Raging Fires by Candace Camp
Chapter Twenty
The next day Kelli couldn’t keep from looking out the back door of the Blue several times, ostensibly checking on the dog—that was not named Toby no matter what Jake said—but she couldn’t resist glancing across the lot at the house to see if Jake’s SUV was there.
Around three, she opened the door to find the dog gone, and when she looked across the lot, she saw Jake getting out of his vehicle and the dog dancing around his feet. Kelli watched, a little smile touching her lips, as Jake bent down to rub the dog’s head. Yeah, right, he didn’t want a dog hanging around.
Jake raised the rear door of the SUV, reached in and pulled out a large rawhide bone. Kelli’s grin widened as he tossed it to… Jasper? No. Maybe Scooter? That wasn’t right, either. The dog trotted onto the porch with the bone in his mouth, tail wagging, and Jake reached in to pull out a very large box.
Too curious to remain aloof, Kelli started over to him as Jake carried the unwieldy carton to the side of the house. As she passed the porch, the dog gave her a wag of his tail, but didn’t get up from his job of gnawing on the bone.
“What in the world is that?” Kelli asked as Jake lowered the box to the ground.
He started and whirled around. “God, Kell, give me a heart attack, why don’t you?”
She drew closer and looked at the picture on the side of the box. “A dog house? You bought a dog house?”
“What?” Jake said in an aggrieved tone. “I had to get Toby someplace to stay.”
“His name is not Toby.”
“Not Toby?” Jake repeated, shaking his head. “I don’t know, Kelli, Not Toby is kind of a strange name. The other dogs might make fun of him.”
Kelli rolled her eyes. “I’m really impressed that you’re trying so hard to get rid of this dog that you went out and bought him a house.”
“I had to give him a home outdoors or the next thing I know, you’ll have him sleeping in the house. And you know whose bed he would decide would be a perfect spot for him.”
“Oh. I see.” Kelli nodded wisely.
“I have to put it together, but look.” Jake pointed to the side of the box. “It’s insulated, so it won’t get too hot. I’m going to set it on this side of our house, where it’ll have shade in the afternoons. And you can prop these flaps open so air can circulate. It sits on little feet so it’s up off the ground, and it’s waterproof.” Jake looked so boyishly pleased with himself, it was hard as hell not to hug him.
“Oh, well, waterproofing is something you really need to have in Arizona,” Kelli teased.
“Ah, but best…” Jake swept his hand to the picture on the other end of the box. “It has a little solar powered fan.”
“A fan? Oh, Jake…” Kelli began to laugh.
“Yeah, well, I can’t let Toby get heatstroke, now, can I?”
“Stop calling him Toby,” she said, but her laughter spoiled the effect. Why did Jake have to make it so hard to not like him?
Jake was tearing open the carton and pulling out the pieces, including an instruction sheet, which he tossed on the ground. Kelli picked it up. “I take it you’re not going to follow the directions.”
“You know me; I’m winging it.” He turned his head to grin at her. “Unless, of course, someone wants to help…”
Kelli lifted an eyebrow. “I have work to do, you know.” Though, frankly, this sounded more fun than looking at spreadsheets.
“Come on, Kell… you know how much you like to tell me what to do.”
“Well, it is always enjoyable to watch you hammer your thumb or try to force a bolt into the wrong hole.” Kelli studied the instructions. “How are you able to fix the porch steps or lay Gran’s deck, but you won’t look at how to put something together?”
“That’s easy. I’ve watched people build stuff. I used to help Pops tinker around. But these?” He pointed a triangular piece of plastic at the sheet in Kelli’s hand. “They’re all piece A and bolt L and arrows pointing at little drawings that you can’t tell which side they’re talking about, and I just want to stick the screwdriver through my eye.”
“I kind of like figuring them out. They’re like a jigsaw puzzle.”
“Yeah, I hate those, too.” Jake laid out the pieces, studying them. “I think this is the little flap, and it goes...”
“Wait.” Kelli sat down beside him. “You have to start with the A pieces.”
“Of course I do.” He sighed. “Okay, rule lady, read me the instructions.”
“It looks like all you need is a screwdriver and one of those little metal things with a weird-shaped end.”
He turned and looked at her. “I love it when you get all technical on me. Are you talking about an Allen wrench?”
“Maybe?” She pointed to a picture on the sheet.
“Yeah, that’s an Allen L-wrench.”
“Looks more like a Z to me. There’s a tool box in the supply room. I’ll go get it.” She started to rise.
Jake motioned her back down and stood up himself. “Hey, I’m prepared. Stay here. I have a tool box in the car.”
He went back to the SUV and returned a few moments later with a plastic box, which he opened and laid down on the ground beside him.
“You have a battery-operated screwdriver set?” Kelli said. “That doesn’t seem fair.”
“You are so weird.” He gave her a little smirk.
“Look who’s talking.” Kelli handed him the back and side of the doghouse.
“What do you mean? I’m not weird,” Jake responded as he placed them together.
“Umm. Who is it that eats pineapple on pizza?” Kelli handed him the long A bolts.
“Lots of people. Also, it’s good.”
“Pizza is Italian and pineapple is Hawaiian, and the two should never meet.”
“Yeah, well, who…” He pushed the button on the screwdriver, and nothing happened. “Damn it.” He pushed again. “Battery’s dead.”
