Jackrabbit Junction Jitters by Ann Charles Read Free Book Online Page A

often?” Mac asked as he tucked Claire into
his chest while swaying to Linda Ronstadt’s sappy finale to a perfectly good
Eagles’s tune. She felt supple and smooth in all the right places, despite the
slight tension in her back and shoulders.
    “Not often enough.” Her breath heated his shoulder through
his shirt. “You’re early.”
    Judging from her reluctance to meet his gaze, that wasn’t a
good thing. His slip of the tongue Wednesday morning seemed to have stuck in
her brain and festered. Shit.
    “You make it tough to stay away,” he said.
    He’d pushed hard, working late last night, and left straight
from the job site, driving too fast through the rain and wind.
    “Did Gramps tell you where we were?”
    “No. I haven’t made it out to Ruby’s yet. I saw Mabel in the
parking lot and figured it was you.”
    Good ol’ sleek and sexy Mabel—Harley’s chopped top,
two-door, 1949 Merc. Dressed to thrill, with her player spoke wheels, skirts on
back, shaved door handles, side pipes, and custom flame paint job, she was a
hot rodder’s pinup. Just the sight of her buxom chrome grill gleaming under the
orange parking lot lights had made Mac itch to crawl behind the wheel, hit the
open road, and bury the gas pedal. But first, he needed to see Claire naked
again.
    She leaned away from him, staring up at him with those sexy
dark eyes of hers fringed with even darker lashes. “Mac, do you realize we’re
slow dancing to ‘Boot Scootin’ Boogie’?”
    A couple of girls jiggled and whooped on the dance floor
next to them.
    “Yes.” He pulled her closer and brushed his lips across her
temple. A whiff of her watermelon-scented shampoo reminded him of how much he’d
missed her in his bed these last few nights, of how bland his life was without
her in it driving him nuts.
    Claire let out a shaky sigh, the kind she usually saved for
under the covers. His body hardened as if on cue, his heart picking up speed.
    “Aren’t you going to ask me who I was dancing with?” she
asked.
    “No.”
    Getting Claire alone, preferably with a bed close by,
dominated his thoughts at the moment.
    “Why not?”
    She’d let her hair down tonight. The dark, wavy tresses
shined, curling around her shoulders, softening her usually tough exterior. He
wanted to take her somewhere shadow-filled and explore more of her softness. Pushing
aside her silky brown tendrils, his mouth found the sweet spot right behind her
ear.
    “Were you attracted to him?” he whispered against her skin.
    He felt her shiver under his lips. “He was very charming.”
    “Undoubtedly.” Charm came complimentary with his white
Stetson and ostrich-skin cowboy boots.
    “And definitely good-looking. Even Kate was making googly
eyes at him.”
    He dragged his mouth away from her skin and stared into her
brown eyes, searching for signs of one of her half-truths. “Claire, answer the
question. Were you attracted to him?”
    “I might’ve been if you weren’t in the picture.” Her voice
sounded all husky, like when he joined her in the shower last Friday morning
before work and occupied her until the water ran cold.
    “But I am in the picture.” He slipped his hands under her Speedy
Gonzales T-shirt, needing to touch bare skin, settling for her smooth back for
now. “And I trust you.”
    “Why?”
    “You know why. Do you want me to say it again?”
    “No, don’t.” She covered his lips with her palm.
    How such an intelligent woman could suffer from such acute
symptoms of Commitment Phobia was beyond him. They needed to work through this
little problem to keep the fissures from spreading, but not in the middle of
the dance floor at The Shaft. Maybe later tonight in bed with the lights off—where
eye contact wasn’t required.
    He pulled her hand away and nodded in Kate’s direction. “I
think your cowboy is hitting on your sister.”
    “He’s not my … what?” Claire looked at Kate. “That figures.
They always go for Kate in the end.”
    “Not