Raging Fires by Candace Camp

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jake went outside and threw an old tennis ball for the dog for a while. He should go over to Gran’s and dig through his things. He was sure he had an old Frisbee or two there. Maybe he’d get that baseball bat too. Because you never knew. Toby wasn’t much of a guard dog—no surprise there. And Jake wasn’t going to scare off anybody with a Swiffer.

After Toby got tired, Jake roamed around inside the house, bored and restless. He couldn’t stop thinking about Kelli and her apology. As it turned dark and motorcycles began to show up in the parking lot, he decided he’d go over and have a steak at the Blue.

It wasn’t crowded when he went in. It was still early. But Man-bun Tyler was perched on one of the stools in front of the bar, where Kelli was serving. Carly came to the table to take Jake’s order, another woman trailing along after her.

“Newbie?” he asked Carly, nodding toward the woman lurking behind her.

“Yeah. Jake, this is Ashley. She just started today. Ashley, this is Ja—”

“You’re Jake Riley,” Ashley said in tones of awe, her eyes big. “Wow. My dad used to take us to see you play when I was in middle school.”

“Oof—now I feel old,” he said, but he grinned at her. It was nice to meet someone who remembered him—and didn’t think he was a massive jerk.

Carly took his order, and he watched them walk away. Ashley was cute, but really petite, with a shy smile. He wondered if she could do the kind of heavy lifting Kelli did at the bar. He also didn’t feel real sure that Ashley was up to handling a bunch of bikers. She couldn’t be more than twenty –one or two if she’d been in middle school when he was a quarterback at ASU.

He turned his gaze back to the bar. Kelli was pulling a pitcher of beer, but she was watching him. As soon as she saw he’d caught her, she turned away. Tyler was yakking away at her. Kelli gave Tyler a distracted smile and handed the pitcher to a waitress.

The newbie was allowed to carry out the food, apparently, because Ashley brought him his beer. She stayed for a minute, talking about one of his old games.

“Wow, I’m impressed,” Jake told her. “I barely remember my games.” Which was not true; he suspected that when he was in a nursing home and couldn’t remember his name, he’d remember the USC game his senior year.

Carly hustled by, jerking her head at Ashley to follow her. Jake’s eyes went back to the bar. Kelli was frowning at him. What now? Her gaze went from him to Ashley and Carly. Hmm. That was interesting. Was she jealous? A smile tugged at his lips.

He noticed that Carly brought out his food, not Ashley. But it was Ashley who came by later to pick up the empty plate. She started talking about her younger brother, who was playing center at one of the local high schools.

“Ashley.” Kelli suddenly appeared beside Ashley, a tight smile on her face that Jake could have told Ashley meant she was on thin ice. “You’re supposed to be training with Carly.”

“Sorry,” Ashley said, not sounding it. “I was just excited to see Jake Riley in here.”

“Aren’t we all?” Kelli said drily. “But we are going to be slammed Saturday, and you need all the training you can get.”

“Bye, Jake.” Ashley smiled at him and walked off, giving him a little hip action.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t come in here and flirt with our waitresses.”

“We weren’t flirting,” Jake told her. Well, he wasn’t. Ashley? Well, yeah, she was flirting a little. “She was just telling me how she used to watch me play.”

Kelli rolled her eyes. “What? When she was in elementary school?”

“Ouch.” Jake sucked in a breath like she’d stung him.

“She’s only twenty-one years old, Jake. You should hit on people your own age.”

“I wasn’t hitting on her,” Jake said. “No reason for you to be jealous, Kell.” He grinned at her.

“Oh, get that stupid smug grin off your face. I’m not jealous.” Her eyes flashed, which, like so many of her expressions, went straight through his veins like fire.

“Sure. And I’m not playing for the Phoenix Pumas.” He continued to smirk at her in the way he knew was guaranteed to drive up her irritation level.

“I’m not jealous,” she repeated slowly, as if he’d been too dim-witted to understand her the first time. “I just don’t like you coming in and distracting my waitresses.”

“Aren’t they our waitresses?” Jake asked innocently.

She heaved a sigh. “That makes it even worse for you to be flirting with them. You have heard of sexual harassment lawsuits, haven’t you?”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Kelli, lighten up.” He stood up. Now she was beginning to seriously piss him off. “I wasn’t harassing her. Or even mildly flirting with her. You’re just suffering from a major case of sexual frustration.”

“What?” Her voice shot up a register.

“You know. You’re all revved up and nowhere to go.”

She ground her teeth. “I am not. It looks bad, Jake. It’s embarrassing. Everyone knows you’re married to me and here you are, flaunting your… your…”

“Flaunting?” His eyebrows shot up. “What are you, a Victorian heroine?”

“No. I’m your wife.”

“Really? You’re not my wife. You threw that out the window four years ago. You are my pretend wife. It’s a pretend marriage. You think we’re going to just be celibate the whole year?”

“That’s exactly what I think.”

“Oh, for…” He set his jaw. “That’s ridiculous.”

“I took vows, Jake.”

“Yeah, I can tell how much you care about your wedding vows.”

“So the fact that we’re married means nothing to you. You’re free as a bird to do whatever you please, sleep with whoever you want.”

“Yeah.” He met her fierce glare with one of his own.

“So you’d be okay with me going out on a date?”

“Sure,” he shot back. “I don’t care. In fact, it’d be great. You might relax if you were getting some.”

“Okay.” Her voice was deadly, and a little feeling of uh-oh ran up his back. “Then that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

Kelli whipped around and stalked off to the bar. Jake stared as she walked up to Man-Bun and tapped him on the arm. Tyler turned, and Kelli said something to him, smiling up at him, her hand on his arm. Then Tyler’s face lit up, and he said “Yes!” so loudly Jake could hear it all the way across the room. Kelli walked off to the kitchen, not looking back, while Jake stood there, stunned.

She’d done it. Jesus Christ. She’d actually done it.