He wanted her to trust him. That wouldn’t be easy to accomplish. He almost laughed. And that was the understatement of the century.
His reputation with women wasn’t one that inspired confidence. But he could be patient. You didn’t get to where he was in his life and career without patience.
From the time he was thirteen he knew the future he wanted, and he worked for years toward that one goal. High school, State University, law school…none had been easy and there’d been many opportunities to lose focus, but he hadn’t. Waiting on one woman to trust him was nothing compared to working two jobs to get through college and law school, or staying up nights on end studying for the LSAT, and the bar exam.
Another thing he was good at was identifying what he wanted and implementing a plan to get it. He wanted Luanne Price. He gave his brain a moment to offer opposing arguments to counter that statement. None came. He wanted Luanne and he wanted her bad.
Now that he’d admitted it to himself, he just had to come up with a strategy and put it into action. Oh yeah, and persuade the woman in the other bed that he was who she wanted too.
He jumped out of bed with a new sense of purpose. Her dainty foot was sticking out from underneath the blanket. He grabbed it and tugged. “Get up, sunshine. It’s a beautiful day.”
A pillow sailed through the air toward his head. “Shut up, Jack, or I’ll gut you and hang you with your own intestines.” She pulled the covers over her head.
What a delicate flower. If he wasn’t careful he’d be madly in love with her before the road trip from hell was over.
“I’ll buy you pancakes.”
“With bacon?” Her words were muffled but intrigued from beneath the blanket.
“With bacon.”
“And coffee? I don’t move without coffee.”
“Do you even have to ask?”
“Okay, turn around.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m naked, Jack.”
“Fine.” He was naked too, but you didn’t see him running and hiding.
The bed creaked and covers rustled. Ah, sleeping beauty emerging from her cocoon.
“Oh, my lord, Jack. When I said I was naked that should’ve been your prompt to tell me you were too.”
“You could always look away.”
“I am. Geez, get some clothes on.”
She totally wasn’t looking away. He could see her in the vanity mirror checking him out. But he wouldn’t bring that to her attention. Evidently, Luanne wasn’t a morning person, and there wasn’t any reason to poke the beast. No matter how fun it would be. Besides, his mouth had gone dry at the quick glimpse of her body he’d gotten when she stood to wrap a sheet around herself and scurry to the bathroom.
“Good news,” she said from behind the bathroom door.
“What is it?”
“Our clothes are dry.”
They’d washed their underwear and shirts in the sink the night before, even though it had taken every ounce of effort he had left in his body to perform the task. He was grateful now to have relatively clean clothes to put on.
He brushed his teeth and ran his wet hands through his hair to smooth down a couple cowlicks.
Luanne emerged from the bathroom with her lids down, carrying his boxer briefs and shirt. “Put these on.”
“You’re such a prude, Ms. Price.”
“I’m not a prude. I don’t want the sight of your junk ruining my appetite.”
He laughed and pulled on his clothes. “You can open your eyes now, I’m decent.”
“Now move so I can brush my teeth.” She hip-bumped him out of the way. A small kernel of annoyance knocked around his belly. It was like nothing had happened the night before. He quickly squashed it. Getting angry wasn’t the way to endear himself to her.
He watched as she performed the same basic tasks as he just had, while he counted up their money. “We’ve still got almost eight hundred dollars, enough to get breakfast and buy a couple of bus tickets.”
“I hope there’s a place to catch the bus here.” She rubbed lotion on her face.
He loved her naked face. She was as beautiful without makeup as she was with. Time to turn on the charm. “You look pretty.”
Her hand froze at her neck. “What?”
“You’re pretty.”
She gave him a squinty-eye glare. “What are you up to, Jack?”
“Nothing, I just wanted you to know how lovely you are.” He gave her his I’m all you need smile. It had zero effect on her.
“Um…okay.” She continued to moisturize her skin.
He propped his shoulder against the wall and crossed his arms. “It’s customary for a person to say thank you after a compliment.”
“Fine. Thank you for making things weird, Jack.”
He needed to regroup. The moves that worked on other women were ineffective with Luanne. She went to slip on her shoes and it occurred to him that to use his moves on her would be a disservice to her. She deserved better, and he could give that to her. But he had to do it carefully. He opened the door to the room and propped it open with his body. “Pick up the pace, Thumbelina. I’m starved.”
The coffee hit Luanne’s bloodstream like jet fuel. Ahhh. She should not be expected to deal with Jack while still caffeine free. He was a lot to take and hard to resist when she was on her A game, but without a cup of Joe? Disastrous.
“Whatcha havin’, Luanne?”
She glanced up to see him grinning at her. Lord have mercy. The man sucked the air out of the room. He was so stinkin’ handsome.
She wasn’t the only one who noticed either. The pretty waitress who’d waddled up to the table was giving him the once over. “What can I get y’all?” But she only looked at Jack.
“The Lumberjack breakfast.” No shame. She was starved.
“That’s my girl.” He closed the menu. “I’ll have the same.” He glanced at her nametag. “Monica. And can I say, you look beautiful today.”
