Back for Seconds (Lone Star Second Chances Book 1) Page 9

  “It’s complicated,” she dismissed as she grabbed a nacho chip and dipped it into spicy salsa.

  “No, it’s not. You’re either happy or you’re not. Sure things are hard right now but that doesn’t mean you can’t be happy. You should be happy. Hell, you should be delirious. You get a chance to start over.”

  “It’s a scarier proposition when you’re on this side of the table, my friend. And why do you care, anyway?”

  He leaned back in his chair. “You ever see a kitten out in the yard, no owner, no way of protecting itself from the big, bad world?”

  She arched an eyebrow. “Am I supposed to be this ownerless kitten? What am I supposed to do, mew helplessly until some big strong man decides to rescue me? Do you have any idea how sexist that is?”

  “Then do something about it. Take charge. Take command. Like that kiss last night in my office.”

  She shuddered with the memory of it. “That was a mistake,” she asserted at once, surer than ever she was right.

  His voice was soft and his eyes were hard. “Was it? Or was it exactly what you wanted? You came alive last night, Joely. You felt it. I felt it. So let’s just be honest about it. We’re attracted to each other and we’re both unencumbered. There’s no crime seeing where it goes.”

  “Till you get tired of me too. Then I get to watch you prance off with another helpless kitten.”

  He neither confirmed nor denied. “Anything could happen. You could also find another man who turns you on in a way I can’t. Face it, love. You’re not going to be able to protect yourself from all worst-case scenarios without locking yourself away from everyone. And that doesn’t do anyone any good at all.”

  They fell silent as the waiter served their food. Before she could take a bite, she had to ask, “Why me?”

  “Why not you?”

  “That’s not what I mean. I mean… why this all-fire push to seduce me? I’m nobody special.”

  He reached across the table and touched her hand with his. “Maybe it’s because you’ve forgotten how special you are.”

  “So this is a pity project?”

  “You stir a lot of emotions in me, Joely Morgan. Pity is not one of them.” She had no comeback for that. “Now eat up. We still have to get back to the house, get you changed and start taking publicity shots.”

  The very thought of being alone in her mother’s house with him, especially after all he said, made Joely drain her margarita glass a lot quicker than she normally would have. She was definitely a little buzzed as they walked out to his car. He held the door open for her. She said nothing as she got inside.

  Even the butterflies in her stomach were tipsy, clumsily flapping around in her belly as Xander sped back to the house in his late-model sports car that smelled of his cologne. The sensual leather of the bucket seat that embraced her, the power of the 8-cylinder engine that rattled her ribcage whenever he accelerated … it was all sensory overload. She could barely breathe when he pulled the car into the driveway. The empty house loomed large in front of them, which made her even more nervous. She was slightly intoxicated and he looked like he just stepped off the cover of a magazine.

  Any way you sliced it, this spelled trouble.

  She juggled her bags before sprinting up the stairs to change. By the time she got back downstairs, he had staged the kitchen for her impromptu photo shot. He turned briefly to inspect her new look, which was a flirty black retro dress covered in vibrant red cherries. “That’s more like it,” he smiled. “Come here.”

  Those two words made her tremble in her shoes, but she obeyed the softly issued command anyway. She gasped as he put two hands around her waist, picking her up easily with a surprising strength and setting her on the island counter in the middle of her mother’s kitchen.

  He pulled out his phone and stood back a few feet. “Okay, now place both palms on the counter next to your hips,” he instructed. She complied. “I want you to lean forward towards me and smile.” Again she obeyed his command and he clicked away, taking several shots. “Now give me your best smirk. Eyebrow up, only the corner of your mouth upturned and that same look in your eye from last night.”

  “What look?” she stammered.

  “Where you were stealing glances at my cock,” he answered in such a matter-of-fact tone that only made his profanity more shocking. She rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation.

  “Must you do that?” she asked again.

