“Okay, then, how about taffy puller?” Carly asked, pointing both pointer fingers at Cooper. True to his word, he turned a faint shade of pink.
“Catcher’s mitt,” Mac offered.
“Mount Pleasant,” Gina said.
“Oh, my god, you really are blushing,” Jillian said. She put her hand on Cooper’s arm and gave him a sweet smile. He looked momentarily stunned and then her brown gaze turned wicked and she said, “Or we could call it snake charmer.”
Cooper laughed out loud at that one, even as the tips of his ears turned bright red. He glanced over their heads and cried out, “Hey, Zach, a little help over here!”
Jessie whipped her head in the direction of the dartboard. Sure enough, Zach put down his darts and made his way toward them. The others must have suspected some shenanigans because Gavin made a beeline for Mac while James locked in on Carly and Sam brought up the rear, his gaze as always on Jillian. Honestly, how did the woman not know he was in love with her?
“What’s the trouble, Chief?” Zach asked. “Are these women causing a problem?”
Jessie noticed that Zach moved so that he was standing right in between her and Cooper. She felt his hand slide smoothly about her waist and she couldn’t stop herself from leaning into him just a little bit.
“You’re the wordy one,” Cooper said with a laugh. “Do me a solid and get me out of this.”
Zach raised his eyebrows in intrigue. “All right, what’s the wordplay?”
“Euphemisms for girl parts,” Jessie said.
Zach turned his head and looked down at her. His brown eyes flashed with heat and Jessie didn’t know if it was the way he was looking at her or the alcohol making her feel suddenly overheated. She suspected it was Zach.
“All right, game on,” he said. His hand moved down toward Jessie’s rear and he gave her a gentle squeeze, making her go cross-eyed for just a second. “The happy valley.”
“Birth cannon,” Gavin offered.
“Really?” Mac asked, giving him a look.
“Sorry, veterinarian,” Gav said with a shrug.
“Velvet glove,” Sam said.
“Flaming lips,” James said. Carly laughed out loud and slapped him on the back.
“How are we doing?” Zach asked.
“We are tied, with our only non-participants being Coop and Jessie,” Gina said. “Come on, Jessie, you can do this.”
“Coop, you can’t let us down, man,” Gavin said.
“I’m not a word guy,” Cooper protested. “I’m the strong silent type.”
“Same,” Jessie said. She gave Zach a side-eye, wondering what he’d think of her if she couldn’t keep up with his gang. She found she wanted to be a part of the fun but for the life of her she couldn’t think of a thing to say.
“Coop! Coop! Coop!” the men chanted.
The chief raised his hands and said, “I can’t believe I am about to say this, do not judge me.” He paused and they all waited and he said, “Love muffin.”
“Oh, yes!” Sam cried. He raised his hand and said, “I am going to high-five you so hard.”
Cooper winced when Sam connected and they all laughed. Then the entire group looked at Jessie. She felt the pressure ratchet up. Oh, man, she wasn’t good at this. She had no idea what to say. She didn’t want to let the girls down, but the only one she could remember was the one Zach had said to her the other night; the one that had made her snort. She glanced at him and he gave her a little nod of encouragement.
She cleared her throat, and said in a voice just above a whisper, “Cock socket.”
“What?!” Carly cried. “That is the best one ever! I declare Jessie the winner.”
“You can’t declare her the winner,” James said. Then he kissed Carly. It started friendly but didn’t stay that way and Jessie smiled when it appeared James had to force himself to let go of his woman.
“At best we’re into overtime unless we call it a draw,” Gavin said.
The group glanced around at each other and Cooper nodded. “No one is going to beat Jessie’s. I’m good with that. Agreed?”
While the others turned back to their drinks, Zach pushed Jessie into a dark corner of the bar. He was grinning when he looked at her.
“That was filthy and also funny, you wicked woman,” he said. “I’m so proud.”
