He grinned. “Likewise.”

“And just for the record, Sarah isn’t my date.”

“Not keeping score.” He stared across the dance floor, then waved. “Looks like we’re in for a real party tonight.”

Jac spun in her chair and told herself to breathe. The initial swell of excitement quickly turned to a hard lump of disappointment. Mallory had finally appeared, but she wasn’t alone. A very pretty woman had her arm looped through Mallory’s as they navigated the crowd, greeting people as they passed. They looked like they’d been here before. They looked like a couple.

“Yeah,” Jac said quietly. “I guess we’re all here now.”

Chapter Seventeen

“Hey,” Emily said, giving Mallory’s arm a tug. “Isn’t that Cooper over there?”

Mallory followed Emily’s direction and took in the group at the table. Cooper’s distinctive gold-blond hair and massive shoulders flashed like beacons even in the hazy glow of the cobweb-coated light fixtures tucked under the heavy pine ceiling beams. But she wasn’t looking at Cooper when she muttered, “Uh-huh.”

Jac sat at the table next to Cooper, with Sarah beside her. Mallory hadn’t expected to see Jac tonight, definitely not here. Jac’s head was tilted toward Sarah, who seemed to be whispering something in her ear that was making Jac laugh. Mallory slowed her meandering course around the room, trying to give herself time to figure out what bothered her the most—that Jac had appeared somewhere Mallory thought she’d be free of the confusing and annoying reactions she had every time Jac was around, or that Jac seemed to be having a really good time while she was having a really off night. Jac looked great in a casual white button-down collar shirt with the sleeves rolled halfway up. Mallory was glad she’d chosen her favorite sweater, a black cashmere pullover that she’d bought on a whim because it felt so good against her skin and did nice things for her breasts too.

Instantly she wanted to shake herself for the ridiculous thought. Ridiculous not to have anticipated Jac would show up here. Where else would she go on the one night off before a ten-day stint in the wilderness? Bear Creek was the only town within reasonable driving distance, and Tommy’s was the only nightlife.

“Sarah’s here too,” Emily said, delight infusing her tone. She grasped Mallory’s hand and pulled her along the sinuous path created by the haphazard placement of tables around the dance floor. “I haven’t seen her since last fall. What a treat.”

“Yes, she showed up early for training camp.”

“I should say hello, but we don’t have to hang with them if you don’t want to.” Emily half turned, walking backward and studying Mallory with a tiny frown between her brows. “I know you like to get away from work when you’re here, so if—”

“No,” Mallory said quickly. She wasn’t going to be derailed by Jac’s presence. She had control of herself, after all. “It’s fine. If you don’t mind.”

Emily pressed close against Mallory’s side to make way for a couple headed for the dance floor. “I like your crew. I don’t recognize some of them, though.”

“Three of the new guys.” Mallory made a conscious effort to sound upbeat. She was going to be seeing Jac on and off the base every day for the next six months, and she might as well get used to it. The conflicting blend of anticipation and wariness that stirred her insides whenever Jac was around had to burn off eventually. Sooner or later she’d be able to look at her without her heart jumping into her throat and every cell in her body starting to tingle. Hopefully sooner rather than later, because the on-again off-again, totally unwanted sexual charge that went along with everything else was making her damn irritable.

“Um, Mallory sweetheart,” Emily said laughing, “one of those guys is definitely not. If you haven’t noticed, I am going to start worrying about you.”

“I noticed.”

“She is one of yours, right?”

“One of the rookies.” Mallory was having trouble putting more than a few words together, and feeling more and more disoriented with every second. Especially when Sarah rose and Jac followed her to the dance floor. Mallory watched them find space on the crowded floor, watched Jac open her arms and Sarah step into them as if she’d done it a million times before. Sarah was beaming. She looked radiant, and Jac, sultry and sexy in the plain shirt and faded jeans, had a gentle amused smile on her face. Damn it, they looked like they were really hitting it off.

“You sure about this?” Emily asked. “Because you’ve got about two seconds to change your mind.”

“I’m sure.” Mallory jerked her gaze away from her best friend and the rookie she shouldn’t even be thinking about and drew Emily up to the table. “Guys, this is Emily.” She pointed to each of the men at the table in turn. “Ray Kingston, Ron Anderson, and you know Cooper.”

“The night is definitely looking up,” Ray announced. He and the other men hastily rearranged the bottles and glasses on the water-ringed tabletop and commandeered several more chairs from nearby tables. When Mallory and Emily settled at the table, Ray pushed two sweating bottles of beer across to them. “Here. These are fresh.”

