by Josie Kerr
She continued staring at the ceiling. “I’m saying that I wouldn’t necessarily be worried if we’d had to make some life decisions as a result of that night.” She closed and opened her eyes, her lips puckered as she exhaled in time with the slow blink. “But I’m on the pill, so it would most likely be a nonissue anyway.”
Jason could barely breathe at this revelation. He’d kept replaying the vision of Meghan cradling that little girl in her arms the whole trip back, which is what probably prompted her to ask him if he was okay. He obviously wasn’t, and just as obvious, they needed to have a discussion, because Jason had a sneaking suspicion that Meghan just offered him a monumental piece of herself.
He was about to broach the subject when she leaned over and kissed him on the mouth.
“Thank you for bringing me to your dad’s house tonight. I can’t tell you how much I needed that—needed to feel like I was a part of something bigger than just a pub.” She nestled into his side. “I’ll get a ride back to the pub tomorrow morning so you don’t have to go out of your way. I know the traffic is terrible, and Foley’s is in the exact opposite direction of your job.”
She arched her back, stretching in a feline movement before tucking herself against his side. And just like that, the moment disappeared. So much for being ready.
☆☆☆
Meghan buried her face in the pillow to muffle her moans as Jason drilled into her from behind, his fingers wound tight in her hair. He whispered desperate, filthy words in her ear, which only managed to wind her up more.
“Harder,” she groaned into the pillow.
He ground against her. “What did you say?”
She lifted her hips so he could go deeper. Meghan turned her head and smiled at him. “Deeper, Jase.”
He bent over her and pulled her face to his so he could kiss her hard. Meghan smiled against his mouth as he rocked into her.
“That’s more like it,” she purred.
Meghan submerged herself in pleasure, in the rhythm of their lovemaking, in the soft squeaking of the bed. Jason pulled the hair away from her neck and kissed the exposed skin. She reined in her climax, wanting to put off the end of her pleasure for as long as possible.
Jason’s breathing became ragged as he thrust faster. “I’m close, baby,” he whispered. “Are you?” He nipped at her ear. “I don’t wanna go without you.”
Meghan wrapped her hand around the back of Jason’s neck and pulled his head down for a kiss. Their lips met, their tongues tangled, and Meghan’s orgasm uncoiled, snapping like a whip and making her jolt. Jason’s hands clutched at her breasts, pulling her back against his chest. They swallowed each other’s moans as they rocked and struggled against each other until the waves of pleasure subsided.
Jason rolled to his side, pulling Meghan with him. He kissed her shoulder, and she squirmed around to face him.
“Good morning,” she whispered.
“Yeah, I’d say it was a good morning.” Jason kissed her forehead, cheeks, eyelids, and finally her mouth. “I’d love to stay with you, here, all day, but I have a she shed to start, and then there’s this bossy pub owner who needs some work done so she can show some cocky sumbitches how it’s done.” He kissed her again.
Meghan stroked his chest, the stubble rough under her fingertips, thinking about her confession last night. They should probably talk more about that. She wanted to talk more, but at the same time, the prospect of facing all those raw emotions scared her half to death.
Her inner turmoil must have shown on her face because Jason pulled her close and held on to her. “Baby.”
Meghan swallowed hard. “I think maybe all the shite from the past few weeks has finally gotten to me.”
Jason snorted. “Well, you have had a pretty exciting two weeks.”
“Jaysus, I think I prefer the drudgery of everyday bullshit.”
Jason grinned. “I bet.” He smoothed her hair away from her face. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, as if he was going to say something, but in the end, he just smiled and kissed her again. “I guess we need to get ready for the day, huh?” He gave her another kiss and rolled out of bed.
He caught her watching him as he skinned off the used condom and threw it in the trash.
“If you like what you see, why don’t you join me in the shower?” He shook his ass at her and stepped into the bathroom. He waited two beats before popping his head out of the door. “Coming?”
She grinned and hopped out of bed. She would be coming in a few minutes probably, if Jason was up to his usual tricks.
