Talking Dirty Read online

  Yeah, he didn’t think that confession would go over too well. Particularly since Apple and Aidan were more like sister and brother than cousins.

  So instead of answering right away, he kicked his legs out in front of him and crossed his ancient Merrell hiking boots, taking a long, leisurely pull of straight dark roast Columbian. At last he replied casually, “I’m good, man. Just have a lot on my mind these days.”

  Aidan smirked and slid him a glance. “I bet.”

  “Hey, I have shit to worry about.” Jake took mock offense. “Just because I don’t own southwest Colorado’s largest construction company and I don’t have a thousand employees to run herd on doesn’t mean my life is always a breeze, man.” Then he broke into a grin. “It just means I have more fun.”

  Aidan laughed and said, “You always seemed to, man. Which is bullshit, by the way.” He shook his auburn head. “How was it that you and I did everything together from the time we were five, but you always had more fun? Even when it was mundane crap like shoveling the driveway?”

  Sean chuckled and merely shook his head, looking at them. “You two. You’re like ornery siblings.”

  Jake just grinned at Sean before raising a brow and replying over the rim of his cup to Aidan, “I have the joie de vivre, brother. You were always so serious.”

  “And you never were,” Aidan retorted. “You were always breaking the rules.”

  “That’s why you got beat up on the bus every day after school until I started riding with you, man. You needed to loosen up.” Jake leaned forward and clapped him on the back, laughing.

  “I’m plenty loose,” Aidan muttered and tugged at the brim of his worn blue BOOKER CONSTRUCTION ball cap, resettling it on his head and flashing a grin. “See?”

  “Of course you are, mate,” Sean said with a laugh.

  Aidan was about as relaxed as a cheetah on the prowl. The last time Jake had seen him completely at ease was before his dad had died and left him his company, back when he’d been twenty-three and head over heels in love with that environmental science major. Whatever magic she’d worked, she’d brought out a different side of him and made him happy. Right up until the day she’d crushed his heart. But with her, Aidan had been easygoing, laid-back, and carefree. So different from the earnest kid Aidan had usually been.

  Scratching his chin, Jake said, “We’re just saying that you could stand to cut loose sometimes. Which brings me to why I called you guys to meet me here this morning.” It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the Mother Lode was Apple’s favorite morning haunt and there was a chance he’d run in to her. None at all. “It’s that time of year again at Two Moons: Theme Night for charity.”

  “I’ve told Shannon about your parties. Since experiencing the general enthusiasm Fortune displays for karaoke, she’s excited to see the fun to be had at Theme Night.” Sean grinned, his green eyes dancing.

  Jake smirked. “Then your woman is going to really love this: you get to play bartender for the night.” He glanced at Aidan and winked. “You too, pretty boy.”

  Aidan frowned and uncrossed his heavy work boots. “What do you mean? Did somebody quit on you?”

  The doorbell jangled, and Jake’s gaze shot to the door. But it was only Jerry Gibbons, not the person he wanted to see. Which was no one. He wasn’t looking for a single person.

  Jake took another sip and ignored his heavy heartbeat. “Nah, man. Everyone is good. I’ve just got a specific fundraising goal this year and want to outdo last year’s earnings. Having the Bachelors in attendance and bartending will boost attendance, which in turn will net more money.”

  “Of course. What’s this year’s charity?” Sean asked.

  Jake grimaced slightly, instantly self-conscious, and hedged, “Yeah, so, the thing is, well . . . it’s, um, for Apple.”

  Aidan raised a brow. “Excuse me?”

