Hotter than Texas (Pecan Creek)

by Tina Leonard

  Sugar frowned. “I don’t remember you being anything but a pain. You rented us a house that had tons of drawbacks you never mentioned.”

  “Yeah. But I had a back-up plan.”

  He smoothed his palms up her arms, dying to make his way to her breasts. She smelled summery and womanly, and he wanted her bad enough to wait until forever if he had to.

  “Which was what?”

  “Renting you this place.” He kissed her palm, pressing it to his lips. “If the other house didn’t fit your needs, then I had this place I could have easily let you have. I would’ve moved back into the old family place. Honestly, once I met you, I was pretty certain your family and my family home was exactly what you were looking for.”

  “Maybe it was,” Sugar said reluctantly. “Maggie and Lucy love it.”

  “And you?”

  She sighed. “I don’t know. It’s tangled up in my mind with you.”

  “Because you think I haven’t supported you, and I rented you something under false pretenses.”

  “Yeah.”

  “You can have this place if you want,” Jake said. “It’s an easy swap. Just stay here in Pecan Creek, Sugar Cassavechia.”

  She gazed down at him, her eyes startled and wide. “Jake, you’re making me nervous.”

  “Why? I dig you like a fat kid digs cake. I haven’t made a secret of that. It’s the one thing in this town that isn’t a secret. To anyone.” He lightly bit the tip of her finger, then licked it, kissing it before moving to press a single kiss against her wrist. “Let me ask you a question.”

  “All right,” Sugar said, but she sounded uncertain.

  “Where do you imagine I might ever again find a woman who’s as downright sexy and saucy as you are? Who can turn this town on its ear just by walking through it? Who can make my mother go from being a well-meaning tyrant to hinting around about grandkids, for the love of God?”

  Sugar’s lips parted with surprise. If he’d been a better man, he could have resisted, but he wasn’t a better man; he was a hungry man dying for this woman. He dove in, his tongue parting her lips more, sweeping her, holding her close, tugging her up against him, trying to get every bit of her that he could.

  “Jake,” Sugar said on a gasp, “I was wrong. Your shtick works just fine on me, even when I’m mad.”

  “Thank God,” Jake said, rolling them both into the pool, holding her to him so he kept her safe and not crushed beneath his weight.

  She came up, laughing, pretending to be mad. “I thought you were going to use your mouth for something other than excellent bullshit.”

  “I am. But I figure a Florida girl like you has her soul in the water.” He wrapped her legs around him, reaching underneath her blouse to undo her bra. “I know how you dig swimming pools and creeks and the ocean, Sugar. I don’t want you to feel like I don’t attend to all your needs. And this water is set on ninety all winter, doll. Warm like Florida.” He pulled off her blouse, groaning when she surrendered, holding his shoulders, not complaining when her blouse floated away and her bra sank to the bottom of the pool.

  God, he’d dreamed of having her naked like this.

  She pulled his T-shirt over his head, helped him fish off his jeans, which also sank to the bottom, but not before he grabbed his wallet out, which he tossed onto the lounge as Sugar said, “Condom. Safety first.”

  “One step ahead of you.” He opened it with his teeth, and she helped him smooth it on, which felt great too, because she had to tug a bit against the water to get the fit right.

  She kissed him, giving him another teasing tug where he liked it. “All suited up to swim.”

  “Swimming, hell.” He pulled her back to his waist, settling her legs around his waist, loving how she locked her heat around him. There was slickness and warmth against him, blowing his mind because now he knew she dug him as much as he dug her. “I’ve missed you, Sugar.”

  She kissed his neck, bit his shoulder lightly. “You don’t have to talk anymore. I’m seduced.”

  “Not yet you’re not.” He pulled over a raft and settled her across it horizontally. Spread her legs and found something much better to do with his mouth than talk. She let out a cry and he bit the inside of her thigh, then kissed the spot where he marked her. With the tip of her he was gentle, loving, licking her, teasing her with his tongue inside and out. She clenched up, crying his name, and Jake slid her forward, wanting everything he could get. More Sugar, more sweetness.

