by Tina Leonard
They gasped, turning their eyes to his mother, who rounded out the group of four Pillars.
“Did you approve their float and costumes, Vivian?” Dodie asked.
His mother looked at him. “Why yes, I did,” she said. “I actually thought the Cassavechia float was an excellent freshman effort.”
He shot his mother a look of pure gratitude.
“Good to see you, ladies,” he said. “Best of luck in the judging today.”
He didn’t also say, They had a stall in a prime spot outside the courthouse where their wares were set up. From her vantage point, Vivian could see every second of the parade and sell her friends’ goods discreetly, from which Vivian made a portion for her time. And forbearance.and may your sales skyrocket on this day of purveying all things sexy.
Maggie went by, a round and cheerful figure in her black top hat, red jacket, white gloves and red sequined trousers.
“Sequins, Jake?” Vivian murmured.
“She likes sparkle,” Jake said.
Vivian nodded. “It becomes her very well. Hello, Maggie. Thank you so much for acting as our mayor today.” Vivian smiled a genuine smile at Maggie.
“It’s so much fun!” Maggie looked around. “Everybody is having a great time. Evert says he thinks this is the biggest crowd Pecan Creek has ever had!”
Yes, thanks to you and your daughters.
“I’m going to go look over the floats,” Jake said hurriedly. “I’ll catch you ladies after the parade.”
He hurried to the end of the street, where the floats were lined up in position, waiting on the “mayor” to give the signal to start moving at a leisurely pace through the town square. A band played at the head of the line, Christmas carols that the audience sang along to with holiday delight.
He scanned the floats—same-old, same-old, every year the same—in a hurry, striding from the top of the line to the middle where the Pillars’ float was. Averie waved at him, her poufy Cinderella outfit perfect for the parade.
“Jake!”
He stopped, chafing to further inspect the line and find the Hot Nuts. “Hi, Averie. Great costume.”
“Thanks! Lucy Cassavechia was supposed to be the princess, but she asked me to stand in for her. Isn’t that awesome?” Averie’s smile was delighted.
“Yeah. It’s great. Thanks for stepping in.”
She glowed under his praise. “I’d do it for you any time, Jake.”
That was his cue to head along. “See ya, Averie.” He hurried faster, hearing the typical tunes that signaled the parade’s start.
“Jake!”
He saw a Southern-belle-gloved hand waving at him wildly. Lucy’s face appeared over the side of a float that seemed sprung from the red-light district. Red glitter, red poles from which shot waving red streamers, hot-red lip prints all over the base of the float made the float an eye-catcher in the line of more demure, been-there-done-that floats. Sugar’s and Lucy’s short skirts also drew quite the crowd of whistling men, although it seemed to be all in good fun. The Cassavechias threw candy to the kids in the crowd and handed out peppermint candy canes to those nearer them. “Hi, Lucy,” Jake said, as he finally reached the float.
“Surprise, Jake!” Lucy exclaimed.
That was the understatement of the year. Jake stared at the Cassavechia entourage. Bobby German had stationed himself near the front of the float, keeping an eye on the Cassavechias, which Jake thought was prudent given the length of Lucy’s skirt, but also smart as hell due to the reporters he could see snapping away. Lassiter was at the back, his gaze on Maggie, who walked nearby, greeting the visitors to Pecan Creek who’d brought strollers of children. Everyone wanted to shake the spangly mayor’s hand, which wasn’t hard to understand. Everybody loved Maggie.
“Yeah. Surprise,” Jake said. “I am surprised. Great float.”
She took his hand, pulled him up on the float. “Ride with us.”
He looked at Sugar, who hadn’t realized he was there yet. She leaned over the side of the float, her skirt giving him a heart attack and a hard-on as she shook hands with babies and children. “I might ride a bit of the way.”
If for no other reason than to hold off the riot that was bound to happen. The Cassavechias had a good double-portion of parade-goers clustered around their float than other floats had drawn—and since they were new to town, all their fans were mostly out-of-towners. Jake gulped. “Yeah. I’ll ride with you.”
Lucy grinned. “Bobby said you would.”
