The sound of chairs scraping and running feet had Jess’s head snapping up. Her three friends charged in to join Phil.
Sabina literally dived onto her desk, knocking papers and pens onto the floor. “You punched her?”
“I was startled when I saw her. I didn’t mean to.”
“Did you make her cry? Bleed? Sob softly while begging you not to hurt her anymore?”
“What is wrong with you?”
Sabina took Jess’s hand. “I just love you so much. I am so proud, my friend.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Show her. Show her how proud!”
The other three ran out of the room and Jess jumped up, yelling, “Dear God, no! Not the pom-poms!”
Ronnie bit into her grilled cheese sandwich and said around a mouthful of gooey food, “Why do you want to know about the Wilsons?”
“Can you never just answer a question?”
Ronnie Lee Reed knew something about everybody. She didn’t try to know these things, but she found out anyway. She was always a wealth of information when it came to the Smith Packs countrywide, and Smitty had used her knowledge time and time again.
“All right. All right. No need to get snappy. The Wilson Pack is small and ornery. They are distant cousins of the Smiths, but I don’t know the bloodline.”
“What about Walt?”
“Unpleasant. Rude. A real redneck. Last I heard he’d taken over his daddy’s trucking company, but he ran that into the ground.”
“You think he needs money?”“He always needs money. He has a real nasty gambling habit. And he doesn’t borrow from full-humans. He borrows from bears. Polar bears.”
“That’s stupid.”
“Yeah, one time they broke both his legs when he didn’t pay up. His mate finally had to borrow from her own kin.”
“What do you know about his mate?”
Ronnie rolled her eyes. “Polly June Taylor. A most unpleasant woman. But she’s loyal to him.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Anything I can help with?”
“Don’t know yet.”
“Well, you just let me know.”
They ate in silence for a few minutes until Ronnie asked, “So that’s her, huh?”
“That’s who?”
“Jessie Ann. I saw her on the monitor at the museum, but I didn’t have time to ask you about her.”
With such a short amount of time to pull everything together for that museum job, Ronnie Lee offered to help out. Mostly she’d been handling their payroll, but she did a damn fine job of working the surveillance truck too.
“Yeah, that was Jessie Ann.”
“And then she shows up at the office and decks your sister.”
“Yup, she sure did.”
“It seems you’ve been seeing a lot of Jessie Ann.”
“Maybe.”
“Even after she popped your sister?”
“Definitely after she popped my sister.”
Ronnie laughed. “You Smith males do like ’em mean. So what’s going on with you two, Bobby Ray?”
“I don’t know. I like her.”
“You always liked her.”
“Yeah, but... It’s different now.”
“Of course it is. You’re adults now. But don’t play with her, Bobby Ray.”
“Why do you think I would?”
“I don’t think you’d mean to, but don’t string her along. Since I can remember, when I’d see her in the school library reading those ridiculous romance books, that girl has had ‘forever’ written across her forehead. I’d hate to see her hurt ’cause you’re just scratching an old itch.”
“I can’t promise anything.”
“Then just don’t be stupid.”
Smitty smiled and winked. “I’ll work on that.”
“Stop. Please stop. For the love of all that’s holy, stop!”
But they wouldn’t. They just kept going.
While Jess sat on Phil’s desk, the rest of them shook their pom-poms and cheered. May actually did a split. She was a very flexible gal. Thankfully, Jess hadn’t brought the pets with her because the additional dog howls would have made her insane.
They wouldn’t even have those stupid pom-poms if it hadn’t been for her dumb idea after too many dark truffles one late night. “I know! Let’s go to the Halloween party as Satan’s cheerleaders!”
“I’m leaving,” she warned her friends.
“One more,” May begged. “Just one more.”
They turned away from her and started another cheer that didn’t remotely rhyme and involved way too much violence.
Placing her hands on the desk behind her, Jess relaxed back. “Hey, Smitty.”
“Hey.”
Then Jess screamed and scrambled off the desk. “Where the hell did you come from?”
