Page 10 of Deadly Conflicts

“I don’t know if I should,” Ally hedged.

“Tell me or I’ll put your face in my armpit like I used to do when you were eight,” James threatened.

“You’re such a joy to spend time around,” Ally muttered, making a face. “Well, she did say something on the drive over. Is this really the same festival you guys came to after you officially got together?”

“No.” James answered automatically, but when he searched his memory he realized he wasn’t telling the truth. “Crap!”

“There you go,” Ally said, slapping her brother’s shoulder for emphasis. “And people say you’re slow on the uptake.”

“This was kind of our first outing as a couple,” James said, glancing around. “I can’t believe that was two years ago.”

“I can’t believe you’re still standing here when she’s crying in the stained glass on the other side of the festival,” Ally said.

“Good point.” James dropped a quick kiss on his sister’s cheek. “You’re only annoying fifty percent of the time. I think Jake has been a good influence on you.”

“Oh, what a great compliment,” Ally intoned, aiming her foot at her brother’s rear end and missing as he hurried off to find his wife. “Don’t forget you need to take her home. We drove together. We already put her naughty things in your truck so there won’t be any mistakes.” Ally frowned when she caught sight of a woman giving her the stink eye. “What? I’m not showing you the naughty things. Get off my back.”

ALLY found Jake leaning against a metal gate a few minutes later. He watched the barkers hawk their games with an amused expression on his chiseled face. He wasn’t looking in her direction so she snuck up behind him and lightly patted his butt to get his attention.

“Be careful,” Jake warned, not turning around. “My girlfriend is supposed to be here any second. I don’t want her to find out about us.”

Ally creased her brow and frowned, and when Jake turned to greet her his face was lit with a playful smile. “How did you know it was me?”

“I saw your reflection in the mirrors right there,” Jake replied, pointing toward the kitschy band mirrors displayed on the wall of the ring toss game. “You cut quite the impressive figure when you want to, angel.”

“Ha, ha.” Ally leaned over and gave Jake a soft kiss. “I missed you today.”

“Lies,” Jake said, shaking his head. “You shopped your pants off.”

Ally glanced down at her denim cut-offs. “I guess I did.”

“Cute.” Jake pressed a tiny kiss to the corner of Ally’s mouth. “Are you going to grant wishes for me later?” His voice was barely a whisper and his lips tickled Ally’s ear when he spoke.

“I might have found what I was looking for,” Ally replied. “You’ll have to wait until we get home to see if that’s true, though.”

“Something tells me that’s a wish worth waiting for,” Jake said. “I’m sorry about this, by the way. We were just finishing up at the house when James got the call.”

“It’s fine,” Ally said, waving off the apology. “I would much rather have you guys doing this instead of something dangerous. Finn is still getting over being shot. I think this is perfect for him right now.”

“Finn isn’t even out here,” Jake said. “He’s at home with Emma and the baby. James didn’t want him walking too much so he told him to leave security to us this weekend. Most of it is pretty minor. There’s a raffle thing we have to watch. Someone is giving away an expensive car.”

“Huh.” Ally leaned her head against Jake’s shoulder and smiled when she felt his lips on her forehead. “I kind of want to win a car now. Where are they giving that away?”

Jake shrugged. “Over yonder, I think.” He pointed. “Your brother is handling that. Where is James, by the way?”

“He took off after Mandy,” Ally replied. “He forgot this was an anniversary of sorts and he has to make amends.”

Jake screwed his face up and concentrated. “What anniversary? They already had their wedding anniversary. What else is there? Oh, wait, don’t answer that. Your brother is a pig.”

Ally snickered. “It’s not that anniversary,” she said. “Although … it is kind of close to that. That would’ve been the day before yesterday. I wonder if they celebrated that.”

Ally appeared lost in thought and Jake tickled her ribs to pull her attention back in his direction. “What anniversary, angel?”

“Oh, it’s just that they came to this festival the day after they officially got together as a couple,” Ally explained. “In a way, this was kind of their first date – which makes Mandy sound slutty since the date came after they had sex twice. Yeah, forget I said that.”

Jake chuckled. “I get what you mean,” he said. “I think it’s cute they keep track of things like that. Do you keep track of things like that?”

“Of course not.” Ally stared down at her perfectly painted toes. “Do you like this color? I got a pedicure yesterday.”