The woman’s face bloomed into a rosy shade of red. She had to be twelve months pregnant and ready to pop at any minute. But at Jack’s words her tired eyes lit and twinkled like a prom queen.
She curled a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “Oh, my word.” She giggled. “Thanks. I really needed that today.”
“When are you due?” Jack set his chin in his hand and gave her his complete attention.
“My C-section is scheduled for seven a.m. tomorrow, and I will kill anyone who tries to get between me and the hospital.”
Luanne couldn’t take her focus off of the women’s belly. “Oh. It moved.”
“What?” The waitress seemed confused at first, then laughed and rubbed her belly. “They’ve started doing that all the time. I swear they’re gonna come out with black eyes.”
“Twins?”
“Yes, my husband’s been telling everyone he’s got super sperm. He’s such an idiot.”
“What’s his name?” Jack was still giving the woman his absolute attention.
“Connor.”
“Well, Monica, idiot or not, Connor is one lucky man.”
The dreamy expression on Monica’s face told Luanne that she didn’t think her husband was an idiot at all, but the best thing since white bread.
She giggled again and practically skipped away to turn in their order.
“You made her day.” She watched Monica whispering to another waitress, then they both looked over at them.
He shrugged. “It’s true. Pregnant women are beautiful. Besides, my mama used to say there were only two things you should say to an expectant woman: ‘You look beautiful’ and ‘Can I rub your feet?’ I didn’t think this was the right venue for the latter, so I went with the former.”
“You’re something else, you know that, right? Such a sweet talker.”
He poured them both more coffee from the carafe on the table. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. In my experience, you get more with sugary words than venomous words.” He eyed her ov
er his coffee mug.
“Point taken. I could temper my words sometimes.”
“Ya think?”
She pretended his words didn’t bother her by sticking her tongue out at him. He didn’t understand that she’d grown the hard shell she hid behind to protect herself from the selfish adults in her life. He didn’t know she cried at Olympic athletes’ backstories, or was an absolute sucker for puppies. No one but Scarlett knew she had a soft underbelly that she protected with her smart mouth.
Anger fisted into a knot in her chest when she thought of all the people in her life who’d wanted her to be compliant, who didn’t want her to rock the boat and call them on their bullshit. Apparently, Jack was just like them. She wasn’t going to lie—it hurt.
They sipped their coffee in silence for awhile. She was lost in thought, and if she were honest, licking her wounded ego from Jack’s comment, when he set his cup down and took her hand in his. “Honestly, Luanne. I wouldn’t change one thing about you. You are one of a kind, and you don’t see that every day. It keeps me on my toes.”
Monica sat platters of food in front of them. Good thing too, because not one word would come out of her mouth.
No one had ever said that to her. No one but Scarlett appreciated all of her—the good, the bad, and the snarky.
She searched his face to see if he was blowing smoke, but she could tell he wasn’t. He meant it. Well, crap. This forced her to see him in a different light. He wasn’t like her father in any way, shape, or form. That revelation was booth exhilarating and terrifying. “Thank you, Jack. That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
There was an awkward silence as he stared at her. She pointed with her fork and grinned at him. “Stop staring, it’s weird. And eat your breakfast. It’s getting cold.”
One side of his mouth kicked up, and his expression shone with mischief. “Yes, ma’am.”
She dug into her own food. “I think we should use some of your winnings to buy a disposable phone, so we can call your office and leave a message for your assistant to call us. Depending on where we are when she calls, we can have her send money.”
“Good idea.” He checked his watch that wasn’t there. After that I guess we get a couple of bus tickets to Roseman.”
“Oh, about that.” She needed to tell him she wasn’t going any farther on this trip. She’d have him buy her a ticket to the closest big city and figure it out from there. “I’m not going—”
“Son of a bitch. Would you look who just strolled through the door?”
Jack couldn’t believe it. He probably shouldn’t be surprised, but even in the crazy town world he’d been living in for the last few days, this was beyond serendipitous. June, Pearl, and Bobby were being led to a table on the other side of the restaurant.
The boy’s hair was wet with a precise part down the middle. The women were sporting new dresses. He knew this because June had forgotten to remove the sales tag from her pink floral number and it waved at him with every step she took. Looked like someone had been shopping and found a place to stay last night.
“What are we going to do? Should we call the cops?” Luanne was loaded for bear. He could see it in her moon pie eyes.
“What? No. We’re going to handle this like the professionals we are. He stood and offered her his hand. “Ready, counselor?
With an evil grin firmly in place, she placed her hand in his. “Oh, I’m more than ready…counselor. Wait, am I good cop, or are you?” Luanne said from the corner of her mouth.
“Oh, you’re definitely the bad cop, cher. We should all play to our strengths, and you’re the badass in this partnership.”
“You say the nicest things. You big sweet talker.”
He loved it when she seemed to grow three inches at his praise. The woman did love to be the badass, but he was beginning to think that maybe the whole thing was an act.
They were almost on the trio, but the three hadn’t noticed them. “Follow my lead.” He grabbed a chair from a nearby table and so did she. They pulled them to the end of Pearl and June’s booth. “Ladies, how are you this fine morning?”
June squeaked and dropped her menu, while Pearl gave them the hairy eyeball. He had to give it to the ol’ girl, she was ballsy.
