Page 44 of Hometown Hottie

Unfortunately, my mental pep talk wasn’t working. I was in a downright catty mood by the time he sat down at the head of the table.

“So, have you found a property yet to build your big, fancy house on?” I asked, the attitude clear in my voice.

His foot found mine under the table and he gave me a pointed look that said very clearly to shut up. “No, I haven’t.”

“That’s not what I heard,” I said, unable to back down and keep the peace.

He tapped his foot against mine like a warning, and my eyes narrowed. Sliding my foot out from underneath his, I kicked him in the shin. Carson grunted and he dropped his fork with a loud clatter.

Mrs. Drake frowned at him. “What’s wrong, honey? Is everything okay?”

“It’s fine.” He picked the fork back up and dug into his pasta like he was afraid that if he stopped chewing for just a single second, he’d say something he’d regret.

With neither of us very excited to see the other, dinner was tense as hell, despite the amazing food. His mother attempted to keep things upbeat, but the mood remained off. With a final, questioning glance at her son, she rearranged her features into a smile and pointed it at me.

“You were still telling me about how the ranch was doing after the storm,” she said. “You said you all were lucky. Does that mean the damage wasn’t too bad? And the animals, they made it through okay?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said. “The horses were a little skittish for a few days after, but luckily, my brother and I were there to reassure them.”

Her eyes got soft and fond as she nodded. “You two always have had a touch with them.”

“It helps that they know they can trust us.” I cut a glance at Carson. “We don’t have any ulterior motives. What you see is what you get.”

He made his eyes big at me, jerking his head to show me to stop while his mother’s attention wasn’t on him. She nodded at me some more. “They do seem to have a real feel for people, don’t they? I’ve always said that dogs and horses are the best judges of character there are.”

“They’re definitely better at that than I am,” I said honestly, sending Carson a quick arch of my eyebrow before I glanced back down at my food. “This really is delicious. Thank you, Mrs. Drake. I appreciate the invitation and I hate to eat and run, but I’m going to have to head out soon.”

“There’s dessert! You have to wait for that, at least. I won’t make you stay for coffee, but my chocolate mousse might make you want the recipe.” She winked at me.

We all lapsed into silence as we finished eating. As soon as she left the room to fetch the chocolate mousse, Carson leaned over the table, his gaze intent on mine. “We need to talk about all this in private. Taking stabs at me in front of my mother isn’t going to fix anything.”

“Talk in private about what, Carson? You don’t want your mother to know that you’re trying to buy a huge chunk of my family’s property and didn’t even have the balls to tell us about it yourself? What, you thought the offer on the table was good enough to buy our silence? It’s not, and besides, it’s not like she won’t know whose property it really is the first time you take her out to see it.”

“It’s more complicated than that,” he said quietly, those eyes imploring me to stay put and shut up. “I’ll explain everything, I promise. Just not right now.”

His mom walked back in then, and we sat through an uncomfortable, tense dessert with her.

Carson stood up as soon as he’d shoveled in his last bite. “Thanks so much for everything, Mom. It was amazing, as always, but Nova and I have to go. Now.”

She blinked a few times in rapid succession before she smiled at us and motioned toward the door. “You’re excused. It was good to see you, Nova. Come by again, okay? I feel like we’ve hardly had an opportunity to talk.”

I didn’t want to lie to her, but Carson hurried me out of there so fast that I didn’t have to. I didn’t have time to do anything other than say “thank you” over my shoulder as he took my arm and marched us out of the house.

As soon as the front door shut behind us, I yanked free of his grasp and turned to look up at him, hoping that I was finally going to be able to get the truth. “What the hell, Carson?”