by Lori Wilde
She pushed open her door and light flooded the cab of the truck. For a second, she just looked at him. Then she leaned over and kissed him. Hard.
This was the very last thing he’d expected her to do. But never one to miss an opportunity or to question his good luck, Jared wrapped his arms around Leigh and kissed her back.
Who cared why she’d kissed him? He sure didn’t, especially when she lightly brushed the tip of her tongue across his lips.
Yeow.
Jared spent a long, long time kissing Leigh, and when she finally pulled away from him, he grinned. Man, that had been one hell of a kiss.
“Why’d you kiss me?” he couldn’t help asking.
Leigh batted her eyelashes. “Why, gee whiz, I didn’t mean to kiss you. It just happened.”
Even though she was pretending to be unaffected by the kiss, her voice was warm and raspy. She was every bit as turned on as he was.
Good.
With a flirty wave, she hopped out of his truck and headed toward her house. When she reached the porch, she glanced over her shoulder and said, “Oh, and be careful with that popcorn in your new truck.”
Then she unlocked her door and went inside.
For a second, he just looked at the closed door. Then he studied the box of popcorn next to him on the seat. The bottom was gooey. Thankfully it hadn’t hurt the upholstery. But his bomber jacket would never be the same.
Neither would he after that kiss.
“I think you’re missing a golden opportunity,” Leigh’s sister-in-law Megan said as she took the rolls out of the oven. “If you like Jared, you should let him know.”
“I don’t like Jared. Not in the way you mean.”
Emma laughed. “Please. I saw the way you acted around him the last time he was in town. You more than like him.” She grinned at Erin and Megan. “Do you think there will be another wedding soon?”
Leigh snorted. “As if.”
These women were demented. Leigh wouldn’t have come to dinner with her family tonight if she’d known they were going to act this way.
Not that they ever behaved themselves. This was the Barrett clan. Even the ladies who were Barretts by marriage seemed to be developing ornery streaks.
Erin still had a golden-peachy tan from her honeymoon, so Leigh wasn’t a bit surprised when she said, “You can’t stop love.”
Leigh groaned. “From this moment on, no more talk about love and marriage, or I’m leaving, got it?”
All three of her sisters-in-law looked at her for a moment. Then they smiled. Sweet, smug, annoying as-all-get-out smiles.
“Fine,” Megan said. “We won’t discuss love or marriage.”
“Can we still talk about Jared?” Emma asked. “I mean you keep telling us you have no intention of falling in love with him, and you’ll never want to marry him, right? So it’s still okay to talk about him, isn’t it?”
Before Leigh could answer, Trent, the youngest Barrett brother and Erin’s husband, entered the kitchen. “What are you ladies talking about?”
“We’re not talking about love or marriage,” Erin told Trent, leaning up and kissing him. “And we’re not sure yet whether we can talk about Jared, either.”
Trent grinned. “I’m lost. I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about, or rather not talking about, but Chase wanted me to let you know the steaks will be ready in a couple of minutes.”
On his way out the door to the patio, he grabbed one of the rolls in the bowl near Leigh. “Oh, even if it’s not okay to talk about Jared, I sure hope it’s okay to talk to him since he’s joining us for dinner.”
Leigh shook her head. She’d planned for this possibility. Since Sunday dinner with her family was a tradition, she knew there was a chance Jared would try to crash it. So she’d made certain he would be busy. “No. No, he isn’t. I made certain he couldn’t come.”
Megan moved forward and gave her a questioning look. “How?”
“He has a date tonight.”
Now Emma walked over to stand by her. “How do you know that?”
“Because I set it up. I’m helping Jared find dates.”
Trent laughed. “Well, you’re not doing a very good job, because the lady you set him up with called this afternoon and said she couldn’t make it. Something about one of her ex-husbands stopping by unexpectedly.”
Now Erin joined the group. “One of her ex-husbands? Leigh, how many times has the woman been married?”
