job, or to help out at the ranch. I’ll admit we were total dicks to her, bringing up stupid shit she’d done in the past. Treating her like she was a bratty preteen.
Questioning her work ethic after living in the big city. Normally Keely would fire insults right back, but she got quieter and quieter. We were so busy ribbing her we didn’t notice.”
Jack’s gut knotted—not from the shot of whiskey.
“Eventually we pushed her too far. Keely stood up and said the reason no one in our family knew what she’d been up to during her trips to Cheyenne was because we were all a bunch of self-absorbed pricks and hadn’t bothered to ask about her life. We all sort of looked at each other in shock and realized she was right.
“When she wasn’t working at the VA or private hospitals in Cheyenne and Ft. Collins, she was moonlighting on the rodeo circuit as a sports med tech for extra cash. The reason she didn’t have energy to expend on her measly portion of the testosterone ranch was because she was exhausted.”
“Measly portion of the ranch?” Jack repeated.
Carter stopped to sip his beer. “Long, involved legal gibberish I won’t go into.”
But Carter did detail the personal sacrifices Keely made for Cam to get him back on track after his discharge from the army. Putting her schooling on hold, keeping her assorted relatives at bay at Cam’s request, even angering them and shouldering the blame. Jack was beyond stunned, listening to the depth of Keely’s commitment to her family, hearing about her generosity and her determination—to the exclusion of fulfilling her own dreams.
