One Southern Cowboy - Jennifer Youngblood Page 0,28
himself. “Your mama’s been talking to my mama.”
“Great!” Jaxson muttered.
Lucas patted Jaxson on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, cuz. You handle this little lady.” He made a point of looking Tillie up and down. “She’s a lot.”
Tillie twisted her hair as she giggled nervously, her foot doing a little spin thing. Watching the interaction between her and Lucas, how their eyes had met and held, Jaxson suspected that they had some sort of history that went beyond mere friendship. While it nearly killed Jaxson to acknowledge it, Lucas was a decent-looking guy. Ever since his divorce, he’d been racking up his fair share of female admirers.
Jaxson certainly didn’t want Lucas spending any alone time with Lemon. No way, no how! He’d been down that road before, and it wasn’t a pretty sight. “You stay and entertain Tillie,” he countered. “I’ll go and talk to Lemon.” His head was pounding, and his ankle was the size of a balloon.
“Wait a minute!” Tillie protested with a petulant pout. “You can’t just leave me! I drove all the way from Nashville to see you.”
Jaxson lifted an eyebrow. “A whole thirty minutes?” He could’ve pointed out that she’d come to Franklin to pick up her print from the gallery. Visiting him was an after-thought. Then again, it wasn’t worth the effort. He’d had a few good dates with Tillie. She was fun in small doses. He’d never been able to tolerate her for more than a few hours at a time. She was too high maintenance and needy for him.
“Forty-five with traffic,” she snipped. Tillie gave Jaxson a pleading look. “I need you,” she said, her voice small and childlike. She gave him a seductive smile. “I promise I’ll make it worth your while.”
Lucas chortled. “Like I said, cuz. I’ve got this. You do your thing with Tillie. I’ll see ya inside.” He jogged past Jaxson, up the steps and into the house.
Jaxson scowled. This is not how he’d envisioned this evening playing out. Lucas was a perpetual thorn in his side. It was so typical of him to take every opportunity to make a move on Lemon. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
“You poor baby,” Tillie began, moving close to him. “Let’s sit down on the steps. You can lean against me.”
“I need to go inside.” Jaxson ground his teeth in determination as his gaze trailed up the steps to the door. He grabbed hold of the handrail and began pulling himself up.
“Don’t you wanna spend time with me?” Tillie asked in a wounded tone.
Jaxson made it up a couple of steps, but he was breathing hard. He paused, angling to face Tillie. “Look, I appreciate you coming to check on me, but as you can see, I’m not doing so great. I need to get inside and sit down.” A sweat had broken over his nose. He could tell that his breathing was shallow. He’d way overdone it today … and it didn’t help knowing that Lucas was in the house with Lemon.
“I’ll go inside with you,” Tillie offered, “help you get settled.”
“Thanks, but I’m good.” He faced forward and went another step up. In trying to keep the weight off his ankle, his ribs were taking the brunt of the effort. With every step, spikes were being driven through him. Only three more steps to go.
Tillie moved next to him. “Here, put your arm around me. I’ll help.”
Jaxson was too weary to protest. He slid his arm around her shoulders, grateful for the help.
“Okay, here we go,” Tillie said.
It was much easier with Tillie’s help. When they reached the top, Jaxson felt like he’d accomplished a huge feat. Tillie walked him across the porch. When they reached the door, Jaxson turned. “Thanks, but I can take it from here.”
Her face fell. “I just want to help.”
He sucked in a breath, wincing at the sharp pain in his ribs. “You have. I just need to get inside.”
“I know.” She rolled her eyes. “That’s why I’m helping, silly.”
He squared his jaw. “I need to do it alone.”
Her face turned redder than a ripe tomato. “It’s because of the blonde, isn’t it? I knew she wasn’t your nurse,” she sneered. “I saw the way you looked at her.”
White lights exploded around the edges of Jaxson’s eyes. “Let’s talk about this later.”
“No need!” Her voice escalated to a shrill pitch. “The two of us are through! I like your cousin better anyway,” she raged, stalking away.
“Good riddance,” Jaxson growled as he turned