“Don’t start with me, young man. I’m so happy you’ve found the one.”
“Okay, let’s not scare her away.” He gently steers my body a few paces from Aunt Mary. “It’s time to get the chicken in the oven. Like you said, we can’t eat cold chicken.” Ridge struggles with the dish, tearing the foil off in two strips before he hurriedly slides the pan in the oven.
“Set it to 425 please and then get Tabitha and me a drink while we get to know one another better.”
“She doesn’t want to hear any stories,” Ridge argues.
“Yes, she does. Now don’t upset me, Ridley Jefferson.”
Mary removes her coat like she’s ready to settle in for a while and pulls out a chair at the small circular table in Ridge’s eat in breakfast area. “Come on, pop a squat.”
I blow air out between my teeth and sit.
**
Seventy-two minutes later, Mary drains her third glass of iced tea. She places it on the table with finality and leans back to stare at me.
“I think that’s it. You’re up to date now.”
I couldn’t agree more. We started our little trip down Ridge memory lane with his refusal to wear shoes with laces in kindergarten and ended with his ever growing need to take on high risk cases. Something she thinks will be fixed by finding the right woman. Interesting stuff. Well the high risk cases not so much, but her belief I’m the woman to tame him. Mary may be confident it will only take the right woman, but trying to domesticate Ridge sounds like a task you’d need a lion tamer to accomplish.
As Mary talked and I nodded my head politely, a gaggle of Ridge’s family and a few guys introduced as “another SEAL” walked through the front door. She introduced me to each person as “the lady in Ridge’s life.” In other news, every single person in Ridge’s family shares the same shocked expression. Eyes wide, mouth hanging open before they recover and shake my hand with more bruising force than the last one.
Now the entire clan has congregated on the back deck, a few peeking in Ridge’s window at me from time to time. Ridge attempted to extricate me from Mary numerous times, but she brushed him aside over and over. Honestly, listening to her stories sounded less intimidating than mingling with the entire Jefferson clan out back in the fifty-degree weather. The ability to stand outside for hours in the cold April weather must be a Maine thing.
Food in various colorful containers was gathered on the kitchen island as the morning rolled on, each person dropping theirs off as they passed by in a practiced fashion.
“Oh, Mack, you’re here. Now we can eat.” Aunt Mary stands from the table and approaches the guy who owns the hardware store.
The one I made sexual innuendoes about the entire time he helped me. I let the man cut my keys while thinking of other things I’d let him fondle. Oh god stop right now, Tabitha.
“Well, Tabitha, you’re eating with us today?” Mack asks.
Mary stands beside me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders like we’re now bffs. “You’ve met Tabitha?”
“Yeah, she let me cut her keys this week.” He slides a square pie box onto the table. “Can’t wait for the new bakery to open. I had to drive to the West side to pick up pie.” He references West Pelican Bay. I’ve noticed most residents call it the West side, like they’re all taking part in a rap video. Next they’ll be flashing gang signs.
Ridge walks in through his back door and my deer-in-headlights eyes must give him a hint to my current distress. Thankfully he can’t have any idea the real reason why. Ridge must never learn the horrible perverted thoughts I had for the hardware guy who’s probably his uncle or something.
“Dad.”
Dad?
Wonderful. Hot hardware guy is Ridge’s dad? Just shoot me now.
“I should get to introduce my girlfriend to my father and brother, Aunt Mary.”
She huffs. “They’ve already met.”
Ridge smiles. “I know. Where’s Riley?” He opens the pie box and crinkles his nose in disgust. “Not apple?”
“They were out.”
The conversation continues on about the lack of good apple pie in this county while I count to ten and get my breathing under control. Does no one else in the room understand what has gone on here? They’re so calm.
Mack is Ridge’s father.
Riley, the guy Mack tried to set me up with, is his brother.
He called me his girlfriend.
How can they have missed these facts?
It’s like I’m on one of those game shows where you’re waiting for the guy to pop out and point out all the hidden cameras.
