by Laura Drewry
“But I…” Maya stopped, sighed. It was stupid.
“You want the fairy tale,” Jayne finished. “Nothing wrong with that.”
That made Maya snort, loud and long. “There’s plenty wrong with it when there’s no Prince Charming anywhere on the horizon.”
Regan shook her head slowly as she made her way to the fridge. “I still can’t believe he asked you. I mean, I know you guys have been out a few times and I know he calls, but this? This is crazy fast; you barely know him.”
“You’re the one who gave him my number!”
“Yeah, I gave him your number, not a color-coded map to your uterus.”
With the last of the corn wrapped, Jayne scouted the area to find any lurkers. “If you decide to do it, how will you…you know…do it?”
“You mean will I have S-E-X with him?” Maya laughed. “Or will we use a turkey baster?”
“It’s a legitimate question.” Regan set a jar of pickles on the counter and reached for the cutting board. “The sex might be good, scratch that itch you’ve got going on, but it could also make the whole thing awkward.”
“Yeah.” Jayne nodded. “Like what if the sex is awful and you don’t get pregnant and then you have to keep having sex with him over and over? Or what if he’s just using this whole thing to get into bed with you?”
“Jayne!”
“What? You don’t know, Maya. It could happen.”
“Oh, please,” Regan said. “There’s probably a mile-long lineup of men and women who’d be only too happy to have sex with him anytime of the day or night.”
“Exactly.” Jayne nodded. “But Maya’s not one of them, so maybe that’s part of the attraction.”
“Or,” Maya said, rolling her eyes at both of them, “maybe he’s not a sex maniac of any kind, but just a perfectly normal human being who wants to have a baby.”
Regan glanced over at Jayne. They both grinned, and then Regan shrugged. “Okay, or that.”
Footsteps neared the door, bringing their conversation to a screeching halt. Carter was the first one in, and grinning like a fool, he headed straight for the fridge, then detoured slightly so he could kiss Regan.
“Hey, Red.” Typical Carter, he couldn’t just give her a quick kiss and move on; he had to wrap his arm around her waist, pull her up tight against him, and kiss her like it was the first time.
“Get a room,” Maya muttered, pushing past them, but they both just laughed.
“I’m almost afraid to ask,” Jayne said. “But who won?”
“Oh, right, that’s why I came in here.” One more kiss before Carter finally let Regan go and headed back toward the fridge. “I owe that man a beer.”
“Wait…” Open-mouthed, Maya pointed between Carter and the door leading to the yard. “You mean…”
“We kicked her ass!”
“You did not,” Ellie groused, stomping into the kitchen. “Ponch and I took it easy on you guys this time is all because we didn’t want to scare off the new guy right out of the gate.”
“And that new guy would be me?” Jack filled the doorway, his grin a little teasing, a little sheepish all at the same time.
“Jack, my man!” Carter held out one of the bottles triumphantly. “Out of the way, Ellie, only winners get to drink tonight.”
“Is that right?” She’d barely taken a single threatening step toward him before he shoved a bottle at her, both of them laughing. She twisted off the top, flicked it back at him, then tried not to smile when she turned to Maya. “Jack’s never allowed to play again. You need to pack him up and send him on his way. Right now.”
“Oh, come on, Ellie, we don’t want to disappoint the fans, do we?” Jack smirked over her head at Carter. “I think I can still hear them…”
“Shut—” Ellie started.
“Hold on, there it is.” He cupped his hand against his ear, leaned a little closer to the door and whispered. “Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack.”
By the time he lowered his hand, everyone but Ellie was chanting along with him.
“Nice, you guys.” Narrowing her gaze, she tipped her bottle at each of them in turn. “Really nice.”
“Come on, loser.” Still laughing, Carter wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. “Get a little food in your system and you’ll be all ready for the next round of ass-kicking.”
With a sharp elbow to his stomach, Ellie lifted a slice of cheese off the plate on the table and pointed it toward Jack. “You’re going down, new guy. And you’re going down hard.”
