Hot and Handy: A Small Town Romantic Suspense (Shameless Southern Nights Book 3)

by J. H. Croix

  Instead, I told myself to go with it.

  When they were done swimming, Emery came running up the beach to me. Her eyes were bright and happy, her auburn hair in a messy braid that was dark from being wet, and the skin on her shoulders was turning pink.

  I was digging the sunscreen out of my bag to reapply it when she fell down onto her knees on her towel beside me. “We’re going to play minigolf. Wanna come, Mom?”

  Evan snagged his towel, swiping it across his face and knotting it around his waist. He looked like a sculpted god with his skin glowing in the sun, droplets of water clinging to him like tiny dazzling diamonds.

  My mouth dried up, awareness of him spreading through every cell in my body. Smirking when he noticed me checking him out, he repeated Emery’s question. “Minigolf?”

  “Oh.” I blushed. “Yeah, sure. Sounds like fun.”

  We asked an elderly couple relaxing under the umbrella beside us to watch our stuff. They agreed, and with Emery between us holding onto our hands, we made our way to the course down the promenade.

  “Here,” Evan said to Emery once we were on the course. “Let me show you how to hold it.”

  Emery listened intently, folding her hands exactly how Evan told her to. “Like this?”

  Grinning, he patted her head. “Exactly.”

  Minigolf, or really anything involving hand-eye coordination, had never been my strong suit. Under Evan’s tutelage, Emery was kicking ass and loving it. By the time we were done, the two had awarded themselves imaginary prizes at each hole, and Emery begged Evan to bring her again.

  “I promise, kiddo,” he told her, taking her hand when she held it out for him. She reached for my hand again, too, and my throat tightened with a wash of emotion.

  In my wildest dreams, I never imagined I could have this or that Emery would ever have this. Evan smiled when he caught my eye over her head, blowing me a sweet kiss.

  My heart clenched and galloped. I was in so damn deep with him, I didn’t know how I would ever dig myself out if we went sideways, but I wasn’t going to allow myself to think of that possibility.

  Emery had a blast and fell asleep on our way home. I smiled at her sleeping form. “Thanks for today. We had such a great time.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said, pulling into our driveway. “You tired yet?”

  I held my hand up, tilting it from side to side. “Not exhausted. You want to come in for a drink?”

  He nodded, jerking his head to Emery. “Sure. I’ll get her inside too.”

  Evan and I stayed awake for hours talking after putting Emery to bed. When it looked like he was about to leave, I asked him to stay the night. He agreed and made all my Sunday morning dreams come true when I woke up in his arms.

  Instead of taking off early, he stayed for the first time. We were both up and dressed before Emery woke up, though.

  It felt like I was taking a weekend off from my real life. Everything about what was happening felt like a fairy tale. I refused to overthink it and leaned into it instead. Making breakfast with Evan’s hand brushing against mine every so often while he helped Emery build a puzzle at the counter and played a role as my cooking assistant, I experienced a moment of pure domestic bliss.

  What I wouldn’t give to have this be my life and not just a moment in time. I didn’t know what I would give. Anything. Everything. I loved it.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Evan

  “This weekend has been blissful,” Sadie said on a dreamy sigh. We were relaxing in their backyard after breakfast.

  A sprinkler was on, wetting a small patch of grass. Emery wore her swimsuit again and jumped over the sprinkler, squealing with laughter whenever she got sprayed with water.

  Sadie and I sat on two lawn chairs, talking as we watched Emery play. I was surprised by how calm I was here with them and how it felt like we did this together every Sunday even though it was the first time we were doing it.

  I grinned, clinking my water glass against hers. “I agree. The best is that it’s not over yet.”

  “Yeah?” She turned her head to me and smiled. Her eyes were covered by sunglasses, but her smile was happy and carefree. “What else do you have planned?”

  “Absolutely nothing,” I told her. “That’s the beauty of it. We can keep doing this or just go where the day takes us. I love lazy Sundays.”

