by Calista Fox
His electric blue eyes were lit up with sincerity so she conceded the point. “Okay, fine. I believe you.”
“Well, if it takes some convincing…” he whispered in her ear as his hand moved a little higher up her leg. His long fingers dipped between the slight parting of her thighs and his thumb disappeared beneath the turquoise material.
“Jack,” she whispered back as a five-alarm rager instantly erupted deep in her pussy. The arm that was draped over her shoulders pulled her a bit closer to him.
“Don’t worry,” he said into her ear. “No one can see us.”
“That’s not at all what I’m worried about,” she told him. And she was sure she didn’t have to say more, because her body was trembling and she’d swear all it would take for her to come was for him to press a finger to her clit and whisper something dirty in her ear.
“You make me hot, Liza.”
She pulled in a shallow breath. “That’s not helping matters.”
“Mm,” he muttered in her ear, just as his hand moved higher and his fingertips grazed her sensitive pussy lips through her panties, inciting all kinds of riotous sensations in her body. Making her cunt crave more of what he’d given her this morning.
“Jack,” she gasped as the excitement his touch evoked rippled through her.
He gave her that half-assed, cocky grin of his. “Just want to know if I make you wet, darlin’.”
She couldn’t believe his audacity. But it made her smile. “Got your answer?”
“Oh yeah.” He groaned.
She brushed his hand away, though with some reluctance. “Behave. I don’t want to be tarred, feathered and run out of town my first weekend here because we’re causing such a stir.”
Jack kept his hand on her bare leg, though in a somewhat more respectable location. His heat and the strength that emitted from him warmed her insides and made her snuggle a little closer to him.
“This town could use a little shaking up,” he said in a contemplative tone.
Liza wanted to ask what he meant by that, but Ruby closed in on them. She delivered two white plates piled high with spaghetti and one ginormous meatball on the side of each.
Enticing though the food was, Liza felt momentarily disappointed at the sight of today’s “special”, given the sinfully delicious aroma that wafted from the kitchen, telling her more complex and artery-hardening creations were being whipped up behind the magic curtain.
Ruby set the plates in front of them and said to Liza, “You’re not one of those girls who eats like a bird, are you?”
“Oh hell, no,” she said as she unraveled her flatware from the napkin. She dropped the white paper square in her lap and reached for the parmesan cheese in the large glass container. Shaking a little on top of the pasta, she added, “This looks great. Smells good too.”
“Taste it,” Ruby challenged her.
Liza cut a respectable hunk off the side of the mammoth meatball and popped the piece in her mouth. “Oh God!” she exclaimed in the most impolite way, nearly losing the meat from her mouth. So much for her well-cultivated manners.
One of Ruby’s thin eyebrows lifted. Jack grinned at Liza.
As she chewed the most flavorful meatball she’d ever tasted, she resisted the urge to close her eyes and sigh as she savored the moment. After she swallowed, she said, “That is one fierce meatball! And I’m from New York!”
Ruby beamed. “I’ll be sure to tell Mike you approve.”
“Mike?” Her brows knitted together. “What about ‘Pietro’?”
Ruby grinned. “Aw shoot, honey. There ain’t no Pietro in Wilder. I just thought it had a nicer ring to it than ‘Mike’s Joint’, which is what the old man wanted to call the place. Thank God he can cook, because sometimes I think all the roosters aren’t crowin’.”
Jack dug into his lunch as Liza said, “I’m going to need another one of these meatballs.” The spicy Italian sausage, garlic and herbs mixed with the ground beef created the perfect combination of flavors. She couldn’t wait to dive into the tomato sauce, wondering how Mike had spiced it up.
Ruby said of her double order, “Where you planning on puttin’ it, sister?”
“I worked up an appetite this morning,” she said. A hot flash of excitement touched her cheeks as she recalled exactly what had made her this ravenous. Jack Wade and his wicked ways. “Besides, I’m sure I won’t have any trouble working off the calories later.”