  “I told you. It all comes back to sex,” he repeated softly, almost hypnotically. “Show me a woman who knows what she wants in bed, and I’ll show you a woman who knows who she is in the world. That’s your missing ingredient, Joely.”

  “And I suppose you’re here to help me find it.”

  “Something like that,” he murmured. “Now think of me and smile.” She did try, but he had her all discombobulated. After a few unsuccessful shots, he lowered his phone. “What are you so afraid of?”

  She wanted to say nothing. Instead she said, “Everything.”

  He placed his phone on the counter and walked over to her. He circled her waist with his arms, bringing them almost nose to nose. “That’s why,” he murmured softly.

  “Why what?” she found herself asking, her eyes wide like a child’s.

  “Why I picked you,” he said.

  She snorted. “Because I’m afraid?”

  “Because you can admit it,” he corrected softly. “You’ve been waiting for someone like me to come along, Joely. You just didn’t know it. Well, here I am,” he added in the softest of whispers that made her whole body quiver. He lowered his mouth on hers, coaxing her lips apart with his until her head tilted back. He dominated her mouth instantly. She moaned softly into his kiss. He lifted away, studied her eyes and then smiled. She didn’t stop him as he lifted her legs onto the counter and urged her to lean down on one elbow. He walked back to the camera. “Smile,” he commanded. She did and he snapped photo after photo.

  He pocketed his camera with a satisfied smirk. “I think that’s enough for one day.”

  She was instantly fearful that he was going to approach her again, and she knew damned well that she was powerless to fight off his curious, not to mention relentless, seduction. When he put his hands on her waist, however, he simply lifted her gently to the ground. She stared up at him, confused and flustered.

  “I have enough to keep me busy for a while. I guess I should leave you to it so you can get cracking on more cookies.”

  She sighed and glanced down at her watch. “Yeah. I guess it wasn’t that productive of a day.”

  He tipped her chin with his fingers. “This is part of it. A big part. You were much more productive than you think.” He turned to leave. “We’ll try some other stuff next Monday.”

  She had to race to catch up to him. “Why next Monday?”

  They reached the front door. “It’s my only day off,” he told her. “And I want to spend it with you.” He bent down for a lingering peck on her lips. His eyes glittered as he straightened. “Now be a good girl and dream about me,” he added with a wink.

  He was down the walkway and nearly to his car before she could stammer any reply.

  Chapter Eight

  For not having a real “job,” that week turned out to be one of the busiest of Joely’s life. She balanced motherhood with her fledgling business, which was thankfully fluid enough to fit around her commitments as a parent. She carted the kids to and from school and their various after school activities. For Kari, for that week at least, this meant four hours at the restaurant every day, from four in the afternoon to eight in the evening. Having had fifteen years’ worth of experience trying to supervise her willful child, Joely was concerned that maybe Lillian had bitten off more than she could chew. Unfortunately she couldn’t stay at the restaurant and run defense because she still had cookies to make, recipes to crack, baking and decorating hacks to research – not to mention two other kids who needed her attention. That was a pretty full plate. She knew
she had to let her baby bird fly on her own for a bit. Joely was convinced it was harder on her than it was on Kari.

  In fact, after the appropriate amount of bitching those first couple of days, Kari rose to the challenge in ways Joely couldn’t have predicted. By Wednesday Lillian promoted Kari to bussing tables and she even got a tip or two. When Joely would drop off batches of goodies, she got to witness firsthand how Kari interacted with the customers, filling water glasses, helping the wait staff with trays and cleaning – without complaint – whenever there was a lull in customers.

  “Who is that and what have you done to my child?” she asked her mother that Wednesday afternoon. Lillian just laughed.

  “I get partial credit. Xander gets the rest.” She indicated where Xander stood on the other side of the room, where he was leading a group of employees through more extensive cleaning projects. Joely watched in wonder as Xander issued commands and, without any argument, Kari would perform each task, even when Joely knew damned well she hated it. Instead she did every chore with a smile on her face.