☆☆☆
Meghan stood up and cracked her back, cursing herself for not wearing a back belt as she constantly badgered her employees to do.
“Do as I say, not as I do,” she said to herself.
She limped from behind the bar and sank into her favorite booth, which provided a panoramic view of Foley’s, including the boarded-up end of the deck and the doorway to the destroyed dining room. Jason and his crew had a lot of work to do, but they were confident they could get it done in the twenty-two days they had left before the Cabbagetown Eats event. Talk of the restoration dominated the conversation at the Richards home last night, with Jason’s dad and another of the brothers promising to pitch in when they were able. Jason had groaned when his father had volunteered, and Jack Richards had laughed so hard she’d thought he was having a coronary event. He wasn’t, of course; he was just delighted at the prospect of bothering his next-to-youngest son for endless hours.
The hinges on the heavy front door squeaked, alerting her to someone coming into the pub. Meghan stood up from the booth, kicking herself for not locking the door when she got inside.
“Pub’s closed for a few days—oh.” She froze when Charles Knox stepped through the door. “Mr. Knox, what can I do for you?”
“I heard about the accident, and I wanted to see how bad the damage actually was.”
“It’s . . . pretty bad.” Meghan cringed at herself when she let out a nervous titter.
Charles clucked his tongue. “Luckily, no one was hurt.”
“Yes, very.” She cleared her throat. “Thank God Land and Sea Renovations was already on the job, right?”
“Most definitely.” Knox smiled. “Well, I’ll let you get back to it. I’m looking forward to seeing what miracles this little company can work in a short amount of time. Might be able to throw some business their way.”
Meghan snorted. Somehow she doubted Geoffrey Crabtree would feel the same way. It wouldn’t do to voice that opinion, though, so she just smiled and thanked Knox for coming by. He disappeared as suddenly as he’d appeared.
She shook her head at the odd visit, though it was nice of Knox to drop by. Despite her initial impression of him, Charles Knox had proven to be the decent half of the Knoxtree partnership. Thank God there was a decent half of the partnership, because she didn’t think she could stomach two men with Geoffrey’s attitude.
She checked the clock on the wall. Jason and the guys would be here in a few hours, which was more than enough time to toss a quick meal together for them. She texted Jason and told him she’d serve them lunch, then headed back to the storeroom to gather supplies. She put what she needed onto a rolling cart and wheeled it into the kitchen, then headed back to the storeroom to get some items from the freezer.
She pulled the heavy door open and, humming to herself, began pulling items off the shelves. She was trying to decide between ravioli and tortellini when she heard the back door open.
“Hey, Ronnie, I’ll be out in a jot.” She heard footsteps coming down the hall. “I know, I know. I’m breaking my own rules.” She laughed, and then the door to the freezer slammed, locking her inside in the dark.
Chapter 25
Jason frowned when his call rolled to Meghan’s voicemail. While she wasn’t a slave to her phone, she usually picked up, especially if someone actually called her, and she definitely wasn’t one to ignore a text. As of this moment, with three texts
and two voicemails unanswered, Jason was getting twitchy.
“I know you’ve got it bad for that badass bartender, but you have got to chill out.” Cash motioned at Jason with the pliers he’d been using to attach the chain to a giant crystal chandelier. “You let her know we were running behind. You’re good, man.”
Perched on a ceiling beam at the top of the she shed, Gunny agreed with Cash. “Put the phone down, Jase. The sooner we get this last chandelier mounted, the sooner you can play grab-ass with your lady.”
“We’re not going to be playing grab-ass,” Jason grumbled.
“If I had a woman with an ass like that, I’d be grabbing it every chance I got.”
Jason pointed at Gunny. “You’re lucky you’re way the hell up there, Anderson.”
“Oh, Thumper means business, Gunny. He called you by your last name,” Cash hooted.
Gunny grinned. “I’m just saying.”
“Well, you can just fucking not say anything else,” Jason warned even as he struggled not to smile. “Let’s get this done. You have that cord threaded, Cash?”
“Ready to go, Jase.”
“You good, Gunny?”
Gunny gave him a thumbs-up. “Let’s do it to it, man.”
