He rubbed his hands over my shoulders as he kissed the crown of my head. "What's not to like?"
"I always knew I liked you," she said, laughing.
Behind me, I heard the door open and then close. Footfalls on the floor. "It's good you learn the truth now, Harniczek. There's no tearing these two apart. The best you can do is hold on and hope for some scraps, even if that scrap means being the ass-end of a group hug."
"I don't think you should be telling anyone how to hold on," I said to Jackson. "Not when you're throwing Annette off beds and nearly cracking her skull open."
"Cheese!" Annette shouted, taking me and Jed by the hands. "It's time for cheese. We're going into the kitchen, we're eating cheese, and we're not talking about bedroom injuries."
"Jesus, Annie. Tell me it's better," Jackson insisted.
"Is that not how dinner parties work?" Jed asked.
"It's fine. Stop asking," Annette replied.
"Well, I'm gonna ask," Jackson grumbled as he made a beeline for the refrigerator. As he swung it open, he jerked his chin toward Jed. "What'll it be? Beer or wine?"
Jed tapped my wrist. "What would you like?"
There they were again, emotions like storm waves against a sea wall.
"I've got Brooke covered, don't you worry," Jackson called. "Beer or wine, Harniczek?"
"Beer," he replied, staring at me with a half-smile that pried something loose inside me. At the rate I was going, it was probably a bone spur or a blood clot. "Thanks."
Jackson popped the tops on a pair of beers, setting one in front of Jed before he busied himself collecting white wine and two glasses. When he'd delivered the wine, he pointed his beer bottle at me and Jed. "All ribbing aside, what's the story here? When did this start?"
At the same time as I said, "Last month," Jed responded with "Last year."
I turned to face him. "That's a bit of a stretch, don't you think?"
He leaned close to me, bent his head, dropped his gaze to my neck. "Yeah, I think it was a stretch," he whispered. "Took some getting used to, didn't it, Bam?"
Heat washed over my face and down my chest. I wasn't sure, but it seemed as though I was blushing all the way to my toes. I'd never reacted that way before and I wasn't keen on doing it again. "You're right and it's good of you to open up about your complete inability to engage in foreplay."
He edged farther into my space, pressed his lips to the base of my throat. Without thinking, my hand went to the back of his head, my fingers sliding through his wavy strands. "You weren't complaining last night."
"That's because I started without you," I replied.
"As if I could stop you," he rumbled.
"That's enough cuddling in my kitchen for now," Annette called as she shoved her hands into oven mitts. "You're melting the buttercream off my cake."
When Jed swung an arm around the back of my chair, Jackson wagged his beer bottle in our direction again. "I suppose we can live without a firm date, though the lack of clarity is concerning."
"Would you stop it?" Annette said to him as she bent to retrieve a dish from the oven. "You're not working a case here, Jackson." She set the dish down, shucked her mitts. "Let's move this into the dining room. JJ, you grab the salad. Jackson, you're responsible for the pasta. Watch out for the sauce, there's a lot on there. I'm taking the bread basket and leaving the extra meatballs in the kitchen because those are for lunch tomorrow."
I held out my hands as the men followed her orders. "What should I bring?"
"The wine, sweetie. You bring the wine. I think you're gonna need it," she replied.
I didn't want Annette to be right about that.
For the first few minutes, we filled our plates and spoke only of passing one thing or another. It was perfect. Jed and I didn't contradict each other. He didn't lick my neck in front of our friends and I didn't touch his hair. No one was yelling and the buttercream was safe.
Then, Annette asked, "What's new at the tavern these days, JJ?"
"The beauty of the tavern is that nothing has been new for decades," he replied. "It saves me the trouble of telling people to go to hell when they complain about hating change."
