by Vanessa Hart
Leslie slipped her arms around Kat, then squeezed her. "This is a very special moment, that's all. I'm allowed to cry happy tears for my only sister."
"Okay, but enough! I don't handle your tears well, whatever the cause."
A strained silence followed. Leslie knew her sister well enough to hear the unspoken warning. Don't get involved with Gray. Josh had caused enough tears to be shed. Kat wouldn't look forward to a repeat performance.
"I'll just be a minute." Leslie disentangled herself, nodding toward the bathroom. "Let me wash my face."
"Good idea. We'll wait for you in the Hupp Mobile."
Leslie stared into the mirror over the miniature lavatory and examined her blotchy face. Damage control was a lost cause.
"Quit stalling, Les. You might as well face him."
* * * *
A few minutes later, Gray held open the back door to the Hupp's Ford Explorer for Leslie, enjoying the view of her snug jeans hugging her ass as she climbed inside. She averted her eyes, even when he slid into the seat from the other side. Ooh, boy. Talk about awkward.
After they had ridden as far as the main gate, Kat turned in her seat to face them. "Where shall we go?".
Leslie shrugged. "Anywhere's fine. You pick."
Rob glanced into the rearview mirror. "Let Gray pick, since it's his birthday."
Gray cringed at the birthday reference. He didn't care where they ate, as long as he could be with Leslie. "How about that chain restaurant that's right beside the 985 ramp? Something-or-other Bar and Grille."
"Hey! One of my favorites," Rob agreed. "The food's always good at ol' Something-or-other's."
Everyone laughed at that. Even after Kat supplied the correct name of the restaurant, she and Rob continued to refer to "Something-or-other." The strain between Gray and Leslie eased. She met his gaze, favoring him with a quick view of The Dimple.
He folded his hands together to keep from reaching for her. The impulse to simply hold hands consumed him. The expression "can't keep his hands off her" took on new meaning. He truly wanted to touch her. Constantly.
Damn.
He needed to clear up the marriage business with Myra immediately. With each passing hour since he'd seen her, he had grown more and more certain of the wisdom of canceling the wedding. His heart twisted in guilt when his thoughts traveled to his mother and her dying wish. He had promised her to marry. But had he promised to marry Myra? His mother wanted Myra for him, but did she really know the woman? Too bad she couldn't meet Leslie.
Absorbed in his thoughts, he missed pieces of the conversation around him until Kat twisted in her seat and pierced him with a critical stare. "Hello? Earth to Gray."
"Sorry."
"No problem, man," Rob said. "I heard you had a hard day."
"You have no idea how hard it's been," Gray muttered.
Leslie's face turned pink.
"The day, I mean. How hard the day has been." Great. Get yourself out of this one, Webster.
Kat and Rob shared a low conversation, oblivious to Gray's embarrassment. "You're blushing," Leslie whispered.
"You are, too."
"Don't worry. They're in their own little world. We're forgotten back here."
Good. Or was it? At least with Rob and Kat he hadn't needed to worry about doing or saying the right thing with Leslie. "When in doubt, be honest" was his motto.
"I don't want this uneasiness between us, Leslie."
"I - I know."
He ached to touch her. Surely one light touch wouldn't hurt. Just one finger. He tapped her nose, then her chin, using the finger to turn her face toward his. "Friends above all else. Remember?"
"Okay." She sighed, then smiled. Almost. "I can do friends."
Friends. Yeah, right.
After the long drive into Gainesville, Gray followed the Hupps and Leslie into the restaurant. A polished brass rail encircled a center bar as well as the sections of dining areas. Bold pink and green striped fabric on the seats matched the tabbed curtains, accented with colorful Tiffany lamps hung low over each table.
Not one to pay attention to decorating details, Gray found himself attuned to everything around him. Every chink of a drink glass, every polished wooden table, every delicious aroma wafting from the kitchen. Most of all, he was aware of every nuance of Leslie. Her scent, her nervousness, her voice drew him like an electromagnet.
Once seated at their table, he learned that Rob and Kat Hupp had a contagious happiness about them that drew others into their clowning and repartee. Even Leslie seemed to relax.
