Hotter than Texas (Pecan Creek)

by Tina Leonard

  “Sugar,” Maggie said, “I wouldn’t desert my daughters because I was having a romance. I just lost track of time. You try to stop in the middle when measurements are flowing in your brain and ingredients are calling for their turn. I didn’t dare stop writing. Lassiter left snacks and water at my elbow. I swear we didn’t say a word to each other for the past seventy-two hours.”

  “We weren’t deserted, Mom. We’re all adults.” Sugar kissed her mother on the cheek. “Lassiter’s a good guy. We knew you were safe.”

  Maggie blinked. “He is a good guy. Maybe too good.”

  Sugar looked at her mother. “You deserve good, Mom.”

  “Yeah.” Maggie pulled out her cigarettes. “Anyway, now you’ve got the family jewels. That’s all I’ve got. Come on, Paris. Let’s go take a walk in the grove.”

  Maggie went out, and Sugar glanced down at the recipes. Then she watched her mother and Paris slowly making their way through the grove.

  Maggie did deserve a great guy—but she hadn’t sounded convinced of that. And then Sugar remembered that she hadn’t told Maggie about Vivian and the PI.

  Maybe there was no reason to. Maggie was happy. She’d remembered her treasured recipes.

  There had to be a way to shut Vivian up.

  Jake spent several hours sitting alone in his creek hangout. He drank all the beer, ate all the cookies and generally pondered his navel, as Vivian would say. When the clouds finally parted for him, he walked to the main road, pulled out his cell phone and called for an extract.

  Kel, Evert and Bobby showed up in Bobby’s camo-painted truck. Bobby leaned out the window.

  “We wondered where you were,” Bobby said.

  “Took a long walk.” Jake got in the truck bed.

  Kel slid the back window open. “Where are we going?”

  “Sugar’s,” Jake said.

  “Is that wise?” Kel asked. “Aren’t we swearing off the Cassavechia women?”

  Jake sighed. “Tell Bobby to put his foot down on the pedal.”

  “Lover boy’s in a hurry, so burn some rubber,” Kel said.

  Jake looked around at the tree-lined road as Bobby drove toward the family home. He had to talk to Sugar. She had every right to be annoyed; he’d known that at the time he’d told her.

  But he wanted her to know that he was on her side.

  He was worried she wouldn’t care.

  “Here you go,” Kel said. “Home sweet home.”

  Bobby shut off the truck. All four men got out. Jake eyed his buddies. “What are you doing?”

  “Going in with you,” Evert said. “You’re not the only one who likes the Cassavechias. They’re our friends too. What makes you special?”

  Jake grunted. “Nothing, now that you mention it.”

  Evert slapped him on the back. Jake hoped one of his lungs hadn’t collapsed. They trooped up to the front door, and Jake rang the bell, his heart thundering.

  Maggie opened the door, her face lighting when she saw them. “Hi, guys!”

  “Hi, Maggie,” Jake said.

  “Come on in!” Maggie opened the door wide, and the four of them filed inside.

  “Hey, this place looks good,” Kel said. “Looks like a home.”

  “Yeah,” Bobby said. “It’s got a dog.” He petted Paris, who made her way around the men looking for attention.

  “We’re, I mean, I’m looking for Sugar,” Jake said.

  “She’s not here. Lucy’s not here, either,” Maggie said, and Jake could feel his friends practically deflate beside him.

  “You know when Sugar will be back?” Jake asked.

  “She went to the grocery store.” Maggie smiled at all of them. “She says we’re going to say good-bye to the last warm days of fall tomorrow and grill out. Lay in the sun a little. She bought us a plastic pool this summer. We’re going to pretend that we’re at the beach.”

  Beside him, Kel stood stock-still. Jake couldn’t look at him. “That sounds great, Miss Maggie. Maybe I’ll try to catch her. Can you tell her I came by?”

  “I will.” Maggie hugged him, and Jake wondered if this was how real mothers acted, warm and welcoming and like everything was always okay. She hugged Evert, Bobby and Kel, and they returned to the truck like Boy Scouts.

  They waved good-bye, and Bobby drove away.

  Once they hit the main road into town, the truck window snapped open. Kel looked at him.