Of course, I suppose it’s not so bad. There were no dirty thoughts said out loud in front of Ridge’s father and I turned down the date with the other son.
This isn’t too bad. I can work with this, right?
Yes.
Possibly.
Fingers crossed.
The front door opens and closes again and I brace, ready to see someone else I’ve met this week. Maybe Pearl and Roland. They could be long lost cousins. A tie-dyed loving couple is what this straight laced military family needs.
“I hope you brought apple pie, Riley.” Ridge pushes the unapproved box off to the side making room for his dream dessert. I should Google how to make apple pie. Use it to make up for all the dirty thoughts I had about his father.
And almost going on a date with his brother.
“Nope.” A guy about my age wearing a dark green long-sleeve thermal shirt and a pair of dark jeans stops between the other two Jefferson men.
With all three of them in a line, the resemblance is uncanny. I’m not sure how I missed it earlier. Each has the same piercing blue eyes, sandy brown hair, height, and strong masculine jaws.
“You brought a girl to family dinner, Ridge? This is new.” Riley leans against the counter and quirks an eyebrow at his brother.
“Riley, Tabitha. Tabitha, the annoying little brother I told you about.”
Riley stands so fast he bumps into his dad, a dribble of water splashing over the side of his opened water bottle. “You’re the new Tabitha? Katy hasn’t shut up about you for days.”
“Watch yourself, Riley. She’s Ridge’s girlfriend. We don’t talk to her that way.”
Properly chastised, his gaze falls to the counter. “Yes, sir.”
Ridge laughs sticking a hand out to catch the bottle cap Riley throws in our direction. “Hey, I’m your boss.”
“Not on Sundays you aren’t.”
Standing between his two boys Mack slaps both of them on the back of the head. “Get it together, boys. Ladies are present.” His take-no-gruff attitude, most likely bred from years in the military, silences both of them.
“You were nice to my baby yesterday, right?” Riley asks in my direction.
It takes me a few seconds before I realize he’s asking me the question. Who’s his baby? Katy? I still can’t believe Mack tried to set me up with the guy Katy is most likely sleeping with?
“You let Katy drive your truck?” Ridge asks in disbelief. “You’re dumber than I thought.”
“Hey.” I slap him on the chest. “We were very nice to the fancy truck.”
Ridge pulls me closer to his side and I wrap an arm around his back to maintain my balance. “Babe, he drives a Dodge. Mine’s better.”
“The little bulls in each headlight were cute.”
Ridge throws his head back and laughs, but Riley’s eyebrows narrow. “They’re rams and the truck is a beast. The word cute should never describe something with such rugged manliness.”
“Manly cute?” From his groan my updated answer doesn’t make Riley feel any better.
“Call everyone in, Mary. We’ll be right back.” Ridge gives a small tug to my hand and our fingers intertwine as he walks me out of the kitchen. Mary’s soft sigh follows us into the living room and through a door into the back of the room.
Inside there’s a large thick dark wooden desk with a rolling black chair behind it. Three huge
windows side by side take up the back wall behind the desk and run from the ceiling to the floor. On either side deep set matching bookcases are filled with books of different types and sizes. Behind me to the side there’s a dark brown leather couch. The man likes leather.
“Wow.” Sexy, smart, and well read. There’s another check mark in the “Ridge is the perfect guy” column.
He closes the door and walks me back until I hit the painted wood of the door. Ridge boxes me in with a hand on each side of my head, leaning dangerously close. Dangerous because after getting me all worked up earlier, there’s nothing more I want than to rip his shirt off and get the full view of what he’s keeping under there. It isn’t fair. I’ve tasted the damn salad. What more can I do to appease the bedroom gods?
The room drips in silence, our eyes locked on one another as Ridge rests his forehead against mine. When he doesn’t lean down to kiss me, I push off the door and do it myself. I grab on to his shirt collar and pull him closer. He walks three steps backward taking me with him until with a slight push I fall back on the couch. Ridge leans me to the side until there’s leather behind me and his hard chest against my front. He hooks a hand around my knee and pulls my leg over his.