  “Me too,” she agreed. “It’s been so long since I’ve had such a lazy, relaxing weekend. Usually, there’s only one day a week where I’m not working one or both my jobs. I’m actually a little surprised Mr. Ray didn’t push me into working yesterday morning.”

  Ugh. I hadn’t told her about my talk with him yet. I wasn’t sure how she was going to take it, but it was time to fess up. “I’m not surprised. I had a little chat with him earlier this week.”

  She sat upright, swinging her legs off the lawn chair to face me. “What?”

  I shrugged, trying to play it cool. Maybe if I didn’t make it sound like a big deal, it wouldn’t become one. “I know him from around town. He brings his car to the garage sometimes.”

  “Okay,” she said cautiously, the line of her frown extending beyond the top of her sunglasses. “It doesn’t explain why you’re not surprised he didn’t pressure me into taking a shift yesterday.”

  “When I stopped by the diner once, I overheard him talking to you,” I admitted.

  Sadie paled, but it was difficult to say for sure how much since her face was a little pink from all the sun she’d gotten this weekend. “What did you hear?”

  “Him being an asshole to you,” I told her honestly, getting it over with. “When you left, I simply pointed out to him that it was no way to treat employees.”

  Opening her mouth, no sound came out. She closed it again before finally saying. “You had no right to do that.”

  “I know.” I acknowledged. It was why I hadn’t told her about it in the first place. “I couldn’t listen to him go at you like that and not say anything. The guy’s a prick.”

  “He’s also my boss,” she said.

  I nodded. “Exactly. I wouldn’t dream of treating my employees that way. He was out of line. Someone had to point that out to him.”

  “And that someone had to be you?” One of her brows lifted out from underneath the sunglasses.

  “Yes,” I said simply. “I was there, and I overheard what happened. Besides, he called you lazy. I couldn’t let that stand.”

  “He’s my boss,” she repeated, her voice growing colder, becoming softer. “It’s my business, not yours.”

  Nodding my agreement, I told her, “I know, but I’m not going to apologize. You work so damn hard and too much already. He’s an idiot if he can’t see that.”

  “It’s not about him seeing it,” she seethed quietly. “It’s about keeping my job so I can make ends meet for me and Emery. I don’t care what he thinks about me so long as I can pay our bills.”

  Taking a deep breath, I remembered the exhaustion in her eyes. The need to at least offer my help hit me square in the chest again. “Look, I understand you need to pay your bills. I can help you if you need it. You don’t have to keep working yourself to the bone.”

  Slowly, she pulled her glasses off her eyes. They were bright, burning with anger and determination. Instantly, I knew I had overstepped my boundaries. It was worth a shot, but it definitely looked like it’d been a swing and a miss. Defenses shot up all around her.

  Her posture became more rigid, and she raised her chin by a fraction of an inch. Knees together, she placed her hands on her thighs.

  Sadie’s gaze slid to Emery, who was blissfully unaware of the argument brewing between us. She kept her voice low, but it didn’t fail to convey the seriousness of what she said. “I have been able to raise Emery on my own so far. I’ve kept a roof over her head and clothes on her back. I appreciate the offer, but I don’t need pity or help. We’re doing fine. She has everything she needs.”

  Sitting up, I reached over to take
one of Sadie’s hands in mine. She stiffened but let me hold it. I stroked the back of her hand until the lines of tension eased in her posture, and she looked at me. Needing her to see how serious I was, I matched her move in pulling my sunglasses off and tossed them onto the chair.

  “I have nothing but respect for you. You hear me? I always have. I think you’re doing an incredible job of raising Emery all by yourself. The only reason I offered was that I wish you didn’t have to work so hard. For selfish reasons and because I hate seeing you taking on so much strain. You’re helping my family. I only wanted to help yours.”

  Biting her bottom lip, she looked so deeply into my eyes, I thought she might be able to see all the way through me. “Okay.”

  I sat back, still holding onto her hand. “Okay? Just like that?”

  “Yup,” she whispered when she noticed Emery running toward us. “I know your intention wasn’t to belittle me or to make me feel like I wasn’t good enough. So okay.”