  “It’s going to take everything you’ve got not to get on their roof tomorrow,” Kel said. “Bet you wish you’d left some cracks in that tight-ass board-on-board fence you bragged so hard about.” Laughing, he closed the window.

  Jake sighed. The wind blew in his face as they drove toward the Bait and Burgers, and Jake thought about Sugar lying topless in his backyard.

  Something had to give. Or he was going to go slowly mad thinking about her, dreaming about her, fantasizing about hot sex with her.

  The problem was, he was pretty sure he thought about hot sex with Sugar far more than she ever thought about it with him, and now that he’d opened his fat mouth and given her a peek at the Bentley family skeletons, she might prefer giving him a cold finger instead.

  Sugar was standing in the produce aisle checking out the fresh veggies, trying to remember when the last time she and her mother and sister had eaten grilled veggies—maybe squash and zucchini would be good—when hell spat out a demon right next to her.

  “Miss Cassavechia,” Vivian Bentley said. “If you could move your cart, the rest of us can get through the aisle.”

  Sugar moved her cart. “Let nothing impede you, Mrs. Bentley.”

  Vivian pushed her basket past Sugar’s. “You won’t get him, you know. He’ll figure out what you are soon enough.”

  “And if he doesn’t, you’ll send a few more private investigators to convince him?” Sugar shrugged. “I really don’t care what you do, Vivian. But your battle is with me, so leave my mother and sister alone.”

  “We’re not having a battle. The sooner you leave town, the better off Pecan Creek will be.”

  “But I haven’t gotten pregnant yet, Mrs. Bentley,” Sugar said. “And isn’t that what you’re really dreading? That our families might become inextricably entwined?”

  Vivian’s face went white. “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “Wouldn’t I?”

  Vivian blinked. “I rue the day my son rented you our family home.”

  Sugar turned to put some vegetables in a bag. “It’s a little late to rue, don’t you think? We’re here, we’re staying, you need to deal with it before you have a breakdown.”

  After a moment of glaring at her, Vivian turned and went down the aisle.

  Sugar felt bad as she watched the elderly lady walk away. She was pathetic, and lonely.

  She had no right to dig in our lives. My family’s been through enough.

  “That was entertaining,” a deep voice said, and Sugar turned to face Jake. “I like the part where you convinced her that we’re sleeping together.”

  Sugar blushed. “I’m not going to apologize. You should have stopped her from snooping in our lives, Jake. I’m not going to let her ruin my family’s happiness.”

  He looked down at her, big and broad-shouldered in the middle of the Pecan Creek Grocery. “Sugar, I had to be honest and tell you what she did. I don’t care what anybody says about you, or your family, or what’s back in Florida. I’m crazy about you.”

  Sugar looked up at him. “You are?”

  “Yeah. I am.” He smiled at her. “I’ve got an idea how to start to solve all this.”

  “I’m listening,” Sugar said.

  He kissed her on the lips. “Come over tonight. I’ll fix you dinner.”

  She stared at him. Smiling, he chose a large, long cucumber from the bin and laid it in her cart.

  Sugar blinked.

  “I remember you like them with your vodka,” he said.

  She looked at the cucumber, then Jake. “I’ve never been to your house.�
��

  “I know.” He frenched her right there in the small-town grocery, practically lifting her off her feet in front of everyone. “Let’s change that tonight.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Sugar said, knowing very well that once she went down that path, there would be no turning back.

  Dear Journal,

  Maggie remembered her recipes. Lucy seems happy.

  Jake gave me produce.

  Maybe things are looking up.

  Off to Jake’s.

  S

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I’m just telling you this up front because you were up front with me,” Sugar said when he opened the door at eight o’clock that night, “I have zero intention of letting you seduce me.”

  “Good to know. Thanks for bringing the strawberries. Did you get them from Dodie?” He took the basket she’d brought with her, holding it out like a shield.

  “Yes.” Sugar looked around the house as they walked through to the kitchen. “This looks like a typical bachelor pad.”

  “It is,” Jake agreed. “It’s where I lure unsuspecting beautiful women so I can seduce them.”

