I ducked back down in the fridge and scanned the ingredients. Nothing. But then behind a container of soy yogurt, gross, I found a small-ish bottle of my favorite orange juice. “You remembered.”
She shrugged. “At first, it was just a bribe in case you didn’t want me to come back, but now I get to gloat that I have the superior memory.”
I let her have it, because she remembered, something I doubt she even realized as she bragged about it. “And I’m going to let you have that because everything smells amazing.”
She sat the pot of spaghetti right on the wooden table. “Live around here long enough and you’ll learn how to make the essentials to a ‘good ol’ fish fry’ too.”
“Nope, I’m not buying it. You’re a bad ass, and there’s no way in hell you would’ve learned if you didn’t want to. You like it here.”
“Of course I do. What’s not to like? Other than it’s annoying as hell.” I could see the truth of her words written all over her face. “You’ll like it here too.”
“Probably.” Everyone seemed friendly, and they had no problem striking up a conversation anywhere. “They do seem determined to become best friends.”
She laughed as she piled spaghetti on her plate. “It’ll happen too. Aunt Mae got a tattoo just so she could get me to open up.”
“Whoa, that’s commitment.” On the surface it sounded completely insane, but after more than a week in Belle Musique, I knew exactly what she meant.
“Tell me about it. Now she’s damn near impossible to say no to. That was probably her end game all along.” There was a hint of annoyance in Magenta’s voice, but also affection. “So.”
“So.”
“You look good, Davis.”
“So do you, Magenta.” The air changed just that easy, from calm and relaxed, platonic to electric. Her green eyes darkened by the second, acting as a tether to my cock, which thickened under the table.
She laughed again, this time it was just a little freer and more genuine. “It’s good to see you, Davis. Weird as hell, but good too.”
“I couldn’t have put it better.” There were a lot of things I could add, but I didn’t because Magenta was prickly. She wouldn’t want to hear what I had to say. Not yet. “Especially when you feed me so well.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Hell, I would cook anytime she wanted if it meant having dinner with her on a regular basis. “I can hold my own in the kitchen, you know.”
“It doesn’t matter since I won’t be here that long.” Magenta stood, ready to close herself off again and I wondered what that was about. She gathered her dishes and carried them to the sink, and I was up on my feet and behind her in just a few steps.
“Why are you leaving? Am I that irresistible?”
She laughed with her whole body, that sweet ass brushing against my half-chub with every move. “You are irresistible, but you give yourself too much credit. I made the decision about five minutes before you walked back into my life.”
“I’ll do those.” Her hands stilled under mine, and I shut off the water. “Cook doesn’t do the dishes.”
“I won’t argue with that rule.” She turned and we were face to face, so close that the heat of our breaths swirled between us, electric and thick with tension. “Davis...”
The sound of my name torn from her lips snapped my control and I cupped her face, letting my fingers graze the length of her jaw until her eyes met mine again.
Then I kissed her, and it was as if all those months apart had never happened. Like it had been hours since I kissed her like this, instead of months, more than a year. It was hot and explosive, and Magenta tasted like vodka and woman. She pulled me closer and deepened the kiss, bringing my whole body to life.
Then she pulled back. “Damn you, Davis.” She stomped away, coming back for the vodka and marching off again, the sound of my laughter trailing behind her.
Magenta
“Before I ask you this question, just know that I need you to be as detailed as possible. Okay?” Vivi’s hands rested on top of mine, and I took in her suddenly serious expression, feeling wary now.
“Yeah, okay. What is it?”
The seriousness vanished, replaced with mischief. “How is it living with a smoking hot firefighter?” Vivi, along with Maddie and Trish erupted into a fit of giggles perfect for an eight year old girl’s slumber party.
I should have known when all three women had miraculously been available for lunch in the middle of the week that something was up. But this town had softened me. Made me less suspicious.
