Just a Little White Lie(24)

If she ever turned it on him, he’d be dead meat.

Lucinda Darling could sell chitlins to a vegan.

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Never one to shut the door when opportunity came knocking, he tugged her close. Before she’d figured out what he planned, he dropped his mouth to hers.

Her lips parted in surprise, and Jake slipped his tongue inside for a taste. One sweet taste.

The world closed in on the two of them. Nothing else existed.

Birdie’s sigh filled the room. “Oooohhh. Oh, Jake.”

When he lifted his head, Lucy stepped back, away from him. A hint of anger flashed in those now feral eyes, but she banked it quickly. He’d been warned, though. You crossed the line, buddy boy. Don’t do it again.

He grinned. He always had loved a challenge.

Right now, though, he needed to get rid of Birdie and his nephew. His sister would have word of his engagement around town before she had even reached her car. He loved her with all his heart, but the woman was a talker.

Well, he and Lucy had given her plenty of fodder for one day. Hell, for the whole year.

“Do Mom and Dad know? Gram?”

“No.” Jake jammed his hands into his jeans pockets. His grandmother would be over the moon, but neither of his parents would be a pushover. His mother saw through the most elaborate of his schemes. Always had, always would. She was a teacher. She spent her days surrounded by kids trying to pull the wool over her eyes. He doubted many got away with it. At least not often and certainly not for long.

His dad—Well, what did it matter? Chief Howie Parker would twist things around, come up with how his son had screwed up again regardless of what he did. Birdie was wrong on that score. Howie had been elated when Jake left town.

And if she was wrong about that, couldn’t she be mistaken about Gram’s health?

He flexed suddenly tight shoulders and caught Lucy studying him. The woman missed nothing.

“We thought we’d visit them later today,” Lucy said.

He groaned.

She ignored him. “It’s better if we tell them in person.”

“Oh yeah,” Birdie agreed. “You going to call them first?”

“Yes,” Lucy said.

“No,” Jake said at the same time.

“We really haven’t had a chance to work all this out, sis. Everything happened kind of fast.”

“Yeah, I’d say so. I know I’ve got lots of questions.”

Jake grimaced. “I’ll bet you do.”

“I want to know where you met. How. Why Lucinda’s car was abandoned on the interstate…” She stopped midsentence. “It’ll wait, I guess.”

Jake raked fingers through his tousled hair. He hadn’t even run a comb through it yet. This morning had fast turned into a mess with everything spiraling out of his control. Nothing was going quite the way he’d imagined. He’d thought they’d be able to slide slowly into all this. Too bad he wasn’t in the Bermuda Triangle where he could just disappear without a trace. Yeah, then he could feel guilty about that too.

But he had managed a good-morning kiss from Lucy. Maybe stolen one would be more accurate. Still…

His long-legged sister all but danced across the kitchen to her son. Sammy had turned his attention back to his car. Tongue sticking out in concentration, the boy knelt on the floor, racing the toy around the chair legs, blissfully unaware of the unfolding drama.

Birdie swooped him up and loudly kissed his belly. “Time for you and me to head out, soldier. Things to do, people to see.”

“Do we gotta?”

“Yep, we do. One of the downsides of owning your own beauty shop, Sammy. People expect you to actually show up. Mrs. Carlson’s coming in for a perm today, and Tanya’s bringing baby Aiden in for his first haircut.” She crossed to Lucy and planted a quick kiss on her cheek. “Well, Lucinda Darling, welcome to the family.” A huge smile blossomed on her heart-shaped face. “I’ve always wanted a sister.” She hugged Lucy, crushing Sammy between them.

Over his sister’s shoulder, Lucy’s eyes met his. He read in them all the recriminations he was already busy leveling at himself. This scatterbrained scheme of his was gonna hurt people he loved.

But the snowball was rolling downhill, gaining speed, and he didn’t see how he was gonna stop it before it took a few people down. And he’d, no doubt, be the first to crash and burn.

“Bye, Uncle Jake.”

“Bye, Sammy. You take good care of your mom.”

“’Kay.”

He walked his still-grinning sister and nephew to the door and watched while she headed to her battered SUV. Maybe things would work out. Yeah, sure. And maybe his dad wouldn’t criticize—