Within twenty minutes, the three had the last chandelier mounted, connected, and tested.
“Fuck yeah, she shed.” Cash nodded, obviously pleased. “I’ll admit, it’s pretty cool.”
“Oh my gosh, I love it!” Helen Robinson squealed. “Eat your heart out, Lacey Dalton! Yes!” She did a little dance and then hugged each man. “So I can move my furniture in now? Everything’s complete?”
“I don’t see why not?” Jason replied, looking at the other men for confirmation. They nodded in agreement.
“Oh, Jason Richards, I could just kiss you!” She grabbed on to his arm. “Holy moly—check out the guns on you.” Helen giggled. “I’ll be right back, boys.”
“Jesus,” Cash muttered.
Jason shrugged. “Yeah, I know.”
Helen trotted back into the she shed with an envelope, which she pressed into Jason’s hand. “Thank you so much for finishing this so quickly. If you ever need a referral, have them call me.” She looked up at the sparkling chandeliers and sighed happily. “Just beautiful.”
Jason grinned. “Thank you, Mrs. Robinson. I appreciate it. We have another job this afternoon, so we’re going to take off—”
“Oh my goodness. Did I infringe on someone else’s time? I’ll be right back—”
“Mrs. Robinson—”
She took off like a rocket. Jason sighed. “We’re never fucking going to get out of here,” he muttered.
Helen zipped out of the back door of her house and across the yard. She pressed another envelope into Jason’s hand. “For making you late to your next appointment.”
“I can’t—”
Helen shot him a deadly look. “No arguing with your elders.”
Jason nodded in acquiescence. “Thank you, Mrs. Robinson.”
“Good boy. I’ll send you photos when I get the furniture in place. Now shoo!”
The men of Land & Sea Renovations took Helen at her word and hustled out to Jason’s truck. Once they rounded the corner out of the Robinsons’ neighborhood, Jason put on his headset and called Meghan again. Yet again, the call rolled to voicemail.
“Hey, sweet cheeks, sorry for the delay. We’re on our way to you now,” he said, ignoring the eye rolls and derisive snorts coming from the passenger side and back seat. Deciding he really didn’t give a crap what Gunny and Cash thought, he forged ahead. “Listen, tonight I want to take you to dinner, and then we can talk more about . . . stuff. Okay, um, okay. Later, babe.”
He pressed the button to end the call, smiling at the phone.
He turned to see Cash and Gunny smirking at him. “What?”
Gunny snorted. “Dude, you’ve got it so fucking bad.”
Jason grinned. “I know. I’m not even gonna deny it.”
“But ‘sweet cheeks’? Really? I mean, she does have a sweet ass—” Cash began.
“Hey, hey, hey! Keep your opinions about Meghan’s ass to yourself, buddy.” He dug the second envelope from his pocket and tossed it to Cash. “This should keep you two occupied until we get to the pub.”
“What’s this?” Gunny was hanging over the back seat.
“Open it. Whatever’s inside, you two split.”
Cash frowned but took out his knife and slit the short end of the envelope. “Holy shit, Jase.”
Jason grinned. “I told you Helen was worth the hassle.”
He cackled as Gunny and Cash counted out the bills like two misers.
“Welcome to Land and Sea Renovations, boys.”
☆☆☆
Jason pulled into Foley’s parking lot ten minutes later to see Ronnie and Dan standing outside Foley’s front door. Ronnie was puffing on a cigarette, and Dan wore what one of Jason’s nieces called “his worried face.”
Jason was out of the truck like a shot, Cash and Gunny following closely. “What’s up, guys?” Jason asked, looking from Dan to Ronnie and back, the sense that something was extremely wrong sending prickles of alarm up his spine.
“You heard from Meghan? I texted her to tell her I was coming by after my eye appointment. I didn’t hear anything back.”
“I got here about ten minutes ago, and I haven’t seen her at all,” Ronnie added.
“Did you check upstairs?” Jason pushed his way into the pub and headed toward the back staircase before either man had the chance to answer.
