The Heart - Kate Stewart Page 0,20
to you too, pretty one.”
“Well, I see you got my sister on a motorcycle, which is some feat considering she hates—”
“Where’s Grant?” I interrupted her with a warning in my tone.
Dallas looked at me oddly before she answered. “Dean has him. They’re grabbing dinner. I came to get my laptop.”
I nodded and motioned toward the door. “I’ve got her, go ahead.” Dallas looked between Jack and me, and I narrowed my eyes at her to show I meant business, which meant shit to her.
“Okay, I’m going, though if you ask me—”
“I never do,” I said without an ounce of politeness in my tone. Dallas chuckled and reached for Annabelle. “I’ve got her,” I snapped.
“Right,” Dallas said as she turned toward the building but not before a quick verbal jab. “Thanks, Rosie, you’re the best.”
Seventeen choice words I couldn’t say circled my head as I watched her retreating form with a glare. I absolutely hated that nickname and she knew that without a shadow of a doubt.
All too aware Jack was still standing there, I turned to him as I clutched Annabelle to me.
“Thank you for the ride. I’m sure you have stuff you need to do.”
He looked past me toward Dallas with a nod in her direction. “Are you dismissing me, Rose?”
“Of course not,” I said, a little too hastily.
“Well, just so we’re clear, you owe me a ride.”
“Of course.” My eyes remained trained on Annabelle though my thoughts were still on the possibility of a kiss. “Thanks again, Jack.”
Jack leaned in slowly just as the streetlamp clicked on above us, illuminating his face in soft white light. “Anytime,” Jack whispered in my ear, sending chills down my spine.
“Eye!” Annabelle exclaimed, sticking her tiny finger directly into Jack’s eye as he pulled away. I let out a roar of laughter as Jack bit back his curse, holding his damaged eye with the butt of his palm.
“Are you okay?” I asked as he peeked at us with his good eye.
“You Whittaker women... colorful,” he said with a smile and incredulous head shake.
“Technically, she’s half Martin, but we’ll take that compliment,” I said as I leaned into Anna to nuzzle her neck. “Won’t we, baby?”
Jack looked at me with clear regret. “See you tomorrow, Rose.”
“Thanks again, Jack. It was... stimulating.” Without waiting for his reaction, I turned to walk back into the building to join my sister. I watched her as she finished typing an email and then closed her laptop to look over at me.
“Seriously, could you have made that any more awkward? You’re such an ass!”
She blew me off the way she always did when I called her out on her behavior. “I can’t believe you got on the back of a motorcycle when you bought and tested four different car seats for the kids!”
“I bought a damned sports car too, got my first bikini wax, and spent a fortune on girl crap I didn’t need. Do you think I’m having a mid-life crisis at twenty-eight?”
Dallas’s jaw dropped as she studied me. “You got some sun, too. I was only gone a day. What in the hell happened?”
“I broke into my piggy bank and I lived a little,” I said, letting Annabelle down to Godzilla around the office.
“Good for you!” she said with a smile. “And Jack?”
“He’s not boring, but we still really haven’t had much of a conversation.”
Though he did just give me my first orgasm in years, and he’s practically seen me naked.
“I wasn’t really interested in knowing if you’d talked about the weather.”
“I’m well aware of that, dear sister,” I quipped with distaste.
“Jesus, that man is hawwwt. If I didn’t already have a perfectly good steak on my plate—”
“Don’t finish that sentence, Dr. Martin,” Dean said to his wife in warning as his son proceeded to fly into the room with an announcement. “We got echinni!”
“You did?” I said, just as animated.
Grant smiled up at me with a nod. “Mommy says it’s sooooo fatering. But Daddy says he no care what mommy says.”
No amount of restraint could keep the full belly laugh I had to let out as Grant’s parents stared each other down. I knew Dallas would burst if she didn’t get her digs in, and I was just about to start the countdown when I heard her sound off to Dean. “Your daughter just pooped. I fed her broccoli and breast milk for lunch. I’ll plate your food.” I couldn’t stop my laughter as Dean pulled his daughter into his arms. When the smell hit