Rules of the Game

by Lori Wilde

  As they’d grown up, a lot of the competiveness had fallen away naturally, but once in a while, it could raise its ugly head again.

  Like now.

  Not wanting to cause her sister pain, Jodi reached out to put a hand on Kasha’s and came clean. “There’s something I have to tell you.”

  Kasha straightened her regal spine. “What’s that?”

  “Jake can smell the perfume,” Jodi whispered.

  “What?” Kasha’s eyes rounded. “The perfume you found in the hope chest?”

  Jodi nodded.

  “Oh wow.” Kasha leaned forward, then back, put a palm to her cheek. “How do you feel about that?”

  “Confused. Scared. Excited. Overwhelmed.”

  “You said you didn’t believe in the hope chest prophecy.”

  “I don’t. Of course it’s silly …”

  “But …”

  “No one else can smell the perfume.”

  “Do you think Jake is The One?”

  “That’s a precarious limb and I’m not dumb enough to climb out on it,” Jodi said.

  “So you’re in limbo, and doing the classic Jodi thing.”

  “What classic Jodi thing?”

  “Trying to control everything. Your emotions. Your reactions.” Kasha paused a moment, murmured, “Your desires.”

  Jodi nodded mutely. She couldn’t argue with that.

  “Ultimately, sister, some things are just beyond our control and the heart wants what the heart wants whether it makes logical sense or not.”

  “What are you saying, Kasha?”

  “Jake Coronado is a successful, sexy, handsome man. He’s got money, a pleasant disposition, and a hot bod. If you don’t make a play for him, you can bet your boxcar someone else will.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Jodi Carlyle’s Wedding Crasher Rules: You can’t save the

  wedding cake and eat it too.

  On Super Bowl Sunday, Jodi, Kasha, and Suki spent the morning at Rowdy’s sprawling ranch house high on the hill above Stardust, decorating for the couple’s wedding shower. Warwick was there to help with the fetching and carrying, but Breeanne and Rowdy had been banned from entering the house until the four p.m. start time of the party.

  Jodi had left Ham, along with a temporary employee she’d hired for the remaining two weeks leading up to the wedding, in charge of the B&B. She’d be too busy to spend much time at Boxcars.

  To separate the bridal shower from the Super Bowl, they set up two party stations. One in the dining room where the couple would open presents before the game, the other in Rowdy’s massive den.

  They decorated the dining room with colors of the wedding. Red, white, and pink helium balloons, their strings taped to the floor at different heights at the back of the room, creating a festive wall of balloons. A white banner with pink and red lettering, stretched across the entryway, proclaimed: “HE PUT A RING ON IT.” Framed pictures of Rowdy and Breeanne when they were both gap-toothed seven-year-olds sat on a side table, along with game cards for the personalized Mad Libs they would play later. Heart-shaped foil confetti was spread out across the tablecloths to create a glittery glow of romance. The food in this room leaned toward healthier fare—crudités and homemade dip, finger sandwiches, fruit bowls, pasta salads.

  In the den, the party took on a Dallas Cowboys flavor, the colors of the decorations changing to silver and blue, even though the Cowboys weren’t playing in the Super Bowl this year. Party favors were beer koozies imprinted with Rowdy and Breeanne’s names, the date of their wedding, and the cutesy saying: “To Have and Hold and Keep Your Beer Cold.” This spread would include chips and guacamole, colorful Fiestaware bowls of chili, buffalo wings, and pigs in a blanket.

  Jodi had been so busy orchestrating the event that she hadn’t spared a thought for anything else, and so she wasn’t fully prepared for the sight of Jake coming up the walkway ten minutes early, a load of wrapped packages in his arms.

  She caught a glimpse of him through the window as she buzzed from the kitchen to the dining room carrying a tray of banana pudding in miniature Mason jars.

  He glanced up, met her gaze through the open blinds, and smiled that smile that never failed to turn her knees rubbery.

  Oh glory. She’d better set the tray down before she dropped it.

  He was with Axel Talbot, and she tried to school her features into a neutral expression, but wasn’t sure she pulled it off. Ducking her head, she hurried into the dining room to set up the desserts, heard Warwick answer the door.

