Chapter 1

by Unknown

  A quick involuntary flick of the tongue wet her lips in anticipation. Ace’s met hers in a clash of pent- up heat.

  He nibbled her lips then moved to her eyelids and to the tip of her nose and she got hotter by the second.

  She let her hands roam over his broad back, every inch increasing the heat flowing from her fingertips to fuel the liquid heat in the pit of her stomach. She laced her hands around his neck and brought his lips to hers for a series of lingering wet kisses that sucked all the air from both of them.

  “Jazzy, you are so hot and you make me hot as the devil just touching my skin,” he rasped when they finally broke away to catch their breath.

  He slid her panties down to her feet, peeled them off, and tossed them off the edge of the bed. Then he worked his way back up, tasting, teasing, and loving the way she wiggled and moaned. When he reached her mouth, he lowered his lips to hers and slid inside her at the same time.

  “Oh! Oh! Now that feels good,” she said.

  “Am I forgiven?”

  “Nothing to forgive you for this time. That wasn’t your fault, but you will be putting a lock on that door tomorrow morning.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He grinned.

  He teased her until she was ready to scream, then he slowed down and let her cool off, then brought her up to the brink of a climax with intentions of playing the same game twice, but Jasmine had different ideas. She moved in unison with him, hips wiggling and kisses continuing to fuel the fire until he wasn’t in control anymore. He exploded and all the air left his lungs again, leaving him gasping for air.

  “Yes, yes, yes,” she mumbled and buried her face in his neck.

  When the alarm went off at five o’clock she was still wrapped up in his arms so tightly that it took some fancy moving to get untangled. She grabbed a robe and stumbled to the bathroom for a wake- up shower. She’d barely lathered up the shampoo when she saw a shadow behind the shower curtain. She peeked around the edge to fuss at whoever was out there to find Ace with a big grin on his face and the bed sheet wrapped around him toga style.

  “Greek god!” She smiled.

  “Good mornin’, Mrs. Riley,” Ace said as he dropped the sheet and stepped into the shower with her. “We fell asleep without our sweet nothing time. I missed it.” He picked up a washcloth, poured her fancy vanilla shower gel in the middle, and washed her back.

  “Sweet nothing time?” she asked. The sensation of his hands on her back was almost as good as sex with him.

  “You call it afterglow. I call it sweet nothing time.

  It’s after sex when we talk and cuddle. We were both so tired we fell asleep and when I woke up I thought it was still right after sex and it wasn’t. So I felt cheated. Lean back and I’ll rinse the soap from your hair.”

  “Mmmm,” she moaned when his hands massaged her scalp.

  “Like that, do you?”

  “Oh, yeah! I’d give you five stars just for that.”

  “And for the sex?” he asked.

  “On a scale of one to five?”

  He kissed her neck. A wet kiss on wet skin, so sensual that she forgot what he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Yes, what?” she asked.

  “On a scale of one to five.” He chuckled.

  “Eleven,” she said without hesitating.

  “Thank you, ma’am. I try to please. Now, sweetheart, it’s time to dry your hair and get you ready for the café.” He stepped out of the shower, held a towel out for her to step into, and wrapped it around her body, stopping to kiss each breast before he concealed them. He picked up her hair dryer from the vanity. “Sit down right there and I will do it for you this morning.”

  Warm air and his hands combined to make her scalp tingle. She was glad she was sitting on the vanity seat with a towel around her because every part of her body had goose bumps the size of mountains. And it damn sure wasn’t because the air conditioning was working so well.

  He finished drying her hair, leaned over her shoulder, and kissed her on the cheek. “And now, madam, is there anything else I can do for you before you go to work?

  It is now five thirty so I suppose a morning romp in the bed or right here on this floor is out of the question?” She wanted to say yes so badly that it hurt, but she had a café to run. And Bridget would be there in twenty minutes right on time. She shook her head, stood up, dropped the towel, and pressed her body to his. “No, but I’ll be thinkin’ about it all day.”

