His friend looked shocked. “Us? Never. We’re always about the important stuff.”
“Like which brand of canned beans causes the least internal combustion?”
That pulled a reluctant smile from Parker.
Lynn wasn’t gone a minute before she barreled back into the room. Disappointment flashed on her face as she wandered over to the couch and plopped down next to Jack. “Suz is out. Hot date.” She sighed. “I guess I’ll just have to gossip with you, Jack.”
In the center of the living room, Parker gawked at his girlfriend. “Um? Sweetheart?”
She spared him a glance. “Don’t be rude, babe. We have a guest. Go get Jack a beer.”
Parker’s jaw went even wider, all amusement Jack had teased from him gone. The death stare he sent Jack’s way was even scarier than the one he gave to soldiers. It was the one reserved for terrorists.
Too bad Jack was as helpless as his buddy. Settling into a cross-legged position, Lynn had grabbed one of his hands and was firmly looking into his eyes. “Okay. Tell me everything. When did you realize you liked her?”
A groan sounded from Parker’s vicinity. “Lynn, I love you to death, but there is no fucking way I’m going to stand around and listen to this. She’s my sister.”
“No one asked you to stay,” his girlfriend said primly, before looking over expectantly. “Jack’s beer?”
After a beat, Parker stomped out of the room in a damn good imitation of a five-year-old in the middle of a tantrum.
Jack had to grin. Man, it was ridiculously fun seeing his best friend get ordered around by this sweet woman. Though a part of him did feel for Parker. His Friday night sexfest had been shot to hell, all thanks to Jack. On the other hand, Jack’s sexfest had been ruined thanks to Parker, so he supposed it was fitting.
Parker returned a minute later and thrust a bottle of Bud at Jack. “I’ll be in the bedroom.” He gave Lynn a pointed look. “Alone.”
She absently waved a hand. “I’ll be in eventually.” Her attention was wholly focused on Jack. “Now tell me everything.”
Jack couldn’t help but shoot his friend a please-help-me look, which only got him a smug smirk in return. Parker shrugged as if to say, good luck arguing with that, and then he waltzed out of the room, leaving Jack at Lynn’s mercy.
The next morning, Jack strode into Starbucks after a sleepless night that had involved constantly rolling over onto a throbbing erection, waking up thanks to said throbbing erection, then taking care of that throbbing erection so he could try to get some frickin’ sleep. Hadn’t worked, and now his right hand hurt and his dick was just mad at him. Because his dick wanted Pepper, and Jack had given it his hand.
To make matters worse, he’d gotten a text from Charlene at nine o’clock reminding him about their ten o’clock meeting to discuss her parents’ party. It was a good thing she’d contacted him, otherwise he would have completely forgotten all about it, and being a no-show for a meeting wouldn’t have reflected well on the company.
His former flame was already in the coffeehouse when he walked in, taking up residence at a table near the window. A stack of papers sat next to her tall coffee cup, and she was flipping through it, her dark red hair streaming over one shoulder.
Catching her eye, Jack smiled and gestured to the counter, then headed to place an order. A couple minutes later, he pulled out a chair and joined her, setting his steaming cup on the table.
“Morning.” Her eyes sparkled as she looked him up and down. “You look like shit. Late night?”
“Not really. I actually went to bed at ten thirty,” he admitted. “Couldn’t sleep, though. It sucked.”
She laughed. “Ten thirty? I’m disappointed in you, sugar. What happened to the wild Jack I knew and fucked?”
He shifted in his chair, uncomfortable with where the conversation had gone. He had fond memories of sleeping with Charlene, but being reminded of it now felt…wrong. And it did absolutely nothing for him. His mind was consumed by dirty thoughts of Pepper, and his body tightened with anticipation. Now that he’d gotten the talk with Parker out of the way, he could take Pepper to bed and make all those dirty fantasies come true.
Without responding to Charlene’s flirty remark, Jack pointed to the papers. “Is that the final guest list?”
“Among other things.” She popped the lid of her cup and took a quick sip. “I also brought a list of allergies—pretty much the only thing my grandmother can eat is lettuce. Okay, that’s a joke, but she is allergic to a bunch of things.” She grinned. “And yesterday I did some sleuthing and got my folks to talk about the songs that played on their first date and at their wedding. You said you have a list of bands that play covers, right?”