  She felt the three men come into the room behind her, told herself she was not going to look around at Jake, but she did it anyway.

  Mistake!

  He was devastatingly gorgeous in crisp starched blue jeans with a sharp crease running down the front of his powerful legs and a white polo shirt. She kept remembering what Kasha had said: If you don’t make a play for him soon, someone else will.

  She fumbled the tray. The Mason jars slid, clanked into each other. Before she could cry, “Oh no,” Jake dropped the packages in his arms, took two long-legged strides, and grabbed the tray like magic before it fell from her arms. Not a single jar broke.

  “Perfect save,” Talbot praised him.

  “Great reflexes,” she said, looking into Jake’s eyes. He was so close, smelled so great.

  “You have no idea,” he murmured, and an instant jolt of electricity ran up and down her body like power line wires.

  “You’re handy to have around.” A helpless smile overtook her. Why couldn’t she stop smiling?

  “You have no idea,” he repeated, and winked. He helped her put out the pudding jars while Talbot and Warwick picked up the packages he’d dropped and set them on the gift table.

  Jake sank his hands on his hips, the muscles of his arms cording beautifully with the stance, and surveyed the room. “You responsible for all this?”

  “There’s more in the den.”

  “You’re handy to have around,” he said.

  She laughed, and the sound lifted all the way to the crown of her head. “You have no idea.”

  Jake looked at her like he’d found a fat nugget of gold in his mining pan. “You have a great laugh.”

  “What’s going on here?” Talbot asked. “Something I should know about?”

  “Know about what?” Suki asked, coming into the room with a pitcher of winter sangria. “You guys are early.”

  “Told you,” Talbot said to Jake. To Jodi, he said, “He broke speed limits getting here. You’d think it was his wedding shower.”

  “I was eager for the game,” Jake said, his gaze hooked on Jodi.

  Lust and panic surged her pulse. Okay, no call to freak out just because he was looking at her like he wanted to lick her to death. That was good. She wanted to lick him too, from head to toe. Just not right now. She had work to do, guests arriving, a party to oversee, never mind that he was the most delicious thing on two legs, she—

  “Jodi?” Suki said.

  “Huh?”

  “You’re standing there with your mouth hanging open. Were you about to say something and stroked out?”

  Yes. That was about the size of it. “Pigs in a blanket,” she said. “I’ve got to get them into the oven. Come with me.” She grabbed Suki’s hand just to keep from grabbing Jake, and pulled her sister from the dining room, unable to resist one last look over her shoulder.

  He was staring at her as if he was thinking about her naked, which he probably was. She was certainly thinking about him naked. Too bad there was a houseful of people coming through the front door and they couldn’t do anything about their mutual lusting.

  Jodi sucked in a deep breath. She’d better pace herself. It was shaping up to be a long evening.

  Forty minutes later, Jake slouched one shoulder against the dining room wall, a beer he didn’t much want held loosely in his hand, watching as Rowdy and Breeanne opened shower presents. The room space was overflowing with family and friends. Jodi sat to one side
on a stiff-backed chair, writing down who’d given what gifts. Maid of honor duties, he figured. She looked sexy as ever in black leggings that clung to her shapely thighs, black boots with stacked heels, a short green shirt, and a black and green plaid sweater.

  Suki stood next to a gift-laden table picking out which presents to next pass over to the couple.

  Jake had spent the past two weeks working on the house in Jefferson and the only projects he had left were renovating the bathroom, which was going to require knocking down a wall, and clearing out the small back bedroom. He still hadn’t worked up the courage to walk in there. The jetted tub he’d ordered would be arriving tomorrow and if everything went according to plan, he should have the house ready to list after the wedding.

  “Want another beer?” Talbot asked, and nodded at the ice chest that was underneath the table where Suki was standing.

  Jake showed Talbot his almost-full bottle of beer, but he never took his eyes off Jodi. “You just want an excuse to go over there and try to look up Suki’s skirt.”

  “Hell man, can you blame me? Look at her.”