  “Well, I won’t,” he said.

  She cocked her head to one side and looked at him. “What?”

  “Thinking about you makes riding a tractor or a four wheeler or a horse almighty uncomfortable,” he explained with one of his world- class grins. “What’s it do for you?” He strung steamy hot kisses from her neck to her eyes, stopping along the way to taste her lips.

  “Makes me hotter’n a Texas firecracker,” she admitted.

  “We got this physical stuff down pretty damn good, don’t we?”

  “Yes, and now I’ve only got fifteen minutes to get dressed and go to work.” She pushed back and started toward the door.

  “Hey, Jazzy,” he said.

  She turned around.

  “I liked that sweet nothing time almost as good as your afterglow,” he said.

  “Oh, yeah.” She smiled.

  Chapter 23

  The last time Jasmine had been in church was in Sherman on Mother’s Day. Several hundred voices sang and there was a big screen hung high above the preacher’s head to project him bigger than life for those who couldn’t see him from the back seats. A balcony behind him held the choir in brilliant blue robes, and the special music they presented was beautiful. The preacher stood behind a modern clear podium with a center aisle front of him. It was where her mother had planned for her to get married with groomsmen and bridesmaids filling up the whole front of the church.

  Not even two months ago, she had not planned on get ing married until she was forty. That day she had not fallen smack dab in love with her own husband. And that day she was not living a miserable lie.

  It was the first time she’d been in the little white church in Ringgold. A row of pews on the left; one on the right with a center pew between them; and four short pews behind the preacher’s antique oak pulpit where the choir members sat. They didn’t wear robes and two of the men wore striped overalls. Grandpa O’Donnell grinned and waved at her when Ace led her to the front two pews on the right- hand side where the Rileys sat every Sunday morning. She sat down next to Dolly, who patted her on the shoulder and graced her with a big smile.

  Dolly didn’t know that she was taking her life in her own hands that bright hot sunny July morning. There was every chance that lightning could zip through the window without even breaking it and fry everyone on the whole pew, leaving nothing but ashes. God did not take well to blowing the bottom out of any of his command-ments, but the one about “thou shalt not lie” was as big as a longhorn bull sitting on the front pew that morning.

  Ace picked up her hand, laced his fingers through hers, and held it on his thigh. How in the hell was she supposed to corral wandering thoughts about wild, passionate sex under a wil ow tree or licking ice cream off…

  Oh, shit! I’m in big trouble! But just touching his handand his thigh sends my hormones into orbit. Okay, okay,think about anything, even selling the café to Momma.

  I’m not going to do it but think about that rather thanmaking love to Ace in one of those choir pews. I couldsit on his lap and unbutton his shirt real slow like, kisshis naked little nipples until they perk right up, and hecould… Shit! I’m in church and that man upstairs mightrun out of patience. I do remember my Bible storiesabout when someone made him mad and he torched thewhole city.

  Ace squeezed her hand.

  The preacher cleared his throat. “’Tis a bright beautiful morning to bring in July. We’d like to welcome Ace’s new bride, the former Jasmine King, into our congregation. Many of you will know her as the owner
of Chicken Fried and have eaten her fabulous weekday specials as well as her world famous chicken fried steak.

  She’s caused me to commit the sin of gluttony many times in the past year and a half, and the bathroom scales tell God on me.”

  That brought on the laughter and he waited for it to die down.

  “So everyone make her welcome when services are over. We’ve got a new baby in the back pew. Our love and welcome to Jasper Jefferson, the new son of Grady and Misty Cordova. He joins five older sisters and one older brother. Our young people are the future of our community and we’ll have a fine one if they are raised in church. Now the choir is going to sing to us this morning and then I’ll deliver this morning’s message.” He sat down on a little short pew back behind the podium. Built for only two people, it was probably designed in the beginning for a couple of deacons to sit on.

  But the congregation was small enough in Ringgold that the deacons sat with their families in the congregation.

