Hotter than Texas (Pecan Creek) - By Tina Leonard Page 0,27
model. “So, are you going to put yourself in Vivian’s line of fire, Maggie?”
“Oh, she doesn’t bother me.” Maggie let Paris in, toweling her at the door’s edge. “Vivian is just trying to hold on to the past, for whatever reason she needs to.”
Because her husband was back there, her marriage was back there. “I refuse to feel an ounce of sympathy for Vivian.”
“I have to go with Sugar on that one,” Lucy said. “Old Viv’s my idea of Mommy Dearest.”
Sugar laughed. “That may be a bit mean.”
Lucy bumped her with a hip. Sugar righted herself and looked at her sister.
“I bet if you made a habit of kissing Jake,” Lucy said, “you’d bring out Vivian’s Mommy Dearest, big-time.”
“That makes my blood run cold, Lucy,” Maggie said. “Vivian can’t be that bad.”
“Wanna bet?” Lucy went off with Paris, the two of them bounding up the stairs.
“Don’t pay attention to her,” Maggie said. “If you like Jake, go for it. He’s a grown man. Vivian can’t do a thing about it.”
Sugar didn’t care about Vivian. She didn’t like Jake.
At least, she didn’t want to. She was ankle-deep in issues at the moment, and the last thing she needed was Jake Bentley seducing her.
She had a feeling it would be fabulous, and irresistible, and something that wouldn’t be easy to turn away from once that particular bridge was crossed.
This was his reality.
Perhaps the basement of Bait and Burgers wasn’t the reality every man would want, but it was his, and it was what he’d dreamed of in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Have you made out with her yet?” Kel asked as Jake rummaged through the stock closet.
“I assume you’re inquiring about Sugar. If so, the answer is no. Emphatically no, edged with a this-conversation-is-closed.” Jake slammed the door, not feeling like dissecting his situation with Sugar with his buddies.
“I’m pretty sure she’s the kind of girl who’ll expect you to make out with her a few times before you do her,” Evert offered. “Probably even take her to the city for a few dates. Pay for play, is what I call it.”
Bobby German kept rolling napkins around utensils without looking up. “I like the Cassavechias. I think they add something to the town, so I hope they stay.”
It was only the beginning of September, the start of a new school year in PC, and already they were worrying whether the new people would want to stay. Jake privately admitted to some anxiety himself—and it wasn’t about the rent they were paying him for the family home. “I’ve asked Maggie to be the Christmas parade mayor. I think they’re committed to at least then.”
“Were you even going to make a cursory denial that you have the hots for Sugar?” Kel asked. “I didn’t hear one. Did anybody else?”
His buddies stared at him. “Look. Just because you guys have weather vanes in your pants that point in any direction when a pretty girl walks by, does not mean I suffer the same issue.”
“Wow,” Bobby said, “she turned you down.”
Jake sighed. “Keep rolling, Bobby. It may occupy your mind.”
Kel sat next to Bobby and took some of the utensils to roll, though he wasn’t as proficient at it. “We noticed you brought Sugar down here.”
Jake tried to remember how many boxes of ketchup and mustard he’d counted in the storage cabinet. Once upon a time, he could do inventory without writing anything down. It was like the pool table; every food item had its proper pocket. Now he thought about Sugar so many times a day he was beginning to need a notebook.
Not good. “Yeah, I gave her a tour.”
“Thing is,” Bobby said, “we feel this is our place. We keep it secret, private, for obvious reasons. Having a dame down here who we really don’t know can or will keep our secret is a bit of a problem. This is the only place any of us have where our wives and girlfriends leave us alone, mainly because they don’t know about it. We’d like to keep it that way.”
“Oh,” Jake said, ignoring the fact that he owned Bait and Burgers, lock, stock and barrel, in the realization he’d broken a man law with which his friends weren’t comfortable. “Point well taken. Won’t happen again.”
“It will happen again,” Evert said, “because you dig her. You loved showing this place off. We just want a commitment that you don’t bring her down here during our time. We’re not ready for a swing shack, dude.”