Page 38 of Baby, It’s Hot Inside

“Mabel, huh?” Jackie Cuevas says. That sassy voice lives in my dreams. “Well, then Mabel, what do you suppose you’re doing here all alone? I don’t suppose you have a gorgeous owner here with you who is fully equipped to hand out mind-blowing orgasms?”

“Fuck my life,” I say.

She shrieks, then manages to get to her feet. Her sultry brown eyes take me in, growing wider by the second.

“For the record, I’m definitely equipped to hand out mind-blowing orgasms. You just need to ask.”

Her mouth falls open.

“I’m going to get the rest of the firewood. I take it we have my sister to thank for this cozy reunion?”

“What the hell are you talking about and why are you here? This is my cabin.” She stomps one foot on the ground and it’s so fucking adorable I have to turn away so I don’t grin at her.

I go back outside and grab the armload of firewood. On my way back in, she’s standing right there.

“Why are you here?” she asks again.

“Ren gave me the cabin; said he got it for them and they couldn’t use it.” I shrug and slide past her, hauling the wood to the main fireplace.

“But why would he do that when Savannah gave the trip to me?” she shrieks.

I pause to look at her. “All your stuff still in your car?”

She nods.

“I’ll get it. Go to the bathroom; you’ve been squirming around since you got here.”

When I come back in with the last of her stuff, she’s on the floor and Mabel is laying across her lap.

“Traitor,” I mumble to my dog.

“She’s the sweetest, bestest girl ever. Aren’t you, Mabel?”

“She’s a very good girl.”

“What is she?”

“Half Bassett Hound, half Labrador. Makes her look a bit like a mutant with her squatty legs and long ears, but her obvious lab features. But she’s smart as a whip.”

“You’re not a mutant, are you, baby?” Jackie coos.

I am not prepared for having this woman talk like that to my dog. And my body’s reaction makes no sense. But nothing about the way I react to Jackie makes sense. I’ve wanted her for so damn long, I don’t know who I am without that desire.

“I think it’s a set-up,” I say. Because I’m pretty sure my sister suspects how I feel about Jackie.

She stares at me as if trying to read a secret message between my words. “Wait, so you think Savannah and Ren set us up on purpose?” Jackie asks.

“Most definitely.”

“Like you don’t think it was just miscommunication on their part where they didn’t realize they’d each given away the cabin to someone?”

I shake my head. “No. This was completely intentional.”

Jackie frowns. “A set up?” Then recognition lights her features. “Like that kind of set up?!” Her voice gets louder and higher as the pieces come together in her mind. “Between you and me? But you hate me.”

Those words splay me open like a filet knife. “I do not hate you, Jackie.”

“Why the hell would they do that? They know we don’t get along and Savannah gave me this trip because she knows I’ve been stressed out lately?”