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I’d changed into a soft, comfortable dress with cap sleeves. It highlighted the width of my shoulders and the definition of my arms, draped nicely over my butt and somehow, miraculously, made my small breasts look a little more lush than was the reality. The point though was that it hid my ink from my grandmother’s eagle eyes. She had strong opinions about women in the workforce, the Air Force, and tattoos, and I didn’t want to hear any of it.
Kennedy’s eyes popped wide when I walked into the kitchen and I knew immediately that I’d taken it too far. “Too much?” I asked nervously, and a sweet smile stretched across her face.
“Not even the big gun,” she teased. “Perfect.”
The Big Gun? That was what she’d named theoneskirt I owned. It was tight and short, hitting me at mid-thigh, and it accentuated the crazy muscle definition in my legs and butt. I’d worked hard for that definition and I worked hard to keep it, but wearing that skirt out in public was just asking for trouble.
I helped carry out the last platter while Kennedy lit citronella candles and turned on the water feature along the back fence that filled the space with a soothing ambient noise.
The first knock at the door made my eyes go wide and she grinned wickedly at me. “I think you should answer that. In fact, I’ll come with you. I need to go pick up Grams and I want to see what this,” she pinched my side, “does to our boy.”
I swung the door open with my heart in my throat, butterflies battering their way up my trachea as I stared up into molten chocolate eyes set in the most gorgeous face I’d ever seen. He was more beautifuleverydamn time I saw him.
There was a sharp noise, a wheeze of breath, and I heard Kennedy snort beside me. “Welcome to my home, Beckman. I see you’re already taking in the main attraction.”
Adam didn’t respond immediately, his lips working to form what I thought might be words, but for several seconds no sound came out and his eyes swept slowly down my body and back up before he stuttered, “Wow, Mads. You…you clean up real good.”
I gave him the same slow head-to-toe treatment and he turned quickly to grab something he’d set on the porch, but not before I realized the movement was an excuse. He adjusted himself quickly before snagging a bag in one arm and grabbing the case of beer with his other hand. Conveniently it seemed to hover around his hips and I desperately wanted to get eyes on what was going on there, because I was pretty sure Beckman had just popped one on me.
Silently Kennedy slipped around me, slapping Adam’s shoulder as she hurried down the steps and toward her car sitting in the driveway.
“Guess I’m the first one here,” Adam said uncomfortably and I held out my arms to take the grocery bag from him.
“No harm in that. You and Steve can catch up out back while Kenny fetches Grams.”
“Grams?” Adam’s eyes widened. “I swear to you that woman pinches my ass every time I see her.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. Grams had gotten even feistier in her old age. I could only imagine what a handful she’d been for my grandfather, who’d passed on thirty years earlier. He’d probably died of exhaustion after trying to keep up with her for decades.
Letting Adam walk ahead of me, I took the chance to ogle his wide shoulders and the firm backside partially hidden by his cargo shorts. That probably made me no better than my grandmother, and if he’d turned around he’d have caught me licking my lips. His presence convinced my ovaries they were fifteen again, practically on fire to reproduce.
What beautiful babies that man would make.
That thought stopped me in my tracks and my flip-flop caught on the hardwood, making a sharp squeak that caused him to turn. His eyebrow arched up as he caught me, staring idiotically at him like a deer caught in headlights. “You ok, Mad?”
“Me?” My voice sounded like I’d sucked down helium. “Fine. Good. Great. Sorry, just…remembered I was supposed to…”Supposed to what? Shit, shit, shit. I’ve got nothing!
“No worries.” He turned fully and held out his arms for the bag I was toting, a sweet smile spreading across his handsome face. “Hand it over and I’ll free you up to manage…whatever it is you need to do.”
What I needed to do was none of his business right now, the heat rushing through my body settling in the most inappropriate place. It made the color flood my cheeks and I hoped and prayed he didn’t notice, because the pictures in my head were absolutely pornographic and wrong. I was going to have to deal with that later.
Grams arrived twenty minutes later, helped into the house by a very patient Kennedy. She put up ceaseless chatter, her movement at the pace of a tortoise…and the endless, exhausting, tiresome stories we’d all heard hundreds of times.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved my grandmother. It was just that she was stillsomuch personality in a tiny body, there was no space for anyone else in the room.
“Is that Beckman boy here?” I heard her ask Kenny, and something about it put my hackles right up.
“You let him be, Grams,” I admonished in a voice far more stern than I’d intended to use and I quickly crossed the space to kiss her soft, wrinkled cheek. It made her give me a look and I leaned closer, whispering, “I’m calling dibs.”
The sly old fox grinned at me. “Good girl. It’s about damned time, Madelyn VanBuren. Go get yourself a helping of that fine man…just so long as I can get in a good pinch every now and then.” Her eyes sparkled with mischief and I rolled my eyes at her just as her arm snaked around to pinch my butt.
“You are something, Grams. Really, really something.”A real perv.
We were clearly going to have a far more serious Come to Jesus moment about her hands being on Adam’s ass, especially now that I’d staked my flag.
Deep laughter drifted in from the yard and I looked up to see Adam with Teagan in his arms. She was up in the air, over his head, squealing down at him. It was the picture-perfect moment and I raised my phone quickly, hoping to capture it: Adam’s beautiful hair shining in the sun, a huge smile on his face, his t-shirt hitched up just far enough to give me a great display of what looked like the bottom of a six-pack.Drool.I quickly wiped a hand self-consciously across my face.
“T’s bibs are in the drawer and the fire extinguisher’s under the sink,” Kennedy called as she breezed past me, an evil smile on her face and a ketchup bottle in her hands. She didn’t even look back at me, to watch the confusion play out over my face as she called back, “For your smoking ovaries, Mads.”
