Hotter than Texas (Pecan Creek) - By Tina Leonard Page 0,41
shook her head. “It’s not. Sex and bug spray just doesn’t seem healthy.”
Okay, it was light banter, didn’t mean a thing, but then again, Sugar didn’t know how hot she made him. Jake walked her to his truck, thinking that a nice, cooling day in the canoe was just what he needed. But the shorts she was wearing were just short enough to practically make his heart stop. Thankfully, she had on little navy eyelet tennis shoe things instead of sandals. At least her feet would be protected from the bugs.
Yeah, focus on practical thoughts. Like that’s going to help.
Jake helped Sugar into his truck, giving her a friendly, no-strings-attached smile as he waited for her to buckle herself in, all the time thinking he’d be the luckiest man on earth if Sugar ever let him pour her sweetness all over him. Just like the song said.
I’m so much like Kel I scare myself.
But he’d never touch her, not if she didn’t want him to. Not even one accidental was-that-my-hand-on-your-ass? pass.
No, sir. If he was fortunate enough to get out of the doghouse, he was never again getting back in it.
“Thank you for meeting us here, Lucy.” Minda Hernandez, Dodie Myers and Charlotte Dawson smiled at her, and Lucy wondered if she’d stepped into a trap. She’d usually have her snark on, but Charlotte was here, so maybe this wasn’t a case of the town biddies deciding it was finally time to lure her to the midnight offering of Lucy Cassavechia to their specterly goddess.
Best of all, Vivian Bentley was in absentia. Lucy shifted, waiting for the elderly women who’d invited her to Minda’s house, just a couple of blocks over from Azalea Street, to get to their little white-haired agenda. This was Mimosa Street, but there were no mimosa trees growing anywhere, which seemed ominous to Lucy.
Maybe the street was named for the alcoholic beverage. Lucy wished she had a mimosa right now. Or any kind of spine-stiffener. “So what’s up, ladies? I assume I was invited here for a reason, especially since secrecy was specified on the phone by Mrs. Dawson.”
“We’re just trying to keep you off of Vivian’s naughty list,” Charlotte explained.
“Yes, we’re aware the two of you had a bit of a run-in,” sweet-faced Minda said. “We want to help.”
Dodie handed her a flowered teacup and a plate with cookies on it. Lucy accepted both warily.
“Vivian’s run us all around long enough. It’s time we stop letting her be the proverbial queen bee of this small hive.” Dodie looked satisfied with her assessment.
“Yeah, well, if you’re looking for a leader, I’m not her.” Lucy slid the cookies and tea onto the table they were grouped around. “I’m just lying low in this town until something beneficial happens.”
“Like what, dear?” Dodie asked, her gaze curious.
“I’ll know it when it happens.” She looked at Charlotte. “So what’s cooking around here?”
They giggled as if she’d told the world’s best joke.
“Come downstairs with us, and we’ll show you,” Minda said.
The dingbats in Arsenic and Old Lace had run their death parlor belowstairs. Of course, Bette Davis had ruled her trapped sister upstairs in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Lucy swallowed, thinking that she’d really prefer it if she could stay on the main floor where there were plenty of windows and doors to the outside. “Is it absolutely necessary to go downstairs?”
Charlotte smiled at her. “It’s all right, Lucy.”
Lucy stiffened. “Of course it’s all right. I didn’t say I was afraid.”
Charlotte smiled. “Are you agoraphobic?”
“I don’t have any phobias.” She did, but she wasn’t going to show her weak flank to this crowd. “Who’s got the flashlight? You nursing-home candidates shouldn’t be going downstairs without a flashlight. It’s not safe.”
“I have state-of-the-art lighting,” Minda said. “And in a moment, you’ll see why.”
She locked the front door, drew the curtains. Lucy’s blood pressure rose to thunder in her ears, but she followed the women down the stairs. Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase I’m so not. I’m more Bess the sidekick.
Minda wasn’t kidding; the place was lit like a science laboratory. “Holy cow,” Lucy said. “This is the size of a car showroom. You could fit a football team down here.”
Minda giggled. “We have bigger plans. This is our new business location. And we want to hire you.”
Lucy stared at the assortment of chocolates shaped like delicately beautiful, erotic body parts. Boobs lay perkily topped with cherries or other delicacies; penises sat pointy and erect in flesh-colored glory. It should have