Tease Him (ManTrap Book 2)

by Olivia Jaymes

  George reached into his briefcase and pulled out a thick file folder. “That will probably be tomorrow. You know if we pick another location that it will delay the project?”

  “I know. We’ll deal with it.”

  “I just wanted to make sure.”

  I was completely sure. It was the one action I could take to keep the peace between myself, Ashlyn, and her grandmother. In the end, it was just land.

  * * *

  Ashlyn

  After a fitful night of sleep I’d called in emergency reinforcements. Shelby and Emmy showed up at my shop with coffee and bear claws. Katie shooed us into the back room with a promise to take care of the store while I handled my crisis. She’d taken one look at my face when I showed up at the store and started trying to feed me chocolate at nine in the morning.

  Shelby stood and paced back and forth while Emmy and I sat at the tiny table surrounded by cardboard boxes. “Now let’s start from the beginning. Where is your grandmother right now?”

  “At home,” I said with a sigh. “Sitting on my couch and talking on her phone to one of her aides about the rally.”

  Gran had told me about the rally last night and I’d almost gone catatonic at the news. A month ago, I would have been thrilled but now it sounded like a really good way to push Kyle out of my life.

  Emmy groaned and shook her head. “This is not good. Have you told Kyle yet?”

  I held up my phone. “Not yet and I need to. I don’t want him blindsided by the news.”

  “So you have talked to him today?” Shelby asked, pausing her pacing. “How did he sound?”

  “He sounded fine. Pretty normal. He avoided talking about Gran which I understood. I asked about Sam and we talked about whether I would be free for dinner tonight.”

  “What did you say?” Emmy asked.

  “I said I should probably stay home with Gran since she’s visiting.”

  Shelby nodded as she paced. “That makes sense, but you do have to tell him. Did you finish the book, by the way?”

  Shit. She was like a dog with a bone.

  “No, but I sincerely doubt you have a chapter devoted to when a girl’s grandmother and boyfriend go head to head against the city council.”

  “Not specifically, but I do have a chapter about when a family doesn’t like your boyfriend. Or when they don’t get along. But honestly, that’s not the issue here.”

  It wasn’t?

  “What do you think the issue is?”

  I was dying to know because then I could fix it.

  “The issue is you.”

  Damn, that’s what I was afraid of.

  “Me?” I feigned innocence. “Whatever are you talking about?”

  Emmy snorted and laughed. “You crack me up, Ash. Like you don’t know.”

  “I don’t. Enlighten me as to how I’m the issue.”

  “You want it all,” Shelby replied, crossing her arms over her chest and giving me a look that she might have given to a third-grader. “You want Kyle, you want love, you want the houses to remain, you want your gran to be happy, and you want all of this without anyone getting upset. Is that about right?”

  “You make it sound so unrealistic. You’re such a pessimist.”

  “It is unrealistic,” Emmy said when Shelby’s face went an unattractive shade of red. I’d royally pissed her off. “And you know it. You just might have to decide. What do you want more? The houses or Kyle?”

  “What about Gran?”

  Shelby shoved a piece of bear claw into her mouth. “What about her? She has her own life and she only swoops in a couple of times a year, throws your life into chaos, and then flies off. You need to worry about you, not her. She can take care of herself just fine.”

  I didn’t much like Shelby’s characterization of Gran but in the last several years that had become more and more true. Even when I was a child, Gran had been about her career as an attorney, trying to take high profile cases that received lots of press.

  “She’s growing older.”

  Emmy’s brows shot up. “We all are. I saw her on CNN a few weeks ago. She ripped a journalist to shreds without a moment of remorse. I think she’s doing fine. This is about you, so stop obfuscating. Which do you want more?”

  “I want both,” I admitted. “Kyle said he might be able to save a few of the houses.”

  “And if he can’t?” Emmy queried. “Then what was the plan?”

  “That I deal with it. I trust that he’s looked into it. It’s just that…”

  I hadn’t yet mentioned what my grandmother had said last night.