  Jake took a hot sip, frowning slightly into his cup. For some reason he felt a little embarrassed to admit the reason he’d chosen this year’s charity. “Not Apple, specifically—but the library. Since she’s taken up residence at the pub to hound me about her book, I’ve been listening to her talk for months about the condition and age of the library’s computers. Especially the ones in the computer lab. They’re ancient, and she’s starting a basic literacy class for senior citizens next month. I thought it’d be nice if they had new computers to learn on. And having the Bachelors there will make sure we can raise enough to meet the library’s needs.” He ended abruptly and took another long drink, swallowing hard. “I thought it could be kind of, you know, like, a gift for Apple. You know, keep the announced charity general, like ‘computer literacy,’ so that she doesn’t know it’s specifically for the library, and then surprise her with the check after. I thought she might like that . . . ” He trailed off. Christ, why did he feel so awkward? Like a goddamn schoolboy giving a pretty girl a fresh-picked dandelion. He really hoped new computers would make Apple happy—and he didn’t want anyone to know that he wanted that so much—her happiness. Especially her.

  Shit, now he was even acting childish. What the hell? “What do you say, are you guys up for it?”

  “Goes without saying,” Aidan said, nodding.

  “Of course, mate. After the way you helped save my ass against O’Banion, you don’t even have to ask,” said Sean.

  “That wasn’t a favor.” Jake shook his head. “That was taking care of family.”

  Before coming to Fortune five years ago, Sean had been a bare-knuckle boxer in Dublin where an unfortunate entanglement had left him on the run from the Irish mob. The boss, O’Banion, had found him a few months back, and he and Aidan had helped Sean secure his freedom, along with the help of Shannon Charlemagne—Sean’s stable manager and the love of his life.

  Aidan nodded and pulled his smartphone out of his pants when it went off. He scanned the message and broke out laughing. Then he handed it to Jake and said around a grin, “Sissy dogs are a good look for you.”

  What the hell?

  Jake snatched the phone from Aidan and looked at the screen to see a text that Apple had sent. There he was crouched next to her puny dog while he scratched its ears with a dumb smile on his face. Below the picture read: There’s not a single lady this guy can resist. Besides me, that is. Thank God. :-)

  Irritation washed over him and settled between his shoulder blades at the same time a slow burn of desire started low in his belly. Which was pretty much what happened every time Apple was involved. Arousal and irritation all at once. It was like his body went bipolar at the mention of her name.

  He was so used to it by now that he just rode it out and forced a chuckle. “I like females, what can I say?”

  That used to very much be true. One hundred percent. Jake and the ladies had enjoyed each other on the physical level. Who could blame him? It’s all they’d ever wanted from him anyway.

  So yeah, he’d liked a variety of women. Right up until about four or five months ago when Apple had started invading his life on a regular basis again, just like back in high school when she’d always tagged along with Aidan, making a nuisance of herself. His feelings for her then had been nothing more than the intense cravings of a hormone-raged teenager, and he’d believed he’d simply outgrown them.

  But then she had to go and text a photo of him to Aidan with a comment implying she was glad he wasn’t interested in her in that way, and his stomach went hollow and achy. Like he was that easy and beneath her standards.

  Jake glared into his coffee cup until he realized something else: that was the second time Apple had made a pissy comment about his sex life in just as many days. He wanted to know why.

  Sean cut into his thoughts. “So what’s the decade for Theme Night?”

  “The nineties, man,” he drawled with a grin.

  “Sweet.” Aidan laughed. “We get to pull out the flannel.”

  “So we’re good then? You guys will help out at Two Moons in a few weeks?”

  The g
uys nodded and agreed. Jake pushed away from the table just as two young women sidled up to the table in T-shirts that tagged them as sorority sisters from the state college in Archer, the town one valley over. The short blonde twisted her braid between her fingers and smiled, showcasing perfectly bleached teeth and deep dimples. “Hi, guys. I’m Britney, and this is my Gamma Phi Gamma sorority sister Heather.” She gestured to the tall redhead standing next to her. “We’re seniors at Archer State.”

  “You’re the Bachelors of Fortune, aren’t you?” the redhead demanded to know, all business.

  Aidan nodded and gave them a friendly smile. “Good eye. Yes, we are.”

  Britney squealed a little. “We love you guys! We went to the Blues and Brews Festival here last year and saw all of you perform with the Redneck Rockstars. Total shocker that you all play instruments! It was so awesome. Are you really going to do that again this year?”

  Jake crossed his arms, nodding. “We’re planning to, yeah. We’re trying to make it an annual thing.”