Jack nearly choked on his spaghetti, obviously getting Liza’s intent and surprised she made the innuendo in front of Ruby. Admittedly, Liza’s pussy thrummed with anticipation of what other tricks the Devil might have up his sleeve. She suspected he had an extremely creative sexual repertoire—and she was looking forward to experiencing the full extent of it.
“All right, then,” Ruby said, obviously pleased. “One more meatball coming up.” She left them alone again and Liza twirled several long strands of pasta around her fork and bit into the best spaghetti she’d ever tasted.
“Damn,” she moaned. “Did Mike go to culinary school in Italy or something?”
Jack shook his head. “Born and raised in Wilder. I went to school with his daughters.”
“Interesting.” She took another bite, then asked, “Where are they now?”
“Here in town. Married with kids.”
Liza thought about the folks she’d seen last night at the saloon and then the families today on the streets of town and said, “Lots of families in Wilder. Some really young couples too.” She recalled all of the faces she’d encountered in the past couple of days.
Jack set his fork aside as though he’d just lost his appetite. Sitting back in the booth, he said, “The reverend frowns upon premarital sex, so…”
“Lots of religions frown upon premarital sex,” she pointed out, not getting his meaning.
“Yeah, well, he takes it a little more seriously than most.”
“What, did he outlaw it?” she asked on a half-laugh, because Jack’s tight-set jaw told her this wasn’t really a laughing matter.
“Not legally,” he said. “But morally…”
Liza picked at her pasta, wondering what sort of stranglehold Reverend Bain had on this town. “Are you telling me teenagers get married just so they can have sex?”
“Not all of them.”
She shot him a curious look. Considering the way he’d made love to her earlier, with unquestionable expertise, she had to ask, “Have you ever been married?”
“Fuck, no,” he said, looking slightly mortified. She remembered how proud he’d seemed last night by his bachelor status.
“So apparently you’re impervious to the good reverend’s wrath,” Liza said. “Because what we did this morning in my cottage would easily earn us fifty Hail Marys and several Our Fathers apiece.”
He grinned at her suddenly, stealing her breath. “Darlin’, I don’t let anyone tell me what I can and can’t do. Or how I can or can’t make love to a woman. Especially one who gets me as worked up as you do.”
Liza bit back a smile as heat flushed her cheeks again. “Thank God for that,” she said of his strong conviction. “I’d have hated to miss what you did to me this morning.”
The prickly sensation between her legs reminded her how much she’d wanted the Devil in Blue Jeans last night. And this morning. How much she wanted him this very moment.
Going back to work on the World’s Largest Meatball to distract her raging libido, she said in between bites, “I guess casual dating is a little complicated in Wilder.”
Was that why the reverend had gone all stiff-shouldered when he’d seen Jack in her cottage? He’d likely drawn a very easy conclusion as to what they’d been up to.
“I’ve never dated anyone in Wilder,” Jack admitted. “And how everyone else in town handles the spiritual blackmail isn’t any of my business.”
She could feel the tension radiating from him as his muscles seemed to bunch. She wasn’t sure where the angst was coming from, though. W
as it because people in town let Reverend Bain guide their morality to suit his own beliefs? Or was there more to this issue than that?
Liza thought about the cottage and the notion she’d had earlier that Jack had fixed it up for someone. Had he decorated it for a woman? One he’d intended to live with there?
She eyed him speculatively as she polished off the meatball and went to work on the pasta. The fantastic food was doing wonders for her imagination.
In fact, Jack’s comment about not dating women in Wilder tickled the back of her brain until she had to ask, “So if you’ve never dated anyone in town, who do you…see?”
“Mostly women in Austin or San Antonio,” he said. “Though…not for some time now. Gets complicated with the distance and schedules and whatnot.”
So maybe the woman he’d intended to shack up with hadn’t wanted to leave city life for country life—or single life for married. Liza could see that. And yet…
She gazed at Jack again and thought, oh hell, no!
