Read Online All Jacked Up by Desiree Holt - Free Book Online Page B

Eli’s car park that morning.
    Ever since I dropped Darcy off.
    Despite his best efforts he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind all day. And that bothered him more than anything. He’d thought for sure the game would have shaken it out of him but all it had done was distract him. His friends, now sprawled in the backyard with wives and significant others and girlfriends, had ridden him hard when he’d missed tackles. Jack wasn’t a fast runner but his muscular compact body made him good on defence. Except for today.
    “So who is she?” Mike came up next to him and pulled out his own beer, twisting off the cap.
    “Who is who?”
    Mike laughed. “Don’t give me that shit. Only a woman ties a man up in the kind of knots you’re in.”
    “You’re dead wrong.” Jack took a long pull of his beer. He wondered if he’d ever be invited back if he decked his friend. “There’s no woman.”
    “Oh, Pinocchio,” Mike teased, “your nose is growing.”
    “Lay off, will you?” Jack barked. “I knew I should have stayed home today.”
    “Okay, okay.” Mike stepped back, grinning. “Just as well. Carly’s got a birthday present for you.”
    “A present?” Jack frowned. “We don’t do presents, remember?”
    “You’ll want this one.” Jack heard Carly’s musical voice behind him in the doorway.
    “Turn around,” Mike told him, “and meet our new neighbour, Abby Carlisle.”
    Oh, great. Now I’m reduced to my friends fixing me up. Do they feel that sorry for me?
    He turned around slowly, prepared to be polite but remote and nearly swallowed his tongue. It was his dream girl, his fantasy, in wonderful living flesh. She was maybe five-four with thick burnished gold hair pulled up in a ponytail. She wore short denim shorts and a tank top that revealed as much as it concealed. He shifted his beer bottle to his left hand, wiped his right one on his jeans and held it out.
    “Jack Manning.”
    She took the offered hand with her own soft one. “Nice to meet you. And don’t take the birthday present thing too seriously. I think Mike and Carly are just teasing you.”
    “No, no. That’s fine. You can be the birthday present.” Great repartee, jerk . He shook his head. “Let’s start over again, okay?”
    “Why don’t you take Abby into the yard and introduce her to everyone,” Carly asked him. “She just got here and the only people she knows are Mike and me.” She winked. “And now you.”
    “Oh, I was planning to help you in the kitchen,” Abby protested.
    “No need.” Carly made shooing motions with her hands. “Got it all under control until we’re ready to serve. Go meet people.”
    “Would you like a beer?” Jack asked, reaching towards the cooler.
    “Carly said there’s wine over there, if that’s okay.”
    Jack spotted the tub with the wine bottles in it and the plastic cups next to it. “Sure. No problem.”
    I’ll bet Darcy would have taken the beer.
    Where the hell had that come from?
    He poured some chilled liquid into a cup and handed it to Abby. “Come on. We’ll wander the yard.”
    When he’d made all the introductions he unfolded two lawn chairs and indicated she should sit in one of them. They could have joined either of the two informal groups of couples but Jack wanted this one all to himself.
    “So. I gather you just moved into the neighbourhood.”
    She nodded and sipped on the wine. “About a month ago. Got tired of apartment living and got a good deal on a house. Which I share with my brother, by the way. And no, he couldn’t come today. He’s a fireman and on rotation.”
    “Maybe next time.”
    “Maybe. Anyway I’m just getting to know people. Carly popped in almost as soon as the moving truck had left.”
    Jack smiled. “Yup. I think she’s the unofficial welcoming and social committee. So. Usual questions. Have you always lived in San Antonio?”
    She nodded. “My whole life. Except when I went away to college. And to answer the next