  “Hot,” he said, his gaze hooking on Jodi’s mouth as she tucked one corner of her bottom lip up between her teeth.

  “Not only that, she’s a real live wire. Keeps me on my toes.”

  “And that’s saying something,” Jake said. Talbot was legendary for playing the field. “Don’t hurt her.”

  “Suki? Her skin is thick as an elephant hide.” Talbot’s voice lightened. “But soft. She has very soft skin.”

  “Do something to distract yourself.”

  “How? I’m hypnotized.”

  I know. Jake took a sip off his beer, watched Jodi pause in her recording to stretch her arms over her head. Her breasts rose. Jake hoped no one noticed his eyes were bugging out of his head.

  Suki handed Breeanne a long slender box wrapped in gold foil paper that Jake had brought.

  “From Jake,” Breeanne read aloud from the tag. “Aww, thank you, Jake.”

  Jake tensed, pushed off from the wall, and cleared his throat. “Um …”

  Breeanne glanced back at the label. “Ooh, it’s not for us, Rowdy. This present is for Jodi.”

  Jodi’s head shot up and her eyes met Jake’s. “Why did you buy me a gift?” she asked curtly, but despite her cool tone, he could tell she was flattered.

  “The best man is supposed to give the maid of honor a gift, right?” he said, knowing it was bullshit, but hoping he’d convince her that he was lovably incompetent in the art of wedding protocol.

  “That’s not a thing.” Jodi shook her head.

  “I think it’s a new trend,” Kasha piped up, glanced over her shoulder at Jake, and winked.

  Thank heavens for Kasha. She was a great partner in crime. She’d been fully on board with his scheme when he’d met her for coffee at the Honeysuckle Café.

  Jodi frowned. “I’ve never heard of the best man giving the maid of honor a gift and I’ve been on The Knot every day for weeks.”

  “Oh yes,” Suki chimed in. “It’s definitely the latest trend.”

  Hmm, had Kasha clued Suki in or was she just jumping on the bandwagon? Then again, who knew? Maybe the best man gifting the maid of honor with a present was a real thing.

  “Is it?” Jodi’s face colored and she looked embarrassed. “I had no idea.” She held his gaze. “I didn’t get you anything.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” he soothed, feeling sly, guilty, and a trifle worried. Could this backfire on him? “You didn’t know it was a thing.”

  She looked at him as if she wanted to blow down his whole house of cards. He gave her a watertight grin. Solid. He was in it to win it. Self-confident bluster.

  “Well don’t just sit there,” Maggie Carlyle told her oldest daughter. “Open it.”

  Jodi shook her head. “Today is about Breeanne and Rowdy, not me. I’ll open it later.”

  “No, no.” Breeanne nudged Jodi with her elbow. “Go ahead and open it. I don’t mind sharing the spotlight with my big sis.”

  Jodi looked uncomfortable and Jake shifted his weight, beginning to regret giving her the gift at the shower. Hell, he didn’t know why he’d gotten her anything at all. He’d promised himself he was going to keep his distance.

  Looking blindsided, she removed the tape with gentle care, unwrapped the box, and then folded the paper neatly after she’d removed it. And finally, she lifted the lid on the box. She looked down and her eyes lit up, and Jake knew he’d struck gold.

  He blew out a long held breath. He’d pleased her.

  She held up the charm bracelet for everyone to see. The charms were exact replicas of the boxcars at her B&B, including the engine office and caboose dining car. Kasha had recommended a local artist, who’d done the piece for him. He’d paid extra for a rush job. It was completely worth it.

  Jodi’s gaze met his again and although he was standing across the room, he could have sworn her eyes misted.

  “Thank you, Jake,” she said, her tone heartfelt. “It’s one of the most thoughtful gifts anyone has ever given me. Thank you so much.”

  Jodi was doing her best not to notice Jake on the other side of the room, but that was like not noticing the sun. He was there, hot and omnipresent, eclipsing everyone and everything else.

  What did the freaking gift mean? Yes, she loved it. Yes, it was sweet. But why had he given it to her at the party in front of everyone? Why had he pushed her into the spotlight like that? Why was he coming on strong when he promised to keep his distance? Why was she overanalyzing everything?