Leigh sighed. Sheesh. “I don’t know. Two or three times, I guess.”
“Which is it? Two or three?” Erin asked.
The back door to the kitchen opened and Chase entered, carrying a serving platter piled high with steaks. Behind him came Nathan...talking to Jared.
“This woman’s been married six times,” Chase said, shooting a nasty look at Leigh. “And I imagine you knew that when you set Jared up.”
Oh, great. Now they were all going to gang up on her. Looking at Jared, she said, “You told me to find you women who were interested in marriage. Trisha is definitely interested in marriage.”
Jared gave her a lopsided grin. “I said interested in marriage, not interested in making a career out of marriage. If I didn’t know better, I’d start to think you didn’t want to help me find my soulmate.”
Like spectators at a tennis match, all her family’s heads swiveled as they turned to look at her. Leigh groaned. “Hardly. You yourself have pointed out a couple of times that I’m bad at picking dates. Think about it. If I pick lousy ones for me, why wouldn’t I also pick lousy ones for you?”
Without waiting for his answer, she grabbed the bowl of rolls and carried them into the dining room. She knew her response wouldn’t slow her family down for long, but at least it would buy her a little time.
Personally she was thrilled Jared hadn’t even gone out with Trisha. She’d been a little worried about that. Ever since their kiss on Friday night, she’d decided she wasn’t trying hard enough to get him to come around to her way of thinking.
Okay, so he wanted to settle down. But did it really have to be right away? And sure, he said he was done with his wild oats days, but maybe with the right enticement, he might consider spreading around just a few more of those oats.
At least it was worth a try. She’d failed last summer, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t give it another shot. Since she was stuck working with him anyway, she might as well enjoy herself.
It didn’t take long before the rest of the group came out of the kitchen. Thankfully they were carrying food and for a while only talked about dinner and work and nice, normal, non-aggravating subjects.
Until they all sat down.
“So are you going to keep letting Leigh set you up with women?” Megan asked as she passed the salad to Jared. “I think she has a solid point about her making poor choices.”
Jared glanced at Leigh, a definite twinkle in his brown eyes. “I don’t know. I have to agree; she isn’t very good at it.”
Chase laughed. “Excuse me, but she fixed all of us up and did a fine job of it.” He nailed Leigh with a direct look. “I think she’s just not trying hard enough. I wonder why that is.”
Leigh looked at Megan. “You have my sympathy. I didn’t realize what a doof my brother was when I fixed you up with him.”
Megan laughed. “That’s okay. I like doofs.”
Deciding the best offense was a good defense, Leigh said, “It’s not my turn to fix up Jared. It’s his turn to fix me up with one of his friends. Let’s see if he’s any better at this than I am.”
Truthfully, she didn’t want to go out with one of Jared’s friends. Deep down, she was hoping he’d get jealous and call the whole thing off.
Instead he nodded. “That’s true. So, Leigh, what are you doing Tuesday night?”
That took her by surprise. Apparently he’d already given this some thought. Darn him. “Why so soon? There’s no rush.”
“We have the parade meeting tomorrow night and then we
need to start building the floats this weekend. Homecoming is the end of next week. We don’t have a lot of time,” Jared said. “Besides, he’s really anxious to go out with you, so Tuesday seems like the best choice.”
Erin was sitting on Leigh’s left and she handed her the tossed salad. “So, are you busy? Are you going to go out with this guy?”
“I’m thinking,” Leigh said.
Wow, Tuesday was so soon. She didn’t have time to really think this over, to dangle it in front of Jared and try to make him jealous.
But since her entire blasted family was looking at her, waiting for an answer, she sighed. “Fine. I’ll go out with this guy. But tell him I can’t stay out late because Wednesday is a school day.”
“Duly noted,” Jared said. Then he smiled. One of those I-know-something-you-don’t-know smiles.
Leigh started to tell him this better not be a joke when she noticed that Megan was almost as green as the lettuce in the salad. “Hey, Megan, are you okay? You look odd.”
