Devil in Texas (Rugged and Risque 1)

“I guess it would be difficult to mesh lifestyles if someone was intent on holding on to theirs,” she commented.

Jack polished off his meal and pushed the plate aside. “I’m not interested in swaying anyone when it comes to sex, darlin’. I don’t need anybody to change for me and vice versa. People shouldn’t have to give up their own thoughts and views and feelings to suit someone else’s ideals or way of life.”

She frowned. Hadn’t she done that very thing for Peter, in a vain and completely idiotic attempt to hold onto him over the years? And for what? She’d put on airs, dressed to his liking, conformed to his standards and practices so that she could fit into his oppressive, conservative life. When she wasn’t even the repressed, conservative type!

And what about her mother?

Liza had done everything she could since birth to please her. To be the daughter Rachel wanted versus the one she was stuck with.

“Well, shit,” she breathed as she pushed aside her own plate, just as Ruby was returning with a small side dish, carrying Liza’s special-request meatball like the Olympic torch. She set it down in front of her with great ceremony as she grinned from ear to ear.

“Honey, I can’t tell you how you’ve made Mike’s day,” she said, her brown eyes lighting up. “He’s struttin’ around the kitchen like a peacock showing off his feathers. And well, let’s just say I’m glad we’re closing early tonight.” She winked at Liza, who smiled back, despite the visual that popped into her head.

Ruby and her peacock.

“Her lunch is on me, Jack,” Ruby said in a giddy tone. “You’re on your own, though, sport.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “So what else is new?”

Though his tone was light, she felt his lingering tension. Yet another piece to the puzzle that was Jack Wade.

When Ruby turned her attention to another customer, Jack said, “You know you’re going to have to eat that, right?”

“It’ll be worth every calorie,” she said as she started in on the meatball. Liza was already pushing her limit, but another taste and she was hooked all over again. A crumb would die a lonely death on her plate when she was done.

Jack chuckled. “Guess I won’t be making Italian for you anytime soon.”

“I loved breakfast,” she assured him. “Though I admit I was a bit preoccupied. Things are happening kind of…fast…in my little world. I’m not always successful at keeping up.”

He nodded his head, looking contemplative for a moment. Then he gave a slight shake of his head, as though to discount whatever thought had popped into it. “I wasn’t fishing for a compliment, sweetheart.”

She decided to be direct. “What were you thinking prior to that notion?”

His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I told you I sometimes have trouble keeping up with all the moving parts of my life and it looked like you had something to say about that.”

Jack folded his napkin and laid it over his empty plate. He seemed to give great thought to how he wanted to answer her. She continued to eat, giving him time. Eventually, he said, “That phone call you got earlier… Is someone gonna come knocking on the door, looking for you one day?”

She hadn’t expected that question and it completely demolished what was left of her appetite. She pushed the half-eaten meatball aside, hoping Ruby would forgive her.

She couldn’t look at Jack as she said, “That was my former employer on the phone. I quit my job a week ago. And…” She shook her head. Liza didn’t have to tell him about Peter. There was nothing to tell, really. Not anymore. Except… Jack had asked a question within a question and she wanted to answer both so that she was being completely honest with him. “As for someone coming knocking on my door…” She folded her napkin and set it on the table. “Like my mother, he didn’t even return my voicemail message telling him I was leaving New York. I don’t think he believed me, either.”

Jack was quiet for a moment, as though accepting her inner turmoil and respecting the boundaries she clearly had around this topic.

Several moments passed before he said, “His loss.” Then he stood and reached in his back pocket for his wallet.

Liza stared up at him, an unexpected smile touching her lips because, really, the mere sight of Jack Wade made her deliriously happy. “Peter would never see it that way, but thanks.”

“Peter?” He smirked. “Well, there you go, darlin’. I just can’t picture you with a guy named Peter.”

She laughed. “Yeah, that makes two of us.”

How he managed to change her moods so easily was beyond her. But she appreciated how well he distracted her from her dismal thoughts.

Jack pulled a ten from his wallet for his lunch and dropped it on the table. He then added a couple ones to the pile to cover the tip on Liza’s freebie. Then he stuffed the folded black leather back in his pocket and reached for her hand. She let him help her out of the booth and they left the restaurant with his palm pressed to the small of her back where she liked it.

“We’ll see you tomorrow, right?” Ruby called out to them.