  “Just?” Shelby prompted. “Spill it.”

  “Gran said that there might be a way to save the houses. She said that she could get investors to do the renovations.”

  “But Kyle would have to relocate his technical campus,” Emmy said with a knowing nod. “How would he take the news?”

  “He’d be upset but then I think he’d be okay. It’s not about the location to him. It’s about the campus.”

  The one thing I could count on from Kyle is that he would be pragmatic about setbacks. He’d had plenty in his career and they hadn’t held him back. If anything, they’d made him even more determined.

  “I’ll ask you straight out,” Shelby said. “Do you want to stop your grandmother from having this rally?”

  That wasn’t an easy question.

  “It doesn’t matter what I want. She has all sorts of plans and the press is supposed to be there, too.” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm my jangled nerves. “Listen, I admit that I want the houses to stay but I don’t think that a big, loud rally is going to help the situation. I tried to talk Gran into just talking to some of these rich people who might want to invest in the project, but she said that they won’t pay it any attention until it gets major press.”

  “So the rally is going forward,” Emmy said. “Will you be there?”

  “I think I have to be.” My gaze bounced between my two best friends. “I was kind of hoping you both would be as well.”

  “I can’t. I have a party on the twenty-first,” Emmy said. “I’ll have to hear about it later.”

  “I’ll be there,” Shelby vowed. “Wild horses couldn’t keep me away. Now…are you ready to tell Kyle? Because you don’t want him to hear this from anyone else.”

  “I’m not ready but I’ll call him anyway.”

  It was going to be fine. Everything was going to work out for the best.

  But first I had to tell the man I loved that my grandmother was going to make him find another location for his dream project.

  This ought to go over well.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Ashlyn

  In an effort to bring Kyle and my grandmother closer I decided to host a little dinner party with the three of us plus our friends – Shelby, Brad, Emmy, and George. I even encouraged Kyle to bring Sam as well since no one could stay cranky around a cute puppy. I wanted everyone to get along tonight and have a good time. Mostly I wanted Gran to cut Kyle some slack and have a more open mind.

  It didn’t look like that was going to happen.

  Kyle didn’t bring Sam to dinner but he did bring George, an affable man who was a veritable encyclopedia of information regarding sports. Brad had taken up the challenge to try and find a question that George couldn’t answer, and the two of them were having a grand old time discussing baseball players through the twentieth century. It was just good to see Brad off of his phone. When he was like this we could all see why Shelby had fallen for him.

  Emmy was in the kitchen lending me a hand but to be honest, most of the cooking was being done by Kyle. He was frying chicken in a heavy cast iron skillet exactly the way his mom had taught him and the smells that were wafting through the house were mouthwatering. Emmy had already made him promise to give her the recipe. She and I were working on the sides including a fruit salad, mashed potatoes, and green peas. Shelby had brought a lemon bundt cake for dessert.
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  Gran was…supervising.

  Perched on a chair in the kitchen, she hadn’t said much for the last thirty minutes or so.

  That worried me. Instead she’d sipped her chardonnay and watched us work, only speaking when she was asked a question. It was like waiting for the other shoe to drop. She’d glowered at Kyle when he’d arrived, thrown a few barbed questions at him, and then retreated to the bedroom to make a phone call. When she’d returned, she’d taken up her position where she could watch us and even now I could feel her eyes following Kyle’s every move. She was studying him, measuring him up, and deciding if he was good enough for me.

  It had never occurred to my grandmother to wonder whether I was good enough for him.

  “You don’t mind being in the kitchen, Kyle?”

  There it was. The first salvo. I tensed and had the sudden urge to throw myself onto the grenade, but Kyle clearly wasn’t perturbed in the least. He was still smiling and whistling as if it was all peachy.

  “Not at all, Senator. I find cooking after a long day relaxing. How about you?”

  Lord love him for trying to get a conversation going.

  “Never liked it much,” Gran replied. “Food is simply a means to an end. I eat to live. That’s it. I suppose you’re one of those foodies.”

