Hotter than Texas (Pecan Creek) - By Tina Leonard Page 0,19
collapsed it with a sucking sound. “I’m not usually so clumsy.”
“Lucy, it’s okay. It’s so okay that I’m going to tell Kel to comp your meals tonight.”
“Do you manage the restaurant?” Sugar asked.
“Not exactly,” Jake said. “I wouldn’t be caught managing much of anything.”
“That’s why you’re trying to stick our mother with the mayor gig, because you don’t want it,” Lucy said benignly.
“True,” Jake said easily. “Excuse me, ladies.” He gave Maggie a last fond hug, Lucy a level look and Sugar a devil-may-care grin. “Do you have a minute? I’d like to discuss something with you in private. Nothing I couldn’t say in front of you ladies, but I don’t want anybody overhearing.” He gestured to the people packed around them, laughing and chatting as they ate burgers and drank tall, frosty sodas.
“Sure.” Sugar slid off the stool.
“We’ll be right back,” Jake said, tipping his hat to Maggie and Lucy.
Lucy rolled her eyes, and Maggie waved them off. Jake took Sugar over to an open window area. Light country western music played, though not loud enough to drown out the conversational babble.
“So what’s up?” Sugar asked.
“First, about the other night.” Jake looked apologetic. “I didn’t think my mother and her friends would be so—”
“Stuck-up? Witchy?” Sugar leveled a stare at him that could have wilted lettuce before it ever hit a hamburger. “I think my sister is right. I think you did set Maggie up just because you don’t want to be the mayor. What is it you do exactly, besides rent houses that are nothing like their advertised descriptions to unsuspecting out-of-towners?”
He shook his head. “I’ll show you my deep, dark secret. Come on.”
Sugar followed him around to the back, and then down some wooden stairs that went deep underneath the rocking burger joint. “Wow, a dungeon.”
“Now you sound like Lucy.” Jake laughed. “Your sister does not like me at all.”
“Lucy warms up slowly.” Sugar felt compelled to defend her sister. “She’s protective of Mom.”
“And you. Obviously you.” He turned to face her in front of a pool table covered with red felt. “She practically snaps like an electrical fence hit by water whenever I get near you.”
“Cassavechias look out for each other. Anyway, your mom isn’t exactly a study in Southern hospitality.” She looked at the pool table. “Isn’t Brunswick a bit fancy to hide away in a dungeon?”
“Keep my secret. Even my mother doesn’t know this baby’s here.” He handed her a cue. “Do you play?”
“A little.” Sugar studied the room. “Why are we down here?”
“I told you,” Jake said, “I’m sharing my deepest, darkest secret with you.” He sighted down the length of the cue, nodding with satisfaction. “I own Bait and Burgers. This is my private office. None of this info is known by anyone except my partners who cover for me, so if you share, I’ll have to enact landlord penance on you.”
“Terrifying, I’m sure, considering you’d probably never find another sucker to rent the lusty family domicile.” Sugar looked at him. “So this is your Bat Cave. Interesting.”
“You mean man cave.”
She shook her head and walked over to break. “My guess is you hide down here from the bats that inhabit Pecan Creek.”
He laughed. “Just keep my secret.”
“So you wanted me to know this so I won’t be mad at you for trying to dump your mayor’s job on Mom?”
“Yeah.” He leaned against the black vinyl bar and grinned, too sexy for words. “I’m a very busy man. This is your chance to have leverage with me.”
“Got it.” She broke the rack, and balls flew in every direction.
“Not bad.” He got up to study the table.
“Not so fast. Let me see if I can figure the subtext out.” She looked at him before leaning over the table to line up her shot. “The little red ball is going to go first, by the way.”
She made that shot, and went on. “So what you’re trying to tell me is that you’re not an absolute ass for shifting your responsibilities. You own a restaurant, and you rent the family home, and you don’t want your mother breathing down your neck all the time.”
He grinned. “Not bad.”
“Purple-striped ball is history.” She made that shot and moved to the opposite side of the table, near Jake. “Excuse me.”
He raised a dark brow. “Sugar, I think Maggie can handle my mother any day of the week. What are you protecting her from?”
Sugar leaned over. “Rats.”
He turned her toward him. “I honestly am not a rat. I’m not