RJ chuckled. “Look at me, the consummate tomboy in love for the first time in her life.”
“Jake’s a good man,” JoJo said. “You could do a lot worse.”
“Sometimes, he doesn’t know just how good he is. It took me a lot of convincing to get him to believe that he’s not less of a man because he’s one leg short.”
“He gets around just fine on his prosthetic,” JoJo said.
“Yes, he does.” RJ’s grin widened. “And missing a leg doesn’t affect him one bit in the bed.” Her cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink. “Who knew I’d like sex so much? It really makes a difference when you have the right partner.”
JoJo turned away under the pretense of filling the sugar bowl and placing it on the tray. When she turned around, RJ had a smirk on her face.
“I saw Max come to your rescue today. So, how’s it going with Max since the Sadie Hawkins dance?”
JoJo lifted a shoulder, heat rising in her cheeks. “He’s a nice man, but I’m just not interested right now.”
RJ frowned. “I thought you two were hitting it off. I don’t think there was a hair’s breadth between the two of you when you danced. A lot of belly rubbing was going on there.”
JoJo’s cheeks flamed. “It was just a dance.”
“Some people say dancing is like having sex with your clothes on.” RJ grinned. “With the right partner, of course.”
JoJo snapped the lid back on the sugar canister. “It was just a dance. I’m not interested in Max. I’m not interested in anybody. I just want to do my job and go home at night to watch my favorite game shows.”
RJ snorted. “Like you watch game shows.”
JoJo didn’t watch game shows. She barely watched TV. Mostly, she worked out, building her muscles and her strength so that she’d never be in another position where she could be overpowered by a man and unable to defend herself. Though she felt bad about flipping Max earlier that day, she was also proud of herself. Her training had worked. Well, mostly. He had rolled her over and trapped her beneath him.
“All right,” RJ said, “we won’t talk about Max yet. Such a shame though. He seems to be a really nice man, and he was quick to defend you when Roy was an asshole.” She held up a hand when JoJo opened her mouth to say something. “But I promise not to talk about him anymore.”
JoJo shook her head. RJ would find another way. The woman was persistent in her desire to see JoJo happy.
“Come on. Let’s take this coffee out to the men, and next time, we’ll let them bring the coffee out to us.” RJ grinned, lifted the tray and backed into the swinging door and out into the dining room.
JoJo followed. It really made her feel good to see RJ so happy.
RJ was the type of person who, if she felt content, she wanted everybody else around her to be as content.
JoJo wanted to tell her what was going on and why she couldn’t be happy. She wanted her friend to know she wouldn’t be happy until she’d found the man who’d done what he had to her.
What was scary was that she’d been kidnapped from a military base and nobody knew who’d done it. There had to be a record somewhere of the vehicle that had been driven off the base and out into the desert to where she’d been buried.
Her last memory had been one of exiting the shower unit and heading toward her quarters. Everything else was a big, black, gaping hole in her memory. That was why she’d agreed to see Emily. She was hoping that by talking things out with a therapist she’d eventually remember.
Damn, she thought. She had an appointment with Emily on Thursday. With the campaign staff arriving that day, she doubted she’d be able to get away to see her, and she really wanted to. She’d call in the morning and let Emily know she wouldn’t make her appointment. They’d planned on doing some hypnosis treatment. JoJo really hoped that would help unleash the memories.
“Again,” Gunny was saying, “you two do not have to be involved in this event, but we could sure use the help.”
Jake raised a hand. “Don’t you worry about it. We’re at a standstill on the renovations, waiting for supplies to come in to do the last few things on the checklist. I want to touch base tomorrow with my new candidate to see if he’s accepted our offer to come on board as a new Brotherhood Protector. Other than that, I have nothing Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Word has yet to get out that we’re here. I’m sure Hank’s working on that. We won’t always have this availability to assist with the lodge activities. Let us help now, while we can.”
Gunny nodded and started talking about the plans he had laid out. He pressed his pen to the pad of paper in front of him and drew a timeline. “The politician, Lawrence Stover, and his aide Miles Curry, will arrive tomorrow sometime after noon. We’ve selected rooms for them to occupy while they’re here. RJ and I will meet them and show them where to go. We’ll talk them through what we’ve laid out and ask for any changes now, before the rest of their staff arrive. You’re welcome to attend, but you don’t have to. What we discuss tonight is what RJ and I will present to them tomorrow. If they have any changes, we’ll let you know.”
Jake, Max and JoJo nodded.
“Wednesday is Stover and Curry getting settled in and checking out the lay of the land and what they have available to them as far as conference rooms and outdoor activities go.”
“You’ll have to fill us in on those activities,” RJ said.
Gunny nodded. “I will. They also want to go into Fool’s Gold and see about arrangements they’ve made with the
