“We’re about to get snow cones. You are welcome to join us. My treat,” Knox said.
“I never turn down beer, food, or snow cones,” Micah said with a bright smile. “Eddie told me that it’s your turn to cook for us one day this week, Lottie.”
“Yep, and I hope you all like soup and sandwiches.” Never in her life had she wanted to strangle someone as much as she did Knox right at that moment. Micah was an incurable flirt, and there was no telling what he might say or do. She didn’t want Knox to flare up in mock anger and cause a scene that would get him fired.
“If you’ll stir it with your finger, it will be amazing,” Micah teased.
Knox brought her hand to his lips and kissed the knuckles. “I keep telling her that, but she argues with me. Now, each of you name your poison and decide if you want a small, medium, or large snow cone.”
“A small piña colada,” Lottie said.
“Medium with cherry on one side and banana on the other,” Micah answered and slid a sly wink toward Lottie.
“Y’all don’t have to stand in line,” Knox said. “I’ll take care of our orders and bring them over to one of those picnic tables.”
Lottie shrugged his arm away from her shoulders andwalked away. Forget strangling Knox. With a glancing look, she imagined him graveyard dead and his body sinking into the lake for the fishes to nibble on for supper that night.
“Thank you,” Micah said and walked beside Lottie to one of the wooden tables.
Micah was a handsome guy with light-brown eyes that always seemed to twinkle. Some women would even consider him sexy with all those ripped abs stretching the knit of his shirt. But his eyes said he was a player who enjoyed the chase. Once he caught his prey and spent a night or two with her, he was finished and off on the next hunt. She had thought at one time she might be wrong about him, but he did not kiss and not tell.
Micah sat down before she did and asked, “How long have you two been dating?”
“How many women have you slept with since I saw you last?” She fired back as she slung a long leg over the bench on the other side of the table, being careful not to let her knees touch his.
“Darlin’, when I’m with a woman, we do not waste time sleeping, which you would know if you would stop breaking my heart,” he answered.
“No, thank you. I will not be a notch on your bedpost,” she assured him.
“When you get tired of Blondie, you come find me, and I’ll show you how a real man treats a woman,” Micah said and lowered his voice. “And I will even throw my knife out the door of the trailer.”
“I’ll pick it up on the way in, and…”
Micah threw up both palms and went pale. “Whoa! Don’t even go there.”
“Then stop flirting with me. I’m with Knox, and I like where we are going. Speaking of which, here he comes.”
“We really do have a lot in common. We both like black olive and mushroom pizza, Reuben dogs with kraut, relish, and mustard, and I see you like piña colada snow cones, too,” she said to Knox.
He set all the cups in the middle of the table and sat down beside Lottie. “Folks say that people who are alike shouldn’t be together.”
Lottie reached for one of the piña colada snow cones and took a bite. “This is wonderful, and those people who say that are wrong.” She could attest to the fact that being different did not mean a successful relationship. She and the last three guys she’d had a relationship with were polar opposites from her in every way. And every one of them was worth more cuss words than tears when everything went south.
“I agree.” Micah picked up his snow cone and stood up. “I’m going to take this to go. I want to get on down to the site and get the lay of the land. Thank you, Knox. Next time, I’ll treat us all.”
“I’ll remember that, and you are welcome,” Knox said.
“You are in big trouble,” Lottie hissed as soon as Micah was gone.
“Can we have makeup sex after the fight?” he teased.
“I don’t sleep with dead men,” she snapped back at him and took a big bite of her snow cone.
“Why are you so mad at me?” Knox asked in his best innocent voice.
“You left me alone with Micah.” Lottie grabbed her head. “Brain freeze!”
“That’s what you get for punishing me when all I did was let you have some time with an old friend to catch up,” he said.
