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“You like pushing my buttons.” He decided to keep the friction between them.
The red cup rolled between her hands. For the second time Stephen noticed her fingers were void of any jewelry. The women he dated dripped in gold, platinum, diamonds or silver, and they would never drink domestic beer out of a plastic cup. Not as if he dated Lexi, though.
“Like I said, I like shocking you.” She hid her smile behind a sip from her cup. “Let me guess, you’re used to high-maintenance women? You like to wine and dine them, and then when they want more, you leave them.”
Her last statement did not come off as a question but more of a statement. “Like you,” he said, “I am going to enjoy shocking you.”
“Let me guess about your last real girlfriend. I bet tall, thin and beautiful.”
“Does liking beautiful women make me a bad man?”
The smile she’d started stopped and she rolled her dark eyes. “Not at all. But liking a woman who takes whatever crap you have to say is.”
“What makes you think I would give a beautiful woman crap?” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table.
“You give me crap.”
“Are you saying the flowers I gave you yesterday were crap?” He enjoyed the red tint to her high cheekbones. She wrinkled her perky little nose.
“The flowers were slick. Nice choice, and I believe I said thank-you.”
“By way of banana pudding?”
“I was being neighborly.” She cocked a brow across the table at him and leaned forward, as well. Her lashes fanned against her high cheekbones as she took a sip of her drink. “I half expected you to be in your new establishment already.”
“Nate changed his plans on me this afternoon over the phone.” Stephen explained about how he and Nate had almost tussled over something as trivial as burning dinner. If Nate had listened to him, the attempt to bake a whole chicken wouldn’t have gone awry. They hadn’t gotten in each other’s face like that since they were teenagers. Ken, being the oldest, always stopped them before their mother got involved. This being Nate’s weekend away for “work,” Stephen felt guilty for not fixing the problem before Nate left.
“So you stayed home with the girls,” Lexi said, tilting her head to the side, studying him for the truth, “because they were sick?”
“Hey, with the spread of measles, I didn’t want to risk the other kids in their school.” Stephen glanced around and spotted Kimber hugging the mascot.
“So honorable, aren’t you?”
Stephen turned his attention back to Lexi. Amusement swirled in her eyes. “Fine, don’t tell Nate I overslept.”
“You realize the administrative office accepts late excuses.”
“And admit I overslept?”
Lexi gave a slow nod. “Well, at least you were able to spend some quality time with the girls. I caught a glimpse of the pool. It’s gorgeous.”
He agreed with her. Hanging out by the pool, napping, a little internet digging on Lexi had really helped him relax—until she showed up. “Thanks, I can’t take the credit for it, but it is nice. Feel free to come over and swim sometime.”
“Thank you for the offer. Did you give the next pageant any thought, or do you need to run it by Nate first?”
Stephen felt the corners of his mouth frown. “I don’t have to clear things with Nate.”
“I’m sorry.” Lexi’s perfect lips formed into an O. “Given he is the guardian listed on Philly’s paperwork, I assumed he took care of the day-to-day activities.” Lexi spoke a mile a minute, reminding him of Philly.
Half smiling, Stephen shook his head. “We’re not an old-fashioned couple.”
“I never said a word.” Lexi sat back and hummed.
“Sure you didn’t,” he said with sarcasm. “Tell me about this pageant.”
Eyes sparkling, Lexi sat up straight. “The Glitzy Southern Pageant? This one has a mix of all ages, but specifically Philly’s age group will be the largest. A lot of pageant girls get their first start there.”
“I’m not sure if I like the idea of all the money these pageants shell out to buy a trophy.”