"Kat tells me you're a nearly-wed, Gray," Rob said. "How many more weeks?"
"Two." He didn't bother to change the couple's impression. Until he talked to Myra, it seemed disloyal to tell others of his change of heart. Nearly-wed took on a more ominous meaning,
"Am I ever glad that's over for us." Rob locked an arm around Kat's neck, pulling her close for a quick kiss. "The marriage is much easier than the wedding."
"Is that so?" Gray looked up at the young African-American waitress at his elbow.
A pink and green apron enveloped her thin body. "Hi. I'm Keneesha and I'll be your server. What beverages can I bring you?" she asked, all in one breath.
They ordered. She jotted down two sweet teas, one unsweetened tea, and a diet cola. "Are y'all together?"
Rob laughed. "I wouldn't say any of us are all together, but put it on one ticket and give it to me."
Keneesha didn't seem to get Rob's joke, but smiled anyway before scurrying away. Kat rolled her eyes at what was probably an old line from Rob's repertoire.
"I hope you aren't having one of those theme weddings, Gray," Rob said. "Ours was Gone With The Wind, which accurately describes the wedding budget."
Gray met Leslie's smile, remembering her account of her sister's wedding extravaganza. "Wedding budgets do have a way of running amok."
"The wedding industry is like the funeral industry." Rob said, gathering speed. "Money is no object for the one you love. And feel guilty if you try to cut corners. Never mind you'll spend your first twenty years of marriage paying off the wedding bills."
"Unless you let your parents pay for everything, which Leslie and I refuse to do," Kat added.
Keneesha arrived with their beverages, served the unsweetened tea to Kat and Rob instead of the sweet tea and diet cola. After a brief discussion, they swapped their glasses with Gray's and Leslie's.
"I apologize. This is my first week here."
Gray figured it was her first week anywhere. The young woman looked all of sixteen and nervous as a cat inside the dog pound. "Don't worry, Keneesha. We're going to be the best customers you have all day. Right, guys?"
Kat, Leslie, and Rob nodded. "Right," they repeated in unison. Keneesha's smile appeared more skeptical than relieved. The four of them would have to convince her, Gray decided. After they'd ordered, Keneesha hurried away.
Leslie picked up the thread of their conversation. "I thought I was thrifty and sensible about my wedding plans, but still came up against hidden costs. You wouldn't believe!"
"What hidden costs?" he asked.
"For instance, who ever heard of a corking fee?" Leslie paused for a sip of tea.
"A corking fee?" Gray frowned.
"That's the charge for uncorking the bottles of wine." Leslie rolled her eyes. "They assumed I'd buy wine in corked bottles."
They all laughed, including Leslie, who seemed unselfconscious about discussing her canceled wedding.
"Not only is a wedding a ton of money," Kat added, "it's a ton of work. And it's all on the bride's shoulders."
"Honey, that's not true. I did my share." Rob winked at Gray.
Gray swallowed a drink of iced tea. "Did you ever consider eloping?"
Kat gave an emphatic "no" at the same time Rob said "yes."
Keneesha interrupted their laughter with 2 pitchers of iced tea.
"You guys sound like you're having too much fun at this table," she whispered. "Sure you
're drinking nothin' but tea?"
Gray winked at her. "If we get too rowdy, distract the bouncer, will you? We don't want to get thrown out."
"Again," Rob added. At Keneesha's wrinkling forehead, he added, "Just kidding. We'll behave."
"Promise?" Keneesha asked, grinning.
"I think she's got your number, Rob," Leslie said after the server left.
After a delicious meal and excellent service, Gray folded his napkin and placed it beside his empty platter. "I'm throwing in the towel."
"Gee, you better ask Keneesha for a doggie bag," Leslie teased.
"A doggy bag?" Keneesha repeated as she swooped up the empty dishes. "Looks to me like he licked his plate clean."
Rob lowered his voice, leaning toward her. "He's always doing that. We've threatened to stop eating out with the guy if he doesn't stop."
Leslie and Kat pretended outrage at Rob's remark, then burst into giggles. Their easy-going acceptance of him flooded Gray with pleasure.
