Hotter than Texas (Pecan Creek) - By Tina Leonard Page 0,71
certainly felt out of sorts.
“Waiting on you. Dinner’s in the fridge.” Averie splashed some water over her legs and smiled. A beer sat in the holder in the float, and if his life hadn’t taken a drastic turn with the advent of Sugar in his life, Jake might have dived in.
Fortunately, he did have Sugar in his life. He just wanted more.
“It’s not a good time, Averie. As I may have mentioned before, you and I are over.”
She let her bikini top trail in the water and flipped over, but not before he’d had a chance to view dark-tipped mounds of female flesh. Okay, he’d have to be dead not to appreciate a half-naked—almost-naked—woman in his pool, with dinner served—but he really wished she’d disappear.
He’d take care of that in a moment. Right now, he needed to change. He was grubby from finishing up the patio with Lassiter. A shower would do him right. “I’m going upstairs to change. You really don’t have to hang around, Averie.”
“It’s no problem.” She spread her legs on the raft, lazily kicking at the water. Jake recognized trouble and fled upstairs, cursing to himself. If he could get rid of her, and if Sugar hadn’t called, maybe he’d head over there and act like he just wanted to say hello to Maggie.
Or maybe he’d just come clean and say he missed the hell out of her. Because he did. Every minute of every day he didn’t spend with her was beginning to seem too long, an eternity.
I’ve got it bad.
Funny how good it feels to be out of control over a female for the first time in my life.
Sugar rang Jake’s doorbell, hoping he wasn’t busy. Today was a huge day. It was a great day. Maggie had a clean bill of health, and to celebrate the good news, she and Lucy were taking Maggie to Pecan Fanny’s later. On a whim because she saw Jake’s truck—and a car she didn’t recognize, but it was probably one of the guys’ or even Vivian’s—Sugar stopped to proffer the invitation to join them in person.
She was so relieved her mother was cancer-free she was about to burst with the news.
Averie opened the door, wearing a smile, bikini bottoms, and a see-through, lacy black cover-up that didn’t hide her impressive breasts and peaked nipples.
“Hi,” Averie said.
“Hello,” Sugar said. “Is Jake here?”
Averie shrugged, the movement moving her large, bare breasts under the sheer fabric. “He’s in the shower.”
“Oh. I see.” Sugar looked at Averie. “What are you doing here?”
“What does it look like?” Averie asked.
“I know what it looks like, but what are you really doing here?”
Averie sniffed. “I brought Jake dinner.”
Ah. Dinner and an invitation. Sugar hadn’t been in the military without developing some chops and attitude of her own. “Jake!” she yelled up the stairs, stepping into the foyer so her bellow would carry through the house.
“Yeah?” he yelled back down.
“I want to talk to you!” Sugar glanced at Averie, who seemed stunned, her breasts tipped with the cool night air. “Can you bring a beach towel? Averie’s cold!”
Jake thundered down the stairs, his hair wet and wild and skewed in all directions, sans shirt, buckling khaki shorts and smelling like shampoo and shaving cream.
God, he smelled good.
“Jesus, Averie,” Jake said, “you’re hanging out everywhere.”
Averie blushed. “Am I?” she said. She cut Sugar a black look and stalked off.
“Looks like I got here in the nick of time,” Sugar said. “I think she’s after you.”
“Yeah.” He pounded on his head, trying to dislodge water from his ear. “Hey, I want to talk to you.”
“Any time.”
He hopped up and down, still trying to get the water out. “I want to talk now.”
“I can’t. I dropped Lucy and Mom off at home. We’re going to Pecan Fanny’s for dinner.”
He perked up, grinning broadly. “That sounds like fun.”
She looked through to where she could see Averie sulking, waiting on Jake to return. His ex wore her bikini top underneath the cover-up now, and an obvious scowl. “I was going to invite you to join us, but—”
“I can be ready in five minutes.”
Sugar smiled. “Averie said she made you dinner.”
“Not to be mean or anything, but I’d rather join you and your family at Fanny’s.”
“Seems a little rude to desert your guest.”
He ran a hand through his damp, tousled hair. Sugar wondered what it would feel like to do the same, deciding it probably felt as good as everything else about Jake did.