“Thanks,” Mallory said, shifting her seat so she couldn’t see the dance floor. Too bad she couldn’t as easily dispel the image of Jac and Sarah from her mind.

Emily leaned into Mallory and sipped her beer. “So how are you all liking training camp?” She squeezed Mallory’s knee and grinned. “Or maybe I shouldn’t bring that up with Mallory here.”

The guys laughed.

“Please,” Mallory said, spreading her arms to indicate the whole of Tommy’s, “feel free to speak your mind. I hereby declare this a penalty-free zone. In here, I’m not the boss.”

From behind her, Jac said, “If that’s the case, we need to spend more time around here.”

Jac’s voice feathered down Mallory’s spine like warm honey and settled in the pit of her stomach. Heat flowed indolently through her depths, and she had to force her fingers to relax their grip on the bottle she was clutching. “Don’t get too used to it.”

“Actually,” Jac said, sitting opposite Mallory, “I don’t know about these guys, but the only complaint I have about training camp is there aren’t enough hours in the day to train more.”

Ray and Anderson cracked up, and Mallory couldn’t help but smile a little bit. “I’m also not giving out any points for kissing up tonight, Russo. So you can save it.”

Ray hooted and poked Jac’s shoulder. “Busted, buddy. You can forget about impressing the boss tonight.”

Jac stared at Mallory, her mouth curved into a smile, but her eyes more searching than amused. “Apparently so.”

“Emily,” Sarah said with a big grin, crowding next to Jac, their shoulders touching familiarly. “Great to see you. I can’t wait for you to catch me up on all the news.”

Emily laughed. “That might take five minutes or so.” She stretched her hand across the table to Jac. “We didn’t get introduced. I’m Emily Sorensen.”

“Jac Russo,” Jac said, shaking Emily’s hand.

“What do you think of Tommy’s?” Emily asked.

Jac glanced at Sarah, her eyes sparkling. “I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun. Dancing isn’t usually my thing, but Sarah is a great teacher.”

Sarah draped her arm over Jac’s shoulders. “That’s not true. You’re a natural. I told you that.”

A buzz of annoyance swarmed Mallory’s throat, and she swallowed back the unexpected surge of jealousy. Sarah was just being friendly. Sarah was a friendly person. In fact, that was one of the things Mallory liked best about her. Right at the moment, though, she would’ve preferred Sarah being a little less friendly. Sarah touched Jac with a whole lot more than friendliness. They’d obviously been having a great time together all evening. While she’d been out of sorts and unable to connect with Emily the way she wanted, Jac was off painting the town with Sarah. Wonderful.

“Anybody for refills?” Ray asked, rising.

When everyone answered in the affirmative, Sarah got up. “I’ll give you a hand.”

Emily shifted her chair toward Anderson, who was telling her about his wife and kids and job back home, and Mallory found herself with nowhere to look except at Jac. The conversation faded into the background and Jac was all she saw. Garth Brooks started singing about thunder and lightning and lust, and for a millisecond, Mallory thought about asking Jac to dance. The idea came out of nowhere and hit her harder than a falling tree, but fortunately she came to her senses instead of losing them. Tommy’s might be a work-free zone and she might not be the boss tonight, but she couldn’t afford to drop her barriers around Jac whether they were at work or not. If she did, she might not be able to get them back up again when she needed them. A body brushed by her arm trailing a cloud of vanilla and sandalwood and complicated florals. Obsession. She knew the perfume, and she knew who wore it.

A busty blonde in tight blue jeans that accentuated her heart-shaped ass and a tight white stretch top that made it very evident she wasn’t wearing a bra leaned down and murmured something in Jac’s ear. Chantal Burns. Wonderful. Just wonderful.

“I’m not very good,” Jac said, subtly shifting on her chair as if trying to put a little space between herself and the breasts that were very close to her cheek.

Chantal put her red-tipped fingernails on Jac’s shoulder and smiled across the table at Mallory. “Hi, Mallory. I see you’ve brought us some interesting new…faces.”

The jealousy that had plagued her earlier buzz-sawed back. Chantal was a sometimes bartender at Tommy’s, married to a long-distance trucker who was never home. Chantal filled the hours while he was away fooling around with the customers, male and female alike. Mallory squelched the desire to pluck Chantal’s hand off Jac’s shoulder. “How are you doing, Chantal?”