Keneesha placed her hand on the back of his chair. "Since he was good and cleaned his plate, he can have dessert. I hope all of you saved room."
"I can't eat another bite," Kat groaned.
Rob leaned toward his wife, touching her forehead with his. "Not even a bite of my hot fudge brownie sundae?"
Keneesha nodded, acknowledging Rob's order, then gave Leslie and Gray an expectant grin.
"None for me." Leslie dazzled him with The Dimple. "How about it, Gray? You should indulge on your birthday."
His gaze locked with hers. The restaurant noise faded, replaced by a low hum. Struggling to find his voice, he could only stare at Leslie's vibrant eyes, with glints of light splashing in pools of liquid brown. Thick-lashed shutters lowered, robbing him of the view. The dimple vanished.
"How about some cake, Gray?" Kat's chide dragged him back to reality.
"Yeah, I hear you really enjoy cake," Rob added.
"Rob!" Leslie's frown of concern reached deep inside Gray's soul, giving him another reason to care about her.
He burst out laughing, amazed he could view the afternoon's birthday cake fiasco with humor. "Do you have red velvet cake, Keneesha?"
The young server frowned. "Let me check. I'll be right back."
Minutes later, the entire restaurant staff gathered around Gray, leading all the diners in singing Happy Birthday, much to his embarrassment. Keneesha placed a piece of red velvet cake sporting a single burning candle in front of him.
"Make a wish and blow out the candle," Leslie urged him.
The way she said "blow" did funny things to his groin. Ooh, boy. He needed to get his mind off blow jobs and Leslie. But it was his birthday and his wish, right?
Did Leslie have any idea she was the target of his birthday wish, Gray wondered, as he pulled his gaze from her lips and drew in a deep breath.
Chapter Eight
Leslie expected darkness when they filed out of the restaurant, heading toward Rob's SUV, not blackness. Nine o'clock in May was typically dark. A thick cloud cover blocked all sources of light from the galaxy, leaving only the mercury vapor lamps in the parking lot. Misty haloes muted their normally harsh brightness.
Gray opened her door for her, then disappeared. Rob slid behind the wheel, started the engine, then flicked the electric door locks.
"Wait! Where's Gray?" she asked.
Rob unlocked the doors while peering through the windshield. "Over there."
"Oh, isn't that sweet?" Kat pointed toward a sedan parked by the entrance.
Leslie leaned forward, then saw what Kat saw. Gray stood beside a middle-aged woman dressed in church clothes. He helped her stow a wheelchair into the trunk of her car. Leslie had seen the woman's companion, an elderly woman in a wheelchair, leave several minutes earlier.
"There aren't many chivalrous guys like that left in the world." Kat shook her head slowly. "I'm sorry I called him a creep."
"He's calling off the wedding," Leslie blurted.
"He needs to." Rob swiveled in his seat to face her. "The guy is ga-ga over you, Les. Anyone can see it."
"Hush. Here he comes."
Gray opened the door, scooted onto the seat, then apologized for making them wait. Did he have to keep doing things to raise her estimation of him? The generous tip he'd insisted on leaving the novice server, assisting the elderly lady with her wheelchair touched her where she didn't want to be touched.
She needed to remember Josh. She needed to remember her vow to avoid any more opportunities for heartache. No more guys.
Like Kat would say, as if!
Now as they merged onto 985 North, Rob's words haunted her. The guy is ga-ga over you, Les. She didn't welcome encouragement, no matter how it stroked her bruised ego. She hated the secret thrill ballooning inside her, a growing bubble that refused to deflate.
Gray's hand nudged her elbow. "Leslie?"
"Sorry." She nearly jumped from the jolt of his touch. "I wasn't listening."
"She's probably plotting." Kat laughed from the front seat.
"And what are you plotting?"
"A murder." Kat's face, illuminated only from the fiber optic dash lighting, beamed with mischief.
Leslie grinned as Gray shrank back to his side of the vehicle. "Dare I ask whose murder?"
"Let me tell him!" Kat managed to turn completely around, despite her seat harness. "Peter's."
"Peter?"
Leslie cringed. "I really don't like to discuss a plot unless we're brainstorming, Kat."