  Bending over, I brushed a quick kiss to the back of her hand before releasing it. Emery reached us at the same time my phone started ringing. I smiled at both of them when I saw Sonny’s name flash across the screen. “I’ve got to talk to my brother quickly. Excuse me.”

  Swiping my thumb across the screen, I pressed the phone to my ear and walked away from where Emery wouldn’t be able to hear what Sonny and I had to discuss. “The mighty police detective finally had time to return my call. How’d it go with you this week?”

  Sonny chuckled and released a deep breath. “Ain’t nothing mighty about me. I’ve been buried in shitty paperwork and some drug thing a couple of towns over. They need our help, but at this point, I think it’d be more effective to burn the whole damn place to the ground and start over.”

  “That bad?”

  He sighed. “Worse. The dealers are infiltrating every school, church, park, and office. Anyway, I didn’t call to talk more about that. What’s up? What did you need to talk to me about?”

  Briefly, I told him about what Sadie had found. He listened without saying a word, pausing for another couple of beats when I was done. “I never thought the chief would’ve been this deep into all this. Now we can’t even ask him why. Send me the pictures again, okay? I’ll pass it along. At the rate Sadie’s getting us information, they should be able to turn up the heat on the investigation pretty soon.”

  “I hope so. I still don’t like that she’s snooping almost every night, putting herself at risk.”

  “I know, Ev,” Sonny assured me. “Hopefully, it’ll be over before you know it, okay?”

  “Not okay,” I said. “But yeah.”

  There was nothing I could say to change her mind about snooping while she was at her cleaning job. After the conversation we’d had, I doubted it was the right time to mention to her how worried I was. The way I saw it, she’d given them enough leads to go on for now.

  “What are you guys up to?” Sonny asked.

  Turning around, I watched Sadie apply more sunscreen to Emery’s back and faintly heard her saying it was almost time for lunch. “We’re hanging out in Sadie’s yard. Nothing too exciting.”

  “Niki and I were talking earlier. We feel like having another barbecue later. Weather’s perfect and my pool’s been feeling lonely. What do you say? Grab your suits and come over in a couple of hours. I’m going to hit up the rest of the not-so-Brady bunch too.”

  “I’ll be there,” I told him. “Let me check with Sadie, but I’m pretty sure she and Emery will be coming with me.”

  “Cool,” he said. “We’ll look forward to meeting Emery.”

  Jeremy, Marie, Austin, and Beau were already at Sonny’s when we got there. They were all out on the deck, except for Jeremy and Austin who were playing with a ball in the pool. Niki and Marie stood to greet us when we walked outside, hugging us in greeting.

  “Hey,” Niki said to Sadie. “We’re so glad you could join us.”

  “So am I.” Sadie smiled, resting her hand on Emery’s back. “This is Emery. Em, these are Evan’s sisters.”

  “Almost. Only a couple more months before it becomes official,” Marie said, extending her hand to Emery. “It is very nice to meet you, young lady. Austin’s going to be so excited to have a friend around tonight. Did you bring a swimsuit?”

  Emery nodded shyly, but then told Marie, “It has a unicorn on it.”

  “It does?” Marie exclaimed. “You must show us. I’m stuck with all the boy stuff. I’d love to see the unicorn.”

  “Everything has a unicorn on it nowadays.” Sadie laughed. “It’s a phase.”

  “I wish all my stuff could have unicorns on it,” Niki said with a sigh. Sonny opened his mouth, but she gave him a look to shut it. “Not a word about unicorns or their horns, Sonny Lovett. We have company.”

  He laughed and nudged me. “Let’s get the grill fired up. Unless you want to get into the pool with Jer?”

  Emery heard him and nodded at me, her eyes widening. “Swim first, Evan. Please?”

  “Swim first, it is,” I told her, unable to resist. Going to change into my suit, I heard the women oohing and aahing over something, presumably Emery’s unicorn since I heard her telling them this one was named Addy.