  The girls giggled and glanced at each other. Then they looked back to the three of them with expectant expressions. Sean was shifting in his seat, looking a little uncomfortable with all the young, enthusiastic female attention. Apparently being in love made one less inclined to enjoy such interest from the opposite sex. Eesh. Someone would have to kill Jake before he stopped enjoying looking at attractive women.

  So why wasn’t he feeling the least bit interested in looking now at the two who were standing just a few feet away?

  An image of Apple’s voluptuous, womanly body popped into his head. Naked. And he was suddenly very, very interested.

  He hadn’t once stopped being aware—not for one nanosecond—that tonight was the night he was finally going to see all that warm, gorgeous skin of hers in person. It didn’t matter one shit to him that he had to bare it too, not when the reward was Apple unclothed. No wonder the co-eds didn’t interest him. He had the image of Apple undressing with every question she asked taking up all his brain space.

  Cursing under his breath, Jake stood up. “It was nice to meet you,” he said with his head inclined toward the sorority sisters before turning to Aidan and Sean. “I’ve got to jet.”

  Aidan’s eyebrow’s shot up in surprise, and his gaze slid to the co-eds and back. “So soon?”

  “Yeah.” It was weird to him too. But the only thing he knew was that something inside him didn’t feel right. And for some reason, that was enough.

  “Wait, you can’t go yet!” Redhead held her hands out. “Can we get a selfie with you guys first?”

  She and the blonde put their heads together and smiled wide. Then they chimed in unison, “Please?”

  Aidan looked back and forth between Jake and Sean when neither of them spoke, clearly puzzled. Or maybe he was just confused about Jake’s general lack of enthusiasm and was looking to Sean for clues. Who knew? “Sure, we’ll hop in a picture,” he finally answered for them.

  Jake had just squeezed in behind the redhead and next to Aidan when he caught a blur of movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head just as the camera on the phone snapped, just in time to watch Apple swish by out on the sidewalk in one of her girlie dresses with her best friend, Nell Taylor.

  They were laughing, and Apple had an unhindered, carefree smile on her face. On her fresh-skinned, sweet round face—and it transformed her from pretty into something far more beautiful. Something luminescent.

  This time when the lust slammed into him at the sight of Apple, he was prepared for it. What he wasn’t prepared for was the not-so-vague feeling of yearning and the pang in his heart that accompanied it.

  Fuck.

  Just . . . well . . .

  Fuck.

  Chapter Five

  LATER THAT AFTERNOON, Apple looked up from behind the desk in the children’s department at Fortune Public Library. She’d been searching the computer database to see if the latest Geronimo Stilton had been checked back in, while Pam Butler and her daughter Sarah stood waiting patiently. Luckily the search indicated that it was returned—it just hadn’t been shelved yet.

  “Let me check the cart in the back room real quick,” she said with a smile and rose from her chair. Then she looked at Sarah and added, “Have you read any of the newer Thea Stilton novels? They’re just as adventurous and fun-filled.”

  The Butlers were regulars at the library, what with having six kids to entertain. It seemed like Apple had been helping at least one of them with books ever since she’d started working there eight years ago.

  The youngest Butler shook her head and said quietly, “I haven’t read them. Is she Geronimo’s sister?”

  Apple rounded the desk and came out on the other side, her comfy blue flats moving silently over the beige carpet. “I believe she’s his cousin, but I could be wrong about that. Would you like me to double-check?”

  Sarah just shook her head and shuffled restlessly in her scuffed sneakers. Being patient was hard at seven.

  Clasping her hands together, Apple said, “Okay, I’ll be right back.”

  Making her way through the maze of short, child-sized bookcases painted in shades of green, yellow, and orange, she crossed over the huge play rug, beneath the giant reading tree, and headed toward the back. She noted that the play train set had been in a colossal wreck and poor Thomas and his friends needed some assistance to get set back to rights. As soon as she finished helping Sarah, she’d go tidy up.