“Ridge.” He definitely didn’t lock the door to this room and half his family is one room away.
My words don’t stop him as he slowly caresses my ass with one hand. “Sorry about my aunt.”
“I like her.”
He laughs. “Of course you do. She told you my secrets and I can’t stand up to her because she’ll tattle to my dad.”
“She loves you.”
His eyes soften and he lifts a piece of my hair away from my face kissing me softly. “There were three rowdy boys in the house. Mary helped raise us before Mom died and after she looked out for all of us, including my dad.”
There’s a quick knock and then the office door is slit open, Riley sticks his head in the room. “Yup, I told Mary not to come check on you.”
“Get the fuck out, Riley.”
Tender moment ruined by younger brother? Sounds about right.
“Dad says it’s time to eat so get your ass out there.” Riley shakes his head and closes the door.
“I swear to god there are too many Jeffersons in this town.”
I come from a family who lived within ten minutes of one another but only visited on the big holidays. Ridge’s family is adorable.
He stands from the couch and helps me off. “I forgot to give this to you earlier, but now it’s a present for calling Riley’s truck cute.”
“It is cute.”
“And you keep reminding him of that.” He reaches a hand deep into his pocket and pulls out a slim smart phone enclosed in a black case.
“A cell phone?”
“Not just a cell phone, but a cell phone with signal.” He places the phone in my hand and closes my fingers around it.
With the phone next to my heart I swoon a little. “Why, Ridley Jefferson, you know the way to a girl’s heart.”
“I won that with the pasta salad.” He laughs and opens the office door.
The house had been rather quiet when we entered the office, but now the noise from the dining room can probably be heard next door. If I were home. Everyone talks over everyone else and then a man laughs, the sound filling the room and drowning out the other voices if only for a moment.
“Grab a seat. I’ll make you a plate.” Ridge leads me closer to the dining room with his hand on the small of my back.
My steps decrease in size until I stop a few feet from the open doorway. “In there? Alone? I don’t think so.”
“You’ll be fine. I’m sure Aunt Mary has you a seat right next to her. She’ll keep you safe.”
Sure enough, when I work up the courage to peek into the room, Mary waves to me from her seat at the other end of the long table. “I saved you a seat, sweetie.”
The entire room quiets as I desperately try to not make eye contact with anyone and walk toward the two empty chairs Mary’s saved. Someone clears their throat and I turn to the noise seeing Mack raise a hand in the air.
“Get it together, people. She’s Ridge’s girlfriend not the bearded lady at the sideshow. Get back to your dinner.”
I discreetly wipe a finger across my upper lip. Bearded lady? Have I grown a fucking mustache or something? By the time I’ve taken my seat, the entire table has followed Mack’s orders, even Riley.
I’m not willing to lift my head long enough to make an official count, but from a few quick calculations there’s over twelve people clustered around Ridge’s table. And at least nine of them males. Their ages vary, but most are big strong jawed guys who closely resemble Ridge.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“I look forward to seeing you next Sunday, Tabitha.” Mary, who insisted I call her Aunt Mary, gives me a shoulder squeeze and leaves out Ridge’s back door.
“She’s nice,” I say jumping up to sit on his counter.
Ridge stops, the dirty plate in his hand held at a sideways angle, and laughs. “Aunt Mary? She’s horrible. Riley’s senior prom she told his date she looked like a whore.”
“What?” It doesn’t sound like dear sweet Aunt Mary at all.
“Babe, she was nice to you because she liked you.”
“She was nice before I said two words to her.”
Ridge shrugs and puts another plate in the dishwasher. “Don’t question it. With Aunt Mary’s approval, you have everyone’s approval. She runs this family and lets none of us forget it.”
The next plate he grabs from the back of the counter is mine. The pile of uneaten mashed potatoes made it impossible for me to stack it with the others. He dumps the mashed potatoes and gravy off into the trash can with a flick of his wrist. The white gooey mountain of yuk splatters at the bottom of the can with a wet plop. Gross.
