AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Cheeky kid.
Lucas shrugged and followed behind the sexy kitten in eff’me heels because there was really no other recourse. The woman had brought a casserole, and the kids needed to eat.
Tara tossed her hair over her shoulder as Lucas entered the kitchen. “I brought some lettuce and tomatoes. I’ll toss the salad together real quick if you’ll grab me a bowl.”
“Awfully nice of you to do this, Tara.”
Her answering smile made him nervous. “I love the way you say things.Awfully.So deliciously cowboy.”
Cowboy. Ah, now he understood. Some women had fantasies about men in worn jeans and boots—a romantic notion of cracked leather, hard abs and a soft heart. It was almost laughable. Most cowboys Lucas knew were about as romantic as cow crap. They were surly, out of shape, and a dentist’s dream. Lucas wasn’t a cowboy, though he liked his comfortable jeans and boots fine. He was a photographer who dabbled in ranching. Big difference. “You know I’m not a cowboy.”
Her laugh was soft. “Well, to a city girl like me, you’re close enough. Do you know where Courtney keeps the cheese grater?”
Lucas spent the next several minutes opening and slamming drawers but couldn’t find the grater. The whump, whump of Tara slicing small cherry tomatoes echoed in the kitchen, along with the off-key song she sang under her breath. Somehow it felt too intimate and made Lucas feel itchy in his skin.
“I brought ranch dressing because that’s what men always seem to like, and I pride myself on knowing what men like,” she said, casting blue eyes on him.
“Do you?” This is what being nice got him. Another problem. And Lucas Finlay was full up on problems in his life.
“Yeah,” she said, setting the paring knife on the cutting board and moving closer to him. Lucas tried to step back but he hit the cabinet. Totally cornered.
“Makes you quite the catch.” He braced his hands on either side of the granite and tried to figure a way to slide out of the corner without being offensive.
“Mmm,” Tara purred, reaching out and straightening the collar on his shirt. “I’m a talented woman. Be glad to prove it to you.”
“Uh, here’s the thing, Tara. I’m leaving in a few days-”
“I don’t want to marry you, Lucas,” she said with a drawl, her blue eyes twinkling with something he recognized as turned on woman. “I want to fu-”
“Yoo hoo!” someone called at the back door.
Tara snapped her mouth closed and looked at the back door slowing opening. Lucas almost sighed in relief as Flora popped her head in.
“Hey, there tall drink of water,” the older woman said, elbowing the back door open while balancing a huge Dutch oven in her hands. The smell of something spicy wafted in with the night air. “Brought you some jambalaya, but it looks like someone beat me to the punch. Do I need to arm wrestle her?”
Addy followed behind with a gallon of tea and a couple of sacks with French loaves peeking over the edge. Her brown eyes widened when she saw Tara standing beside him… close beside him.
Lucas moved past Tara to help the older woman with the dish. “I’m not sure Tara here can get much traction in those heels so you’d have the advantage,” he joked.
Tara flipped her hair. “Don’t be so sure, honey. Women can do more in these things than you think.”
Addy didn’t seem to find it funny. She just lifted her dark brows and set the tea on the counter.
Tara’s gaze darted to Addy, and he saw something fire in her eyes. “And don’t you just have women jumping to help you? Those dimples work magic.”
Lucas hated his dimples.
“I’m Tara,” the blonde said, stretching out an arm jingling with bangles toward Addy. The light caught the glowing flecks in her nail polish, and Addy reached out with her own small hands tipped with short, unpolished nails.
“I’m Addy and this is my aunt Flora. We live next door.” Addy kept her gaze from him. He could tell her feelings were hurt though he doubted anyone else in that kitchen caught on. Somehow, some way he could read her.
“This jambalaya will keep,” Flora said, lifting the lid. The smell made Lucas’s stomach growl.
“I made chicken spaghetti,” Tara said, lifting the foil off her pan revealing golden cheesy goodness.
All three women stared at him, silently asking him to choose.
“I hit the jackpot, huh? Lucky for me I’m hungry enough to eat both,” he said as the door leading to the innards of the house swung open. In trooped Michael and Chris.