  Housed in the old water mill that abutted Glacier River at the end of Main Street closest to Jasper’s Peak, Fortune’s library was a testament to the creativity and ingenuity of its citizens. Once abandoned and derelict, the old mill with the working paddle wheel and quirky design had been renovated by a group of volunteers led by Aidan’s construction company after asbestos had been discovered in the old library and they’d had to find a new space to house the books until repairs were finished.

  But then Aidan had gotten it in his head to completely renovate the mill with LEED-certified green materials and make it a permanent space for the books. So now the library was a quirky red-brick haven of literacy. And she loved it more than anything else.

  Reaching the back room, Apple stepped inside and was, as always, immediately taken with the view from the huge window directly opposite her. On the backside of the mill, they were three floors directly up from the wide, fast-moving river, with a thick bank of aspens and pines standing on the far side. The sound of water rushing through the wheel created a constant low-level white noise that was super relaxing.

  Apple should know; she’d fallen asleep in that room cataloging books after hours more than once, but especially in the summer when the windows were open. For her, the library became a tranquil paradise retreat.

  Quickly finding the newly returned book, Apple crossed back through the cheerfully decorated room and returned to the front desk. “Here you are, sweetie. I think you’ll really like this one. Geronimo goes on safari.”

  “Thanks!” The girl took the book and made a beeline for the reading tree, plopping down on the thick rug and starting to read the moment she got over there.

  Mrs. Butler had been staring hard through the wide archway that led from the children’s section to the front room and circulation desk. At the sound of Apple’s voice she swiveled her head and asked, “Is it true that you’re trying to get the Bachelors of Fortune to do some sort of event here at the library?”

  She fumbled the book and nearly dropped it. “Not, not that I know of, no. Why do you ask?” She was the second woman already that day to mention that same thing. It was becoming unnerving.

  The exhausted-looking mom replied with a nod toward the entrance where Apple noticed with surprise that Jake was standing just inside the entrance frowning at the circulation desk. “Because Jake Stone just walked in, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him come here. Plus, I heard it from Carol King at the donut shop just this morning.” She leaned in close and added with a whisper, “Not
that I’m complaining that he’s here. I’m married, not dead. He’s gorgeous.”

  Apple could only sigh. “Yes, he is.”

  “So you are having them do something?”

  How had admitting that Jake was good-looking automatically mean she had the Bachelors doing an event? She didn’t have anything planned. Besides, since helping with the remodel, this had to be the first time in four years that Jake had stepped foot inside the library.

  What was he doing there?

  Mrs. Butler adjusted her shoulder bag and pressed, “Are you sure? Carol King said Sharon Riley told her over coffee that Barbara Keeley saw you make an agreement to do something with Jake at the pub last week. And then Carol overheard him with the other Bachelors this morning at the Mother Lode, and your name came up.”

  Crap.

  Humiliation and embarrassment flooded her. The town’s biggest gossip had overheard her make the deal with Jake! Oh, good God. She could die. Just curl up on the floor and die right then and there. No way in hell did she want everyone to know about her Q&A striptease agreement with Jake.

  God, her big stupid mouth. See? Tourette’s.

  Wait, why did her name come up at the coffee shop? Was he telling everyone?

  Patting the brunette on the arm briefly in a display of reassurance, Apple faked a calm she didn’t feel and smiled. “Oh, you mean that thing.” She tried for flippant and added a little laugh for effect. “I’d forgotten. But yes, now that you mention it, there is something I’ve arranged.”

  Mrs. Butler’s eyes lit up. “What is it?”

  Shit if she knew. Stuff was just flying right out of her mouth now. She was making it all up. A desperate need to keep her business private could make a gal do that.

  “I’m not at liberty to say quite yet,” Apple hedged as she prayed for inspiration to strike and give her a decent excuse. “But I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as I am.”

  However, inspiration was less than forthcoming with gifts at the moment. Even more so than the universe had been that morning when she’d asked for a sign. Which meant that it wasn’t forthcoming at all. In any way, shape, or form. But at least this time she didn’t have a pile of dog crap to clean up.