Hotter than Texas (Pecan Creek) - By Tina Leonard Page 0,60
cell phone and called for an extract.
Kel, Evert and Bobby showed up in Bobby’s camo-painted truck. Bobby leaned out the window.
“We wondered where you were,” Bobby said.
“Took a long walk.” Jake got in the truck bed.
Kel slid the back window open. “Where are we going?”
“Sugar’s,” Jake said.
“Is that wise?” Kel asked. “Aren’t we swearing off the Cassavechia women?”
Jake sighed. “Tell Bobby to put his foot down on the pedal.”
“Lover boy’s in a hurry, so burn some rubber,” Kel said.
Jake looked around at the tree-lined road as Bobby drove toward the family home. He had to talk to Sugar. She had every right to be annoyed; he’d known that at the time he’d told her.
But he wanted her to know that he was on her side.
He was worried she wouldn’t care.
“Here you go,” Kel said. “Home sweet home.”
Bobby shut off the truck. All four men got out. Jake eyed his buddies. “What are you doing?”
“Going in with you,” Evert said. “You’re not the only one who likes the Cassavechias. They’re our friends too. What makes you special?”
Jake grunted. “Nothing, now that you mention it.”
Evert slapped him on the back. Jake hoped one of his lungs hadn’t collapsed. They trooped up to the front door, and Jake rang the bell, his heart thundering.
Maggie opened the door, her face lighting when she saw them. “Hi, guys!”
“Hi, Maggie,” Jake said.
“Come on in!” Maggie opened the door wide, and the four of them filed inside.
“Hey, this place looks good,” Kel said. “Looks like a home.”
“Yeah,” Bobby said. “It’s got a dog.” He petted Paris, who made her way around the men looking for attention.
“We’re, I mean, I’m looking for Sugar,” Jake said.
“She’s not here. Lucy’s not here, either,” Maggie said, and Jake could feel his friends practically deflate beside him.
“You know when Sugar will be back?” Jake asked.
“She went to the grocery store.” Maggie smiled at all of them. “She says we’re going to say good-bye to the last warm days of fall tomorrow and grill out. Lay in the sun a little. She bought us a plastic pool this summer. We’re going to pretend that we’re at the beach.”
Beside him, Kel stood stock-still. Jake couldn’t look at him. “That sounds great, Miss Maggie. Maybe I’ll try to catch her. Can you tell her I came by?”
“I will.” Maggie hugged him, and Jake wondered if this was how real mothers acted, warm and welcoming and like everything was always okay. She hugged Evert, Bobby and Kel, and they returned to the truck like Boy Scouts.
They waved good-bye, and Bobby drove away.
Once they hit the main road into town, the truck window snapped open. Kel looked at him.
“It’s going to take everything you’ve got not to get on their roof tomorrow,” Kel said. “Bet you wish you’d left some cracks in that tight-ass board-on-board fence you bragged so hard about.” Laughing, he closed the window.
Jake sighed. The wind blew in his face as they drove toward the Bait and Burgers, and Jake thought about Sugar lying topless in his backyard.
Something had to give. Or he was going to go slowly mad thinking about her, dreaming about her, fantasizing about hot sex with her.
The problem was, he was pretty sure he thought about hot sex with Sugar far more than she ever thought about it with him, and now that he’d opened his fat mouth and given her a peek at the Bentley family skeletons, she might prefer giving him a cold finger instead.
Sugar was standing in the produce aisle checking out the fresh veggies, trying to remember when the last time she and her mother and sister had eaten grilled veggies—maybe squash and zucchini would be good—when hell spat out a demon right next to her.
“Miss Cassavechia,” Vivian Bentley said. “If you could move your cart, the rest of us can get through the aisle.”
Sugar moved her cart. “Let nothing impede you, Mrs. Bentley.”
Vivian pushed her basket past Sugar’s. “You won’t get him, you know. He’ll figure out what you are soon enough.”
“And if he doesn’t, you’ll send a few more private investigators to convince him?” Sugar shrugged. “I really don’t care what you do, Vivian. But your battle is with me, so leave my mother and sister alone.”
“We’re not having a battle. The sooner you leave town, the better off Pecan Creek will be.”
“But I haven’t gotten pregnant yet, Mrs. Bentley,” Sugar said. “And isn’t that what you’re really dreading? That our families might become inextricably entwined?”