“You skipped all of the potatoes I put on your plate.” Ridge holds up the now empty plate as evidence while I search for a way out of this one.
“I’m allergic to potatoes.”
“Potatoes? Why didn’t you tell me?” His face scrunches up, the dark bruised coloring of his cheek faded. “Is it even possible to be allergic to potatoes?”
“Okay fine. I hate potatoes, all right?”
“You hate potatoes? That’s worse.” His face turns from shock to disbelief. “Like all potatoes? Even French fries?”
I crinkle my nose at the mention of French fries. “They’re so mushy.”
“Baked potatoes?”
“I can but only if it’s mostly sour cream.” I stick my tongue out and pucker my lips in disgust. Ridge does his wrist flick thing on another plate, sending a few carrots in the trash. Smaller pieces still stick to the plate when he puts it in the dishwasher. “Aren’t you going to rinse that?”
“No.” He does the same thing to a third plate, this one cleaned from the person who ate off it. “I’m too distraught. Who doesn’t like potatoes?”
“Weirdos,” I admit I might have a small defect. Better he learns about it now. “But think of it this way. You’ll always get to eat my fries at dinner.” I kick my feet out not allowing them to fall back and hit his expensive cabinets.
“Hmmm.” Ridge tosses in one of the dishwasher packets and lifts the door, closing it with a hip. “That’s an advantage.”
The sound of water filling the dishwasher drowns out his footsteps as he approaches my spot on the counter.
“This is the perfect location for you. We could pick up where we left off earlier today.” Ridge pushes apart my knees and stands between them. It is similar to our post this afternoon, except this time we’re both dressed and I plan to keep us that way.
“Yeah, you mean the last time when your aunt almost caught us.”
“You’re right.” He leans back studying me with a hand rubbing against his jaw. “Okay, what about this? I offer to have you stay over and watch a movie, but we have to do it in my bedroom because the TV in the living room is broken.”
> My forehead pinches together. “Your dad and brother watched the Bruins game on it after dinner.”
“Pretend you didn’t see that.”
“Okay,” I say drawing out the word.
He leans and places a soft kiss to my neck sucking the perfect amount. I grip the edge of the counter so I don’t rip off his shirt and moan.
“Okay, there’s a broken television.” I push on his chest, but put no real effort into it.
“The TV is broken so we need to watch the movie upstairs, in my bed.” He steps closer when I pull on his shirt collar.
“Of course.” It sounds totally legit.
“Pick one you’ve seen because you’ll only get about thirty minutes to watch it before I make my move.” Ridge nibbles on my earlobe.
“Hmm. It sounds like a good plan, but we could also skip all that and go upstairs to have sex.” Sometime between Aunt Mary’s talk, the cell phone, and Ridge fixing me a plate of food I decided to live a little. I’m a consenting adult, a little sex doesn’t mean we’re going to get married and pop out three kids.
He freezes, a hand on his heart and a shocked expression splashed across his face. “My god, woman, it’s like you’ve read my mind.” Ridge grabs my arm and picks me up from the counter, his hands on my ass. I wrap my legs around him and hold on for dear life.
We make it up three steps before I freak out, my hands clutching his shoulders. “Put me down. Put me down!” I slap at his back, but he doesn’t stop.
“Hold on tight, babe.” Ridge takes the rest of the stairs two at a time moving me to his hip.
At the top he makes a left and struts with me into a large navy blue bedroom. I’ll never figure out how he struts with my hundred-and-thirty-pound body clutched to him, but he does. The sway of his hips bump between my legs.
Ridge lays me on the bed as I loosen my death grip on his neck, my hands falling out beside me. He grabs the legs I’ve wrapped around his hips and slowly pulls them away, each one falling to the edge of the bed. He steps back and stares down at me, his blue eyes penetrating. This cute lopsided grin twitches up the left side of his smile. I hope it means wicked things for me later.
Security Risk Page 10
