Kendry soothed her with a hand on her knee and said, “Because the moment you laid eyes on him you knew he was yours, right?” She pulled in a sharp breath and then nodded and looked up at him and then at Jared.
Kendry said, “Don’t try to ‘save us’ by cutting us out of your life just on the possibility that what we have might not work out. We’re not wasting your time here, Presley Ann. If we wanted fuck buddies we could find them. Despite what you say about the girl you once were, we know you for the woman you are. And if you saw yourself the same way we see you, there would be no question of why we would want to be with you. It’d be obvious.”
Jared glanced at his watch and said, “Kitten, not to change the subject, but if you’d like, we can watch over Whit while you take your shower. We don’t want you to feel put on the spot or like you have to make a decision, but I’d rather you were a little more warmed up before we left.”
Biting her lip, she looked at them and then giggled. “I think you need to give yourself more credit, Jared. My feet are nice and warm.” Her cheeks turned an even brighter shade of pink and she pushed the rocker back so she could rise from it. “While I was in San Antonio I met a shop owner. She’s waiting on me to get in touch with her about items she’d like me to make for her shops. There are pictures on your phone that I need you to send to my e-mail address. And…” She fiddled with the hem of her blouse and reached for her purse.
“And what?”
“Um…you had a call. I answered it.”
“From who?”
Presley Ann winced and said, “Jasmine.”
“Shit. What did she say to you?”
Presley Ann pressed her lips together. “I can’t remember her exact words but it was something along the lines of ‘tell that cocksucking bastard he better call me.’ And she seemed to think I was fucking you—no, wait—you were fucking me.” She bit her lip and her eyes twinkled. He didn’t think it was all that funny.
“And what did you say?”
She shrugged as she dug in her purse and mumbled, “I might’ve told her that if I was fucking you I would’ve taken better care of you so you wouldn’t want to move away…or something like that. It was the heat of the moment and you know my memory isn’t the best.”
Kendry snorted and his shoulders shook with amusement. “I’ll bet that calmed Jasmine right down.”
“I don’t know,” she said as she turned and held out Jared’s phone to him. “I hung up on her after I said it. I’m sorry.” She didn’t look sorry at all. That he did find amusing.
“It’s not your fault that up until now I’ve had bad luck with women.” Picturing Jasmine made him think he had really bad luck.
“Up until now, huh?”
“Yeah, things are looking up here lately.”
Her only reply was a grin as she held out his phone. “You can have this back.”
“Were there any other calls?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. She shook her head. He folded her hand back over it and said, “You can keep it until you get your phone replaced.”
“I’m handling that in the morning. You don’t need to do that, and what if you get more calls?”
“You need to have a way to reach out in an emergency.” He placed his other hand over hers and said, “Jasmine is an ex. Since you talked to her, you can imagine why she’s an ex. She’s crazy.”
Presley Ann nodded. “She mentioned brothers.”
Jared rolled his eyes. He could almost hear Jasmine ranting. “I’m sorry about that. I broke up with her for cheating on me. I’ll tell you about it sometime but not while you’re standing here still shivering.”
“So you’re not worried about Jasmine’s brothers showing up at your door?”
Kendry laughed. “Only whether or not we had enough food and beer in the house. If they decided to follow through, it’d be because they miss our big-assed flat screen television.” Jared laughed with him and Presley Ann looked mildly reassured.
Jared said, “They know Jasmine is crazy, too.”
With a chuckle, Kendry said, “Maybe we should leave my phone with her since I don’t have any exes—crazy or otherwise—hmm? My phone is comparatively boring due to that whole needing-a-new-heart-and-having-no-life thing.”
“No exes?” Presley Ann asked as she dug through drawers, presumably getting out pajamas.
“I’ve dated here and there but nothing serious, like Mr. Love-’em-and-Leave-’em, here.”
She pointed toward the bathroom and said, “I’ll make this quick. I appreciate you staying a few minutes. Whit seems restless.”