What She Wants Tonight

by Jillian Neal

  “That was the only somewhat acceptable excuse I could come up with. You’d scrambled my mind.”

  The whiskey in her eyes smoked with her delight. “You’re the only man I’ve ever let stare at me like that without putting my boot up their ass. I definitely didn’t mind the attention.”

  “You always have my attention, sweetheart. Always.”

  Tiffany and Brent both stared at them in shock, like they’d just realized that they’d bet their life savings on a crowbait pony. Brent stammered, “So, that’s how you met, at a barbecue joint in the middle of nowhere?”

  Jack turned his focused glare on Brent. “First of all, the middle of nowhere is the middle of our entire world, and yes, that’s where we first met. I was to report for my first day of work at the courthouse at eleven o’clock that day. So, I show up and I was quickly informed that the way to survive in Holder County law was to nod and smile to the current district attorney, Clayton Barns, who was well in his eighties but held ideas that dated back to the eighteen-eighties, and to impress Meridian Holder. That instruction was vastly preferable to the nodding and smiling, so I went to find her.”

  “You impress the hell out of me on a regular basis,” Meridian vowed, thrilling him.

  “After I stumbled through that introduction, we went back to the office. I was setting up my files and bookshelves when I heard her informing the DA that he was more ornery than a fried toad and that he needed to remember that she was the one holding the skillet,” Jack laughed. “I’m pretty sure that’s when I fell in love with her.”

  Meridian’s grin had expanded the full width of her face. Her eyes glimmered with delight. “Clayton was the most frustrating man-child I have ever encountered. I couldn’t believe he kept getting elected.”

  Jack shook his head and took another quick sip of his soda. “Of course he kept getting elected. He always threatened to prosecute the two-dozen plus ranches in the county that were late with payments. He scared his way into keeping the seat every single election.”

  Tiffany looked thoroughly confused. “I thought you were the DA?”

  “He is now,” Meridian explained. “Clayton finally died and took his antiquated ideas to the grave with him.”

  “In the bed of his mistress, nonetheless. Mind you, he ran on a solid family-values platform every single time,” Jack concluded.

  Since this was not the kind of conversation that took place around tables in The Hunt, Brent and Tiff were stunned to the point of silence. This was the most fun Jack had ever had in the club.

  Their food arrived a few minutes later, and Jack waited on Brent’s next questions. He knew they were coming. He just had to be patient.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Brent wiped his mouth with the designer napkin and then folded it back in his lap. “When did you know you wanted to marry her?”

  Jack grinned at Meridian and considered the question. “I think when I realized that any kind of life without her in it wasn’t one I was interested in having. That’s the thing—it’s when you begin to understand that you can withstand almost anything but losing the person you’re in a relationship with.”

  Brent and Tiff glanced uncomfortably at one another like they’d never even considered that. “Yeah, but everyone eventually gets divorced. Just look at my parents,” Tiffany argued.

  “Not everyone gets divorced,” Meridian contradicted her. “I come from a long line of people all in happy marriages. You can’t just marry someone for the moment, for the show, for the honeymoon,” she pitched back in Brent’s face. “You marry them because they’re the person you want to fight with for the next fifty years.” She grinned up at Jack. “Whether it’s fighting beside them or with them to ultimately make the marriage even better and then the world a better place too. You don’t marry someone because it’s a good strategic move. You marry someone because they make you a better person.” Her fervency was crystal clear. A boulder of emotion clogged Jack’s throat. This wasn’t at all how he would’ve planned to tell her these things, but maybe for him this was how it had to be.

  Tiffany huffed, “Well, my daddy has paid a lot of money for our wedding. I’m sure that’s not something you would understand.”

  Meridian nodded. “You’re right. I don’t understand how the wedding is more important than the lifetime. I don’t want to.”

  “I fall more and more in love with her every single day,” Jack interjected. “That’s another way I know.”

  That was when he stepped over the trip line. He knew he was getting nearer with every word, but suddenly Tiffany triggered. “You know, Jack, it’s all great and wonderful that you’ve found some hillbilly cowgirl who’s somehow even more self-righteous than you are, but that’s not how life really works.”

  Since Meridian didn’t seem at all offended by the name-calling, Jack pressed, “Why don’t you tell us how life works then?”

  “Well,” Tiffany stammered, “just look at everything we do for people. I mean, take this club. Without our families, everyone who works here would be out of a job. You just up and left. A lot of people were really upset. We didn’t know what to think. You can’t just leave.”

  That wasn’t exactly what Jack had been expecting to hear, but that didn’t make it any less arrogant and privileged. “How very noble of you for staying and working through the confusion,” he sneered. But something about her declaration began to gnaw at him. There was an echo of it, and he was fairly certain the reverberations were in his own voice.

  A half hour later, they finally escaped the dinner from hell. Jack clung to Meridian as they walked back down to the truck.

  “You were amazing tonight,” she whispered.

  “I doubt that,” he corrected her, “but there is something I need you to know.”

  “What?” She smiled up at him.