Maya lifted the platter of burgers and headed for the door. “Just let her win, Jack. It’ll be faster and we’ll all thank you for it.”
“Yeah…” He and Carter both shrugged. “That’s not going to happen.”
With the burgers and corn on the grill, Maya and Jayne shooed everyone else back outside while they finished putting out the rest of the food.
“He fits right in,” Jayne whispered, tipping her head toward the big window that looked out over the deck. “And it sure seems like he and Carter already have some kind of bromance going on.”
Jayne was absolutely right; it was like Jack had always been part of the group. As Maya watched—discreetly, of course—Jack made his way from where he was talking to Carter over to the picnic table where Brett and Ellie were sitting. She couldn’t hear what he said to them, but both she and Jayne froze in place and stared open-mouthed when Brett laughed.
“Wow,” Jayne murmured. “There’s something you don’t hear every day.”
Everything inside Maya warmed to a slow melt. That was Jack; always able to make someone laugh, even Brett, who rarely smiled at anything or anyone besides Ellie.
“What does Dickhead think about you and Jack?”
Maya snorted so loud Nick looked up from the barbecue outside. “The worst, I’m sure. What else would someone like him think?”
As Jayne cut the buns, Maya quietly filled her in on what happened at the hotel.
“So you just left?”
“What else was I supposed to do? I’m not going to get into a tug-of-war with Will over who gets Jack.”
“Because you think you’ll lose?”
“Because I know I will.”
Jayne set the knife down and looked over at Maya who was busy turning a plate of tomato slices into a work of art.
“Maya.” After a second, she reached over and pulled the tomatoes out of Maya’s reach. “You really like him, don’t you?”
It took Maya a bit to stop staring at the plate, now on the other side of Jayne, and look at Jayne, who obviously thought she already knew the answer to her question.
“I’ve always liked him,” Maya said quietly. After a quick glance at the door, she leaned closer to Jayne so her voice wouldn’t carry outside. “But it was always just a friend thing, you know? And then…I don’t even know. From the second I saw him at Chalker’s last week, something felt different. He’s the same guy he’s always been, hasn’t done or said anything different than he used to, and yet…”
“And yet,” Jayne repeated, nodding slowly. “It’s always the ‘and yet’s that get you.”
“It must be because my girlie parts have been neglected for so long that they’ve gone on high alert, right?”
“Maybe.” Not even a little bit convincing and they both knew it.
“Or maybe it’s just because I haven’t seen him in a while.”
“Maybe.” Slightly more convincing, but not by much.
“So maybe it’ll go away, this…this…feeling.”
“Do you want it to?”
“No.” The admission was out of her mouth before she could stop it. “But it’s complicated with him, and it’s not like he’s ever going to move here, so where would that leave us? He’s just started a new project and he’s going to be pretty busy for the next little while. So really…”
“So really,” Jayne muttered. “That doesn’t give the two of you much time to make those girlie parts of yours
happy.”
“Uh, excuse me, Jayne.” Jack stood in the doorway, both hands twisting around his almost-empty bottle, his gaze flickering from Jayne to Maya to the far wall of the kitchen. “Sorry to interrupt; Nick sent me in to get a platter for the burgers.”
Unable to move, Maya couldn’t even drag her mortified stare away from him, so she just stood there at the corner of the table while Jayne hustled over to the cupboard and pulled out a big oval platter.
“Thanks.” Jack bobbed his head slightly. “I, uh, I think we’re done. The burgers, I mean. They’re cooked.”
With another quick nod, he stepped back out onto the deck just as Jayne burst out laughing.
“Ohmygod.” Maya stumbled to the farthest chair and collapsed on it. “How long was he standing there?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t think he heard, do you?”
“Well, I guess it’s possible Ellie might have hit him so hard in the game that he suddenly became deaf, but if I were to guess…”
“Ohmygod,” Maya squeaked. “Do you think he even heard what I said about my girlie parts?”
“God, I hope so.”