“It’s fine. We’ve met before, so it’s not like he’s a complete stranger.” And why in the hell did I share that little nugget with these three? They were remarkable and accomplished women, and they were also predators. One sniff of meat, and they wouldn’t let go until the bone was clean. “So it’s fine. Good. Fine.”
Vivi arched a brow and honed in on the one part of that statement I’d hoped she hadn’t heard. Somehow. “You met before? Oh my god, this story is practically writing itself!” Now the notebook beside her empty place setting made sense. “Have you kissed yet?”
“No. Stop. It’s not like…just shut up Vivi!” Maddie and Trish laughed, but Vivi would not be deterred. “You totally kissed. How was it? Was this the first time?”
“Where is that waitress? I’m dying of hunger over here!” Lame, I know, but we were in a restaurant, so it made a certain kind of sense. They weren’t buying it, but I was saved, thankfully, by the appearance of our waitress. Unfortunately, she was an overachiever and was gone in two minutes flat.
“When you say that you’ve met,” Trish began, leaning in with a gleam in her eyes, “do you mean the meeting of two naked sweaty bodies?”
“Marriage has turned you into a perv!” In response Maddie blushed and put a hand to her heart.
“Thank you, Mags. That’s sweet. Now answer the question woman.”
I knew they wouldn’t let it go. “He was a smokejumper when we met, and I was working in Vegas when his crew came in to get tattooed.”
“And then?” Vivi motioned for me to keep going and divulge details that no one but Davis and I knew. “Do we look stupid? Something more definitely happened.”
More than they could imagine had happened over those three days, but that was a story for another time. As in never. “Why are we talking about me when there are kids to coo over, weddings to plan and husbands to complain about?” They’d all gotten married in unconventional ways, so it was safe to assume big white weddings were in the works for at least two of my new friends.
“When one of us shacks up with a hot firefighter, we’ll talk about it. For now, you’re the one in the hot-seat honey, so talk.” Vivi was bossy as hell for someone who looked like she belonged on the cover of Redheaded Bombshell Quarterly.
I sat back and drank from my beer, taking in each of my friends, so different, but of one mind when it came to gossip. “There’s nothing to tell. I’m leaving as soon as I hear back from someone.” It was odd that no one had replied yet. but they would. I just had to summon all my patience.
Trish laid her hands on top of mine, the look in her eyes sympathetic. “Is this about Mason not telling you? I can’t believe he did that.” She shook her head, and I knew she wasn’t saying it just to make me feel better, which it wouldn’t have by the way. “Want me to withhold sex as punishment?”
“Yes,” I answered automatically. “No. Ewww! Whatever.”
“Come on Mags, we’re all friends. Talk to us.”
They were right. I’d made a promise to open up here, and doing that had gained me three wonderful friends. “Okay. It’s not just that Mason didn’t tell me, but that just highlighted that this isn’t my home. I’ve just been crashing with Mase, and that got me to thinking that maybe that meant it was time to move on.”
“Or,” Maddie added, her voice slightly higher than the others who’d chimed in to echo their dissent. “May
be it means it’s time you put down your own roots here. Get your own place, get a project here in town just for you.”
“Maybe,” I conceded because I still wasn’t sold. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been in a holding pattern, just waiting to hear where I would head next, so the thought of staying hadn’t really occurred to me.
“But you can’t do anything until you’ve made more progress with the firefighter.” Vivi pointed a chipped blue nail at me, to let me know she meant business.
“Thanks for your concern, Vivi.”
She shrugged, completely unapologetic, and that’s what I loved about her. Except right now I didn’t. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Before I could ask her what the hell she meant by that, a distinct scent of flowers and sandalwood wafted in, and Aunt Mae appeared beside the table. “Aunt Mae, to what do we owe the pleasure?”
She glared at me, but her eyes sparkled with glee. “None of that from you girly. Listen up, because I need a favor.”
“From me?” I sat back and caressed my beer mug. “After your behavior, I’m not sure I’m in a listening mood.” The girls snickered, but Mae wouldn’t be so easily deterred.