  Grandpa O’Donnell was the first one on his feet, and then he extended a hand to help Granny. Their voices could be heard loud and clear as the choir sang

  “Farther Along.”

  The words fascinated Jasmine. In the church she had attended all her life over in Sherman the music tended to go more toward praise and worship songs and alternative Christian music. The lyrics to the old gospel hymn said that farther along they’d know all about it. Grandpa winked at her when he sang that they’d understand it all by and by.

  Tears came to her eyes when the song talked about death coming and taking their loved ones and leaving our home so lonely and drear. Granny O’Donnell’s voice was loud and clear when she sang, “Cheer up, my brother, and live in the sunshine.”

  Jasmine glanced over at Ace to see his Adam’s apple working as he swallowed hard two or three times. She’d wondered if he was thinking of his own grandpa. Did they have his funeral right here in this little church? Did those same people, lifelong friends of Grandpa Riley, sing that song during the service?

  The preacher took his place behind the podium and opened a wel - worn Bible. “John fourteen, verses two through four. Jesus said that he was going to prepare a place for us and that he would come again. Farther along, my friends, we will know exactly what that place looks like and the glory of it all…”

  Jasmine tried to listen, but when Ace tensed she noticed that he was having trouble. She inched over closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder. He tilted his head to touch her hair and the tension eased.

  Ace had gone to church sporadical y since his grandfather died, usually when the family planned some big thing like Christmas or Easter that started off with church on Sunday morning and followed by dinner out at the ranch.

  It was the first time he’d ever taken a woman to church. When Grandpa O’Donnell winked at her, he could almost see his own gramps up there in the choir singing perfect alto. And then Gramps started talking to him as surely as if he’d been sitting on the arm of the pew on his left side.

  Youdonegood, boy, gettin’ that Jasmine to marryyou. I knowed you’d find a good woman and settle downif I made you do it. Man can only run around chasin’

  skirt tails so long and then they need to make a home forthe next generation. I like her. She’s got spunk and she’lldo to ride the river with.

  Ride the river meant that she’d do to keep for a lifetime. Ace flinched, glad that Gramps only came to visit in church and occasional y when he was out riding a four- wheeler checking on the cattle. And he was really, really glad that Gramps did not come around to talk to him when they were under the willow trees beside the river or in motel rooms with a cone of melting ice cream.

  Gramps, I’ve fallen in love with her and I don’t knowwhat to do.

  He could hear his grandfather’s deep chuckle. Iexpectedthatyouwould. Figured it might take the wholeyear, but I’m glad it’s happenin’ right now. What areyou goin’ to do about it?

  Ace pondered that question for a long time. He didn’t have to answer right away. Gramps had been a patient man in life. When he sat beside Ace in church or in the tractor, or behind him on a four- wheeler, and dispensed advice, he didn’t mind waiting for Ace to work the question through his mind.

  “…we don’t get the big picture all at once,” the preacher was saying when Ace looked up. “…picture it like this. We’re standing on the backside of one of those pretty needlepoint things you women folks make.

  It looks pretty tacky back here with all the ends of the threads showing and crossing over each other. We don’t get to see the other side of the picture until life is finished and we look back at the whole thing. Then it becomes clear to us like our choir members were singing this morning. Farther along we’ll understand why.” Amen, Gramps’ voice whispered in Ace’s ear. Youknowwhattodoaboutit. Think about all the tomorrowsfor the rest of your life and who you want to share themwith. It’s damn sure not one of them floozies in that bookthat Lucy burned up or you would have brought her tochurch with you when I was still living. The woman youstay with is the one you ain’t ashamed to take to meetGod. Got things to do now of my own, so I’m leavin’

  before the collection plate is passed around.

  Ace caught himself before he blurted out, “Don’t go.” He tried to listen to the rest of the sermon but his thoughts went to Jasmine. What was it Gramps told him to look for in a woman just before he died? Ace drew his eyes down and then smiled.

