All Jacked Up Read Online Free Page B

she said insistently. “Darcy. That is my name. O’Connor. You never bothered to ask what the last name is.”
    Hell and damnation. What was he supposed to do in a situation like this? Shake hands?
    “Jack Manning,” he told her.
    She stamped a small foot. “I know what your name is, you idiot. What I’d like to do is forget it.”
    “Listen.” He scratched his head. “I, um, want to thank you.”
    She tilted her head. “For what? The ride home or the sex?”
    Oh. Right. The sex. His body suddenly got hot all over as he remembered just how outstanding the sex had been. And with this woman who was so far from his type—his dream girl—it was not to be believed. He wished he could remember exactly how much he’d had to drink. And what stupid things he might have said.
    That aside, he now had this particular situation to deal with. What was the proper etiquette here?
    “Would you, um, like a cup of coffee?”
    “Coffee?” She looked as if she’d rather have a pickaxe to bury in his head. Then, as if she’d thought better of it, “Yes. Black. You can fix it while I get dressed.”
    That was his cue to exit. He moved hastily into the kitchen. Mr Big, who apparently had more sense than he did, came in from the screened porch where he’d been waiting for the day’s action to begin. Usually he was up on Jack’s chest doing his ecstatic kneading and meowing for breakfast. Today he’d somehow known enough to stay out of the way.
    Jack reached down and petted him, then filled his food and water bowls. Then he fumbled in the kitchen grinding beans, pouring water and waiting for the coffee to brew. Should he fill a cup for her? Find a travel mug?
    Well, Manning, you’ve certainly got yourself in a spot here. Too bad I can’t blink my eyes and make her disappear.
    Thank god it was Saturday morning and he didn’t have to work. Oh, wait. He worked from home, running his many financial services operations. But at least he had nothing critical simmering on the front burner at the moment.
    He listened for sounds from the bathroom, wondering if she’d shower first or wait until she got home. The image of her naked under the water spray as she’d been the night before hit him with the punch of a fist. Remembering the little droplets of water on her silken skin, beading on her pert breasts and her dusky nipples, glistening on the curls covering her mound made his cock instantly stand at attention.
    Shit, shit, shit.
    While he was trying to get his body to behave and figure out the next order of business he heard steps behind him and there was Darcy, wearing the tight jeans, the sweater in the strange shade of green and the high shiny boots with the killer heels. He didn’t know if she’d tried to do anything with her hair and failed or if it was supposed to stick up the way it did. Over one shoulder she carried a very large tote.
    “I followed the smell of the coffee,” she said, unsmiling.
    “Oh, ah, yes. Right. It’s ready. I didn’t know if you wanted to drink it here or if you wanted it to go.”
    “Do you have a Styrofoam cup? If you do I’ll take it to go. I’m sure you want me out of here as much as I want to leave.”
    While he dug through his pantry closet for a cup she said, “You’ll have to drive me to Eli’s.”
    Jack nearly dropped the coffee carafe. Drive her? In his car? She wasn’t just leaving?
    “I brought you home in your car last night,” she reminded him. “I can do a lot of things but driving two cars at once isn’t one of them.” She raked her eyes over him when he handed her the Styrofoam cup. “You might want to put on something a little more appropriate than that. Unless you don’t mind advertising your morning hard-on.”
    His face heated and he turned away from her. “Nothing you haven’t already seen,” he muttered.
      “And don’t intend to ever see again,” she snapped back. “So how about it? Can we get going any time soon?”
    “Five minutes and we’ll be