And wasn’t that peachy—he was suffering from a serious case of jealousy, and that wasn’t an emotion he experienced often. Envy he knew all about, like how he’d always envied Parker and Pepper for their idyllic childhood, which was epitomized at the moment by this fun family BBQ. There’d been nothing fun about Jack’s childhood, just years and years of futilely wishing his mom would come back so he wouldn’t have to stare into his dad’s vacant eyes anymore. So, yeah, he knew all about envy.
But this fiery urge to hunt down Pepper’s kissing partner and beat him so badly he’d never be able to lock lips with her again? That one was harder to figure out.
His raging hard-on for the woman hadn’t ceased once she’d left his apartment. It only meant that now he had a lot more privacy to jerk off to fantasies of her. And she was definitely fantasy material today. Faded denim cutoffs revealed her long, tanned legs, and her teeny yellow T-shirt hugged the full breasts he’d had the privilege of seeing in all their bare glory. She’d tied her black hair into a ponytail, green eyes sparkling as she chatted with the other women.
He wondered if her eyes sparkled when she kissed that creep she was dating.
Actually, screw that. Didn’t matter what expression she wore when she had some other guy’s tongue in her mouth. From this point on, the only man she’d be locking lips with was him.
He was going to fuck Pepper Wilson.
Yep, it was so gonna happen. He’d fought the attraction when she’d stayed with him. Hell, he’d fought it for years, if he was being honest. He wasn’t sure when it happened, but one day he’d simply stopped viewing her as the pesky brat who trailed after him and Parker, and started to see her as a beautiful woman he wanted to get naked with.
Now he just needed to find a way to make that happen without it all blowing up in his face.
“Jack? You in there?”
He blinked when he noticed Parker’s hand rapidly moving up and down in front of his face. “Sorry, I spaced,” he muttered. “What?”
His best friend rolled his eyes. “I asked if you’d be able to stop off at the banquet hall later to help Dean and Gillian with the Petersen engagement party. Half the cleaning staff came down with the flu, and it was too short notice for the company to bring in reinforcements, so we have to help out. I’d go myself, but I promised my folks that Lynn and I would stick around after the barbecue to play board games.”
Board games. God. The Wilsons were the only family he knew who actually did stuff like that. Cue another rush of envy, which was all sorts of fucked up, because normally he found board games excruciatingly boring.
“Sure, I can do it,” he answered, all the while keeping half his attention on the ladies. They’d lowered their voices, and he could no longer hear even a snippet of conversation.
“Me too,” Colby spoke up, uncrossing his massive arms. “I’m pretty good with a mop.”
“Awesome. Dean’ll be happy. He was so pissed he drew the short straw and had to handle the event today.”
Jack snorted. “Yeah, and then Gillian volunteered to help and suddenly he was all sunshine and rainbows.”
“Do you think he knows he has zero chance of getting into her pants?” Parker said with a grin.
“Parker!” Pamela Wilson scolded, appearing in the sliding door that opened onto the deck. “That is not proper barbecue conversation.”
Parker was instantly shamefaced. “Sorry, Mom. We were just…well, you know…it’s a Dean thing.”
Pamela’s lips twitched. “A Dean thing…” The smile broke free, her dark green eyes taking on that resigned glint Dean usually inspired in people. “Fine. I’ll bite. Whose pants is that rascal trying to get into this time?”
The three men snickered. “One of our new employees,” Parker explained. “But don’t worry, she’s too smart to fall for his charms.”
“Let’s hope so. Now, can one of you give this to Pepper and tell her that it’s been ringing off the hook for the past hour?” Pamela held out a sleek black iPhone. “She left it in the kitchen and it’s driving all of us nuts. Her ringtone sounds like a bunch of cats meowing.” Pepper’s mom sighed. “I swear, if I hadn’t given birth to her, I’d really think that girl was adopted. I’m pretty sure she’s made it her mission in life to be difficult. I have no idea where she gets it from.”
“Really? You have no idea?” Parker flashed his mom an indulgent smile. “Because I’m pretty sure Dad accuses you of being difficult on a daily basis.”
“Ha. If anything, your sister learned her headstrong ways from him,” Pamela said primly. Then she reached up, ruffled her son’s hair, and disappeared back into the kitchen.
Jack fought a wave of longing as he watched the exchange between mother and son. It was obvious to anyone who saw the Wilsons together that they all loved each other deeply. Even when Pepper was driving everyone nuts with her pig-headedness, or when Parker was acting like a know-it-all asshole, their parents adored them. And Pamela and Patrick were the coolest people on the planet. They were both comic book illustrators, for Chrissake—how could they not be cool?
“I’ll give this to Pepper,” Jack said, snatching the cell phone out of Parker’s hand.