  Awomanwhoknowshowtofryokraandmakeadecentchickenfriedsteakinthekitchen. One who couldsit a horse, run a four- wheeler, or drive a tractor all dayand not whine about it. One he wouldn’t be ashamedto sit down beside his momma in church. And one thatcould heat up his bedroom.

  Jasmine could do all that and more. She’d been his friend and then his wife and lover and he’d fal en in love with her. She’d said when she offered to marry him that she did not intend to get involved with any man again for a long, long time.

  “Today,” the preacher said in a loud voice to wake up anyone sleeping on the back row, “we are having our annual church dinner and anniversary out on the church lawn. The food will be in the fellowship hall and served buffet style. Everyone can help their plates and sit down in the hall as long as we have room, or they can take it out on the lawn and sit on pallets. There are quilts in the nursery for anyone who forgot to bring their own today.

  We’ll have visiting and music from the O’Donnells until everyone is ready to go home or it gets dark, whichever comes first. Brother Cordova, would you lead us in the final prayer?”

  “Are we staying for the dinner? I should have brought something,” Jasmine whispered to Ace while Brother Cordova thanked God for the day and his beautiful new son.

  “Momma brings enough to feed an army. And we’ll stay if you want. If not…”

  “I want to,” Jasmine said.

  Chapter 24

  Dolly Riley not only brought enough food for an army; she brought enough quilts too. One for each of her boys and one for her and Poppa Riley. The yard would have been full with just Rileys, but everyone scooted their patchwork homes together and made room for the rest of the church family.

  Sitting on that quilt with Ace, surrounded by his biological family and their friends, sent Jasmine on a worse guilt trip than thinking about having sex with him on the choir pews. She couldn’t explain the feeling, but it was as if she was the sole member of the whole patchwork community who did not belong. And yet, her little six-by- eight- foot world was the second most visited place on the lawn that day, coming in second to the crowded Cordova quilt with eight children and two adults. New babies and marriages; the future of a community.

  She was eating chicken casserole that had crunched potato chips on top and thinking about asking for the recipe when a cute little dark- haired woman sat down next to Ace.

  “I can’t believe you got married. I didn’t even know it until today. I kept waiting for you to call me to go dancing with you,” she said.

  “Felicity Cordo
va, meet my wife, Jasmine,” Ace said.

  “Glad to meet you. Someday we’ll have to talk. I just knew I had this cowboy roped in and ready to propose to me and then I hear he’s married today and from the pulpit of the church. I’m sure enough out of the loop, I tell you.”

  “Nice to make your acquaintance,” Jasmine said. “I figured everyone in the whole area saw our wedding on television.”

  “Guess I was out with another cowboy tryin’ to make this one jealous that night and no one told me. I’m Grady’s sister, the one with the new baby. I bet y’all got married about three weeks ago? That was the night I was over at his place watchin’ kids when Misty had that false labor. We were watchin’ a Disney movie and I didn’t see the news.” She sighed.

  “Move over, girl. I haven’t kissed the groom.” A petite blonde plopped down between Felicity and Ace and flat out laid a kiss, tongue and all, on him.

  He blushed a brilliant red.

  Jasmine knotted her hands into fists.

  She ended the kiss with an extra little smack on his cheek and looked at Jasmine. “You got a good one, honey.

  I was anglin’ for him, but guess I didn’t have the right bait. By the way, I’m Justina Algood. I live up between Terral and Ryan, but my grandparents come to church here and I always come for the reunion dinner. Be seein’

  you around, Ace. If you decide you don’t want him, kick him north. I’d still take him even though you got to walk down the aisle with him first.” Justina went on to the next blanket to talk to Granny and Grandpa O’Donnell.

  Felicity left at the same time and went straight to the Cordova quilt where she took the baby from her sister-in- law and carried him from blanket to blanket so everyone could see him.

  Raylen and Liz brought their plates to Jasmine and Ace’s quilt and settled down to eat. Jasmine hoped that their presence would act like bug spray and keep all of Ace’s former women from lighting.

  It didn’t work.