Megan didn’t say a word. Instead, she jumped from her chair and sprinted out of the room. Chase was right behind her, leaving the rest of them staring at each other.
Stunned, Leigh spun around to stare at Nathan and Trent. “She’s pregnant?”
“I don’t know.” Nathan looked at Emma. “Is she?”
Emma shrugged. “Beats me.” She looked at Erin. “Have you heard anything?”
Erin shook her head. “Nope.” She looked at Trent. “You?”
“Not a word,” Trent said.
Something in the way Jared was sitting so silently made Leigh look at him. Unlike the rest of them, he didn’t seem a bit surprised. “You know something, don’t you?”
Jared merely said, “You should ask Chase and Megan.”
Leigh gaped at him. “You do know something. How come out of everyone in this room you’re the first to know that Megan is pregnant?”
“I didn’t say she’s pregnant,” Jared countered. “You said that.”
“But you didn’t say she isn’t pregnant.” Leigh leaned back in her chair. Chase sure had come to like Jared if he’d already told the other man about Megan’s pregnancy—even before he’d told his own family.
Chase came back into the room then, and everyone asked almost in unison, “Is Megan pregnant?”
Chase got a dopey grin on his face. “Yep.”
Emma and Erin went after Megan, leaving Leigh alone with her brothers and Jared.
“Wow, a baby,” she said as she walked over and hugged Chase. “Congrats.”
Chase hugged her back. “Thanks.”
Leigh found her gaze drifting to Jared and found him looking straight at her.
For a split second, she could read it all in his eyes. His desire to be in Chase’s place, happily married with a baby on the way.
Understanding hit Leigh like a right hook. Jared was trying to get her to change her mind about falling in love and getting married. Here she was going to all this trouble to get him to change his mind, while at the same time, he was trying to change hers.
And since he was trying to change her mind about dating and having fun, that meant that whoever her blind date was with Tuesday night was probably going to be missing his front teeth and apt to scratch himself while they were being served the entree.
Leigh bit back a laugh. They were playing a game. Winner takes all.
What Jared hadn’t counted on was that she was very, very good at games. And she wasn’t about to lose this one.
On Monday night, Jared had barely entered the gym when Mary Monroe cornered him. “Do you know how to make a giant X on me?”
Okay, he’d come to expect a lot of weird things from this town, but he hadn’t expected Mary’s question.
“Maybe your husband should do that instead,” he said when she kept staring at him, obviously expecting an answer.
“No, he can’t. Ted’s going to ask Leigh to make a giant R on him, and I need someone to make a giant X on me or it won’t be fair.”
Dang. At times like this, he couldn’t help thinking his brain had been addled a little too much while on the rodeo circuit.
He raised his hands. “Mary, I give up. I haven’t a clue what you’re asking me to do or even why you’d want me to do it.”
Mary give him a look that made it clear she thought he was denser than a log. “Ted and I are going to walk in the parade, and since we own the drugstore, we thought it would be cute if he had an R on him and I had an X on me. We thought we’d wear black leotards and have the letters written on us in chalk.”
Oh, now it made some sort of twisted sense. “I see,” he said, although the thought of Ted and Mary Monroe walking around in leotards was enough to make him shudder.
“I have a thought, rather than having the letters drawn on you, why don’t you wear sandwich boards? That way, you’ll have signs both on your fronts and your back so people watching the parade can clearly see you. And you won’t need anyone to draw letters on you. You can make the signs yourself.”
Not to mention, the whole town would be spared the view of the couple barely dressed.
“I don’t know.” She turned to look at the man who’d wandered over to join them, Earl Guthrie, mayor of Honey. “What do you think, Earl? Should Ted and I wear a sandwich board?”
Earl took off his glasses and slowly cleaned them on his shirt. He appeared to be giving Mary’s question serious consideration, but Jared had a feeling the older man was just stalling for time.
Finally, Earl put his glasses back on and then looked at Mary. “I think a sandwich board would be the best approach. It certainly would be easier for people in the crowd to see. The chalk could rub off you.”