  “Jake,” Sugar gasped. “Oh God.”

  He pulled her off the raft, lowered her in the water, kissing her tummy as he slid her down him, then her peaked breasts. “I think I hear something coming,” he said.

  “What?” Sugar demanded, stiffening up.

  He planted himself deep inside her without hesitation, fitting her hard against his hips. She let out a shriek, pulled him tight, wrapped her legs around him in a stranglehold that could have killed a lesser man. “Go, babe,” he said, “rock me hard.”

  She gasped against him, rocking him hard, sending waves out of the pool. He thought about everything he could to keep from letting the moment go too soon: Kel and his problems, her mother and grandkids—a sure erection-dampener, right?—even the parade woes and what he was going to do to keep Sugar in this town.

  Keeping Sugar had to start with what he was doing to her right now. She tightened up on him, holding him like a tigress clutching a meal, crushing her breasts against him before letting out an impressive yell of delight.

  He nearly fainted with relief.

  “God, Jake,” Sugar gasped, tears pouring from her eyes, and laughing, “that’s never happened before.”

  Jake hoped like hell not. He hadn’t worked this hard for her to think of him in anything other than spectacular terms. He squeezed her butt tight between his palms, tightening her around him as he moved her back and forth, stroking inside the softness of her body. Clenching his teeth, he closed his eyes, feeling the ripping explosion coming. It was too soon, he wanted this to last forever, wanted to stay inside Sugar forever. The pleasure was too hot, crazy-intense. She was in his arms at last, and he’d waited a lifetime for her. He sucked a nipple wet with pool water and peaked with passion into his mouth, and then it hit, nearly darkening the world around him, ripping out of him with a roar.

  Sugar held him tight, not moving as he gasped his way back to consciousness.

  “Shit,” Jake said, making for the pool steps with Sugar still on him. “I think I might have blown out something major in my body.”

  “Did you hurt yourself?” Sugar asked, concerned.

  “God, no. But I still don’t know if I can survive it.” He sank onto the steps, holding her to him. “God, you make me happy. That is some great stuff.”

  Sugar laughed. “You’re so romantic.”

  “I know. Give a man props where it’s due.”

  Jake collapsed against the steps. Sugar got off him, tossed the condom into the trash near the patio table before settling against his chest. “Your neighbors are going to cite you for noise violations.”

  “Jealousy,” he said, stroking her hair, enjoying the sun on his face and the feel of Sugar in his arms. “Anyway, the only person who might hear us is Lassiter, but he never comes this far in the fields. We meet on the fence line to have our bromance.”

  She didn’t say anything else. Jake tried to recover his sanity and his equilibrium. It was too hard—Sugar had wasted him. He probably wouldn’t be good for anything more than gimping around like a little old man for a week. He tugged over the pool float, got on it, pulled her naked body up next to him, and settled into blissful unconsciousness under the last rays of November sun.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Dear Journal,

  Life is good. I got my memory back; I’ve got my groove back. Lassiter is planting a citrus tree for me, a lemon tree that smells so sweet and fragrant. And he’s teaching me how to make wine in a huge glass jar thing. What you really want to know about is the
sex, right? The sex is phenomenal. Imagine waking up every morning with John Wayne in all his glory, and you’ve pretty much got why my middle-aged body feels like a well-tuned violin these days. I’m free of breast-cancer, and I quit smoking. My daughters have men in their lives who seem worthy, and it does my heart good to see my girls so happy. Tomorrow I’m the mayor of Pecan Creek’s parade, and we’re going to launch our business.

  As much as I dreaded the journey, feared it even, I have become a new woman.

  It’s like being reborn. Better even than I could have ever imagined. Brigadoon, only real.

  And you weren’t the drag I thought you’d be, Journal. In fact, I really enjoy having the memories to look back on.

  No longer participating on the sly,

  Maggie

  On the morning of the Christmas parade, Sugar had a case of nerves that wouldn’t quit. A niggling sense of guilt ate at her. Maybe she had performer’s nerves.

