Page 43 of Raging Fires

He cut her a look. “And you said I didn’t want Toby to leave.”

“Well, I never pretended I wanted Tob—the dog to stay.”

“Ha! See? I told you he was a Toby.”

“You are beyond annoying.”

“I know.” Why was that smirk of his so appealing? “So what did Gran say?”

“She recommended Dr. Sam that’s down the road from her, so I thought I’d take the dog over there tomorrow to make sure he has all his shots and flea medicine and all that.”

“Dr. Sam? Sounds like a talk show host.”

“Well, you know your grandmother; everyone has to have a nickname. Jakey.”

“Don’t start, um—” He paused, squinting. “Well, if I could think of any goofy nickname for Kelli, I’d say it.”

Kelli grinned. It was always fun getting the last word with Jake.

“How have team workouts been?” she asked. It was weird; after four years apart she still often thought about him. Wondered about his life. Now she had the opportunity to ask. And she’d rather talk to him than get back to the paperwork she’d been doing at the bar. When she and Jake weren’t fighting, they’d always had fun together.

“It’s been good. I like working out with the team. The guys my age are a pretty tight group, but they’re all friends with Asa, so I’m lucky he put in a word for me. I’m not sure how fast they would’ve come around otherwise. Especially with all the crap I did in the past.”

It was nice to hear Jake being so gracious. Acknowledging what a good friend he had in Asa and admitting that he’d screwed up before. When she’d left, he’d been deeply into his “everyone is against me, I did nothing wrong” phase. Kelli hadn’t been sure he’d ever go back to being the Jake she’d known in college. But apparently, he had. Without any help from her. She wasn’t sure which bothered her more, that he hadn’t needed her or that she felt guilty for not trying harder.

“Kowalski thinks we should just make Sugah the new official mascot.” Jake was still talking and she’d completely spaced on what he said while she was thinking about the past.

“She’s the kitten Justin rescued, right?”

“Yeah,” Jake responded. “I heard she was hiding under the bleachers for a while and would only come to him.”

“He’s sweet. Justin is always taking care of everyone but himself.”

“Sounds familiar.” Jake gave her a significant look and Kelli felt her heart skip a beat.

“If you’re talking about yourself, you are way deluded.” She joked, trying to break the tension hanging in the air between them.

“You know for a fact I’m talking about you. You always took care of me. Even when I didn’t deserve it. I feel like I didn’t appreciate it enough. At least, I didn’t tell you I appreciated it. But I did.” His blue eyes were pulling her further and further in. She’d have given anything for him to say all this four years ago. Now it was just confusing. And she couldn’t stop looking at his lips. They were so close. And she knew how good they would feel on hers. Kelli shook herself mentally.

“I’m not falling for this blatant play to get me to do all our dishes.” She gave him a playful shove on the shoulder, though his muscles were so hard it probably hurt her hand more than him. Then she purposefully turned her attention back to the doghouse.

They spent most of the rest of the afternoon in the same way, with Kelli reading the directions and handing Jake supplies, helping when it required two people. She felt a little guilty; she should probably go back to work. But, really, there wasn’t much paperwork left, and the bar didn’t get busy until the evening. Besides, she was just on the other side of the parking lot; they could come out to get her if there was some problem.

The only reason she felt guilty was because she was enjoying hanging out with Jake. Now that he’d seemed to have dropped his obnoxious superstar persona, he was almost likeable. Okay, he was likeable, even if he did grump a lot—it was almost always teasing.

Of course, she had to be careful. Hanging out with him was fine; letting herself get sucked back into a relationship was not. She had to protect her heart. It was dangerous to think too much about the way his long lashes shadowed his cheeks or how his muscles constricted and relaxed with his movements. She had to fight the urge to reach out and brush back the sweat-dampened hair that had fallen over his forehead. And when she found herself staring at the smooth skin of his neck and thinking how she would like to kiss him there… breathe in the scent of him… nip at his earlobe, she jerked her gaze away and perused the simple instruction sheet once again.

Jake finished and pumped his fist in the air. “Yes!”

Kelli gave him a round of applause. “It looks great.”

“Now all we have to do is get him to go in it.”

They strolled back to the porch, where the dog had finally tired of chewing on the rawhide bone and was stretched out on his side, asleep. Jake cocked an eyebrow. “Toby is really an ugly dog.”

“Hush. It’s just that he’s dirty and all.”

“Uh-huh,” Jake said, unconvinced.