Page 130 of Reluctantly Rogue

“I’m kind of in a hurry,” he says, giving me a self-deprecating grin.

“I’m glad,” I tell him. “I definitely want you looking forward to this.”

He turns to me as the door latch unlocks. “That seems like such an understatement for how I feel about this.”

I melt a little. “Oh…”

My phone starts to ring.

I frown. Who would be calling me? It’s almost eleven p.m. It’s the middle of the night in Cara. It’s still fairly early for my sister and brother, so it could be one of them, but there’s no one I want to talk to right now.

I pull my phone from my purse.

It’s Christian.

And yes, my screen flashes his name. I entered his and James’s numbers and names into my phone way back at the energy conference last fall.

“Answer it,” Jonah says.

“What? No.”

Jonah nudges me through the doorway and says, “Strip. And answer it.”

“But…”

He plucks the phone from my fingers. “Strip.” His voice is deep, commanding, gruff. Then he hits the button to connect the call and puts it on speaker. He holds it out toward me.

I stare up at him. He lifts a brow. I swallow. “Um, hello?”

“Hi, Linnea. It’s Christian.”

“Yes, hi.”

“I’m just calling to make sure you got in okay.”

I shake my head. He didn’t need to check on me. “I did. Thanks.”

He gives a soft laugh. “Sorry. I know that sounds ridiculous. I just…wasn’t ready to say goodbye at the bar.”

I bite the inside of my cheek and look up at Jonah. He’s just watching me. And holding my phone out.

So I push my already unbuttoned and unzipped jeans down over my hips as I toe off my shoes. I shimmy until the jeans are at my feet and then kick them to the side to crumple on top of the shoes.

“Well, thanks again for coming bowling tonight,” I say to Christian. “That was nice of you. It was nice to spend casual social time with you for a change.”

Jonah narrows his eyes.

Yeah, I like jealous Jonah. I can’t help it.

“I had fun tonight,” Christian tells me.

“Me too.”

Jonah makes a circling motion with his finger that is a clearkeep goingsignal.

“It was sweet of you to check on me now, too.” I shrug out of my sweater as I meet Jonah’s gaze. He lifts a brow at me calling Christian sweet.

I grin as I let it drop to the floor.

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