shook his head, paid the tab.
Sugar blinked. She’d been teasing, trying to throw him a hint. He totally hadn’t bitten.
“I hate getting water in my ears,” Cat said. “I always had to use that swimmer’s ear stuff when I swam on our team.”
“Yeah.” Jake nodded. “I used to get ear infections when I was a kid. No fun.”
“Sometimes when Cat is lecturing me, I pretend like I’m hard of hearing,” Evert said with a grin.
“When do I lecture you?” Cat asked, mock-exasperated.
“I don’t know. I figure you will after we get married. I’m going to be the old guy who gets a hearing aid and turns it down when he doesn’t want to hear his wife.”
“Romantic,” Jake said.
“Married?” Cat said. “When did we decide we were getting married?”
Sugar and Jake looked at Evert. His handsome Droopy Dog face lit with mischief as he winked at Jake. “I’m hoping right now.”
He got down on one knee and took Cat’s hand in his. “Cat Jenkins, will you marry me, so I can spend my life as the happiest man on the planet?”
“Oh my God!” Cat’s hands flew to her mouth. She stared at Evert. “Yes. Yes, I will!” She threw her arms around Evert, and he lifted her off her feet, twirling her around Pecan Fanny’s. She locked her legs around Evert’s waist, and he carried her out the door, beaming.
“That’s a shocker,” Jake said. “No one tells me anything.”
Sugar smiled. “Busy day in Pecan Creek.”
“Yeah. It was.” Jake threw some tip money on the table. “I can’t really top that exit.”
“Oh, come on.” Sugar smiled at him, taking her hand in his. “We could walk on our hands. That would be an exit.”
Jake looked at her. “We need to talk.”
The smile slid from Sugar’s face. His handsome face was so serious that Sugar knew whatever it was Jake wanted to talk about, she wasn’t going to like it.
She kind of envied Cat’s freestyle exit, and Lucy going off with her camo-truck-driving date, and even Maggie’s demure ride off into the sunset with Lassiter. “If we need to, we need to.”
Jake stood. “We need to. In fact, we needed to a long time ago.”
Chapter Nineteen
Jake helped Sugar into his truck and picked the road to the creek. Maybe in the proper soothing atmosphere Sugar wouldn’t kill him when she heard everything he had to say to her.
He’d rather be serving back under barking commanders than hurt Sugar.
He parked his truck beside the creek, rolling down the windows before shutting off the engine. Then he turned to face her. “Sugar, you’re the coolest, hottest chick I’ve ever met.”
She waited, looking at him, her eyes huge in the darkness. Jake tried to gather his thoughts. “I’ve really made a mess of this whole thing,” he said.
“What whole thing?”
“Me. You. Us.” He picked up her hand, held it in his. She was so delicate, her skin so smooth. It was hard to imagine her flying helicopters. But she was a warrior, and he knew it. “Kel was upset tonight because Lucy was out with Bobby.”
“I know you said you thought he might have a thing for her, but—”
“It’s not really a thing. I sort of downplayed it, hoping it would go away. And actually, I’d forgotten about it.” He looked at Sugar. Mainly, he thought about Sugar, and that was all he wanted to do, which made him a pig, he supposed, but what normal man wouldn’t rather think about a woman with long legs and a welcoming smile than a buddy who had sex problems? “But unfortunately, Kel has not forgotten about Lucy.”
“He’s going to have to,” Sugar said sharply. “Lucy’s really, really into Bobby.”
“Did she say that?”
“In complete detail. Trust me, Lucy does not fall for men lightly. In fact, she never has, not one.” Sugar sighed, lacing her arms across her body as if she was cold. Jake sat still, letting Sugar think about what she wanted to say, even though he wanted to pull her into his arms in the worst way.
“For some reason, Bobby German sends my sister’s fireworks into the sky.”
Jake shook his head. “I can hardly believe your sister and Bobby German. On the other hand, all I can say is damn, what a lucky guy he is. Your sister is exactly the kind of thing Bobby needs in his life.”
“But that leaves Kel,” Sugar said, and Jake said, “He’ll have to deal with it. What Kel has going on for Lucy is entirely different from what Bobby