Before Jessie could remind him that he’d taught her the word, he kissed her. It started very sweet as if just to reassure himself about her but it turned as soon as she wrapped her arms around his neck and opened her mouth beneath his. Then it became a claiming, but honestly Jessie wasn’t sure who was claiming whom. She just knew that the taste of Zach, the feel of him pressed against her, the scent of him in her senses, made her feel safe and secure while it also lit a fuse of hot longing that licked at her insides as if trying to detonate.
“Jessie, you are driving me crazy,” he whispered as he moved his lips down the side of her neck to nestle in the sweet spot at her shoulder.
“Likewise,” she said. She brought his mouth back to hers and kissed him with the pent-up desire that had been her constant companion since the morning she’d woken up in his arms.
Never had she wanted anyone like she wanted Zach. She suspected that was exactly why he was taunting her and teasing her every day, making her so befuddled with lust that all he would have to do was look at her and she’d orgasm on the spot. In fact, judging by the throbbing heat at the juncture of her legs, it could happen any second now.
“Yo, Zach, you’re up!” Sam called from across the bar.
Zach broke off the kiss, then hauled her up against him for one more indecent press of their bodies before he kissed her again. Jessie began to sweat and pant a little and she wondered if everyone in the bar could tell she was on the brink.
“You are killing me, my girl,” he growled in her ear. “In the best possible way.”
“Huh.” Jessie had lost her powers of speech.
Zach ripped himself away from her and Jessie was vaguely surprised not to hear the sound of Velcro being separated when he did so. Zach kept her hand in his and led her back toward the dartboard, pushing her into the nearby booth with the girls as if he needed to keep her close. It made Jessie feel valued, and she smiled. It was such a nice change to be treated as if she mattered. She knew she needed to be careful and not let it go to her head. Everyone said Zach wasn’t that sort of guy, but even knowing she might get hurt, she knew she couldn’t walk away from him if she tried.
• • •
“Zach, dude, you’re destroying us and not in a good way,” Sam said. “Where’s my guy who owns the bull’s-eye?”
“Huh, what?” Zach asked.
He had no idea what Sam had just said. He’d been watching Jessie while she laughed with the girls. Her two-tone hair was a mass of messy waves and it fell about her shoulders, reflecting the blue glow of the neon beer sign that hung in the window behind their booth.
Maybe it was because they hadn’t done the deed as yet, but he found that he was hyperaware of her. Where she was, what she was doing, how she was feeling, all of it. It was like he was connected to her and everything she felt, he felt.
Sam moved to stand beside him and waved his hand in front of his face. Zach pushed his hand out of the way. Jessie was leaning in to hear something Carly was saying and she got a glint in her blue eyes, the same one she always got just before she—yep, there she went. She was laughing. A wide openmouthed musical chuckle that came from deep inside her and always made Zach smile when he heard it.
“I may be just an animal doctor, but even I can diagnose this boy as being lovesick,” Gavin said.
“Huh, what?” Zach snapped his gaze to Gavin’s at the use of the “L” word. “No, I’m not.”
“Oh, please,” James said. “You can’t take your eyes off Jessie. You are consumed by her
. We’ve all been there. There’s no judgment here.”
“Leave me out,” Sam said. “I am single. I am not in love. I am the cheese.”
“And the cheese stands alone,” Gavin said. “So you’ve been telling us, but we all know you are in—”
“Hey! We’re supposed to be talking about me,” Zach said.
Sam, who looked decidedly nervous, slapped Zach on the shoulder and said, “Yeah, let’s stay on task here. Zach’s the one who is practically nonfunctional.”
“Whoa, where’d you get that?” Zach protested.
Sam waved an arm at the dartboard. “You’ve had more darts hit the wall than the board.”
“It’s just an off night,” Zach grumbled.
James handed Zach his pint of beer and said, “Maybe this will help.”
“At the risk of overstepping my boundaries,” Gavin said, “I need to ask you not to break my office manager’s heart. Good help is hard to find and Jessie has been amazing at the animal clinic. Don’t screw that up for me.”