He glanced back at his friend, who grinned at him with a knowing expression.
“Killer, huh?” Bobby said to him.
“Right in the heart,” Jake said. He looked back at Sugar’s skirt, and all the long leg and sweet ass curve peeking out underneath. She turned, catching him gawking.
“Hi, Jake.” She came over, handed him a red-hot candy ball from her faux-fur-trimmed red bag of candy. He took it because she offered it, and he wasn’t ever going to say no to anything she wanted to give him. “I hope you’re not mad.”
“I don’t think so.”
“I couldn’t tell you. You didn’t want us to launch today, and I understood that. But we still wanted to be part of Pecan Creek.”
He nodded. “I know.”
“Did you see the side of the float?”
“No.” He shook his head, thinking that his life was going to be full of surprises, full of Sugar, if he played his cards right. Maybe he’d get it right this time. She’d give him a heart attack eventually, but he’d bribe the sheriff and the doc to keep some juice and paddles nearby to shock him back to life so he could keep enjoying the crazy ride she gave him. “I was too busy looking at your…at the theme.”
Lucy turned around at that moment. “Jake, today is the day!”
He leaned back, propping his arms on the side of the float, deciding to take it all in stride. The shocks really weren’t going to kill him, not when the excitement was so much fun. “What day?”
“The big reveal.” She grinned, a devilish elf taunting him. Maybe, maybe one day an aunt to his children, which was a pretty heavy thought.
His children would love Aunt Lucy. They’d adore Grandma Maggie too.
“What big reveal?” he asked, pretty sure he knew, but with a Cassavechia, clarification was always good.
“The new décor,” she said, as if he should have known. “At two o’clock, everyone is invited to tour the house.”
Jake blinked. “Tour?”
Lucy nodded, delighted. “The phone has been ringing off the hook with people wanting a tour, to spend the night, to see where the old geezer died, to meet Sugar and me and Maggie. I told them there was a once-in-a-lifetime tour at two o’clock, the only one there would ever be, and we’re charging three dollars a head. Kel, Evert and Bobby are serving as ticket sellers and guard dogs. And I’m turning over the money to you,” Lucy said proudly. “It won’t be millions, but it’ll be enough to cover you until you get new tenants. And maybe cover our fines for not getting proper permits and all that jazz.”
Jake closed his eyes for a second. New tenants was all he heard. Shit, he didn’t want to think about new tenants. He wanted the tenants he had. Paris walked over and put her moist nose against him. He stroked her head, being careful of the antlers, his gaze going to Sugar.
“You’re not mad, are you, Jake?” Sugar asked.
“Hell, no. I continue to be amazed at the adrenalin shot you provide to this town.” Jake wasn’t going to be mad no matter what happened. He wasn’t going to be part of the Old Guard. It was better to embrace new experiences, new ideas.
The parade music changed to overenthusiastic holiday march, and the line began to move slowly. Bobby walked at the side, playing bodyguard, and Jake sat and kept his eye on Sugar as she worked the crowd, her smile huge, her short skirt swinging atop long, lean legs he loved to kiss, feeling pretty certain his heart and his life were never going to be the same.
Which felt pretty damn good.
He leaned back, stroking Paris’s fur, and enjoyed the ride.
Chapter Twenty-Four
It was really no shock to Jake that the Hotter than Hell Nuts float won the Best in Parade award.
What was surprising was when the parade marshal called out the name of the Cassavechias’ business as hotterthantexasnuts.com.
“Hotterthanhellnuts.com,” he whispered to Vivian as he stood by his mother on the platform.
Vivian looked at him. “It says hotterthantexasnuts.com on this card,” she said, “and it said it on the side of the float. In huge red glittery letters.” She looked at her son. “Really, Jake. The Cassavechias wouldn’t put a curse word in their business name in our small town. We are a family town.”
He blinked, glancing at Sugar as she and Lucy and Maggie bounded up on the stage to accept their tiny pecan-topped, golden statuette from Vivian.
“Congratulations, ladies,” Vivian said, “you acquitted yourselves very well.”
