Free Hard Irish by Jennifer Saints Page B

white-lies secret when they saw Jackson, his plan was completely screwed.
    Roxanne pulled into the parking lot of Jackson’s clinic and Jared braced himself.  His shit was about to hit the Weldon brothers’ fan of abuse and fly everywhere for years to come.  Even if they let him get away with his deception right now, he’d never live it down.  He was sure that once he knew Roxanne was safe and told her the truth that she’d understand why he’d had to do it.
    But as he hopped into the clinic with Roxanne’s help, pain jarring his every move, he heard in his mind his twin James laughing.  Screwed, blued, tattooed and delusional .

C HAPTER S IX
     
     
    Rocky had to blink twice and pinch herself as she helped Jared into his brother’s clinic.  Last night’s kiss amid the bar fight happened so fast that she really hadn’t trusted her impression of the devastating stranger who’d come to her rescue.  She’d thought her addled mind had blown him out of proportion.  That his eyes weren’t quite that blue or his hair quite that silky black.  That he wasn’t quite that tall or quite that perfectly sculpted.  That the cleft in his chin and the dimples when he smiled weren’t that sexy, or that the spark of humor and desire in his eyes weren’t that captivating...well, that the entire package didn’t just send her off the deep end of desire.
    She’d been sure her imagination had filled in the blanks because she could not have possibly absorbed all that she had in their short encounter.
    As for the perfect kiss and his mastery of tongue and senses, by morning she’d decided her experience with him had been a combination of starvation and adrenaline.  If the book Dessie had given her could make her burn as badly as she had, then any drink would have likely been a life saver to a woman parched as she.  Over three years in a barren desert was a long damn time.
    Well, maybe not any drink.  She’d rather die than partake of her ex.
    Unfortunately, everything she’d imagined Jared Weldon to be, she was finding he was.  Twice in a row he’d knocked her off her feet, literally and figuratively. She’d followed him into a kiss last night, and as she walked in with him to the clinic, she found herself seriously entertaining the idea of letting him stick around for a little while.
    Only as a bodyguard, of course.  Jared made a good Collin deterrent and Dessie had advised that Collin would be forced to realize the past was completely over if Rocky moved on into another relationship.  It had nothing to do with getting him bedroom-bound. 
    Liar. Liar.  Pants on...
    Damn.  Her pants had definitely been on fire last night.  Images from the book Dessie had given her kept playing in her mind, only she and this stranger at her side took center stage.  Don’t go... there .
    How could she not?   He more than intrigued her. Good Lord get a grip, woman. You sound like a sappy teenager.
    The fact that he was a stranger to her was becoming less and less a factor, minute by minute.
    The Midtown Clinic was simple, clean, and functional, but not overdone.  The elderly receptionist greeted him with familiarity and concern.  “Good heavenly day, boy.  What have you gone and done?”
    “Not sure, Mary.  Jackson in?”
    “Yeah.  Come on with me.”  Rocky felt the woman’s scrutiny as she helped Jared to an exam room.  “Where’s James? He okay?”
    “James is fine,” Jared told the woman, then met Rocky’s gaze.  “There are four of us.  Jackson, Jesse, James, and me.”
    “And all of you are devils with more on the way,” the receptionist said.  “Jake and Jason are following in the Weldon’s wild footsteps, for sure.”
    “Hey, my nephews are both under two.”
    “And they already have that lady killer gleam in their eyes.  You sit back and let me get Jackson.  The nurse had to leave early today, so we’re on our own.”
    The receptionist left and Jared slumped on the exam table a little too