“We’re not—it’s not—oh, crap, it is, isn’t it?” Zach asked.
“Let’s see,” James said. “Do you think about her all the time?”
“Yes,” Zach answered.
“Is her happiness more important than your own?” Gavin asked.
“Yes.”
“Do you feel better just because she’s around?” James asked.
“Yes.”
“Does the thought of not having her in your life wreck you?” Gavin asked.
Zach looked at his three friends. He didn’t want to answer this question because he knew what it meant. He was done for. Somehow over the past few days, he had fallen ass over teakettle in love with Jessie Connelly. Damn it.
“I’ll take that silence to mean you are screwed,” Sam said. “If you want my advice . . .”
“No,” Zach said. “You’re single. I love you like a brother but you are no use to me right now.” He looked at Gavin and James. “What do I do?”
“Tell her,” they said at the same time.
“Now?” Zach felt a little queasy at the thought of it.
“Soon,” Gavin said. He nodded to the booth behind Zach. “Before someone else does.”
Zach spun around to see Ryan Stanek, the annoyingly good-looking manager of Marty’s, leaning over the back of the booth. He was talking to Jessie, who was looking up at him with a small smile on her lips. Zach, who had never been jealous a day in his life, suddenly felt an unfamiliar clawing in his gut. Oh, hell no.
“Excuse me, brothers, I’ve got to go,” Zach said. He shoved his near-full beer at Sam and strode over to the table. He clapped his hands together and said, “I hate to cut and run but I promised our babysitters we wouldn’t be out too late.”
Jessie turned from Ryan to him, and the smile she sent him dazzled him. There it was. The sparkle in her eyes that was just for him. Suddenly, everything was all right in his world again. Ryan would live to see tomorrow.
Zach clapped the manager on the shoulder and said, “Take my place in the dart game.”
Ryan looked from Zach to Jessie and back. He shook his head. “Thanks, but I’d better get back to work. Ladies.”
He dipped his head toward the girls and they all waved at him, except for Carly, who blew him a kiss. Zach glanced back to see what James made of that. Judging from the way he was striding toward the booth with his stare focused on his woman, Zach had a feeling James was about to stake his claim. Nice to know he wasn’t the only one feeling turfy.
He helped Jessie out of the booth and they gathered their things, pulling on their coats, gloves, and hats. Hugs—the girls—and fist bumps—the boys—were exchanged and soon Zach was hustling Jessie out of Marty’s to the warmth of his truck, where he planned to kiss her until the engine either in his truck or within himself overheated.
In truth, Zach had meant to wait until he’d seen Charlotte and Sarah safely off before he kissed Jessie, but it didn’t work out that way. The close quarters of the truck made the intoxicating lemon scent of her draw him in like warmth on a cold day.
He scooped her close, pulling her up against him. The console between them made it awkward but Zach was willing to work around it. He kissed her, letting his mouth mold to hers before he nudged her lips open with the tip of his tongue, sweeping inside to get the taste of her.
Jessie was right there with him, starting back where they left off in the bar. She pressed up against him as if the feel of his firm chest against her soft one completed her.
Zach dug his fingers into her hair and held her steady while he kissed her. He used his other hand to trace patterns on the skin he could reach between the waistline of her jeans and the hem of her sweater. Her skin was incredibly smooth and he wanted to feel all of it, all of her, wrapped around him, holding him close, pulling him in.
When he noticed the windows were beginning to fog up, he forced himself to let her go, so they could both catch their breath. Man, he hadn’t made out with anyone in a car since he was in college.
He was pleased to see that Jessie looked as winded as he felt and her eyes were unfocused and a bit dazed. She looked like a woman who was beginning to understand the depths of her own desire. Excellent progress.
Zach figured a couple more nights like this and she’d be right where he wanted her. An image of Jessie naked with her back arched, responding to him and finding her own pleasure, made Zach shudder from the inside out.
