Page 30 of Jake

“Yeah,” he said with a chuckle. “But they’re off doing something, either somewhere on the ranch or in town. You can meet them as they come in.” He glanced down at the beer bottle in her hand. “Want another?” He motioned toward it with his own bottle.

“That would be great. Where do I get them?”

“They’re in the coolers over there.” He tilted his head toward the outdoor kitchen. “But go sit down with the women, I’ll bring it to you.”

“Are you sure? You don’t have to wait on me.”

“I don’t mind.” Jake reluctantly let go of her hand, took her empty bottle, then watched as she made her way toward where the women sat in the shade, waiting until she spoke to one of them, found a chair and sat before turning away. After dropping the empties in the recycling bin, he pulled out two fresh drinks, delivered Heather’s to her, then went to join the men.

Mac stared at him for several seconds, then made a show of turning to look at Heather, and watching her for a few moments before looking back to Jake. This went on for several minutes, Jake doing his best to ignore it until Sadist spoke up.

“Just spit it out, man. You’re going to hurt yourself trying to keep it in as you wait for him to ask.”

“Well, she’s not carrying a purse, so I’m just wondering where she keeps them,” Mac said, still looking back and forth between Heather and Jake.

Jake rolled his eyes. He might as well get it over with. Mac wouldn’t be happy until he got it out.

“Where she keeps what?” Jake asked, knowing he deserved this. He’d done his share of ribbing each of the others as they’d met their women. At least they were doing it when she wasn’t present. He wasn’t sure yet how she would take the kind of ribbing his brothers tended to dish out. Though after the way she’d laughed earlier, maybe she would do okay.

“Your balls. Because the way you were leading her around, making sure she met everyone then fetching a drink and serving it to her like some kind of princess, I’m sure she’s got possession of them now.”

The men around them cracked up and even Jake smiled as he shook his head. “Maybe so, but if Elyse asked for a drink or even for you to fix her a plate come dinner time, you sure as hell would be up getting it for her, wouldn’t you.”

“Hey, I never said I wasn’t whipped. I thought we established that some time ago. We were talking about you for a change.”

Jake rolled his eyes. There was no point in arguing or fighting it. Talking back or trying to set them straight would only make it worse, not that he had anything to set them straight on. She didn’t carry around his balls, those were still firmly in his jeans. And not happy about it at the moment, from the feel of them. They wanted to take Heather back to her trailer and continue what they’d only barely started with that kiss.

But that was moving too fast, so he pushed the thought out of his mind, told his cock to calm the fuck down and focused on what was going on around him. Not the ribbing his brothers were trying to give him, that he wouldn’t rise to, but everything else.

“No more trouble from Donna’s ex?” Jake didn’t know what all was going on there, only that Savage had picked her up on the ride up and that she had an ex who was looking for her, and had gone as far as to follow her onto the ranch after someone had spotted her in Gillette a few days ago.

“Nothing new,” Savage said from where he sat on the far side of the cold firepit. “We’re still waiting to hear back from Gizmo about whether or not she’ll have to divorce his ass, but we’ll figure that out, and if we have to, we’ll start the procedure as soon as we get back to Arizona.”

“You’re really going to move her to Tucson and in with you?” Jake asked.

Savage stared at him; one brow lifted. “You really think you’re in a position to judge us about that right now?” He shot a pointed look toward the bunkhouse, and Jake knew, the trailer that sat on the far side.

“Hey, I’m not judging.” Jake held his hands out in front of him, as if proving he wasn’t armed. Things between him and Heather were different, at least in his mind. They’d known each other before and had only recently encountered each other again. In his mind, that was at least a foundation. “I was just asking.”

Savage didn’t reply, but watched him, with a look that said just wait, he would learn the hard way. Jake didn’t want to get into it.

22

Heathercouldn’thelphowsurprised she was by how welcoming the women were. She remembered several faces from the run to Sturgis, but only a couple of names. She remembered Kerry, London, and Robyn who she’d met again earlier, but that was about it.

“Tell me more about Tucson and living in the desert,” London said.

Several women took turns telling her about the heat, but it was dry. The monsoons, rain and lightning storms that should be hitting the area soon. They told her it was pretty, but not the kind of pretty she was used to.

From what Heather had been able to tell from the conversation, London was getting ready to move to Tucson, even though she’d never been there. Heather wasn’t sure why she was making the move, but found the discussion fascinating anyway.

“What about you, Heather? Have you ever been to the desert?” Kerry asked after a bit, likely realizing she hadn’t said anything in a while.

“Nope, sorry. I haven’t even been to Vegas. I know that’s not Arizona, but I hear it’s pretty close, weather wise. Wish I could help though.” She lifted one shoulder then let it fall.

“You might make it down, though. At least to Tucson. I hear Jake still owns his house, so he’ll eventually need to go down and take care of it.

Heather nodded slowly, not saying anything. Just because he owned a house there didn’t mean he would be taking her. Her coming here was so they could see if there was anything more than an old attraction between them. It didn’t mean they were an item, not now or that they would last. Even if she did have hopes. Not that she would ever express them out loud. Not only would that be too embarrassing, but she might jinx herself.

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