“The Lord.”
She glared at him. He stood there, that perfect ass resting against Phil’s desk, his arms crossed over that massive chest. He’d even taken off his jacket. How could they not notice the man in the room?
Taking a deep breath to calm her shattered nerves, Jess demanded, “Why are you here?”
“Two reasons.” He looked at her friends. “What y’all cheering about?”
“Nothing,” they all automatically answered. All except Sabina who said, “Actually—”
But May slamming her heel into Sabina’s instep elicited a lovely silent scream.
May gave her prettiest smile. “How are you, Bobby Ray?”
“Fine. And you?”
“Pretty good. Thank you kindly for asking.”
Unable to tolerate the Southern politeness anymore, Jess snarled, “What two reasons?”
Taking his time answering, Smitty looked her up and down before saying, “First, I heard from Mace that y’all want us to secure your den. He went over to check out the location, but we have one problem.”
“Which is?”
“The pups. The mobile ones are going to be a problem. Especially if we’re going to do a top-to-bottom overhaul.”
“A top to bottom?” She figured a couple of cameras and stronger doors. “Why are you doing that?”
“’Cause y’all need it.”
“And how much is that going to cost us?”
“A lot.”
Jess’s eyes narrowed. “So what do you want?”
“Any way you can give us complete access to your house for a few days. The less distractions, the quicker we can get this done.”
“I’m sure there is. We’ll come up with something and let you know. And the second thing you came here for?”
“When can I expect you tonight?”
Presumptuous timber wolf! “Who said I was coming over tonight?”
“I did.”
Jess folded her arms across her chest. “So sorry to disappoint, but I have plans tonight.”
“Plans?” She could see his entire body tense even though he never moved his ass from that desk. “What plans?”
“Plans with my Pack—”
“You should come,” Phil cut in.
And all of them turned to him, shocked.
“I should?” Smitty asked.
“Yup, definitely.”
The man truly was evil. Evil incarnate.
Smitty glanced at her. “Jessie Ann?”
“Sure,” she said after clearing her throat. “You should come.”
“No—”
But Sabina cut May’s plea short by slapping her hand over the woman’s face. “We’d love for you to come,” Sabina chimed in, even while she struggled with May. “Yes, you will be there. Nine o’clock.”
Phil jotted down the club information and handed it to Smitty. “Yup, nine o’clock.”Smitty stared at the piece of paper. “Caleb’s Corner? Never heard of it.”
“It’s a nice place. You’ll love it.”
We’re all going to hell.
Jess could tell by the look on his face that Smitty knew damn good and well they were setting him up, but he had no idea how. And Jess knew that after tonight, Smitty might actually end it all with her. He might never speak to her again. Ever.
Smitty slipped the paper into his pocket and slowly walked over to her. “See you tonight,” he said.
“Yeah, see ya tonight.”
Then his hands gently grasped her jaw, framing her face. No way. He wouldn’t kiss her in front of her Pack, would he? They’d never said anything about keeping their sexual relationship secret, but Smitty had never been an outwardly affectionate male to the women he slept with. At least not when she knew him. But before she could analyze it anymore, he was kissing her. It was a sweet kiss but, at the same time, claiming. Making it clear to anyone within a thirty-mile radius exactly whom Jess belonged to. Whom she belonged to at the moment anyway.
After he’d completely melted her bones, Smitty stepped back and winked at her. He turned and headed to the elevator, glaring at Phil the entire time until the elevator doors closed.
An awkward and large silence followed his departure. Until Sabina stated the obvious, “He’s worried about you and Phil?”
“I guess so,” Jess replied, completely fascinated. “It was a definite Smith ‘this is my bone’ move.”
Jess and Sabina stared at each other for several seconds before they burst out laughing.
“Me? And Phil?”
Sabina released May so she could bang on the desk. “That’s hilarious!”
Phil cleared his throat. “I don’t appreciate the humor here. I’m definitely a threat to the male population.”
That just pulled more laughter from his wife and best friend.