He glanced at the snow still pushed into large drifts around the truck. Snow. Ice. Cold showers. Getting kicked in the junk. He tried to bury the image of Jessie behind the others, hoping to snuff out the lust that had him in a stranglehold.
“Zach, are you all right?” she asked. Her voice was gruff and Zach couldn’t look at her.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he croaked. He glanced back out the windshield at the snow. Maybe a quick roll in the snow was in order.
She put her hand on his forearm, a soft gentle touch. Zach glanced from her hand with the neatly trimmed and polished nails up to her face. Her eyes looked concerned.
“Thank you for tonight,” she said. “It was fun.”
When Zach looked at her, her blue eyes sparkled at him in that special way they had. He was done for. He lifted her fingers to his lips and kissed her knuckles, wishing he could have her tonight but knowing it was too soon.
He reached past her and on the foggy window, he used his finger to draw a heart and put the initials JC + ZC inside of it. It was the closest he could get to telling her how he felt about her.
Jessie looked from the heart to him and smiled. It was a shy smile and she ducked her head and tucked her hair behind her ear. When she spoke her voice was just above a whisper.
“Me, too,” she said.
Zach was pretty sure his chest was going to explode. Any coolness he had ever developed in life was gone, and he was suddenly back in middle school crushing on a girl who was so far out of his league, he couldn’t even talk to her, except this time she was here with him and she felt the same way. With a grin, he put the truck in drive and drove Jessie home.
Chapter 19
The night of the talent show, Jessie was a hot mess. Zach and the girls hadn’t let her see their performance and even though she knew the song and heard them through the door of the girls’ room rehearsing, she had no idea what to expect.
She was afraid that they hadn’t had enough time to prepare, that the girls would flounder, that irreparable damage would be done to their self-esteem if they failed. Still, Zach had asked her to trust him and the girls had pleaded with their big eyes to be allowed to try.
Jessie knew that failure was critical to a child’s development, and that learning to try again and to shake off defeat were crucial life skills. It didn’t mean that it was easy to watch as a parent.
She sat through a dance n
umber by a bedazzled seven-year-old and her dad, in matching spangles, that included jazz hands. Next there was a magician and daughter team that riveted—okay not really—but they did have a cute bunny in their act. Then there was a dad and daughter acrobat act. It was cute but with every minute that ticked by Jessie felt her anxiety spike.
“Hey, sorry we’re late,” a voice whispered in Jessie’s ear.
She glanced to her right to see Mac and the entire Maine crew filling the seats beside and behind her.
“Oh, hi, I didn’t realize you all were coming,” she whispered back.
“Are you kidding? And miss Zach’s ukulele debut?” Sam said from behind her. “Never.”
Jessie smiled at them all—even Brad and Emma were here—and she felt herself visibly relax. There was something about having friends in attendance that bolstered her spirits. It was a new feeling for her and she liked it.
They sat through two more performances and then Mrs. Abbott, the music teacher, announced the MGZ Trio. Jessie smiled, recognizing that Zach and the girls had used their initials to form the name of the group.
A nervous flutter began in her belly and she felt the smile on her face get tight. As her two girls stepped out on the stage in matching outfits, their favorite bright blue poofy-skirted dresses bought by her mother-in-law, Audrey, for a wedding last year, Jessie felt her heart flip over to see Zach step out with them in a matching blue plaid shirt and a tie. His blonde hair was slicked back, making him look like a grown-up. Jessie felt her heart do a crazy somersault as she took in the sight of him with her girls. She tried not to notice how right they all looked together and it wasn’t just the matching outfits.
Zach sat on a stool, while Gracie stood beside him. They each plucked a couple of strings on their ukuleles, checking one more time to make sure they were in tune. Gracie nodded at Zach and he smiled at her. Maddie took the handheld mic from Mrs. Abbott. She stepped out in front of Gracie and Zach and then turned and nodded at them, letting them know she was ready.
Every Dog Has His Day Page 17