  “I guess he can charm girls young and old,” Joely smirked.

  Again Lillian chuckled. “He’s been a proper gentleman, I assure you. Sometimes kids just need an outside party to impress. A parent says do something and there’s this biological impulse to rebel. Another adult says it, somehow it carries more weight.”

  She watched him closely as he interacted with the other girls, searching for any clues to send her running the opposite direction. He was a player, so something as simple as a gaze held too long would have supported Joely’s worst suspicions about him and his motives. The more innocent the encounter, however, the more possessive she felt. Deep inside she knew that made her special, and God only knew how desperately she needed to feel special. She felt herself flush as her eyes liberally scanned his body much bolder than she’d normally allow. Her palms itched, as if she could feel his skin under her hands. Every time she remembered what he had done and what he had said, she flushed with excitement. It was something she hadn’t felt since she was but a girl herself.

  As if he felt her stare he turned to face her. Her breath caught as their eyes met. When he smiled, slow and sure, she knew then and there that none of those girls had seen this side of him. It had been for her alone, though she still racked her brain to know why. Xander Davy was suddenly her mystery to crack. And stolen glances like that one, or passionate kisses like the ones they had shared, her body pressed up against his, his breath in her ear as he said things she’d only fantasized about before, made her want to figure it all out, damn the consequences.

  What the hell, right? She was free whether she wanted to be or not. There was no one left to stop her or to fight for her.

  But, fortunately or unfortunately, she was too busy to dwell on it all. She spent her days building her business around her life as a single mom. Xander had offered via text to come to the house after the restaurant closed, just so he could help her set up her social media accounts. She declined. There was just no time. The time she wasn’t spending with her kids she was either cooking, unearthing new recipes, learning new baking/decorating tricks or setting appointments for side jobs. Her sleep schedule shrank to five hours a night, six if she was lucky. She was ready to throw everything in the business to reach that $10,000 goal, but she wasn’t going to sacrifice time with her children for it. They ate together every night. She would look over homework, read bedtime stories to Hannah, and do her best to keep her mother’s house as clean as she could.

  Her mother had enjoyed decades of solitude. She didn’t want to run her out of her own house with the kind of chaos that comes from living with three kids. Keeping the kitchen under control was hard enough as it was.

  Friday night she got her first check from Lillian’s Place. Her eyes bulged at the number. She forgot all about her busy week. It had been a small price to pay for this tiny down payment on her freedom. In fact, she decided to increase her production to bring in even more money. She stayed up late that night preparing an extra couple of dozen cookies, hitting the sheets by almost three o’clock in the morning. She was up again at seven, making as many new goodies as she could before her afternoon play date with Mason and his family. She expanded to the cinnamon buns, as well as individual little fruit pies she made in mini-muffin pans. They weren’t very big, and not as labor-intensive as her decorated cookies. Thanks to some special cutters, she was able to decorate the tops with patterns in the crusts, layering little leaves and hearts on top, to create unique personal pies.

  She took three of them with her to Mason’s house, sending the rest with her mother and daughter to the restaurant. It gave her just enough time to change into something a little dressier than the jeans and T-shirts she wore to bake. She put Hannah in a sweet little velvet dress, tying her brown hair in pigtails, and added a vest to Nash’s outfit of khaki slacks and a white, short-sleeved dress shirt, which was a stark difference from the black hoodies and ripped jeans he preferred to wear.

  Mason was pleased by the transformation when he opened the door. “Hey, guys!” He reached for a hug, which she automatically returned. “Come on in. Lilah’s dying to meet you.”

  Their place was an upper-middle class three-bedroom brick home on the south side of Abilene, and the interior was impeccably decorated. The entryway was tile, with various pieces of art on the wall. They all headed to the living room, which featured a brick fireplace as the focal point.

