Crap. How many ways can my family embarrass me?Merry rolled her eyes. “I’m twenty-five, dad. Not exactly a little girl, anymore.”
Her father dropped Jason’s hand and strolled over to where she stood. “You’ll always bemylittle girl.” Then he kissed her on the forehead and said, “Call me tomorrow, okay?”
Could shebeany more humiliated in front of an awesomely cute guy? So much for establishing her image as a hip, sophisticated city dweller, now that she had finally declared her independence. She sighed. “Okay, worrywart.”
Her father pointed at her. “I mean it.”
“I know, I know.”
As soon as they were out of the way, she planned to revel in her freedom, kick up her heels, and have some much-neededfun!Whether they liked it or not.
Jason watched the close-knit family say their good-byes and Merry’s father and brother reluctantly leave. Suddenly he missed his mother. She had tried to create family closeness, but the competition his father had instilled in his sons didn’t make for warm relationships. Not to mention the other “little problem” that crippled his family’s hopes for a normalanything.
As he watched his stunning new tenant wave goodbye to her family, he congratulated himself on offering to stay and help her arrange the large pieces of furniture.Hotdidn’t begin to describe her. Now he could steal some time alone with her.
She looked so different from the rest of her family. Her father had a Scottish look, as you’d expect in a MacKenzie. He was strongly made, and his graying hair looked as if it could have been reddish blond at one time. He and his sandy-haired son possessed ruddy but fair skin and blue eyes.
According to her paperwork, his new tenant’s name was Merry MacKenzie, but she couldn’t look less like a Scot. Her dark hair, brown bedroom eyes, and full lips, plus her perfectly smooth, glowing dark skin gave her an exotic Mediterranean air. Or maybe Brazilian. God, she made his jeans tight!
“So, where do you want this gigantic sofa?”
She chuckled. “It is kind of a monstrosity, isn’t it?”
“No, I didn’t mean…”
“That’s okay. It’s only temporary stuff. I took some castoffs from our family room and hit a few yard sales, but as soon as Ican, I’ll replace it with smaller furniture.”
“No… I, uh…”Why am I suddenly an idiot around her?
He had been trained for the limelight for years, so why should he suddenly fall apart in the presence of a pretty girl? Tons of women threw themselves at him on a regular basis. Maybe that’s why he reacted to this one differently. He wasn’t Jason Falco—star pitcher and reluctant celebrity. He was just Jason, single landlord with a hard-on for his new tenant.
“Look, I didn’t mean to insult your furniture, honest. I like it better than mine. I just had some hoity-toity designer decorate my place and it looks like it belongs in a magazine, not someplace where people actually live. This looks awfully comfortable.” He illustrated his point by soaring over the arm of the couch and landing on his back on the squishy cushions. He couldn’t help the “Ahhh…” that escaped his mouth. He hadn’t been able to lounge comfortably for days.
She just grinned at him and didn’t say anything.
You’re an idiot, Falco. A babbling, bumbling idiot.
Slowly, he rose from his comfortable position and said, “Let’s start over.” He held out his hand and said, “Hi. I’m Jason Falco, your new landlord. And you must be…”
“Merry MacKenzie,” she said, shaking his hand.
“What a charming name.”
She rolled her eyes. “It wouldn’t have beenmychoice. I share my name with a hobbit.”
He chuckled. “Do you have a nickname you’d prefer?”
“No. Just Merry. One of my professors tried to call me Mac once, but it didn’t stick. Thank God for that, because everyone calls my father Mac.”
“Well, at least I know what to call him if I see him again. I should have introduced myself. I don’t know where my head is at today.”
Hedidknow what his little head was thinking ever since he’dlaid eyes on the beautiful brunette with the cutest, open white smile he’d ever seen.
“No.” Merry shook her head. “I should have introduced them and myself since everyone apparently knew who you were. Well, everyone but me. Sorry about that.”
He gave her an earnest smile. “Don’t be sorry. It’s a relief not to be recognized.”Sort of. Now what can I do to impress her?
“In that case, I apologize for my fan-boy brother. It’s weird, but even though he has Attention Deficit Disorder, he can remember all kinds of trivia about things that interest him, like sports.” Then she covered her mouth and giggled as her cheeks took on a rosy blush. “Oh, sorry. No offense. I didn’t mean to call professional sports trivial.”