With her hands slapped over her face, Maya dropped her head to the table and let out a long, low groan. “Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod.”
“Sit up,” Jayne warned, still snickering. “Here they come.”
Thankful for the crowd, Maya stayed on the outside of the group, busying herself with collecting the empties and running them out to the refundables bin in the garage.
“Great job,” she muttered to herself. “You don’t see the guy in two years and then you scare him off within a week. Yup, well done. He’s probably bookin’ it down the road right now.”
Straightening her shoulders, she lifted her chin, inhaled deeply, and headed back to the kitchen.
“There she is.” Standing next to Jack, who apparently hadn’t run screaming down the road after all, Nick waved her over, a small smile on his face. “Truth: How’s this guy with a hammer?”
“Jack? I, uh, well…” Oh, stop it. Just act like nothing happened and you’ll both be fine. And for God’s sake, stop fidgeting; it’s just Jack.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve only ever seen him hang a couple pictures.”
“Did he leave any gouges in the wall?” Nick was busy filling his plate, so he didn’t see the flash of panic that blew across Jack’s face.
“Not a one.” Shaking her head slowly, she turned her face to Jack. “But truthfully…”
She trailed off just as Jack started to groan. So he did remember.
“Come on, Snip, be nice.”
Maya lifted her hands palms up, in a “what can you do” kind of gesture. “It might have been because his thumb kept getting in the way of the wall.”
Jack’s eyes warmed in a silent laugh. “I only hit it a couple times.”
“A couple?” she repeated. “I stopped counting at four.”
“Four?” Nick choked. “How many pictures was he hanging?”
“Two.” Her earlier embarrassment waning, thanks in large part to Jack himself, Maya forced herself to keep looking at him as she tipped her head toward Nick and added, “And honestly, he only ever got one hung; I had to take over the second picture before he did any real damage.”
Jack winced behind a laugh. “Hurt like a son of a bitch.”
“What?” Nick asked as he lifted a napkin and turned back toward them. “Hitting your thumb that many times or having to let Maya finish the job for you?”
“Both.”
Nick’s laugh boomed through the room. “I bet. Well, what if I told you I have a nail gun you can use instead?”
“Nail gun?” Maya asked, handing Jack a plate. “What’s going on?”
“Brett starts his four-on tomorrow,” Nick said. “So he’ll be out until at least Friday, but Jack says he’s looking to get away from his desk for a while, so I thought I’d recruit him.”
“That’s a great idea,” she said, nodding even when Jack just shrugged.
“We’ll see,” he mumbled. “It’s possible the only thing I’m going to do is put them behind.”
“Nah, you’ll be fine. It’s not like I’m going to give you anything big to do.” Grinning, Nick tipped his chin toward Brett. “And if that guy can figure it out, anyone can.”
“He better not be talking about me,” Brett said, never looking up as he dropped a handful of chips onto his plate. “The only thing I had trouble figuring out is how to cut that frickin’ molding.”
When Jack’s eyes widened, Nick just shook his head. “We’ve got a ways to go before we get to the molding; mostly I’m looking for someone to do grunt work. Get your dinner and we’ll talk.”
By that time everyone else had taken their plates outside, leaving Jack and Maya alone in the kitchen, and he was almost done loading up before she managed to stop chewing her lip long enough to say another word.
“Listen, Jack, um, what Jayne and I were talking about earlier…” She hesitated a second—not even a second, really—but it was long enough for her to realize this wasn’t going to end well, not when it took him such an excruciatingly long time to blink.
“Yeah, um…” His voice low, his eyes trained on the pickle slice on his plate, he licked his bottom lip slowly, then sighed. “Can we just leave it? I don’t really want…what I mean is, something like that’s…”
Oh God.
“Yeah. No. Sure.” What the hell was she trying to say? “No problem.”
Except that now, of course, it was a huge problem, and the fact that he wouldn’t look at her only proved that. Even when he turned his head her way, he kept his eyes averted.
“I’m going to go talk to Nick. See you out there?”
