up the muffins and coffee, Shea stopped. “What’s wrong? It’s no big deal.”
“I can’t go. The first time Stacey speaks? No way am I going to disappear for half the day to get a fucking phone. Screw it. I’ll just send an email on my laptop to my assistant.”
“Tell you what. Let’s call up the store in Dallas. You can buy it over the phone, and I’ll go pick it up for you.”
Jake’s mouth fell open. “I can’t ask you to do that for me.”
“You didn’t. I offered. And you’re right. No way in hell are you gonna leave your little princess alone today. So spend the day with her. Patty told me this morning Queenie had kittens in the barn. Take her to see them, and spend the day just wanderin’ around. I’ll be back before lunch, and then I can take her ridin’.”
“You’re too good to me. I-I don’t know what to say.” Jake shook his head.
“Just trying to help out a friend.” Shea hefted the tray, and Jake became distracted by the flex of those muscles across his shoulders. A powerful surge of lust rocketed through him, and Jake wished they were in his bed and he could again dig his fingers into that expanse of hot, sweaty skin and lick Shea all over.
“Thanks,” he said faintly. “I really appreciate it.”
Shea flashed him a wicked grin. “You can make it up to me tonight.”
The door slammed behind him, and Jake sank onto the sofa and closed his eyes. How the hell was he ever going to walk away from Shea and go home? Every day he found himself more and more tangled up in the man.
God, he was fucked.
Chapter Nineteen
“Shea, honey, what’re you doin’?”
He gulped down his coffee and wiped his mouth on his hand. It was only nine, and if he left now, he could be in Dallas and back before noon and have lunch with Jake and Stacey.
“Finishing my coffee.”
“Don’t be a wise guy. You know what I’m talkin’ ’bout.” Hands on her hips, Patty faced him with a frown, her eyes filled with questions. “Why are you runnin’ to Dallas to pick up a phone for Jake? At breakfast I heard him say he could wait until he got home.”
Unable to meet Patty’s eyes, Shea fished the truck keys from his pocket. “It’s no big deal, and I know he really needs—”
“You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”
His heart stuttered. “Don’t be ridiculous.” His laugh came out a little too loud and hearty, and from Patty’s skeptical expression, she didn’t believe him anyway. She always was too damn perceptive. She stood and waited, and he blinked first, feeling like that teenager again, caught sneaking in after curfew with beer on his breath.
“He’s special to me. I do care about him. And Stacey too. How could you not love her?”
“But I didn’t ask about her. ’Course she’s cute as a button. But I never seen you like this with any other guy. Certainly not with Toby.”
“No. Jake ain’t Toby. But he also isn’t ready for a relationship.”
“Have you discussed it?” Patty opened the stove, took out a tray filled with cookies, then slid another in to bake the brownies.
“Kinda. He mentioned his main focus is getting Stacey help, ’specially now that she’s started talkin’ and told him why she stopped.”
Patty’s eyes widened. “She did?”
Shea relayed what happened during the night, leaving out that he’d been in Jake’s bed when Terry called Jake, but once again Patty didn’t let him squirm away from facing the hard questions.
“So you were with Jake. In the middle of the night.” Her eyes sparkled. “And that ain’t a question either. I already know the answer.”
“Patty, what do you want from me?”
“I don’t want anything, honey, ’cept for you to be happy. And I think you want something from Jake you’re afraid of.”
“He—”
“Don’t tell me about what you think that man wants, because you haven’t seen how he looks at you.”
He waited as long as he could, but Patty was a master.
“How?” Was that hopeful voice his? But damn, he wanted to know.
“Like he’s starvin’ and you’re the only steak on the grill.” She put her hands on his shoulders. “You both have big responsibilities, but don’t allow that to rule your lives. You know what they say: ‘You don’t miss the water until the well runs dry.’ If you make the mistake of letting Jake walk away without lettin’ him know how you feel, you’ll regret it. If you really