Her lips twitched, because she got a kick out of my smart mouth even though she pretended not to. “You will listen, and you will get it done. I need six dozen cookies,” she said and began naming cookies. “Chocolate chip, oatmeal, shortbread and-,”
“I don’t bake Mae, so unless you want me to go buy some, find someone else. Like any of the other women at this table. This one owns a bakery!” I pointed at Trish.
“They’re busy with husbands and babies, while you’re just hiding away from the world at Billie Jo’s B&B.”
I clucked my tongue. “Sounds like you’re out of the loop Mae, I haven’t been there for almost a week.”
“I know that,” she snapped because I dared to suggest she didn’t have the most current information on what’s what in town. “But now that you mention it, I recall hearing that Davis is an excellent cook. Tell him we need six dozen, including peanut butter, lemon and something else. Something fun but delicious.”
Oh no, I wasn’t’ getting in the middle of another of Aunt Mae’s schemes. “Tell him yourself, the firehouse is on your way home.”
Mae ducked down and got in my face, eyes blazing with a level of determination one only sees in politicians and serial killers.
“You live together, and you will definitely see him. Tell him to make sure those cookies get to me by the day of the fundraiser, Magenta. Don’t let me down.” With one last look, Aunt Mae stood and smoothed her dress at the sides.
I just had to push it though. “Fine Mae. If I’m here then I will make sure the cookies find their way to the community center next week.”
She gave a nod and a sniff and walked away. “Good afternoon girls.”
“You are in soooo much trouble.” The reverence in Maddie’s voice brought a smile to my face.
“So much trouble,” Vivi affirmed in a whisper.
“I’ll be fine,” I told them with a confidence I didn’t feel.
“You say that now, but these old ladies have a way of making things happen.” Maddie wasn’t wrong, but I wouldn’t be around long enough for this town, or the old ladies who ran it to interfere in my life.
“I’m not worried.”
“You should be,” Vivi added with a smug smile. “But for character development, I suppose it’s good that you’re not. It’ll make the story so much more satisfying.”
I glared. “Don’t make me hurt you, Vivi.”
She grinned in response. “Don’t be that way. I’ll give you a shout out in the acknowledgements, and I’ll make a list of the ingredients the hot firefighter’s gonna need to make all those cookies.” She wiggled her flawless red brows suggestively. “I’ll even write down the recipes if I can get a photo of him shirtless with an apron.”
As much as I now wanted to see that exact photo myself, I rolled my eyes. “Not happening, but I’ll take the list for the hassle of you three.”
Trish stared a little too hard, and her face was more than a little too close to mine. And the truth was, as they say, always watch out for the quiet ones.
“Something more happened between you and Davis. I’m sure of it.”
I shook my head, ready to deny her words, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t lie to my sister-in-law. Then again, if I was lying to myself, wasn’t that basically the same as telling the truth?
“I think maybe you’re too caught up in Vivi’s stories.”
Trish placed a hand on my shoulder and sighed. “Since we’re family now, and I always wanted a sister, I’m going to be brutally honest with you. You’re lying to yourself. Whatever happened, it isn’t over.”
Well, wasn’t that creepy as hell? “I didn’t realize psychic readings came with lunch.”
“I think you’re right, Trish.” Vivi’s gaze was now boring a hole through my forehead. “That means we need a girls’ night to get the truth out of her!”
I groaned, because the last few girls’ night I’d had with the so called good girls, ended with me drunk, my bra discarded in the back of an Uber, pink toenails and a facial. It wasn’t as bad as I’d always imagined. Except, for the talking and the sharing of feelings part, it was worse. Way, way worse.
“Why are we friends again?”
“Because you love us, that’s why!” Trish pulled me in for a hug, and smacked a kiss on my cheek. “If your friends can’t bug the hell out of you, who can?”
Good question.
