Damn you, Maria. She was messing with his head, not to mention his nightlife.
Eight, maybe nine beers—maybe more—and two hours later, he’d danced with Rosie, Karen, and several women he’d never met before. All had been willing to go home with him, and he’d fully intended to end his night with one of them. He just couldn’t find the desire to follow through.
“Hit me,” he called to Buck, stumbling as he aimed for a bar stool.
The old man came over empty-handed. “I think you’ve had enough, son. You ain’t driving tonight, are you?”
Jake laughed. “How the hell you thunk . . . think I got here?”
“Still driving that Challenger?”
“Uh-huh.”
“They got special keys, don’t they? You know, cool ones with all those buttons you can push.”
He dug into his pocket, found the fob and stared at it, trying to bring it into focus. “Yep.”
“Let me see.”
Next thing Jake knew, Buck had his car keys and wouldn’t return them. “That was a dirty strick . . . trick. Gimme them back.”
“Nope. Never seen you drunk before, Jake. Don’t much like it. Now call a friend to come get you.”
Hell. He didn’t exactly have a friend. Well, the boss was a friend of sorts, but he wasn’t about to call him. If he called Saint, another sorta friend, he’d never hear the end of it. He could call any number of K2 employees, but didn’t want them talking about having to drive Romeo home. Rosie or one of the other girls would be more than happy to drive him, but they’d expect to come inside with him. Nah, not in the mood.
He fumbled for his cell and finding it, scrolled through the blurry numbers, flipped past Maria’s, then back to it. She was his friend, right? Why the hell not call her since she was the reason he was drunk. He pushed her number.
“Jake?”
“How’d ya know it’s me?”
“Ah, a little thing known as caller ID.”
“You’re being scar . . . shar . . . sar–cas–tic. It’s not becomer . . . becoming.”
“What’s wrong with you? You sound drunk.”
“You been talking to Buck?” He glared at the old man.
“Who?”
Jake handed the phone to Buck. “She wants to talk to you.”
Twenty minutes later, Maria, his friend, stood next to him. He grinned. “Hi, Sha . . . Chiquita, my best friend.”
She leaned away. “You smell like cigarettes.”
He grinned. “That’s ’cause I smoked some.”
“You don’t smoke.”
“Oh.”
She glanced at Buck. “What does he owe you?”
“He’s good for it, just get him home and put him to bed. You the reason he’s messed up?”
The two shared a look Jake couldn’t interpret before she turned to him and tilted her head, studying him. “I don’t know, am I?”
He nodded. “Yep.” Buck had told her to put him to bed. He liked the sound of that.
She put her hand on his leg and squeezed. “Come on, Tiger Toes, let’s get you home.”
“Kay.” He slid off the bar stool. Why did her hand feel so much better than Carly’s? Also, he was starting to like “Tiger Toes.” He really must be drunk.
Trying not to lean too heavily on her, he let Maria—his best friend in the world—lead him to his car. “Where’d ya get those?” he asked when she hit the button to unlock the Challenger.
“What, the keys?”
“Yep.”
She opened the passenger door and pushed him inside. “From Buck.”
Tomorrow he was going to kill the old man, but tonight he loved the sneaky bastard for getting Maria here. He just might love her, too. Tomorrow, he’d figure that one out. Looked like tomorrow was gonna be a busy day.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Missed you,” Jake said as she turned out of the parking lot, then he promptly fell asleep.
Maria didn’t like seeing him drunk, but couldn’t help liking the things he said when not at his best. He probably wouldn’t remember any of it when he sobered up. Unable to sleep, she’d been reading one of Dani’s books when he’d called. His slurred speech had alarmed her. In all the years she’d known him, she’d never seen him the slightest bit tipsy. What did it mean if he was in this state because of her?
She pulled up in front of his condo. “We’re here.” He responded with a snore. She turned off the iginition and twisted in her seat. Half tempted to take a picture of him drunk with his mouth hanging open, she shook her head and resisted the urge. If Jamie was right and Jake was half in love with her, then it was time he stopped fighting it. He was flying out on Wednesday, and she wanted things settled between them before he left.