Page 26 of Raging Fires

And, really, that was true. For all Jake’s faults, he’d never given up on things; he always kept at it, sure that he could find a way to make things work. Except, of course, for marriage.

“We’ll put a curtain or something across the doorway. Maybe one of those hanging bead things. I bet you Tyler would like those.” He waggled his eyebrows and Kelli hit him in the arm. “That’ll be good enough for me. You know what an exhibitionist I am.”

Kelli laughed. It was hard to hold onto a down mood when Jake was like this.

“Gran’ll let me store most of my clothes at her house. I figure we can go over to her house to wash clothes—it’ll be like college all over again—and I can switch out clothes if I want. I go to the team’s facilities every day to work out, so I can just shower over there. Shave, too, I guess.”

“That’s great. Cologne too?”

“What?” He slanted a look at her. “You saying my stuff stinks?”

“Ha. Just the opposite.” Kelli stopped abruptly as she realized what she’d just let slip, and red crept up her face.

“Ohh…is that right?” He leaned back against the wall, a cocky grin on his face. “One whiff of that, and you’ll be wanting to jump my bones, huh?”

“No.” She frowned. “I did not say that. Your bottles just clutter up the counter, that’s all.”

His grin just grew broader. “I don’t think that’s it. I get what’s really going on here. You’re afraid you’ll be wanting to have wild monkey sex three or four times a day.”

“Would you stop?” Kelli knew she was blushing harder with every word he said.

“Don’t worry. I’ll try really hard not to be a temptation. I need to save myself for football, anyway. All that wild monkey sex gets pretty exhausting. Remember that resort in Hawaii?” His eyes suddenly glowed with something hotter than teasing.

“Yes,” Kelli managed to get out, heat flooding her abdomen. She remembered that resort very well. “Outrigger Bay.”

“Yeah, that’s it,” Jake agreed. “You wore that black thong bikini. And the bungalows were so private we didn’t have to wear anything at all in our pool. You called it Orgasm Bay. How many times did you come that one day? I lost count after—”

“Jake!” Kelli turned and stomped back to the couch. “We made a truce, remember?”

“I’m not arguing with you,” he pointed out.

She grimaced. “Maybe not, but it’ll be hard—” She stopped at the little smirk on his face and changed it to “—difficult to get along if you’re always hitting on me.”

He let out a big sigh. “Okay. Okay.”

“We need to have rules.”

“Of course we do.” He rolled his eyes and came back to perch on the box again. “Okay, Kelli, what are my rules?”

“They’re our rules. We both have to follow them.”

“Why do I think that I’m the only one that’ll have trouble doing that?”

“Because you’re impulsive and immature?”

“Hey. No arguing, remember.”

“I agreed to no arguing. I didn’t agree to no snarking.” She pulled out her phone and stylus and went to work. “Okay. Now, first of all. I’ll be quiet when I come in at 2:30 or 3:00 and you’re in bed, and you’ll be quiet the next morning when you leave. That’s fair, right?”

“Yeah.” He frowned. “I don’t like the idea of you walking across that parking lot that late at night.”

“What do you suggest I do, drive the fifty feet from the bar to here?”

“Just because it’s only fifty feet doesn’t mean there can’t be somebody lurking around to grab you.”

“Yes, Mom...” Kelli grimaced. “I always carry one of those air horn cans like they have at football games. That’s loud enough to wake up every one for blocks around. They’ll either run off or it’ll make them freeze long enough for me to get my mace out of my pocket.”

“Wow. Remind me not to startle you at night.”