  “It’s not every day I get dressed up in a short red Rockette’s outfit,” Sugar told Lucy. “I haven’t shown this much leg since I was on the high school drill team.”

  Lucy checked her sister out. “Damn shame too. If I had your legs, I’d be kicking them up all over town.”

  “Not since you’ve taken up with Bobby. He seems to have settled your desire to kick up your heels.”

  “Yeah.” Lucy grinned, shrugging herself into the tiny, tight white turtleneck she’d chosen for their costumes. “The man is sex on a stick.”

  “I won’t pretend to know what that means,” Sugar said, thinking Jake was probably likewise, “but I’m glad you’re happy. And Maggie’s happy.”

  “We’re all happy,” Lucy said, “until we pull through the town with our nut wagon. Then we’ll see if we get tossed out on our cute red skirts with white fringe.” She swung her hips so the white fringe flew. “I should have been a flapper.”

  Sugar shook her head and went to put the reindeer antlers on Paris and the jingle bell collar. “You get to ride in the float too, Paris! You can be our stowaway, since, technically, we’re not even supposed to be in the parade. Maybe you can smile that winning doggie smile of yours and keep us from the slammer.”

  “Jake won’t let you go in the slammer. Besides which, I think if the dead body didn’t sour him on the romance, you two are probably heading for Happyville.”

  “I had nothing to do with the body.” Sugar frowned. “How can you bring it up so nonchalantly?”

  “Because I didn’t see it, A,” Lucy said, “and B, I got a new bedroom out of it, which I haven’t revealed even to Vivian. But today is the day. She’s coming over after the parade to see it. I want her to be the first.”

  Sugar had been dying to peek in the room after the last load of furniture arrived, but Lucy had put her room off limits. Sugar respected limits, so she hadn’t indulged a fast snoop, but it hadn’t been easy.

  She still thought about the gross cadaver lying in her sister’s room. Which wasn’t a very Christmassy thought.

  Neither was what was making her feel guilty. “Jake really is a nice guy.”

  “I know,” Lucy said. “Are you trying to convince yourself?”

  “No.” She knew he was a great guy. And she’d fallen for him in the worst way. “I’ll feel better once we get past our publicity stunt.”

  “So if you’re worried about it, why don’t you tell him that you have a float you’re going to crash the parade with?”

  “Maybe I should.” But that would make Jake a conspirator if he didn’t try to shut their entry down. He was the mayor pro tem. She didn’t have the right to drag him into her adventure.

  “You want me to try to get his blessing?” Lucy asked, and Sugar shook her head.

  “No. I’m going with the element of surprise.”

  “I guess,” Lucy said, her tone uncertain. “Are you trying to spring this on Jake, or the Pillars and Vivian?”

  Jake had told her no advertising at the parade. He’d only recently told her he would go against the town council’s ruling, giving her two months advertising on the billboard. She knew he hadn’t breathed a word of this to the town council—he probably just thought he’d throw the advertising up there and let the chips fall, which was what he was doing with Kel’s sign, which coincidentally was going up today.

  Vivian was going to choke when she saw that Pecan Creek’s prime real estate for advertising had been usurped. “I’m tired of that damn phone ringing. Can’t we just disconnect it?”

  “I don’t think so,” Lucy said. “Technically, this is not our domicile. Jake never dreamed the reporters would stir up such huge interest in Pecan Creek. We even got a call from Southern Living the other day. They want to come out and look at the house for a possible spread in the magazine. We must get twenty-five calls a day from the rich and famous who want the novelty of staying in the Best Little Sex Shack in Texas.”

