“Can one of them give you a ride to my folks’ place, then?”
Ahh, crap.That’swhat he was getting at.
Too bad.
“Uh, yeah. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind,” she answered, a little deflated.
“Okay. Then I have a few more pertinent questions.”
“Shoot,” she said.
“Did you bring enough stuff to stay for a while? Do you need anything from home? Do you want me to bring the dogs? As soon as I’m on the road, should I call my mother and let her know to expect you?”
Jett quickly got over her disappointment.
Trask was rambling, and that meant he was out of his comfort zone. For a man who’d declared himself to always be in control, it sounded like he was currently slipping off those very strict rails. For her.
She wouldn’t tease him about it.
This time.
She’d play it straight so he wouldn’t clam up.
“Yes to everything,” she answered his query patiently, “I’m sure I can get a ride to your mom and dad’s place. I brought enough stuff to see me through a couple weeks, and youshouldbring my dogs and all their belongings.”
Crap.There was something she needed to add.
“If, and this is a huge if,” she warned, “you can stand driving all this way with Tinker and Langly, who, uh, often have a little gas problem after they’ve been with my father. He tends to feed them table scraps, so beware.”
Trask actually chuckled again, sounding much lighter this time.
She couldn’t wait to witness him in full-on laughter, in person; something she’d previously figured would never happen, but now she had hope.
“Good to know. I’ll keep a window cracked,” he told her.
Jett looked up at the sky, which was now filled with small flakes drifting down.
“Or maybe not. You’ll get snow on your new upholstery.”
“It’s snowing there?” he asked.
“Yup. So you’d better get on the road pretty fast,” she apprised. “It’s starting to come down steadily.”
“Damn. It hasn’t begun here yet. I thought I had more time,” he complained. “But no worries. I’ll hit the highway in minutes, and I promise I’ll keep your dogs safe.”
“Keep yourself safe, too,” Jett responded gruffly. “I want some more of what we’ve been dancing around, and not just over the phone. I need the actual, physical you. So, for that reason, I’m giving you three hours to get here, buddy.”
Trask huffed. “Listen. It might make me an asshole, but you have to stop calling me that. It…annoys me.”
“No problem,” Jett teased, because she’d already known that. “I’ll just start calling you…stud-muffin, or devil-daddy instead.”
He groaned. “Please don’t.”
Jett gave a huge, overblown sigh that he couldn’t miss. “Okay. I guess I’ll just have to call you‘sir’, then.”
Oh, yes. It was so much fun to get cheeky with him.
If that didn’t get Trask’s dominant-engine humming, nothing would.