The Cassavechias couldn’t have looked happier than if they’d won the lottery. They giggled, and people in the crowd enjoyed their enthusiasm, and Jake realized the Cassavechias always drew attention because they were just so damn happy. It wasn’t the short skirts and the tats and the bellybutton rings.
It was the smiles and the joy, and the sense of family they always carried with them.
“Congratulations,” he told Sugar in his capacity as mayor pro tem. “You changed your DBA.”
She grinned. “Your mother’s been coaching me about life in Pecan Creek. She seems to think you might be capable of fathering grandchildren if you can tie me down. She’s not putting money on it, says you’d be marrying way above your pay grade, soldier, if we ever got to that point.”
Marriage. He wouldn’t kiss her—though he wanted to so bad it was hard to choke off the urge. So it was a total shock when Sugar suddenly stood on tiptoe and gave him a fast, hardly-a-kiss-but-still-a-kiss brush on the lips, then exuberantly bounced off the stage.
His mother didn’t even look shocked. In fact, she looked pleased when the parade-goers cheered.
I’m in love with Sugar, Jake thought. I’ve been in love with her since I first laid eyes on her. It grew every time she looked at me with those huge eyes, and every time she dared me to change her, and every time she kissed me.
Bobby winked at him, probably reading the hopeless lust in his eyes as Sugar left the platform.
He didn’t even feel doomed. He just felt free.
And happy.
Lucy’s Big Reveal had Sugar just slightly nervous. Her sister had been so secretive for the past week, practically giggling with impish delight. It was the way she’d always hoped Lucy would be—carefree and joyous, and free of life’s burdens. All the hard edges were gone.
But she still had a devilish side a mile wide. And there was no telling what her sister had up her sleeve today.
Probably two hundred people thronged the front lawn, waiting to see the Sex Shack. From the window, Sugar saw Jake making his way to the front of the line.
She opened the door, her heart jumping. “Hi.”
“Hey. Can I cut to the front of the line?”
Sugar laughed. “It might be best. They might want to meet the owner of the Sex Shack.”
“My God.” Jake looked at her. “I didn’t realize it, but I’ve now got a business like the other Pillars. I finally fit into this town after all these years. I am the proud owner of the Best Little Sex Shack in Texas.”
Lucy came skidding into the foyer, throwing her arms around Jake’s neck. “You get first peek!”
“You scare the hell out of me,” he told Lucy. “In a good way.”
“Life’s no fun if you live it safe.” Lucy grinned at him, torturing him with abandon.
“What are you wearing?” Sugar asked her sister.
“Oh, this old thing?” Lucy asked in her best Southern-belle voice. A white minidress with fringe, twinkling with occasional sequins, and sky-high white heels graced Lucy’s petite frame. “The Pillars sold it to me. They were hoping I’d wear it to be their princess in the parade. But they sold it to me when I told them I had to work for the family.” Lucy smiled with delight. “It’s okay, though. They want to keep me on as a consultant, when we’re not overflowing with orders for Hotter than Texas Nuts.”
Jake turned to look at Sugar. “About that new DBA—”
“Not now. It’s time!” Sugar glanced out the window. “I think the crowd has grown.” It looked like another hundred people had shown up.
“I should have hired you to run my con a long time ago,” Jake said. “You girls could sell ice to our discerning northern neighbors.”
“Here’s Vivian.” Sugar pulled open the door. “Come on in, Vivian,” she said, helping her in past the crowd lined up on the porch. “This is the owner of the house, and the original decorator,” Sugar called out. “Five more minutes!”
“Whew,” Vivian said. “To think I worried about the effect you girls would have on our reputation. We need to bottle your karma!”
Sugar smiled. “I consider that a compliment coming from a woman who knows a little bit about survival. Maggie?”
“I’m here,” her mother said, coming around the corner. “I had to corral Paris. She’s been playing parade marshal, and it was hard as heck getting her inside. All the attention is too much for her to resist. Funny how she went from being an unwanted stray to the belle of the ball. Hello, Vivian.”
Vivian nodded. “Maggie.”
“Let’s go up,” Sugar said to her family, and together they went up the stairs, Lucy leading the way.