  She made it sound like foodies were a scourge upon the earth.

  “I like to eat,” Kyle said with a grin, flipping the pieces of chicken in the pan. This was the last batch. The rest were covered in foil on a platter waiting to be served. “I think good food should be savored with good friends.”

  Dropping a stick of butter into the potatoes, Emmy coughed and choked slightly. I gave her a deadly look which had her ducking her head to hide her face. She couldn’t fool me. She was laughing.

  This wasn’t even remotely funny.

  “Ash, do you have any chicken broth?” Emmy asked, clearing her throat. “It will give the potatoes more flavor.”

  Casting a glance over at my grandmother, I nodded. “In the pantry. I’ll get it.”

  My “pantry” was actually the closet in the foyer of my house. The kitchen was small, not many cabinets, so I’d had to take over any spare space that I could.

  Rummaging through the shelves in the pantry, I reached all the way to the back for the can of chicken broth, but another longer arm beat me to it. Kyle plucked it from its spot and held it up triumphantly.

  “Got it for you.”

  “Who’s watching the chicken?”

  And Gran.

  “Shelby. Apparently Brad and George have hit it off and she thinks they might elope after dinner.”

  Giggling, I pulled Kyle behind the door so no one could see us. “It sounds like they have a five-alarm bromance.”

  “They do. I haven’t seen George this animated since we came to Arborville. I think he misses his brothers. They’re all way into sports trivia and trying to outdo the other.” He quickly looked over his shoulder. “You seem tense, babe. We’re supposed to be having a party.”

  “How can you be so calm?” I marveled. “Gran has been staring at you with hate-laser eyes since you got here.”

  Chuckling, he pulled me into his arms and brushed his lips against mine. “Parents never like the guy that’s doing it with their little girl. A guy gets used to it. I’ll win her over. You’ll see. By the end of the evening, she’ll love me.”

  “It?”

  “You know…sex,” he whispered in my ear, his breath warm on my cheek. “Parents are funny that way.”

  Great. Now I was thinking about us having sex. Why did I invite all these people over? And why didn’t I ask Gran to stay at a hotel?

  “She doesn’t change her mind easily.”

  “Then let’s say she won’t love me, but she’ll hate me less? How does that sound?”

  Like the best I could ask for under the circumstances.

  * * *

  Ashlyn

  The evening was a disaster.

  It had been tense but going pretty well through the salads and entrees, but took a turn for the worst at dessert. Gran, who had been behaving up until then, brought up a presentation Kyle had made about a year ago regarding artificial intelligence and the possible uses of that technology. It was off to the races and everyone taking a side.

  Shelby took Kyle’s side but Brad took Gran’s. George was, of course, on the side of his friend and business partner which put him at odds with his new best buddy Brad. Shelby and Brad were growling at each other and Emmy was trying to play peacemaker. Meanwhile, I could barely get a word in edgewise. The entire dinner table was in an uproar and this couldn’t be good for anyone’s digestion. Personally, I wanted to throw up. That’s how sickening this all felt.

  Kyle, who had been easygoing and charming all evening, had finally had enough. “I said that it might be possible in the future, Senator. I didn’t say that I, personally, was working on it. But if I was, it wouldn’t be anyone’s business but mine.”

  He couldn’t have said anything worse. Gran slapped her fork onto the plate, her lemon cake forgotten.

  “You’re arrogant.”

  “I’m not the one trying to make decisions for other people.”

  The tension in the room was thick and I didn’t have a clue as to how to defuse the ticking time bomb that was getting close to zero. Did I clip the red wire or the green?

  Shelby, bless her, quickly stood and grabbed a few plates. “Emmy and I will help with the clearing and dishes, Ash. Brad, why don’t you tell them about your ideas for a honeymoon? They might be able to weigh in on a few of them. So far we can’t decide on a destination.”

  I didn’t hesitate to flee. Hey, I’m not proud of it and I should have stayed as the barrier between the two people I loved most, but I’d been battered and beaten down and I didn’t have much left to give. They were going to have to act like adults for a few minutes.