“No, I didn’t risk catching Meghan in a less-than-ready state, if you know what I mean.” Ronnie shuddered. “But I haven’t heard her walking around or anything.”
Jason bounded up the stairs and made quick work of checking the apartment, even looking inside Sully’s bedroom. No sign of Meghan.
Fuck.
He took the steps two at a time and followed the voices to the kitchen, where he found the rest of the men looking at a collection of ingredients on one of the prep tables.
“She was obviously getting ready to cook something,” Dan said with a nod at the table.
“Yeah, she said she was going to cook us lunch.”
“Maybe she ran out of something and ran to the store,” Gunny offered.
“Yeah, but she’s been gone for half an hour at least,” Ronnie countered.
“Shit.” Jason bolted to the storeroom, the others following closely behind him.
“Hey, man, I checked the storeroom. That’s the first place I looked,” he heard Ronnie say.
Jason caught sight of the freezer. A loaded food service cart sat directly in front of the door. Ronnie noticed it as well.
“That doesn’t go there. That cart’s usually by the back door so Meghan can roll boxes in more easily.”
“Fuckin’ A!” Jason exclaimed and made a beeline for the freezer. He shoved the cart, but the wheels were locked. Impatient, he dragged the cart out of the way and pulled the heavy door open as fast as he could. The overhead lighting flicked on, and he found Meghan curled up in a ball at the front of the cooler.
Jason dove inside and immediately picked her up and brought her out of the freezer.
“Call nine-one-one! Call nine-one-one!”
“On it, Ready!” Gunny immediately answered.
“Get the moving blankets out of the truck,” Jason barked, and Cash took off. “Meghan, baby, can you hear me? Sweetheart?”
Jason patted her cheek. She was so cold, so, so cold. She was wearing a skimpy tank top and a pair of cutoffs, her exposed skin red. She was barely shivering, her breathing slow and shallow.
Cash arrived back in the storeroom with the padded moving blankets.
“I heard sirens approaching, Jase,” he said as he and Jason covered Meghan with the blanket, tucking the ends under her body.
“I’ll go watch for the ambulance.” Ronnie took off out the door.
Meghan’s eyes fluttered open, and her
teeth began to chatter.
“You’ll be okay, baby.”
“Jason . . .”
“I know, darlin’. Shh.” Jason stroked Meghan’s hair and continued to talk quietly to her until the paramedics arrived and moved him out of the way.
Chapter 26
Meghan, now swaddled in a duvet and blankets after having most of a bowl of broth, had finally fallen into a fitful sleep. Her cheeks and nose were a little red, as were her shoulders and hands from the mild frostbite.
Jason was sure she was uncomfortable and tried to refrain from touching her, but he just couldn’t. He slid his arm under her neck and held her densely bundled body as close as he could.
“I feel like a burrito,” she murmured.
He chuckled softly and kissed her brow. “You look kind of like a burrito.”
“Mmm, meaty goodness. Oh wait, that’s you.” She yawned and burrowed deeper into the crook of his arm. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Anything, babe.”
“Why Celine Dion and Tori Spelling?”
“Out of all the things you could ask about, you wanna know about those?”
“Mm-hmm.” She opened her eyes. “Tell me.”
Jason huffed a silent laugh. “Well, if you must know, the Tori Spelling thing started out because I wanted to impress a girl. There was this girl named Missy who was obsessed with Tori Spelling. I mean, she had the haircut, the color, blah, blah, blah, and I wanted to impress her—”
“You wanted to get in her pants.”
“Yes, that was the ultimate goal. She wasn’t technically allowed to date, but she could come over to my house to study, right?”
“Quote, unquote study,” Meghan said with a soft snort.
“Yes. Well, we actually had cable, so we were going to quote, unquote study, and then she was going to stay for dinner and to watch that movie. We made out some, did a little bit of homework, ordered pizza, and were planning on another make-out session after dinner, but we both got sucked into how awesomely bad this movie was that we totally didn’t make out the second time.”
“Aw, that’s actually pretty sweet, Jase.”
He pressed his lips against Meghan’s hair. He supposed it was.