Even if she hadn’t chucked it all of her own accord, she could give up being city mouse for country mouse if it meant spending every night with this man!
And the fire between her legs backed up her conviction.
He was hot, tempting and damn sexy. But there was so much more lurking beneath the hunky veneer. He was intense and thoughtful. This guy had stuff on his mind and Liza wanted to know what it was. Because even though he was playing it cool most of the time, the moments of raw intensity she saw told her there were some deep-seated issues making his brain churn.
She was too fascinated with him not to want to crack the nut.
“I guess it would be difficult to mesh lifestyles if someone was intent on holding on to theirs,” she commented.
Jack polished off his meal and pushed the plate aside. “I’m not interested in swaying anyone when it comes to sex, darlin’. I don’t need anybody to change for me and vice versa. People shouldn’t have to give up their own thoughts and views and feelings to suit someone else’s ideals or way of life.”
She frowned. Hadn’t she done that very thing for Peter, in a vain and completely idiotic attempt to hold onto him over the years? And for what? She’d put on airs, dressed to his liking, conformed to his standards and practices so that she could fit into his oppressive, conservative life. When she wasn’t even the repressed, conservative type!
And what about her mother?
Liza had done everything she could since birth to please her. To be the daughter Rachel wanted versus the one she was stuck with.
“Well, shit,” she breathed as she pushed aside her own plate, just as Ruby was returning with a small side dish, carrying Liza’s special-request meatball like the Olympic torch. She set it down in front of her with great ceremony as she grinned from ear to ear.
“Honey, I can’t tell you how you’ve made Mike’s day,” she said, her brown eyes lighting up. “He’s struttin’ around the kitchen like a peacock showing off his feathers. And well, let’s just say I’m glad we’re closing early tonight.” She winked at Liza, who smiled back, despite the visual that popped into her head.
Ruby and her peacock.
“Her lunch is on me, Jack,” Ruby said in a giddy tone. “You’re on your own, though, sport.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “So what else is new?”
Though his tone was light, she felt his lingering tension. Yet another piece to the puzzle that was Jack Wade.
When Ruby turned her attention to another customer, Jack said, “You know you’re going to have to eat that, right?”
“It’ll be worth every calorie,” she said as she started in on the meatball. Liza was already pushing her limit, but another taste and she was hooked all over again. A crumb would die a lonely death on her plate when she was done.
Jack chuckled. “Guess I won’t be making Italian for you anytime soon.”
“I loved breakfast,” she assured him. “Though I admit I was a bit preoccupied. Things are happening kind of…fast…in my little world. I’m not always successful at keeping up.”
He nodded his head, looking contemplative for a moment. Then he gave a slight shake of his head, as though to discount whatever thought had popped into it. “I wasn’t fishing for a compliment, sweetheart.”
She decided to be direct. “What were you thinking prior to that notion?”
His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
“I told you I sometimes have trouble keeping up with all the moving parts of my life and it looked like you had something to say about that.”
Jack folded his napkin and laid it over his empty plate. He seemed to give great thought to how he wanted to answer her. She continued to eat, giving him time. Eventually, he said, “That phone call you got earlier… Is someone gonna come knocking on the door, looking for you one day?”
She hadn’t expected that question and it completely demolished what was left of her appetite. She pushed the half-eaten meatball aside, hoping Ruby would forgive her.
She couldn’t look at Jack as she said, “That was my former employer on the phone. I quit my job a week ago. And…” She shook her head. Liza didn’t have to tell him about Peter. There was nothing to tell, really. Not anymore. Except… Jack had asked a question within a question and she wanted to answer both so that she was being completely honest with him. “As for someone coming knocking on my door…” She folded her napkin and set it on the table. “Like my mother, he didn’t even return my voicemail message telling him I was leaving New York. I don’t think he believed me, either.”
Jack was quiet for a moment, as though accepting her inner turmoil and respecting the boundaries she clearly had around this topic.