"Sorry."
"What the hell are you two talking about?"
Rob laughed. "Don't worry, pal. Leslie only kills people with her keyboard. I thought you knew."
"It didn't come up." Leslie wished Rob would take the hint and change the subject. Even after the success of two books, she was reluctant to talk about her profession, as if afraid she'd jinx it.
Kat didn't take the hint, either. "Peter is the victim in the next Sunny Madison mystery."
"Sunny Madison? I just finished Mary Had A Little Gun. Wait a sec. You don't mean ... you're P.G. Turner?"
"None other." Kat grinned. "Check the copyright page, Gray. It'll say 'Leslie Paige Turner.'"
"Wow. I'm a fan of yours." Gray twisted in the seat, facing her, no longer fearing for his life. "I read the first Sunny Madison, too. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Knife. Isn't there a new one coming out this summer?"
"Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Dead."
"What are you, Kat: My publicist?"
"Just a proud sister." Kat shrugged, then turned toward the front. "You're too modest."
"I thought you were a college teacher."
"I am. I'm no Tom Clancy. I still need to make enough to pay the bills."
"So tell me about Peter."
"Sorry." Not. "You'll have to wait and read the book."
"Here we are." Rob pulled up to the gate, lowered his window, then punched in the code to the lock.
Leslie glanced out the window, barely making out the Lake Helen Campground sign in the darkness. A companionable silence drifted over the four as Rob drove back to their loop. Talking about her mystery series had been a pleasant diversion from her awareness of Gray--not that she was any less aware of the sexy hunk sitting beside her.
At the campsite, Leslie hurried from the Explorer, hoping to give Kat a moment of privacy to tell Rob good night. Gray sped to her side of the SUV, then blocked her way.
"Not so fast. I want you to come over to my RV a minute."
"I don't think that's a good..."
"Just for a minute. I have a copy of Mary Had A Little Gun I'd like autographed."
His smile penetrating the darkness, he drew her toward him like a sorcerer. When he held out his hand, she automatically placed hers in it, relishing the feel of his warm, tapered fingers closed over her skin. Hands clasped, they stumbled their way through the inky night to campsite twelve.
* * * *
The naturalness of holding Leslie's hand evaporated the moment she stepped inside
his motorhome and pulled free of his grasp. Gray suppressed his disappointment, determined to regain ground with her.
"Is your name really Leslie Paige Turner?"
She stood by the door, poised to escape. "My dad's sense of humor. Mom insisted on the 'Leslie' part."
"He reads mysteries?"
"Thrillers."
Gray lifted the cushion from the dinette bench, rummaged through the storage bin below, then pulled out the paperback. "Here it is. Just let me find a pen."
"I have one." She unzipped her leather purse, pulled out a Bic, then reached for the book.
"Why don't you publish as Paige Turner?"
She rolled her eyes. "As if! Besides, Paige is a feminine name and my publisher prefers initials."
"Like J.A. Jance or P.D. James?"
She waited to answer until she had scribbled on the title page. Gray couldn't decipher upside-down writing. He'd read it after she left, which judging from her body language would be any minute.
"Yes." Smacking the book closed, she handed it back to him. "Well, I need to go."
"Why?" His gaze held hers. "I just want to talk."
"About?"
He shrugged. "I'm interested in your writing. I love to read mysteries and I enjoyed both of yours."
She inched toward the door. "Thanks."
"So tell me more about the Sunny Madison character."
"You want to know about the next book, and I'm not telling." She lost her battle to contain a smile, rewarding him with a glimpse of her killer dimple.
Making a show of sitting at the dinette, he gestured toward the sofa. "Sit for a minute? I promise not to pump you, uh, for plot secrets."
If she caught his provocative slip she ignored it, although pink circles tinged her cheeks. She perched on the edge of the sofa, clutching her purse against her chest like a flotation device during an airline emergency. "What do you want to know about Sunny?"
"Why a day care owner for your amateur detective?"
"It sort of evolved. Sunny didn't start out as a series sleuth. That was my editor's brainchild. I just needed a heroine in a child kidnapping story. The child's care giver seemed a good choice."