After that, we didn't talk for a while. And when our phones kept buzzing, I opened the door, gently dropped them on the grass, and then shut the truck door. For that precious few moments in time, I didn't want to hear even one bit of bad news.
He kissed me, and I kissed him, and we murmured silly, meaningless things to each other and started breathing hard. Just when I was to the point of dragging him into his house to have my way with him, we heard a truck pull up next to us.
I jumped out of Jack's lap and tried to make my hair look like he hadn't had his hands in it for—I glanced at the clock—oh my goodness, fortwenty minutes!
Jack just grinned, smug male satisfaction spreading across his face. "You love me."
"Jack! Shut up and open the window. That's Lucky!"
Instead, he leaned forward, as if to kiss me again, and I put a hand on his chest to keep him back. "Stop! It's broad daylight!"
"Say you love me," he murmured.
"Jack!"
"Say you love me, or I won't open the window."
I peeked past him at Lucky, who'd pulled up next to Jack's side of the truck and was gawking at us.
Oh, boy.
"I love you, but we are going to have a talk about—"
He cut me off by kissing me again, and then he turned and rolled down his window while I was still breathless.
"Hey, Lucky. Tess loves me."
I moaned and put my hands over my face. This was not how I'd envisioned the day a man told me he loved me for the first time in my life.
On the other hand … I was feeling kind of smug, too.
I had to smile, because love was wonderful, and Jack was wonderful, and even if the town burned down, we'd still have each other. Why was I embarrassed?
Lucky hesitated. "Okay. Tess, you all right over there?"
I leaned forward and smiled at him. "Jack said it first."
"I did," Jack agreed, catching my hand in his and pulling me closer. "I totally did."
"Um, okay," Lucky said slowly. "I'm asking this in the most respectful possible way, but are you two drunk?"
23
Jack
Guy rule #1: It's inconvenient to talk about feelings in the middle of a crisis of catastrophic proportions
I tightened my hand on Tess's, unable to stop smiling, even though Lucky was still staring at us and waiting for an answer on the drunkenness issue.
"Not drunk," I said, refusing to even consider responses like "drunk on love."
Argh.
I'd been officially in love for less than an hour, and I was already falling apart. I needed to snap the heck out of it.
"Status report," I said briskly, and a flash of relief crossed Lucky's face. The troops never liked to see their commanders do or say anything out of the ordinary. It was … unsettling for them. Especially in a crisis.
"Dallas and Austin found Mickey's phone. The bad news is that it was in his house. He left it there when he went wherever he is."