“I don’t believe we had the opportunity to introduce ourselves yesterday. I’m Jack Avery, and this is Luanne Price. We’re attorneys over in Zachsville, Texas. Ever heard of it?”
Both women shook their heads.
“And how are you, Bobby?”
The little boy gave them a sheepish chocolate milk grin. “I gettin’ waffles.”
“What are you doing here?” Pearl hissed.
Luanne clasped her hands together and placed them onto the table. “Now Pearl, that’s the same question we wanted to ask you. There was something else, though. Oh yeah, where are our things?”
Jack watched as a kaleidoscope of emotion played across Pearl’s face. He had to reign in his own feelings. He was part of the problem in this screwed-up scenario. A lifetime of running from poverty had left him with very little objectivity. Better to let Luanne handle it.
From the corner of his eye, he saw June swipe a tear from her cheek. Fuuuuuck.
“That’s none of your business. It’s ours now,” Pearl declared.
“I beg to differ, Pearl. You do know you can go to jail, right?” Luanne calmly laid out the worst-case scenario for the duo.
June buried her head in her hands and began to cry in earnest.
“Now, look what you’ve done,” Pearl snarled at Luanne. When she looked back at her sister the ferocity melted away and devotion took its place. “It’s okay, Junie. Don’t cry, I’m going to take care of this.”
Pity demanded Jack do something. He reached over to pat her on the back, but Bobby had beat him to it and was patting and cooing, “Nana.”
Someone shoot him now. He glanced at Luanne and even she seemed to have lost her anger.
June glanced up, misery seeping from every pore of her face. “Tell them, Pearl. It’s wrong. We’re wrong. No matter how desperate we are, we can’t continue this.”
“Alright. Somebody better tell me what’s going on, and you better start talking now.” He said it more harshly than he intended, but dammit, he wanted answers. And by the mutinous look on Pearl’s face, he wasn’t getting answers by playing good cop.
“Get waffles?” Bobby said.
“Let me order him some breakfast and I’ll tell you everything.”
“June.”
She leveled Pearl with an it’s over look. “Everything, Pearl.”
The same waitress came to take their order. “Y’all know Pearl and June? Aren’t they the sweetest?”
“Sugary sweet,” Luanne said.
“I could just squeeze ’em to death. Especially Pearl, here,” Jack said through gritted teeth.
“Back at cha,” Pearl said, a syrupy smile plastered on her face.
“Pearl,” June warned.
The four of them sat in a Mexican stand-off staring at each other. The waitress shuffled uncomfortably from foot to foot. The tension could’ve been cut and served as slabs of beef.
They might’ve sat like that all day, but Bobby yelled, “Waffles! Waffles! Waffles!”
“Waffles it is.” The waitress laughed and seemed relieved to be able to walk away from the table.
“Okay, spill,” Luanne said. “And I swear if I think you’re lying, I’ll call the sheriff faster than you can say grand theft auto.”
June wrung her hands. “Well, it all started a few months ago. My no-good D-A-U-G-H-T-E-R ran off and left B-O-B-B-Y with me. Don’t get me wrong, I adore him and truly believed he was better off with me, and for about a month he was. Pearl was so sweet to take him in and not complain at all.” She gave her sister a loving look. “We’ve lived together since my husband died five years ago.”
“I love that little squirt, June. You know that.” She reached across the table and ruffled Bobby’s hair.<
br />
Bobby looked up from his coloring page and grinned.
Pearl began to tear up the paper napkin in front of her. “Everything would’ve been fine too if it weren’t for that lousy Marty Franklin.”
This made Jack sit up in his seat. “Marty Franklin? Is that Bobby’s father?”
“Gawd, no.” Pearl said.
June crossed her hands primly in her lap. “We don’t exactly know who B-O-B-B-Y’s father is.”
“Marty Franklin is the scumbag who lives in the duplex next to us. He takes care of the place for the owner. At least he’s supposed to take care of things at the place we lived.”
“Lived?” Luanne said.
“Yes, lived,” Pearl spat out. “He became the manager about the same time June’s daughter left. At first it was only June’s social security check that went missing. We called the SS office and they assured us the check was mailed, but she never got it.”
June picked up the story. “We asked Marty about it. At first he denied knowing anything about it, but then the next month Pearl’s check went missing. At that point, we confronted him. He admitted he’d taken them because we had the baby living with us and he’s not on the lease.” June’s voice quivered. “Why would a little boy need to be on the lease?”
“I’m pretty sure they don’t have to be, but we’ll check that out,” Jack said as calmly as possible, but his blood was boiling.
“Then the next month he kept both checks. We told him we’d go to the police, and he told us he’d report us to Child Protective Services and that we’d lose Bobby.” June raised her hands helplessly. “What could we do? I can’t lose him. As you might imagine, we couldn’t pay our bills and three days ago we came home from an errand and all of our things were on the front stoop. Marty said we hadn’t paid our rent and evicted us.”
“Why would he do that? He can’t get your checks if you aren’t living there.” Luanne looked from one woman to the next.
Running with a Sweet Talker (Brides on the Run Book 2) Page 13