“Get ready,” Lucy said gleefully. “Vivian, you first.”
She flung open the door, and Vivian gasped.
“Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” she said at once, and Lucy clapped like a delighted child.
“Yes!” She jumped up and down. “What do you think?”
Vivian walked through the room, looking at each and every item, each piece of furniture, the coverings, the drapes. The robin’s egg blue walls set off a white fluffy comforter, where piles of pretty blue pillows rested in jeweled and tasseled confection. A blue-and-white carpet lay at the foot of the bed, where an off-white Louis XIV-style chaise sat, curving with inviting comfort. A dresser and armoire to match graced the room for whatever guests might want to harbor inside. A fabulous chandelier iced with thousands of crystals dripped from the ceiling, practically diamonds raining over the room with a romantic glow.
“It’s not red,” Lucy said, and for the first time, Sugar realized her sister was anxious. Jake reached for Sugar’s hand, wrapping his fingers through hers. Sugar was grateful to know he cared so much about her sister. He’d done a lot to make certain Lucy hadn’t been scarred by that strange night.
And me.
“It’s perfect,” Vivian said, turning slowly around the room, touching the items on the dresser with a wondering hand. “It’s sexy in its own way, because it’s so beautiful. I can practically see Audrey Hepburn staring in the window of Tiffany’s, dreaming of her future.” She turned to Lucy. “Thank you, my dear child. Thank you for understanding how much this house means to me and what I was trying to achieve. You have taken my design aspirations to a new level. In fact, I think you may have found your own calling.”
Lucy threw her arms around Vivian. “I hoped you’d love it! I designed this room for you.”
Vivian hugged Lucy back. “You did?”
“Of course I did!” Lucy broke free to look at her. “You know, it takes one to know one, Vivian. And you and I are survivors.”
Vivian smiled. “Yes. I believe we have that in common.”
“Good.” Lucy took her hand. “Come see the bathroom. I broke your son’s bank account with the bathtub in here, but I’m pretty sure you’ll agree it’s well worth it. And the chandelier is to die for.”
“Well,” Sugar said, looking at Jake, “I never saw those two as cohorts, but I’m so glad they are.”
H
e kissed Sugar’s hand. “You’re amazing. Pecan Creek will never be the same because of you.”
Sugar laughed. “Because of you. You brought us here with your smooth talk.”
He looked around the room. “I could turn this place into a bed-and-breakfast. I might even let Lucy redo the American Gigolo room. I really misfired on that one.”
Sugar stared at him. “You did that room?”
“Yeah.” He had an embarrassed smile she thought was charming. “Vivian wanted a Some Like It Hot room. But what guy didn’t dream of being Richard Gere in the American Gigolo?”
“Lucy was right.” Sugar grinned. “She said Pretty Woman would have fit the theme better than American Gigolo.”
Jake nodded. “Probably. I didn’t think about it. I wanted to be the American Gigolo, not the rich guy who got the girl.”
“Hope that changes,” Sugar said, and Jake said, “God, I hope so too.”
She smiled at him. “Let’s go let in your visitors.”
“And the reporters.”
“I’m not afraid of them.” Sugar could have twirled on air. “I don’t think I’ll ever be afraid again.”
They opened the door to find Minda, Charlotte and Dodie at the front of the line.
“We had to beat our way up here,” Charlotte said. “But we feel as the elders of Pecan Creek—”
“Pillars,” Jake said. “Elders seems so harsh for you ladies. Entrepreneurs is even better.”
“Yes.” Charlotte beamed. “As the Entrepreneurial Pillars of Pecan Creek, and Lucy’s mentor, and Vivian’s best friends, we should see first.”
“And gratis,” Jake said, and Sugar said, “Absolutely. Please come in.”
The three ladies, the Salesladies of Sex—as Jake called them—went up the stairs to claim first peek ahead of the crowd. Sugar smiled. “They’ve invited Maggie to join their church circle and their reading group.”
Jake smiled. “Maggie can handle them.”
They let the crowd in, and people streamed through the house, eager for a glimpse of the next Chicken Ranch of Texas, and Sugar just smiled.
It felt great to be home.