  Swallowing down the terror that climbed readily up his chest, he went on with the culmination of his plan. “I did not tell one single lie tonight. Not one.”

  She trembled beside him. They stopped walking in order to hold the weight of truth between them. She finally managed a nod. “I know. I didn’t either. And, just so you know, I fell in love with you that very next day after we met. Remember? It was when you told Clayton that I could handle the Midwest Meats case for fixing cattle prices because I was the most capable lawyer you’d ever met.” She let her bottom lip scrape through her teeth. “And then you told him that if he could ever get over the fact that the best lawyer in the building was a woman, then Holder County would never lose another case.”

  Jack remembered the day well. He’d been absolutely certain he was about to lose his newly acquired job for his remark, but that hadn’t been enough for him to keep his mouth shut. “I don’t guess I’ve ever been too good at the whole nodding and smiling thing.”

  “That’s one of the things I love most about you. You speak up even if there are personal consequences.”

  Still unable to fully process that, he shook his head. “I can’t believe there’s anything about me you love.”

  “Yeah, well, I feel the same way. I’m always too much for men, and I have no interest in changing.”

  Jack shook his head. “I never want you to change. You might be too much for weak men, honey, but you are never too much for me.”

  The rising moon sparkled in her eyes. “Want to go back to River Chase and celebrate that we finally told each other how we feel even if we actually told the prom king and queen back there first?”

  “More than I want my next breath, but I have one more question, and I need you to tell me the truth about it as well.”

  They started back toward the truck. “Okay.”

  “What Tiff said about everything she does for people, and about everyone who would be out of work if it weren’t for our families…” he paused, desperate to keep his fear from materializing in his words.

  “Yeah,” Meridian prompted. “What about it?”

  “Isn’t that along the same lines as what I�
��m doing?”

  “What?! No. That’s not at all what you’re doing.”

  “Isn’t it though?” The terror gripped his throat. “I come in here every so often and hand out checks to try to make up for what my parents are taking from the world, but what if I’m just allowing their world to go on without them ever facing repercussions? What if I’m not really speaking up because of the personal consequences?”

  He opened the passenger-side door and helped her step in before he made his way around the Cheyenne. Meridian’s face was thoughtful. They were at the entrance before she finally answered. “It’s difficult to answer that question because we both know that in all likelihood your parents will never face any kind of repercussions. If you don’t do what you’ve been doing, it all goes on the way it always has with no one to even try to level the playing field. My daddy always says that the road to hell might be paved with good intentions, but if you’re actually doing the work of trying to help then that’s worth its weight in gold. But if you want to alter your approach, I could help you figure out a way to help differently. I actually have an idea.”

  Thankfulness flooded his bloodstream. “Tell me your idea.”

  “I’ve been thinking about Maggie. She said her boyfriend worked in graphic design, right, but that he’d been fired from his job and got hired but only as a contractor. If we can get him a better job with benefits that’s full-time, that solves a lot of the future problems. Then we can work on the current hospital bills.”

  “Finn,” Jack gasped. “I feel incredibly stupid. Why didn’t I think of that?”

  “Well, I did have you pretty distracted the day she came to talk to you.” Meridian laughed.

  “That is true. Hang on one second.” He made quick work of phoning his brother, putting it on speaker, and explaining the situation. It was the first time since Jack had asked to sleep on Finn’s couch that he’d asked his little brother for a favor. Finn seemed thrilled to help.

  “I have another question,” Meridian said as soon as they ended the call.

  “Anything.” Jack assumed this was about their newly admitted dedication to each other, but he was wrong.

  “I don’t get why your dad would go to such lengths to help a country club cheat on their taxes, but he won’t lift a finger to help his own staff.”

  “Some of it is a lens issue, the rest is that my father only extends his hand for it to be shaken. He always wants something in return.”

  “A lens issue?”

  “If you view the entire country through a lens skewed in your favor, it becomes easy to be callous to the problems on your doorstep. My father would tell you that Maggie wouldn’t be in this situation if she’d gotten an education and had gotten married and that she should have waited to have a child so that she could afford the baby. He refuses to grasp how expensive an education is and that most people don’t have access to bank accounts with even a fraction of the money they have.”

  “How would her being married change anything about this?”

  “It wouldn’t. It’s just an excuse he chooses to believe because it allows him to sleep at night without having to be bothered by issues that he could change but won’t. The people in power are quick to constantly offer each other excuses to hold onto their money and their way of life.”

  “To not be bothered with the issues the rest of the world faces.”

  Jack nodded. “If it hasn’t directly impacted them, then it must not really be affecting anyone that matters, so why should he waste his time or money on it?”

  They walked toward the house hand in hand, taking their time, in no rush to be interrogated by his parents which he was sure would happen.

  “Are we actually seriously engaged?” Meridian asked suddenly. “We…that…seems kind of crazy. Not that I’m necessarily opposed.”

  “No,” Jack assured her. “Not that I don’t want to be, but because you deserve a ring, and a date, and for me to beg your father, and a romantic tale to tell our grandkids. I owe your family that. I want to do everything right by you.”