  Shelby and Emmy were on my heels, carrying plates and bowls into the kitchen. From this safe distance, I could hear Brad weighing out the virtues of a ski trip versus Tuscany. I could only hope that Gran and Kyle might find some common ground when it came to desirable geographic locations.

  Emmy set the dishes on the counter and wiped her forehead. “Damn, that was a tension-filled meal. I think I need a Zantac.”

  Shelby flipped open the dishwasher. “We’re all going to need one before the night is over, but in the meantime, we need to try and keep the conversation light and friendly. Only bring up subjects they can’t argue about.”

  “Like cupcakes and puppies?” I asked, scraping the dishes. “Gran doesn’t like frosting. I wanted to show her how wonderful Kyle is, but this hasn’t worked how I planned. They’re arguing about whether humans are going to become slaves to robots over the next hundred years.”

  Emmy sighed, a dishtowel on her hand. “I would imagine it’s inevitable.”

  Shelby gave her an elbow in the ribs. “You’re not helping.”

  “To be fair, I’m not really trying. The only thing that would help those two is to throw them in a cage with a hunk of raw meat and see who comes out alive.”

  I pressed my fingers to my temples. “That is my grandmother and boyfriend you’re talking about.”

  “I know.” Emmy patted my arm. “They don’t like each other, hon. Like…at all. Do not get in between them. You’ll end up sliced to ribbons.”

  I looked at Shelby for some kind of support. “Okay, Doctor. What’s your advice? Do you agree with Emmy?”

  “I definitely agree that you need to stay out of it. This isn’t your battle to fight. Your grandmother came to dinner loaded for bear and Kyle was within her sights. She had her mind made up before she sat down at the table.”

  “This sucks,” I groaned. “Big ones.”

  Something passed between Emmy and Shelby, an unspoken conversation that only they were privy to. It was only a few seconds but when it was done, Emmy had murmured an excuse and exited the kitchen, leaving me with Shelby.


  “You know we love you, right?” Shelby asked, stacking plates into the dishwasher. “And we’d do anything for you. Even be brutally honest.”

  Whatever was about to happen I wasn’t going to like. The tension that was already coursing through my veins ramped up a few notches.

  “I know that, and I love you guys, too.”

  “You’re like a sister to me, Ashlyn.”

  “You’re like a sister to me as well.”

  This was going to be so bad. So very bad.

  “So when I say this, I’m saying it with all the love in my heart.”

  Shit.

  “That’s good.”

  What else could I say?

  Shelby straightened from her task and wiped her hands on a dishtowel. “Your grandmother is a nightmare.”

  What?

  “Gran?”

  Shelby nodded. “Yes, your grandmother. She’s a menace to society and to you in particular. I know that she took you in and raised you, and I know that you love her, but she’s in the living room right now trying to break you and Kyle up. For no discernible reason that I can see other than he’s as smart and successful as she is and it pisses her off. Or maybe she just likes you alone and miserable. I don’t know and frankly, I don’t care about her motivations. I only care about you. She’s toxic and you need to get her out of your life until she understands decent boundaries in a relationship.”

  Boundaries. Toxic. Relationship. All the words a psychologist might use. But they’d never come up against anyone like Senator Roslyn Caldwell. She needed her own chapter in their textbooks.

  “She thinks she’s protecting me,” I replied in a half-hearted attempt to defend my grandmother. She was perfectly capable of fighting her own battles, but I felt like I should do it since she wasn’t here. “She thinks I’m giving up what I believe in for Kyle.”

  “Are you?”

  I’d given that question a great deal of thought.

  “No,” I answered. “I’m not. It would be one thing if the houses could be saved but they’re too far gone.”

  “I’m not talking about the houses and I doubt your grandmother is either,” Shelby said with a shake of her head. “I’m talking about your entire belief system. Your respect for the past. It’s something I’ve always liked about you. I’d hate for you to lose that.”