Apparently, since Earl was the one now offering the opinion, Mary decided to accept it.
“Yes, I see what you mean. I don’t want everyone confused as to what Ted and I are doing,” she said. “Well, let me go tell Ted so he doesn’t waste his time asking Leigh to write on him.”
As she walked away, Earl said, “I think the entire town owes us a hardy thanks, don’t you?”
Jared nodded. “Absolutely.”
He watched Mary make her way to the other side of the room, and then his gaze landed on Leigh. She looked so pretty tonight, with her dark hair pulled back from her face with clips. She was laughing at something someone had said, and Jared couldn’t help smiling.
Damn, she was beautiful. And that kiss she’d given him had rocked him clear to his soul. Now, more than ever, he was determined to work things out between them.
“I guess I’m standing here talking to myself,” Earl noted. “I don’t think you’ve heard a word I’ve said. You’re too busy making cow eyes at Leigh.”
“Hey, I’m not making cow eyes,” Jared said. “I was just...” He floundered for an excuse. Finally he sighed. “Sorry, Earl, didn’t mean to ignore you.”
Earl grinned. “That’s quite all right. I was young once upon a time. I know how difficult it is for a man to concentrate when a certain woman is around. Why, one time, I was so besotted that I forgot where I parked my car. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t remember where I’d left the thing.”
“What happened?”
“I married her.” Earl chuckled at the odd look Jared gave him. “I mean the woman, not the car. I eventually found my car three blocks from my house. Why I left it there, I’ll never know. Must have been too busy thinking about love.”
“Hey, don’t you go around town telling stories to everyone that I’m in love and especially not who I was looking at,” Jared said. “I’ll get in trouble.”
“Secrets stay secrets with me,” Earl said.
Jared believed that. He’d always liked and admired Earl, and the rest of the town must have, too, because the man kept getting elected mayor.
“I’m having enough trouble getting the people in this town to forgive my past indiscretions,” Jared explained. “I keep getting them pointed out to me everywhere I go. Guess I underestimate
d how long memories last.”
Earl scratched his bald head and looked thoughtful. “Well, some folks must be warming up to you a mite. Take Mary Monroe. She just asked you to draw a big X on her body. Seems pretty warmed up to me.”
Jared laughed. The older man had a point. “Maybe she thought I’d be the only one willing to do something so outrageous.”
“Could be. But don’t let the gossip get you down. Hang in there. Sooner or later, I’m sure these folks will thaw and stop bringing up every little thing you ever did wrong. You’re one of us. You were born here in Honey. Raised here. And you showed a lot of gumption moving back.” He fixed Jared with a steady look. “I admire gumption.”
Jared really appreciated the older man’s support. “Thanks, Earl.”
Earl patted him on the shoulder. “You bet. I’m glad you came home.” Then, with a conspiratorial smile and a quick glance at Leigh, he added, “And good luck with all your endeavors. I have a feeling you’ve chosen a tough goal with that one, but it will be worth it. You’ll see. My Fran took some convincing, but we’ve been together almost fifty years.”
With that, Earl wandered off. Jared looked over at Leigh. Yep, he’d chosen a tough goal with her. But as Earl said, it would be worth it, no matter what it took.
That kiss had convinced him he couldn’t give up.
7
Leigh opened her front door and wasn’t a bit surprised to see Jared standing on the doorstep.
“I don’t believe this. You’re my date?” Although she tried to sound disappointed and upset, it wasn’t easy. She’d been hoping Jared would come himself instead of sending one of his friends. The more time she spent with Jared, the more she wanted him. So much so that she’d given up the idea of enjoying her freedom with other guys.
For the moment, the only guy she wanted to be with was Jared.
He leaned against the doorjamb, looking too sexy for words in his jeans and T-shirt. A slow, lazy grin crossed his face. “I ran into a little trouble thinking of guys who’d be willing to go out with you.”