  “My dad will say yes.”

  “Are you so sure about that, princess?” Jack certainly wasn’t. He knew Gentry Holder wanted his one and only daughter to marry a cowboy.

  “Our grandkids, huh?” She continued to process his statement.

  “Maybe.”

  “I can’t quite go there tonight,” she admitted.

  “You don’t have to. I’ve been thinking about how much I’d love to have that with you for years.”

  Meridian sighed. “I’m pretty sure I’ve spent years wishing that I didn’t want that with you so badly. Stubborn to the end.”

  Jack paused and brushed a kiss on her lips. “I keep hoping that if you and I try to make this work as hard as we tried to stay away from each other that there’s no way it could ever fall apart.”

  “I like thinking about it that way.”

  “Are you ready to go face the firing squad?”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  “We could always sneak back into the guesthouse,” he offered.

  “Tempting,” she laughed. “But I’m a little gun-shy after running into your dad in the kitchen.”

  “Then let’s get this over with.”

  Chapter Forty

  They entered the house quietly, as if their peace might calm the incoming storm. The entryway was empty, the staff all likely either in their own rooms or in their own homes. Perhaps they could sneak up to his room without encountering his parents. Jack hoped against hope.

  With each step they climbed, his hopefulness ascended. He had no idea where his parents were, but not near him was always his preference. His hope died a brutal death as they approached his father’s office, however. Light spilled from the open door. They weren’t going to sneak past without notice.

  Then a shadow stepped into the hall and blocked the light altogether. Jack’s father had timed his exit perfectly, of course. “For all of your nonsense about the way I do business, I hear you went to the club on my dime this evening.”

  “You heard incorrectly,” Jack huffed. “I paid for our dinner, but it’s good to know my whereabouts are still reported to you constantly. I guess some things never change.”

  “You don’t eat at The Hunt without my influence, Jackson. You know that.”

  “And I’ll never eat there again. I didn’t want to eat there tonight. I was ordered there by Tiffany, and since you seemed to want us to dine with them, we went. You can’t have it both ways. You can either be pissed that I went to The Hunt or happy that I did as you asked. Either way, we’re going to bed.”

  “Not yet, you’re not. We need to talk.” He opened the door to his office wider while blocking them from moving deeper into the hall with his body.

  Feeling childish for wanting to run away, Jack refused to give in to the notion. If his father wanted to fight, then they would bring the war.

  The Tiffany lamps in the office cast odd rainbow glows on the rug, and the overhead light gave Jack the impression they were in for an interrogation. They settled in the chairs opposite the partner’s desk his father had installed before Jack’s birth. Palmer folded his hands and narrowed his eyes. Jack rolled his. Intimidation was no match for fury.

  “I’ve made a few phone calls, and I’d like an explanation as to what is going on between you two. The truth.”

  Meridian plastered on a condescending smile, but Jack saw the warning flare fire in her eyes. “Who exactly did you call asking about us?”

  “That’s an excellent question and I have a follow-up,” Jack tagged in. “Why would you assume anyone knows more about our relationship than we do?”

  Palmer wasn’t amused. “Since my son prefers to keep me out of his life as much as possible, I have always had other means of getting information that I need. It seems no one in Holder County is aware of your engagement. Why is that?”

  “We haven’t announced it yet,” Jack stated factually.

  “According to
the people I spoke with, you two haven’t even been dating.”

  “How would anyone else know that?” Jack restated.

  Palmer turned his full focus on Meridian, and Jack longed to throw himself over her in an effort to keep her from his father’s iniquities. “Are you in trouble, dear?”

  Meridian’s scowl reminded Jack that she did not need to be protected. She was extremely capable of scorching the earth when the need arose. “If you’re asking if Jack and I are having a baby, I’m going to need you to never refer to our children as trouble ever again. I can assure you that no amount of whiskey money will do you a bit of good when you gall a cowgirl. But no, I am not pregnant, not that it’s any of your business.”

  “Then why are you with her?” he asked Jack as if the answer wasn’t seated before his very eyes.

  “Because I’m desperately in love with her. That is how most people in this country go about getting married. Just because that’s not a requirement for nuptials here in Bourbon Country doesn’t mean it’s how the rest of the country works. Perhaps you should get out more.”

  “Perhaps you should remember all of the money and sacrifice that went into your education and into your raising,” his father countered. “You seem to prefer to forget that there are consequences for your actions.”

  Jack narrowed his eyes. “I keep in regular contact with Anna Rosa, and I’ve thanked her many times for all she’s done for me, but if you’d like me to pay your hourly wage for the single phone call you placed to Duke, I’d be happy to.”

  “Generations of our ancestors poured blood, sweat, and tears into this business that you’re so quick to throw away. It took years to build the connections we have. We also have standards.”

  More than done with this conversation, Jack stood. “Rome burned in a day. Never forget that, Dad.”

  Riding the wave of tension and offense mixed with confusion made Meridian a little woozy as they escaped to Jack’s bedroom. He slammed the door, making her jump.