"Oh, you must have heard Jeannie bought the old Fisher place and is fixing it up." Mrs. Neal, who was apparently the voice of the couple when her husband wasn't preaching, beamed at me as if I'd done something more worthwhile than pour thousands of dollars in to a property solely to piss off the uppity people in town. "She's staying here and raising her sister's children, bless poor Loretta's soul."
"No, I hadn't heard that." Abraham released my hand, his fingers slipping over my palm almost like a caress and I fought back the resultant shiver. "I'm sorry about your sister."
"Thanks." I shifted Conway to my other hip, wincing when his doll dug in to my ribs. "Sorry to rush off but it's lunchtime and you know how kids are."
"Oh, if you haven't been to Cracked Egg, you should definitely go." Mrs. Neal nudged Abraham toward me, all smiles and fluttering hands but with a gleam in her eyes which made me wonder how many other meet-cutes she'd tried to arrange in the past. "Abraham, take Jeannie and the kids to lunch. It would make your parents so happy to know you're being part of the community again."
"That's not necessary." I started nudging Tammy toward the door, shooing Dolly behind her. I didn't give a good damn if my attempt at escape was obvious-the last thing I wanted was to share a meal with my sister's children and the man who'd given me multiple orgasms. "I'm sure Mr. Hansom has other plans for the afternoon."
"Not really." Before I had chance to protest further, he reached over and plucked Conway out of my arms, setting him on his hip with a suspicious ease. Inclining his head toward the exit, he said, "After you, Jeannie Jackson."
Since any further attempts at refusal would have held up the line and caused more harm than good, I forced myself to smile brighter and follow Tammy and Dolly outside, doing my best to ignore the whispers already starting. Even knowing he was a good two feet away from me, I would have sworn I felt heat rolling off him in waves and I was sure more than a few ovaries went in to overdrive at the sight of him carrying a child. I was having a hard time controlling my own and I wasn't even particularly fond of him or the idea of having children.
Walking across the church lawn and parking lot felt like the equivalent of walking through the halls of high school naked as a jaybird and I was all but delirious with relief when we reached my car. Turning to face Abraham, I held out my arms for Conway and said, "I can take him."
"We're fine." As if to demonstrate his point, he bounced Conway, his lips curving upward when Conway laughed. "I'd appreciate if you opened the door, though. This little guy is sturdier than he looks."
"Right." I fumbled with the handle, cursing under my breath while Dolly giggled and Tammy looked on with her usual pious frown. Wrenching the door open, nearly kneecapping myself in the process, I said, "There you go."
"Thanks." He settled Conway in the car seat with more skill than I would have expected of an apparently single man in his thirties, glancing over at the girls. "If you two want lunch, you should probably get in and get buckled up. I have a feeling your aunt would have no problem leaving you if you decided to dawdle."
"No, she wouldn't." Dolly giggled again, covering her mouth with her hand but failing to conceal her dimples. "She like us."
"True, but she has the appearance of a woman desperate for coffee and I wouldn't want to get in the way of that." He straightened, shutting the car door and leaning against it. He shifted his gaze to me, his smile taking a decidedly wicked edge. "She looks like a biter."
"Girls, car. Mr. Hansom, can I have a word with you, please?" Without giving him a chance to reply, I stalked a few feet away, crossing my arms as I turned to face him. Squaring my shoulders, I took a deep breath and said, "Look, I'm not sure what you're trying to do here but-."
"At the moment, I'm trying to take you to lunch because if I don't, the good Mrs. Neal will call my mother and tell her all about how I was unwelcoming and inhospitable and then I'll have to listen to my mother sigh and wonder where she went wrong and why I can't be the nice boy she raised." His smile faded as he took a step forward, the faint breeze fluttering his jacket, the crisp cotton grazing my bare arms. For the first time, I noticed the absence of the eyebrow ring and the tightness in his jaw. "You're not the only one living under a microscope, Jeannie Jackson, so maybe you could give a guy a hand."
"You've already gotten way more than a hand." Even though it was stupid considering what had happened the last time we got too close, I shifted closer, dropping my voice to almost a whisper. "Did you know who I was last night?"
"Yes." He met my stare without flinching. "Are you telling me you didn't know who I was?"
"Not a single clue." It was petty of me, I know, but I couldn't help feeling a small spurt of glee when he blinked, his surprise obvious. "Why would I? I haven't thought about you or this town in years. I'm willing to bet the only reason you knew about me was gossip."
His smile disappeared entirely as he pressed his lips in to a thin line. "I don't listen to gossip."
"Right." I shook my head and snorted out a laugh. "So you say." Uncrossing my arms, I raked one hand through my hair and sighed. "Fine. We'll go to lunch. I'm warning you now, no dirty talk or innuendo. Dolly and Conway might not pick up on it but Tammy is old enough to not only understand but disapprove."
"I tend to save my dirty talk and innuendo for after five p.m." He gestured toward my car where the kids were waiting patiently-or at least as patiently as a fifteen year old, an eight year old, and a five year old could wait. "I'll meet you at the restaurant. I'm sure Tammy knows the way."
"Fine." Resisting the urge to yank the door open and slam it shut, I forced myself to at least look as if I wasn't torn between annoyance and arousal as I slid in to the car and fastened my seatbelt. When Tammy cleared her throat, I said, "What?"
"I didn't know you knew Mr. Hansom. I just thought you went to high school together."
"I don't know him." I studied him through the windshield as he crossed the parking lot to a car which looked as painstakingly and lovingly restored as the building which housed his bar and was as far from an oversized, jacked up pickup truck as it could be and still be considered a vehicle. "I don't know him at all."
CHAPTER TEN
The Cracked Egg turned out to be in the location of the old corner store, which meant it was tiny and tight and almost painfully bright thanks to the floor to ceiling windows lining the walls. It also smelled like the best fried chicken I might ever have in my life so I didn't protest when Abraham slid in the booth next to me, his thigh warm and hard against mine. The kids squeezed in on the other side, Conway in the center, Dolly pressing her nose to the glass and leaving smudges instead of looking at the menu.
Tammy, of course, sat ramrod straight, her hands in her lap, her chin lifted imperiously. Or indignantly. With her, it was hard to tell the difference between the two.
"Can we have waffles, Aunt Jeannie? And bacon?" Dolly bounced in her seat, still looking out the window at God only knew what. "And eggs? But no eggs for Conway. He doesn't like eggs."
"They're baby chickens." Conway settled his doll on his lap, fussing with the skirt of the doll's dress before looking up and meeting my gaze. "Nobody should eat baby chickens."
"Okay, then, no eggs for Conway." I flipped open the menu, my sigh nearly orgasmic when I saw there was, indeed, chicken and waffles on the menu. If it tasted even half as good as it smelled, I would have to do a write-up for the magazine's blog. "Tammy, what about you?"
"Tammy's on a diet." Dolly plopped down in her seat, beaming at me with far too much innocence for my liking. "She says she has to lose ten pounds before school starts next month."
"Uh, no, she doesn't." I gave the menu exactly five more seconds of my time before closing it and resting my hands on top of it, turning my attention to my oldest niece. "Why do you think you need to lose weight?"
Dolly answered for her. "Because Tina Anne said her boobs were too big for her cheerleading uniform."
"Dolly!" Tammy hissed at her sister, her face twisting in a scowl. "You shouldn't say things like that."
"Well, it's true." Dolly stuck her tongue out, Conway apparently oblivious to the argument happening literally around him. Turning back to me, she said, "Tina Anne is captain and what she says goes so all Tammy has been eating all summer is salad."