  A handsome man with sandy blond hair and warm brown eyes rose to greet them, as the little bundle of energy with Mason’s dark hair launched off of his lap to do likewise. She skidded to a stop in front of them. “Hi! My name is Lilah Campbell-Pruitt,” she said formally as she stuck out a hand to Hannah.

  This caused Hannah to giggle as she shook her new friend’s hand like adults did. “I’m Hannah Morgan. This is my big brother, Nash, and this is my mom.”

  “Joely,” she said as she shook the little girl’s hand. She stood to greet the man who came to stand in front of her.

  “Christopher,” he said. She could tell right away he wasn’t as gregarious as his life-partner.

  Joely handed them the tiny box with the goodies. “I brought you a little something.”

  “You shouldn’t have done that,” Mason said as he took the box. “But I’m totally glad you did. Wait till you taste these,” he said to Christopher.

  “Let’s go in the kitchen,” Christopher suggested.

  They entered the cheery kitchen just off of the family room, where a generous spread was already prepared and waiting for them at the table. There were finger sandwiches, cheeses and fruit, with chips and finger foods for the kids.

  Once everybody sat, everyone over the age of six ceased to exist for the two little excitable girls, who promptly discovered all their similarities and delighted in their differences. For instance, they both wore fingernail polish, but where Hannah wore her long hair in pigtails, Lilah wore her hair much shorter in a cute little pixie cut. With this much stuff to figure out, they were much too excited to eat. “May we go to my room?” Lilah asked Christopher.

  “Aren’t you hungry?” he asked, but she shook her head. She wanted to play, and she had a whole bunch of toys she wanted to share with her new friend. It was something she rarely got to do.

  Christopher softened to her immediately. “Sure, sweetheart.”

  The girls sprang off their chairs and bolted down the hall. “No running!” Mason called after them.

  Christopher turned to Nash. “Looks like they’ve abandoned you.” Nash simple shrugged, staring down at the table. Chris shared a look with the other adults before he tried again. “You like video games?”

  That got Nash’s attention. He slowly raised his eyes to Chris’s. “Sort of.”

  Joely snorted. “Sort of? I think he has a billion points racked up on his game box.”

  He gave her a look of disdain before he corrected her on what kind of game console they possessed.

&nb
sp; “That’s what we have,” Chris told him. “Set up in the den.” He filled a dish full of fun goodies for the boy, then grabbed a can of lemonade from the fridge. “I’ll show you. Come on.”

  Nash looked at his mother, who nodded her approval. Silently he left the table and followed Chris to the family room.

  Mason sat across from Joely. “I swear I don’t know how you handle more than one.”

  She chuckled. “There was a bit of an age gap between the older two and Hannah. That helps.” She stared after her son. “I am worried about Nash, though. He’s been so depressed.”

  “Understandable, given the circumstances.”

  She shook her head. “No, he was depressed before that. He’s been withdrawing for a few years. It’s like puberty hit and he’s turned into another kid entirely. Now, without his father around, I’m afraid he won’t come to me about things that are troubling him. He’ll feel like he’s on his own.”

  “Been there,” Mason said as he poured her a glass of iced tea. “I turned twelve and realized my folks and I were speaking two different languages. They got more comfort out of what they wanted to see rather than the reality. My advice? Let him know you love him regardless.”

  “I try to,” she said. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ve been depressed, too. And maybe it started way back then.”

  Mason touched her hand softly right as Christopher entered the room. “Everything okay?”

  She nodded. “Nash okay?”

  Christopher laughed. “From the look on his face when he saw our game collection, I don’t think we’ll see him again till midnight. Kid was absolutely giddy. Don’t worry. I hid anything that was truly violent.”

  She smiled. That was the thought of a parent. Mason handed one of the pies to Christopher.

  “I’ve been waiting to try one of these,” Christopher told her. “Mason says they’re a big hit at the restaurant.” He inspected the design. “They’re almost too pretty to eat.”