Davis
“Wait a minute, I’m supposed to do what?”
I looked from Magenta in her V-neck tee, that showed off her tits, not to mention a lacy red bra, to the counter that looked like a bakery kitchen had been relocated. Several bags of flour and sugar were lined up military style, with granulated and brown sugars, whisks, mixing bowls and chocolate chips. I was pretty sure my ears had stopped working, but my eyes, they were working just fine.
Magenta sighed and rolled her eyes, hands on her hips with that bossy expression on her face. “You heard me. Aunt Mae said she needs six dozen cookies, and you’re the designated baker.”
“See that’s the part that’s causing the confusion. Why me?” I barely knew this Aunt Mae person.
Green eyes looked up at me like I was the one who’d lost my mind. “She said you were some sort of magic cookie whisperer.”
“How in the hell did she know that?” Only the exclusive group of smokejumpers knew I was the three-year reigning cookie champ, and fewer than that knew of my other kitchen skills.
Magenta shrugged again, doing her best to appear uninterested, but I could see the worry around her mouth and eyes. “Don’t know. All I know is that I’m the one responsible for making sure the cookies you make get to the community center when they’re supposed to. Which is next Thursday by the way.”
That meant she would be here for one more week at least. “Sucks for you.”
“One week is the same as any other,” she shot back quickly. Too quickly.
“Fine, but you’re helping.” I surveyed the ingredients, and knew how I could spend more time with her. “We can use this stuff for the practice batches.” I had the next couple days off anyway, and I’d rather spend as much of that as possible with Magenta.
“Practice batches? How about we make two batches of each and only give the best of each one to Mae?”
“If there’s a problem with one batch, then that problem will continue with the others. We make the practice batches and correct the problems for the next one. Haven’t you ever made cookies before?”
“Yeah,” she nodded defiantly. “I have. The kind you slice, put on a cookie sheet and pop in the oven for ten to twelve minutes. They come out delicious every single time.”
“Cheater.” She grunted at the accusation, brushing it off with a shrug.
“Maybe, but I never have to make practice batches when I want cookies.” The li
ttle tease stuck out her tongue and ducked away from my reach.
“Okay, so what are these cookies for?” I knew small towns didn’t have the same resources as big cities, but I couldn’t see how six dozen cookies could help anything.
“Fundraiser for new computers for the library. So, make sure they’re good enough that Aunt Mae can get top dollar for each one.”
“As if I’m capable of anything less?” I was a bit worried about how the cookies would turn out, since this was the first time I was cooking for my new neighbors. They had to be perfect. “Do we have recipes?”
Magenta snickered to herself, and I wanted to know what had put that look on her face, but I knew my curiosity would only encourage her to keep it to herself. “We have to look them up, unless you’re willing to take off your shirt and put on an apron for Vivi?”
“The redhead? Isn’t she married?”
Another shrug. “She’s also a romance writer, and you are her latest hero.”
Well that was kind of nice. At least I think it was. “And how does a picture of me help us?”
She rolled her eyes as if to say, “Keep up, dummy” and sighed. “She offered to give us recipes for that picture.”
Weird, very weird. But that was easy enough. I reached for the hem of my t-shirt and pulled it over my head, tossing it at Magenta whose eyes raked over my naked torso. “Where’s the apron?”
She grabbed the apron and returned, slipping it over my head and helping tie it around my waist, her hands taking their time as they caressed the muscles of my back. “You’re still beautiful, Davis.”
I bowed my head, enjoying the feel of her hand on my flesh. Her touch was gentle at first and then her nails dug in, just a little. “Magenta.” Her name came out as a warning.
“We shouldn’t.”
She was right. “Probably not. Do you care?” Because as long as her soft, ink stained hands kept touching me like that, I didn’t give a damn about anything.
“Hell no.” The words came out on a breathless sigh. “You?”
Accidentally On Purpose: An Accidental Marriage Boxset Page 50