  When they came back outside, Emery and I dove into the pool while Sadie went to sit with my family at the table. In-between playing games with Jer and Austin, I found myself looking at her. She was laughing and seemed totally comfortable with everyone.

  A sense of contentment rolled through me. Jeremy swam up to me while the kids splashed around in the shallow end. Resting his arms on the side next to mine, he threw a knowing grin my way.

  “You’re just realizing it, aren’t you?”

  Tearing my eyes away from Sadie, I met his smug gaze. “Realizing what?”

  “That you’re in love with her,” he stated matter-of-factly.

  “Oh, that,” I said, sliding my eyes back to where she was sitting. “Yeah, I think I am.”

  Given how she’d responded to our conversation this morning, though, I had no idea if she was ready for me to be in love with her.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Sadie

  On the whole, my shift at the diner was relatively painless. Except for the pinching shoes. Ava, one of the girls who worked with me, came to stand next to me at the counter. She pointed her pen surreptitiously at Mr. Ray, sitting in the corner booth with a stack of paperwork again.

  “Someone should’ve said something to that man years ago.”

  “Excuse me?”

  She hid a smile behind her hand when he looked up, pretending to be totaling tips from the jar next to the register. “We all know what your man did. Tell him thanks for me, would you?”

  “I’m not sure I’m following you.”

  Evan had said something about having a chat with Mr. Ray about his employees, but this sounded like a lot more than that.

  Ava jerked her head in Mr. Ray’s direction. “Dan was out for a smoke when Evan tore into the boss man the other day. Heard the whole thing from the ally. He said Evan heard the boss tearing into you about shifts, so he went in there and put him in his place. Dan says it was awesome. Evan didn’t even have to yell or anything.”

  “Um, okay,” I said shakily, though I couldn’t immediately figure out why I was feeling shaky all of a sudden.

  Ava didn’t notice. She kept going on about Evan. “He’s always been known to be a badass if anyone pissed him off. Guess he’s still got it, even if it’s been a while since anyone has seen that side of him. Haven’t you noticed Mr. Ray’s been less jerky since last week?”

  I nodded. “Definitely.”

  She bumped her shoulder against mine. “Like I said, thank your man for me.”

  “He’s not my man,” I muttered, but she was already gone. Plus, it was safe to say at this point that he was my man. At least I thought he was, especially after the last couple of weekends. We were way past the “getting to know each other” phase we’d discussed so lo
ng ago.

  I was surprised to hear how he’d stood up for me, though. In a way, I savored how protective he was, but it also worried me. For basically my entire life, I’d been taking care of myself. Since I had Emery, the only help I accepted was from Lori to watch her when I was working.

  It meant I wasn’t used to letting myself depend on anyone. It was a terrifying thought to me, giving up some of my control and passing the baton to someone else. The idea of letting someone else handle some of the responsibility was frightening.

  While I appreciated him standing up for me to Mr. Ray and was more than thankful my boss wasn’t being such a jerk, I didn’t know what to make of the fact he’d intervened in my job without my say-so. Ava seemed okay with it, but from the sounds of things, she was covered by the blanket speech he’d given Mr. Ray about employees. I, on the other hand, had been specifically mentioned.

  I couldn’t remember the last time someone fought a battle for me. If it had even ever happened. There was a kid in third grade who’d grabbed my lunch tray back from a bully who was trying to take my pudding, but this was a little bit bigger than that.

  The weight on my shoulders over Mr. Ray’s insistence that I pick up extra shifts and work weekends had lifted, and he was back to being his usual, in-the-background self, but it felt strange to know Evan was responsible for his attitude shift.

  It was great since, for once, I hadn’t needed to weather the storm myself, but it was still terrifying. As much as I wanted to relax and let myself count on Evan, it was damn hard.

  If I let my guard down and allowed him to become a part of my life that way, as a partner and a protector when I needed him, I would be shattered if he ever left. I’d worked so hard at being strong enough to take on the world by myself, I didn’t know what would happen if I let him carry some of the weight and he left me hanging with it.