The handsome Tarkett County Sheriff, David Northup, said, “I’d definitely see about setting up a security system if you do, ma’am. Call if you need us. Sorry about your back porch.”
Summer nodded and smiled at him and thanked the men before they left. The fire department gathered all their equipment and departed soon after.
The men walked the ladies back to the storefront, and Grace gasped as she walked past her Escalade. “Oh! Shoot!” Maya snickered when she even stomped her foot.
“What is it, darlin’?” Jack asked, the picture of husbandly concern.
“My ice cream! It’s sitting on the front seat melted!” She pulled open her car door and carefully lifted out the plastic bag containing her pint of ice cream.
Summer held out a hand. “Let me put it in the freezer, Grace. It won’t be as good the second time around but it’ll still make a nice snack.”
Grace lifted the bag containing the half gallon jar of dill pickles that had inspired so much levity earlier and followed them inside. “I had my mouth all set for java fudge ice cream.”
Rachel snorted. “How about java fudge milk shake? Hey, can I have some pickles, too?”
* * * *
Saturday night, Maya adjusted the strap on her red lace push-up bra and tied a knot under her breasts with the shirt tails of her costume. With Summer’s help she’d found the perfect costume for Margaritaville Night at The Dancing Pony.
She’d decided on a 1940s pin-up girl’s costume—red gingham shirt with lots of cleavage showing, red shorts that showed way more than they covered of her upper thighs, and cherry red peep-toe pumps. She’d even managed to get in to Madeleine’s to have her hair styled in an updo that would’ve made Betty Grable proud.
Touching up her cherry-red lipstick, she smiled at herself in the mirror and liked what she saw. The smiling woman looking back at her appeared younger, relaxed, and in love.
After flipping off the light switch, Maya walked down the hall to the living room where her men waited in their flip-flops, shorts, and Hawaiian-print shirts “a la Jimmy Buffet.” Satisfaction filled her heart when all three of their jaws popped open. Their eyes bulged as she did a slow turn and cocked a hip at them.
“Dayum, babydoll!” Kendall crowed as he gave her the once-over and closed the distance between them. He traced his fingertips around her waist as he walked around her and then pulled her into his arms. The hardening ridge of his cock pressed against her, and her body responded. Boone and Richard joined them.
“You’re a knockout in that outfit. Out of it, too,” Boone murmured as he pressed his warm lips to the back of her neck above her shirt collar. His words and his touch sent a flurry of tingles to her nipples and beyond.
Richard kissed her and said, “You look gorgeous, Maya. Let’s get out of here before we all wind up back in bed. Not that I would object, mind you.”
* * * *
Grace sat in Ethan’s lap, watching Summer and her date with growing concern. Rachel had pronounced Summer to be an “asshole magnet,” and the appellation was certainly proving true this evening. When Grace and Teresa had first met her, barely two years before, Grace had thought the beautiful, voluptuous woman exuded confidence. In the interim, she’d discovered that while Summer did truly brim with self-assurance, she held hidden from almost everyone a plus-sized woman’s vulnerability and insecurity.
Add to that the fact she’d attracted a string of admirers in the last two years that had each been successively worse that the last. Grace had thought the last had been the worst, but she was being proved wrong tonight.
Grace had offered to set Summer up on a blind date tonight and had even known the perfect guy for her. But when Grace had called her, Summer had assured her she already had a date for that night’s bash. Summer had only come to The Dancing Pony a few times, for reasons Grace still didn’t understand.
Summer sat with her date, Kent Hargrove, and the others making small talk. They hadn’t discussed the blog or the reason for the big Margaritaville Night party because there were people present who knew nothing about it. In addition there were people in attendance who were not there for friendly reasons. The goal was to catch them in the act.
Grace wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Ethan, Jack, and Adam had a personal hand in dealing out retribution to the person responsible.
“Earth to Grace,” Ethan whispered in her ear as her thoughts rambled. His warm hand, which had been caressing her abdomen and their sleeping daughter inside her, strayed up her side. His thumb brushed along the side of her breast in a tender, secretive touch, and her ultra-sensitive nipples hardened into tingling peaks. She was wearing her pink satin-and-lace shelf bra at his request beneath her sexy, but flowing, pink-and-white patterned silk dress. It was maternity wear and looked good on her, but her burgeoning middle had begun to give her doubts.