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“Then don’t.”
He made a satisfied noise after what sounded like him taking a swig of a drink. “Anyway, it’s been a madhouse around here. I was just about to get to the mail when Ruby came in here hollerin’ and wavin’ that letter like a madwoman.”
I nearly groaned at that image. “What’s she gonna do?”
“Lord only knows. She’s like a loose mule.” That was for damn sure. “This doesn’t look good, Stone. We don’t have enough time to get our shit together.”
“I’m working on it. You just take care of Grandmama.”
“Oh, sure. Take the easy stuff for yourself,” he grumbled.
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, son.”
I dropped the phone beside me and pressed my head into the mattress. Grandmama knew. Mitch knew something was up. And there was a good chance Mama did too. I half expected to hear from my sister. Mercifully, she’d left this disaster well enough alone.
“Well, shit.”
I pushed off the bed and wandered down the hall. Tapping my knuckles against Muriella’s open door, I leaned against the frame. She poked her head out of the bathroom, hair pulled back, towel in hand.
“Want a drink?”
“I’d love some wine.” She dabbed her face with the towel.
Rapt, I drank in every move as if it were the most fascinating thing I’d ever seen. She never wore a lot of makeup, but her face was free of anything now. Her cinnamon skin was radiant. My eyes drifted down the column of her neck to the peek of her chest the silk pajamas provided.
My cock stirred to life, and I willed it down. I wanted to talk before we were physical again, but he had other plans.
“I’ll pour you a glass,” I said, my throat scratchy.
She gave me an odd look, but I took off before she could ask. I poured a healthy glass of whiskey and slugged back a swallow. If those little sounds she’d made while sucking me off were any indication of what was to come when I licked her into oblivion, I was in deep trouble.
“Sonofabitch,” I said under my breath as I uncorked a bottle of her favorite pinot noir.
More of my fantasies was exactly what I needed to forget about the rest of this shit, but I couldn’t live them out right now and shouldn’t even be thinking about them. Not when we were still vulnerable.
“My Grandmama found the letter about the hearing,” I blurted as soon as she entered the kitchen.
“She didn’t take it well?” Muriella picked up the glass of wine I slid across the island toward her.
“That’s putting it mildly.” I downed a little more of my drink and set the crystal on the counter more forcefully than I meant to.
“At least now she can help you two.” She gave me anI told you solook I didn’t want to see. “What does Mitch think about this?”
“Don’t know.” I shrugged and volleyed my glass between my hands on the granite surface.
“They didn’t tell him either?” She didn’t bother to hide her surprise.
“No, and it’s better that way.” Granddaddy was right. We couldn’t hurt them, especially when there was nothing any of them could do.
“How can you say that? I bet Miss Ruby was terribly hurt about this when she found out.”
A twinge of regret tugged at me. “Mad as a wet settin’ hen is more like it.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know what that means.”
“Furious.”