“Yeah, sure.” If she nodded any faster, she’d no doubt give herself a concussion. “I’ll be out in a sec.”
It wasn’t a sec. It wasn’t a minute either, and every time Jayne came inside to see what she was doing, she made damn good and sure it was something of utmost importance.
Like refilling the chip bowl or making sure Pete didn’t nip anything off the table. Or making sure the fridge had been restocked from the cases Brett and Carter brought with them. Or refilling her wine glass. Frickin’ hell, if she didn’t need to drive home, she’d pop the cork on that new bottle over there and just start chugging.
She should be happy Jack had stopped her when he did; otherwise, she no doubt would have made the whole thing exponentially more awkward. But he was obviously employing the same plan she’d tried to earlier: act like nothing happened and they’d both be fine.
“You staying in here all night?”
Luckily, she’d just reached for the roll of foil when Jack stepped back inside so she had an excuse at the ready.
“I’ll be right out; I’m just going to wrap the platter to keep the rest of the burgers warm and to keep Pete’s nose out of them.” Her beaming smile was wasted on him, because he’d already turned a warning look on his dog, who was sitting so obediently by the corner of the table, his tail swishing back and forth across the floor.
“Out.”
With a mournful look even Duke couldn’t match, Pete headed outside, followed slowly by Duke himself. Maya hoped Jack would follow both of them, but he didn’t. Instead, he tugged the long piece of foil out of her hands, wrapped it around the platter, and half-pushed, half-nudged her out the door.
Boy, he was much better at this “act like nothing happened” thing than she was, but that had to be because he wasn’t the one who’d just humiliated himself, and if she thought about it—which she didn’t want to, but did anyway—it was highly unlikely it had been over two years since Jack had been naked with someone.
Jack naked. Oh sweet Jesus.
In her fog, she caught the toe of her shoe on the edge of the doorframe, causing her to pitch forward as she stepped outside. It wasn’t like she was going to fall on her face or anything, and in fact she’d almost righted hers
elf when Jack’s hands wrapped around her waist.
“You okay?” Regan was out of her chair in a flash, pushing Maya down in her place. “Carter.”
“I’m fine.”
Carter set his plate aside, squatted down beside her chair, and pressed his fingers against her wrist.
“Wh-what are you doing? Stop it.” Maya tried to shake him off, but he held on tighter.
“Your pulse is racing, and you’re looking a little pale. What’s up?”
“Nothing, I’m fine.” And aside from the fact that everyone was staring at her, she really was fine. “I tripped, that’s it, and not even the great Dr. Carter Scott can prescribe anything for clumsiness.”
“Oooh, I like that.” He grinned. “The Great Dr. Carter Scott. I wonder what Jules and Rossick would think if I had that added to the sign down at the clinic.”
“I know exactly what Jules’ll think,” Regan snorted. “And I can guarantee the word ‘great’ won’t be one that comes out of her mouth.”
Still squatting, Carter slowly released Maya’s arm and looked at her with his doctor eyes, the ones that looked for symptoms his patients neglected to mention. “You sure you’re okay? You’re really pale.”
“I’m sure, thank you.”
It didn’t matter how many times she said it, though, the whole lot of them kept an eye on her the rest of the evening, not letting her back into the kitchen to tidy up or anything.
“Jeez,” she muttered. “If I knew it was this easy to get out of work, I would’ve started tripping a long time ago.”
Afterward, with everyone lounging in their chairs, hands folded over their stomachs, Brett turned to Ellie.
“What d’you say? Can we put off the rest of the game until next time?”
“Yeah.” Ellie might have answered first, but Jack and Carter echoed her response.
“Come on then, Ponch,” she said. “Take me home so we can get down to it.”
A quick glance at Jack and it was clear he was thinking that all they ever talked about around here was sex.
“Hey, Ellie.” Maya laughed. “For Jack’s sake, would you mind clarifying what ‘getting down to it’ means to you?”
“Oh no,” Jack choked, hands raised. “That’s okay, I—”