AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The sound of it had a smile tugging at her lips.
“Yeah, what do you think I’m up to?” she repeated. “Surely you have an opinion on what it could be. ”
He was fun to talk to; she’d known that years ago, after he’d first taken up residence at the inn.
“Sweetheart, when it comes to a Mackay, it could be anything and everything,” he drawled.
“You’re talking about my sisters, not me,” she surmised playfully, though her tone was completely serious. “I’m the quiet Mackay, remember?”
She almost gave in to a light laugh at his disbelieving snort. “Quiet one? Nah, you’re just the sneaky one. ”
She shook her head at him as she began folding her silk-and-lace panties and bras and placing them in the small suitcase.
“Shouldn’t you be in bed asleep?” she asked as she noticed the time was well after midnight. “I thought you worked on Mondays?”
“Inspections tomorrow,” he told her. “My foreman and the job supervisor know what they’re doing. I think I’ll take the day off. ”
Oh, great. Just what she needed: Jedediah suspicious and possibly keeping an eye on her.
“The job is near completion then?” His company, along with several others, was building the new industrial office park and warehouses outside of town. Jed’s family’s company, Booker and Son’s Construction, had won the bid to build several of the huge industrial buildings.
“About halfway,” he answered her. “You get to put up with me another couple of years whether you like it or not. ”
“I think Mom has adopted you,” Piper reflected as she carefully folded one of the frilly skirts and its matching bag that she’d made into the luggage next. “You’ve been here since the inn opened. ”
“Yeah, and she gave us a hell of a deal for the long term,” he agreed.
“I’ll tell her to consider raising the rent,” she threatened, holding back her own laughter as his chuckle echoed across the line.
“I think she wants to adopt me and Elijah,” Jed teased her. “She likes us. ”
“Not after Brogan took Eve out of the house,” she informed him. “She’s still not happy over that one. ”
Neither were Dawg and their cousins, Piper thought. As a matter of fact, “irate” was a mild description of how they felt about it.
Mercedes Mackay was taking it particularly hard, though. Letting her daughter go hadn’t been easy for Mercedes, despite the fact that she dearly loved the man Eve was currently living with.
“We’re not related to the bastard,” he said with a grunt.
“Aren’t you?” she questioned him lightly. “You could have fooled me. You, Elijah, and Brogan play a good game, Jed, but I’m starting to wonder if you’re not brothers or something. The three of you are definitely cut from the same cloth. ”
“Meaning?” Now, wasn’t that tone just slightly arrogant?
“Dominant, domineering, stubborn, intractable, opinionated—shall I go on?”
“Hell,” he muttered, though she caught the slight vein of amusement in his tone. “I was just hoping for a little sex, Piper, not a complete assassination of my character here. ”
“Phone sex? Why, Jed, I’m a good girl,” she exclaimed as though scandalized. “I can’t believe you’d call me for such a thing. ” Her voice dropped. Piper let it become breathy as she allowed herself to remember his kiss, his touch. “It’s none of your business if I’m lying here playing with just the most amazing little toy. ”
“Huh?”
His surprised little exclamation had satisfaction curling her lips.
“Shame on you, Jedediah Booker,” she chastised him, barely holding back her laughter. “My momma would be heartbroken to know what a dirty dog you are. Just simply heartbroken. ”
“What kind of toy?” The growl in his voice had her stomach tightening. “Come on, Piper; just tell me what it is. What are you doing with it?”
The wicked, sensual, sexual pitch of his voice made her wish she were playing with a toy.