  And here she’d planned on approaching him at the party to tell him she’d reconsidered, that she would like to have more than a one-night stand just as long as they laid down those conscious, mature, mentally healthy ground rules that Dr. Jeanna suggested.

  But now that he’d pulled this stunt, and given her the bracelet in front of everyone, drawing attention to them, she was rethinking that plans. She fingered the hand-painted tiny boxcars on the sterling silver chain at her wrist and smiled. Okay, maybe not rethinking the plan entirely, but she was going to wait to talk to him about it when there weren’t so many people around. In fact, maybe she would stay away from him for now and just call him later.

  Best course of action? Play it cool.

  Not all that hard to do since she had hostess duties to keep her busy, refilling glasses, cleaning up, making sure everyone was comfy and having a great time. Except there was Jake at her elbow as she wiped off paper plates and stacked them in a pile for the recycling bin.

  “Need any help?” he asked.

  “Nope,” she said without looking at him. “Mom and I have it covered.”

  He cast a glance over his shoulder at her mother, who waved at them.

  “That was such a charming bracelet you gave Jodi,” Mom said to Jake, laughing at her own silly pun.

  “Jodi deserves something special considering all the hard work she’s doing,” Jake said.

  “Kiss ass,” Jodi muttered, but she wasn’t mad. In fact, she was secretly tickled that he found her so irresistible.

  “Love to,” Jake whispered. “Name the time and place.”

  “Hell, twelfth of never—”

  “Never say never …”

  “You are so right,” Mom went on, blithely unaware of their private conversation. “Jodi does so much work behind the scenes that she never gets credit for and she does so with such an open heart and she never complains.”

  Well, she wouldn’t say never.

  “Your smell drives me crazy,” he whispered, and pressed his nose so close to the back of her ear where she’d dabbed the hope chest perfume that he was almost touching her. “Promise me you’ll wear that perfume for the rest of your life.”

  “Jake,” her mother asked. “Could you help me set up an extra card table in the den for the food I brought?”

  “Sure thing, Mrs. Carlyle.” He straightened and turned, but not before barely brushing his knuckles along the
curve of Jodi’s butt.

  Immediately, she closed her eyes against the blistering heat that rolled through her. God, she wished they were alone. She’d rip his clothes off his body so fast he wouldn’t know what hit him.

  “Please,” her mother said. “I insist you call me Maggie.”

  “Maggie,” he said obediently.

  Then thankfully, before she broke all the rules Dr. Jeanna had laid down for a casual affair, plus a few basic rules of civil behavior to boot, Jake followed her mother out of the room.

  At kickoff, more than forty people were crammed into Rowdy’s den for the Super Bowl game. People sat where they could—on the floor, on the arms of chairs, on laps. Jake wished Jodi would sit on his.

  But she barely sat at all. She moved around the room, making sure everyone had enough to eat and drink, perching momentarily wherever she could find a spot, but hopping up the second anyone needed anything. He wondered if she was always this keyed up at parties, or if he had something to do with her inability to stay in one spot.

  Being in the same room with Jodi but unable to touch her was driving Jake out of his gourd. He sat on the floor near the window, Talbot next to him, and watched Jodi as everyone else’s eyes were glued on the gigantic television mounted over the fireplace mantel, where a small fire crackled.

  “I bet a hundred dollars Johnson makes a touchdown this quarter,” Talbot said. “He’s been coming in hot every game this season.”

  Several people took Talbot’s bet and all talk focused on football. A group of the women had migrated to the kitchen, and Jodi kept shuttling back and forth between the two rooms checking on everyone.

  Whenever she came into the den, Jake’s spirits perked right up, along with various body parts.

  Talbot yammered nonstop, predicting what plays the coaches would call, quoting players’ stats before the announcers got to them. And politely, Jake tried to listen, but then Jodi bent over to pick up an empty beer bottle from the coffee table, giving him a terrific shot of her cleavage down the V-neck of her blouse and he didn’t hear another word Talbot said. It was nonsensical white noise like the adults in the Peanuts cartoons—wonk, wonk, wonk.