  Sugar got on a barstool and admired the red chef’s apron Jake put on. The black lettering was pure Jake. “French-Kiss the Cook? Isn’t that a bit needy?”

  “Maybe,” Jake said, “sometimes needy is good. So are subliminal hints.”

  “I don’t believe in subliminal. That’s a lot of psychobabble.”

  “Maybe.” Jake stirred the gravy simmering lightly in a sauté pan. “I thought we’d forego the vodka tonight and have sangria. I made it myself.”

  She got up and looked in the various copper pots he had on the stove. “I thought you’d just bring in some warmed-up Bait and Burger.”

  He laughed. “I get that several days a week. Tonight the menu is a little more varied. Grilled shrimp and steak. Surf ’n’ turf, if you prefer.”

  She looked at him. “You’re making a lot of effort.”

  “Yeah. I’m trying to get in your pants.” He winked at her. “Just being up front.”

  Sugar grabbed a green bean out of the pot. “Mm. Fresh.”

  “That’s right. Grown in Mr. McGregor’s garden. Lassiter’s quite the gardener.”

  “Really. What doesn’t he do?”

  Jake smiled, and pulled her close to kiss her lips. “Not much. He’s a hero. War vet and everything. I hope he’s lucky enough to catch Maggie.”

  She pulled away and looked at the glasses next to a carafe of sangria chilling on ice. “Maggie’s going to be a tough nut to crack. Shall I pour?”

  “All you Cassavechia women are tough to crack. Please pour generously. It’s a warm night.”

  She poured a liberal glass for each of them.

  “To the only woman who ever told my mother she might get me pregnant,” Jake said, and Sugar shook her head.

  “I’m not drinking to Vivian. I’ll drink to Pecan Creek.” She drank and he did too, and Sugar saw a flash of fire in Jake’s eyes that made her nervous. She walked out on his back patio to stare at the pool and catch her breath. Jake joined her and put his arms around her, and Sugar felt herself sliding toward surrender.

  “Sugar,” he said, “I’ve wanted you since the first time you sassed me.”

  “I wanted to punch you in the nose.”

  He laughed and kissed her forehead. “My advertising skills left something to be desired.”

  “You rooked three unsuspecting women.”

  “I know.” He kissed her lips, taking his time. “I’m offering you a chance for payback.”

  “And that payback is sex?” He smelled awesome, like a hot, sexy man who’d been in a kitchen trying to please her. Or maybe please himself. With Jake, you never knew.

  He pulled her tighter against him, kissing her slowly, thoroughly. “I’d do my damnedest to make you a happy woman the second time I sold you something.”

  Sugar looked into Jake’s eyes. He was too hot, too sexy, almost taking her breath away. “I think your gravy’s burning.”

  “Nice try. I turned it off.” He tugged her hips against him, kissing her as if he’d never tasted anything as good as her mouth. Sugar moaned and let Jake hike her up on his waist. “If I’m moving too fast, say so. I’ll back off and feed you the best shrimp and steak dinner you’ve ever had. Just good friends breaking bread together.”

  Sugar gasped as Jake sank his teeth gently into her lower lip. Heat and warmth filled her, stealing her desire to tell him no about anything. “I’m not really that hungry.”

  His smile turned dangerous. “I am.”

  “I believe you’re hungry all the time. Probably any skirt brings on a case of the munchies for you.”

  “Cynical.” He kissed down her neck and Sugar tightened up on him, wondering if she was doing the right thing, wondering if guilt was on the other side.

  “We have a good thing going here,” Sugar said, and Jake said, “Sometimes. Sometimes not. You swing hot and cold, and I like that about you. Keeps me from being bored.” He carried her inside and set her on the counter, picked up one of the strawberries she’d brought, stroked it against her lips. “I always wanted to feed a woman strawberries in my kitchen.”

  “You have a thing for Julia Child?”

  “No.” He laughed and dropped the strawberry in his sangria. “I have a Sugar thing.” He kissed down her neck and reached over to stir the gravy. “Just so you know, since we’ve agreed to be up front with each other.”

  Jake put the lids on the pots and pulled off his French-Kiss the Cook apron. She looked at him, wanting him in a way she hadn’t wanted a man before. “I just want to find out if you’re over-advertising again.”