Several moments passed before he said, “His loss.” Then he stood and reached in his back pocket for his wallet.
Liza stared up at him, an unexpected smile touching her lips because, really, the mere sight of Jack Wade made her deliriously happy. “Peter would never see it that way, but thanks.”
“Peter?” He smirked. “Well, there you go, darlin’. I just can’t picture you with a guy named Peter.”
She laughed. “Yeah, that makes two of us.”
How he managed to change her moods so easily was beyond her. But she appreciated how well he distracted her from her dismal thoughts.
Jack pulled a ten from his wallet for his lunch and dropped it on the table. He then added a couple ones to the pile to cover the tip on Liza’s freebie. Then he stuffed the folded black leather back in his pocket and reached for her hand. She let him help her out of the booth and they left the restaurant with his palm pressed to the small of her back where she liked it.
“We’ll see you tomorrow, right?” Ruby called out to them.
Jack laughed. “Something tells me yes.”
Chapter Eight
When they reached the truck, Jack brought her around to the passenger side. But rather than open the door for her, he pulled Liza into his arms. He kissed her without preamble and she practically melted in her Manolo Blahniks.
As his arms slid around her waist and he held her tight, she wound her fingers through his hair. Her new custom. She’d never been with a man who had such thick, lush hair and loved the feel of it against her skin. Plus, she liked the end result—the way her fingers mussed the strands, making Jack look even more devilish. As if he’d just rolled out of bed and had done nothing more than run a hand through his hair. It was damn sexy.
His hands moved up to her bare back and she didn’t even care about the dewiness of her skin. It was inevitable in this heat. Besides, Jack didn’t seem to mind…or maybe he didn’t even notice. His thick thigh pressed between her parted legs and really all she could think of was having him inside her again.
When his lips left hers, but still hovered close, Liza didn’t open her eyes. Just savored the moment.
“Mm, nice,” she whispered.
He groaned. “I was shooting for sizzling hot. I suppose nice will have to do.”
“Maybe you should try again.”
He did, kissing her a little more intensely. Until her toes curled and her pussy throbbed. The trembling of her body made her pull away.
“What?” he asked, his eyes narrowing against the bright sun.
“Nothing. I was just thinking that maybe we shouldn’t be out in public when you do earth-shattering things to me.”
“Earth-shattering, huh?”
“Yeah,” she said with a sheepish smile.
Way to give away the farm, girlfriend.
Jack laughed, full and hearty, making Liza’s body hum with excitement. “Well, didn’t you say something about working off calories when we were at lunch?”
“I did,” she said, totally unable to be coy. But then another thought occurred to her. “When do you have to be at the saloon?”
“Not ‘til four-thirty or five. And we close early tonight.”
She remembered Ruby saying something similar. “Why’s that?”
Jack stepped away from her, that earlier tension returning full force. He pulled the keys from his front pocket and unlocked the truck with the remote. Then he reached for the door handle. “Every business is closed by ten on Saturday nights.”
Didn’t take a genius IQ to see he was none too happy about that fact. Liza let him help her into the cab and shut her door, biting her tongue until he climbed into the driver’s seat.
“So what’s that all about?” she asked. “I mean, it’s Saturday night. Why would a saloon be closed at ten o’clock? And you were closed before midnight last night.”
Jack shoved the key in the ignition and turned it. Without even looking at her, he said, “The reverend doesn’t want his congregation drunk or hung over come Sunday morning.”
She stared at him, dumbfounded. When she finally found her voice, she said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” She latched her belt as she shook her head. “Are you seriously telling me that you shut down early so that people can make it to church?”
Okay, maybe country life wasn’t quite as easy-breezy as she’d anticipated.
As Jack backed out of the parking space, he said, “Bain convinced the City Council a while back to impose a curfew on Saturday nights. Claimed it was for everyone’s good—a ‘spiritual awakening’, I think he called it.”