  Sugar shook her head and went out to the barn, Paris at her heels. She looked at the float for a long time, studying it from every angle. As floats went, it was huge and gaudy and eye-catching, a sure crowd-pleaser. She, Maggie, Lucy, Bobby and even Lassiter had worked like beavers to have it ready in time. Lucy had hired a photographer to snap photos, though it might not be necessary with all the reporters in town. Sugar had heard that two reporters had shown up at Pecan Fanny’s, bragging that they were planning to stake out what had become known as the Best Little Sex Shack in Texas, or simply, the Sex Shack. Unfortunately, the person the reporters had bragged to was Jake, who’d been over at Pecan Fanny’s taking inventory as he tried to figure out everything he wanted to do to the place. Jake had told the reporters if they got near his property—any of them, and he owned two restaurants and two houses, plus a good bit of land—they’d leave Pecan Creek with no story and some buckshot souvenirs.

  Then he’d asked Sheriff Goody to assign some extra patrols and some cops around the Cassavechias’ place, to discourage any overly avid sightseers or reporters with a lust for their work.

  She looked at the float again thinking about Jake and how much he meant to her. She looked at Paris in her reindeer get-up, smiling because even the dog was flourishing in Pecan Creek.

  Yeah, life was good. It was good with Jake too. And it wasn’t just because of the nuts or the house or even the sex, which was pretty phenomenal. Mind-bending.

  Some things in life had to be protected.

  She reached for a paintbrush and a can of red paint.

  Kel’s sign bloomed over Pecan Creek, heralding the entrance to the town that prided itself on being The Most Honest, Proper Town in Texas—sometimes.

  Debbie, you make me stand up like a duck in weeds. There will never be another woman for me, because you’re my better half. I love you so much. Kel were the words written in red, encircled by a huge red heart. It was glittered up and flashy as hell, with red lights that would light up at night.

  It would draw eyeballs for miles.

  In Jake’s estimation it was a sign to be proud of, and he was proud of his buddy. The Pillars would have another opinion, because, admittedly, the sentiment wasn’t exactly Pillar-sanctified, but as mayor pro tem, he had Kel’s back on this one.

  He thought about Sugar. Today would have been a beautiful day to launch her business, if life was normal, but all sorts of shit was going to hit the fan today. Sugar needed to work more on the pace of the Pillars, who kept their businesses on the down-low and developed fanatical word of mouth and discreet advertising. But Sugar wasn’t a down-low kind of girl. It was a hurdle between them he didn’t think could be solved. She didn’t have to change hotterthanhellnuts.com to suit PC. She wasn’t PC—that was why he was nuts for her.

  He was thinking happy thoughts of Sugar, enjoying the half rise in his jeans and the stirring of fantasies that seemed to sweep him often whenever he daydreamed about her—when he saw a tall redhead in a shorter-than-a-second skirt and a busty white top flounce across the main street of PC wearing white cowboy boots—very Dallas Cowbo
ys Cheerleader—and an excited smile.

  He blinked. Sugar wore capri jeans and shorts almost exclusively, rarely a dress or skirt. Lucy wore the short-short skirts in the family. It could not have been Sugar.

  A smaller redhead with a matching Christmas skirt and red heels higher than the PC billboard bounced along behind her sister.

  His heart began a painful beat inside him. Sugar was up to no good, with the streets lined with excited parade-goers and sneaking reporters shuffling around for the best angle. And there was his girl, hot enough to kill a man.

  Bad thought. No more dead men.

  He parked his truck and hurried after the hot red skirts.

  He was stopped on the way by the Pillars, who were dressed in Mrs. Claus costumes, very Little House on the Prairie Goes to the North Pole.

  “Jake,” Charlotte Dawson said.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She looked very festive in her gray wig and pretend spectacles. “Averie is going to be our parade princess. Lucy got her for us when she decided to be princess for her sister’s float. Did you know Sugar has a float?”

  This was bad. Very, very bad. Clearly, his girl was not a big believer in securing permits for her endeavors. This business of act now, obtain forgiveness later was something he was going to have to factor into their relationship. “Yes, ma’am, I did,” he fibbed, not wanting any disharmony on PC’s Big Day.

  They all looked at him with concern.

  “Have you seen the Cassavechia float? Their costumes?” Minda Hernandez asked.

  He held up a hand. “I’m not the parade marshal this year,” he reminded them, “I believe that’s Mom’s job.”