“Looks like you’ll have to exert all that energy turning the screwdriver by hand,” Kelli commiserated, shaking her head.
“I think I can manage.”
Kelli watched the bunching of the muscles in his forearm as Jake twisted the screwdriver. In the Arizona sun, it didn’t take long for his skin to be misted with sweat. Her mouth went dry. Maybe watching Jake work wasn’t such a good idea. His dark brown hair had fallen over his forehead and was getting in his eyes. Annoyed, Jake pushed it back. He obviously hated it, but Kelli had always liked it a little long and getting caught in the thick lashes that surrounded his blue eyes.
Kelli cleared her throat and tore her gaze away. “I asked Gran about a vet today.”
He cut her a look. “And you said I didn’t want Toby to leave.”
“Well, I never pretended I wanted Tob—the dog to stay.”
“Ha! See? I told you he was a Toby.”
“You are beyond annoying.”
“I know.” Why was that smirk of his so appealing? “So what did Gran say?”
“She recommended Dr. Sam that’s down the road from her, so I thought I’d take the dog over there tomorrow to make sure he has all his shots and flea medicine and all that.”
“Dr. Sam? Sounds like a talk show host.”
“Well, you know your grandmother; everyone has to have a nickname. Jakey.”
“Don’t start, um—” He paused, squinting. “Well, if I could think of any goofy nickname for Kelli, I’d say it.”
Kelli grinned. It was always fun getting the last word with Jake.
“How have team workouts been?” she asked. It was weird; after four years apart she still often thought about him. Wondered about his life. Now she had the opportunity to ask. And she’d rather talk to him than get back to the paperwork she’d been doing at the bar. When she and Jake weren’t fighting, they’d always had fun together.
“It’s been good. I like working out with the team. The guys my age are a pretty tight group, but they’re all friends with Asa, so I’m lucky he put in a word for me. I’m not sure how fast they would’ve come around otherwise. Especially with all the crap I did in the past.”
It was nice to hear Jake being so gracious. Acknowledging what a good friend he had in Asa and admitting that he’d screwed up before. When she’d left, he’d been deeply into his “everyone is against me, I did nothing wrong” phase. Kelli hadn’t been sure he’d ever go back to being the Jake she’d known in college. But apparently, he had. Without any help from her. She wasn’t sure which bothered her more, that he hadn’t needed her or that she felt guilty for not trying harder.
“Kowalski thinks we should just make Sugah the new official mascot.” Jake was still talking and she’d completely spaced on what he said while she was thinking about the past.
“She’s the kitten Justin rescued, right?”
“Yeah,” Jake responded. “I heard she was hiding under the bleachers for a while and would only come to him.”
“He’s sweet. Justin is always taking care of everyone but himself.”
“Sounds familiar.” Jake gave her a significant look and Kelli felt her heart skip a beat.
“If you’re talking about yourself, you are way deluded.” She joked, trying to break the tension hanging in the air between them.
“You know for a fact I’m talking about you. You always took care of me. Even when I didn’t deserve it. I feel like I didn’t appreciate it enough. At least, I didn’t tell you I appreciated it. But I did.” His blue eyes were pulling her further and further in. She’d have given anything for him to say all this four years ago. Now it was just confusing. And she couldn’t stop looking at his lips. They were so close. And she knew how good they would feel on hers. Kelli shook herself mentally.
“I’m not falling for this blatant play to get me to do all our dishes.” She gave him a playful shove on the shoulder, though his muscles were so hard it probably hurt her hand more than him. Then she purposefully turned her attention back to the doghouse.
They spent most of the rest of the afternoon in the same way, with Kelli reading the directions and handing Jake supplies, helping when it required two people. She felt a little guilty; she should probably go back to work. But, really, there wasn’t much paperwork left, and the bar didn’t get busy until the evening. Besides, she was just on the other side of the parking lot; they could come out to get her if there was some problem.
The only reason she felt guilty was because she was enjoying hanging out with Jake. Now that he’d seemed to have dropped his obnoxious superstar persona, he was almost likeable. Okay, he was likeable, even if he did grump a lot—it was almost always teasing.
Of course, she had to be careful. Hanging out with him was fine; letting herself get sucked back into a relationship was not. She had to protect her heart. It was dangerous to think too much about the way his long lashes shadowed his cheeks or how his muscles constricted and relaxed with his movements. She had to fight the urge to reach out and brush back the sweat-dampened hair that had fallen over his forehead. And when she found herself staring at the smooth skin of his neck and thinking how she would like to kiss him there… breathe in the scent of him… nip at his earlobe, she jerked her gaze away and perused the simple instruction sheet once again.
Jake finished and pumped his fist in the air. “Yes!”
Kelli gave him a round of applause. “It looks great.”
“Now all we have to do is get him to go in it.”
They strolled back to the porch, where the dog had finally tired of chewing on the rawhide bone and was stretched out on his side, asleep. Jake cocked an eyebrow. “Toby is really an ugly dog.”
“Hush. It’s just that he’s dirty and all.”
“Uh-huh,” Jake said, unconvinced.
“You know what we should do?”
“What?” Jake turned to look at her warily.
“He’s way too dirty to get into that beautiful clean house you brought him. We need to give the dog a bath.” She ignored his groan and headed into house for some soap. “Come on. It’ll be fun.”