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The door opened, and Nash’s gaze switched over to her grandmother, and his face transformed with a smile that left Eden breathless and stunned. She had been looking at Nash’s smiles for days on the web. But those smiles didn’t affect her like this one. Up close, she could see the sparkle in his eyes and the crinkles at the corners. Up close, she could see the off-kilter angle of his lips and the slight dimple in his left cheek. Up close, she could see the whiteness of his teeth and the tiny chip in one incisor. Up close, Nash Beaumont’s smile was breathtaking. The type of smile that could make a woman forget her name, not to mention every single one of her goals.
“Good evening, Mrs. Huckabee,” he said. “Eden and I apologize for not coming to the door sooner.”
Mimi seemed as stunned by his smile as Eden was. She stared at him for a few seconds before she ushered them inside. Thankfully, she was dressed. Her skirt and blouse were throwbacks from the hippie era. The skirt was floor-length and floral and the blouse loose and bohemian. For being in her eighties, Mimi was fit and agile—no doubt due to her yoga and vegetarian diet.
“No need to apologize,” she said as she led them up the stairs to the main living area. “Good karma isn’t something to question as much as enjoy. Come on in to the dining room; Hammond and I were just getting ready to sit down to dinner. I’d like to know how you met my granddaughter.”
“We can’t stay for dinner, Mimi,” Eden said. “We were just…” She couldn’t think of a lie to save her soul. Fortunately, Nash wasn’t so dimwitted.
“Eden was dropping by my suit jacket. I left it at her work.”
“The bar or the new—” Mimi started, but Eden cut her off before she could blow her cover.
“The Lemon Drop. We met at The Lemon Drop.”
Mimi nodded as she reached the top of the stairs. “Bars do seem to be the place to hook up these days. In my day, you hooked up at rock concerts.”
“We hooked up at a Creedence Clearwater concert,” her grandfather said. Unlike her grandmother, he hadn’t put on clothes. He came in from the balcony as naked as the day he was born. Thankfully, the large watering pot he carried covered the most embarrassing parts.
“I told you to get dressed, Hammond,” Mimi scolded as she hurriedly grabbed a throw blanket from the back of the couch. “You know that Eden doesn’t like us flaunting our beliefs.”
Pops exchanged the watering pot for the blanket. “And yet she can almost have sex in the middle of the street.” Before Eden’s face could finish catching fire, the doorbell rang. “That would be your brother Gary,” Pops said to Nash. “I saw him painting through the window and hollered at him to join us.”
“Grayson, Hammond.” Mimi started for the stairs. “Nash and Grayson.”
When Mimi went to answer the door and Pops went to get clothes on, Eden turned to Nash and devised an escape plan. “I’ll plead a headache, and you can say you want to make sure I get home safely.”
He walked over to the Woodstock poster hanging on the wall. It was hard to keep her eyes off his butt and how nice it looked beneath the soft wool of his pants. He wore the expensive suit as well as he wore the Henley and jeans. Except the suit made him look more dangerous. Or maybe just more powerful. It certainly made him bossier.
“I’m afraid it’s too late for that,” he said as he studied the poster.
“What do you mean it’s too late?” she whispered. “You can’t seriously think that we’re going to have dinner with my grandparents as if we’re a normal couple.”
He turned and looked at her, the friendly smile long gone. “That’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
Just then her grandmother came around the corner with Grayson Beaumont. Like all the Beaumonts, he was brown haired, violet eyed, and sexy as sin. But unlike his brother, there was a calming aura around Grayson that put Eden at ease from the first moment she met him. Maybe it was the sincerity in his eyes. Or the way he cradled her hand between his paint-smudged fingers. Or the soothing tone of his Southern voice.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Eden. Your grandparents talk about you all the time. But I didn’t realize that you knew my brother.”
“They met at the bar where Eden works,” Mimi supplied.
Grayson grinned. It was a boyish grin full of charm and a small amount of devilry. “So you’re the bartender.”
She was surprised that Nash had told his brother about her. And she had to wonder how much information he’d given Grayson. Certainly, he wouldn’t share what had gone on in the hotel suite. Unless all the Beaumonts were kinky. It was a disturbing thought.
“Let’s sit down and eat before dinner gets cold,” her grandmother said as she ushered them toward the dining room. “Your grandfather can take forever to dress, which is surprising since he can undress so quickly.” She nodded at the two chairs closest to the wall. “You and Nash can sit on that side, Eden.”
Eden walked around the table, but before she could pull out her chair, Nash was there to do it for her. She glanced at him. His smile was back in place and stayed there for the rest of the dinner. A dinner straight from hell. Not only did Eden hate couscous and steamed vegetables, she had to sit there and listen while Mimi told one embarrassing childhood story after the other. Of course, her grandmother didn’t think she was embarrassing Eden. She thought all the stories were cute.
“Remember the time you wanted to be the whale trainer for SeaWorld, Eden?” Mimi laughed, completely unaware of Eden’s burning face. “She spent the entire summer on the beach with a pair of binoculars looking for that one whale she could train to do tricks. She finally had to settle on training her goldfish. Although Goldy didn’t survive the first forced jump through the fiery hoop.”
“I was only five years old.” Eden tried to defend herself.
Mimi sent her a pointed look. “Seven. At five, you wanted to become a tap dancer and—”
Eden cut her off. “I’m sure the Beaumonts don’t want to hear about my youth, Mimi.”
“Actually,” Nash said, “I do.”