  He laughed. “Let’s find out.”

  He shoved up her skirt and kissed the inside of her thighs. Sugar grabbed on to the counter when he said, “Nice bikini, dig the hearts,” deftly moving her panties aside.

  Cold air hit her and then Jake’s tongue, still cool from the sangria, found her sweet spot, filling her so that she gripped the counter harder, gasping, “Oh, don’t stop.”

  He tickled her with his tongue, then sucked lightly, and Sugar tried not to scream, tried not to worry about the open back door and the wide glass windows and the fact that his friends always seemed to appear at the wrong times and he had his tongue inside her in his kitchen where even Vivian might walk in. But then Jake pulled her hips up off the counter, his tongue moving skillfully inside her as he slipped two fingers inside her, and Sugar shrieked with an orgasm she thought could be heard at the Bait and Burgers.

  Jake grinned as he looked at her. “Over-advertised?”

  “God, no.” Sugar tried to catch her breath as she came back to earth. Jake fixed her panties and her skirt, putting her back on the counter like she was just another pan. “Excuse me?” Sugar said. “That was the sizzle. Where’s the steak?”

  Jake laughed. “I never said I was going to sleep with you, Sugar Cassavechia.”

  She wanted to slap the smirk off his face. He wanted it; he knew she wanted it desperately. “So that’s it? I’m the hors d’oeuvre?”

  He kissed her. “Don’t be greedy.”

  Sugar glared. “You just made me scream loud enough to drive owls from your backyard.”

  “Oh, that?” He smiled, the devil himself. He drank more sangria and fished the strawberry from his drink. “I couldn’t bear to disappoint you, Sugar Cassavechia.”

  “Well, I’m disappointed now,” Sugar said, “and it kind of sucks.”

  He fed her the sangria-soaked strawberry, and she bit off half. He ate the other half. “Sweet, but not as sweet as you.”

  “Look, Jake. I did battle with your mother today. I’ve put up with you making me crazy for weeks. To be honest, in the beginning I was pretty certain you were a schmuck. I want the full meal deal, everything you offered. So pay up.”

  Jake laughed, low in his throat. “No pressure or anything. Lucky for you, this is Pecan Creek. We grow up on pressu
re.”

  He swept her off the counter and took her outside, dumping her into the pool.

  “Ooph,” Sugar said, coming up for air. “That’s no way to get me hot.”

  “Maybe not,” Jake said, “let me fix that.” He pulled off his clothes and jumped in naked beside her. Sugar caught a glimpse of him, taking her breath away. She waited for him to come up for air and said, “I’m not easy to warm up,” so he slipped off her blouse and unhooked her bra, stopping to look at what he’d revealed. “God, they are just as fabulous as Kel said,” he said, capturing a nipple in his mouth.

  “Can’t someone see us through the fence?”

  “Yes,” Jake said, moving to the other nipple. “It’ll give them a heart attack, and that will be your fault.”

  “My fault?” Sugar tried to swim away from him, and he pulled her back, stripping off the skirt and panties.

  “Your fault, because you’re so hot I lose my mind looking at you. You nearly killed Kel.” He pulled her up against him, sighing when she wrapped her legs around his waist. “My God, you feel good. You’re hot, and I can feel your wetness, and I left the condoms in my bedroom.”

  Sugar laughed and kissed the side of his neck, landing her own bite on his shoulder. “You’re in a helluva pickle, soldier. If you go get one, I’ll get away. If you don’t, you don’t get any. Hoist, as they say, on your own petard.”

  “Really.” Jake lifted her from the water, laying her on a raft floating in the center of the pool. “I’ll just tie you to the diving board and have my way with you when I get back. And you’ll like it. I can tell you’re one of those girls who wants to walk on the wild side.”

  Sugar straddled the raft and paddled away. “Not as wild as you think.”

  “We’ll see.” Jake scooped up her clothes, turned to face her. Her gaze slid down his body and flew back up to his shit-eating grin. “Don’t go anywhere, soldier.”

  He left the pool area, giving her an astonishing view of tight, muscular buttocks. She wasn’t about to leave the pool, and he’d made damn sure she seen why she wouldn’t move from the water—not to mention taking her clothes.