Hannah was the most excited of the three. “Really, Mommy? What are you doing?”
Joely had to clear her throat to speak. “Cooking. Baking, actually. I’m selling my cookies here at your grandma’s restaurant.”
Kari’s face screwed in a derisive sneer. “That’s not a real job.”
Lillian turned to her granddaughter. “Excuse me?”
“It’s not like someone hired her. You’re her mom. It’s not like she’s some chef or something.”
Again Joely felt a stab to her gut. It was what she had secretly feared too, that she was a fraud. To hear it from her daughter took the winds right out of her sails, and Lillian saw it.
“Apologize to your mother.”
Kari was stunned by the stern reprisal from her normally doting grandmother. “For what?”
“For disrespecting her. She’s really excited about this new opportunity and she’s worked really hard.”
“She’s just doing the things she’s always done,” Kari retorted as she sank back against the cushioned booth.
“Like I said, she’s worked really hard. But maybe you don’t have a frame of reference for that yet.”
Kari just shrugged. “Fine. Whatever. Sorry.”
Lillian leaned forward. “I think it’s time you got one. All this week, after school, you’re going to come here and wash dishes in the kitchen.”
“What?” she shrieked. “Why?”
“Because the people who think some work is more valuable than others have never done the hard work they disdain. You need a new perspective, baby girl. And I’m in the opportunity to provide it. Given, of course, that your mother thinks it’s a good idea.”
Lillian turned to Joely, who stared hard at her mother. Lillian offered the slightest nod to encourage her, so Joely turned to Kari. “I think you’re grandma’s right. You can work here, earn a little of your own money, that way you can buy the new clothes you think are so important for your new school.”
Her eyes widened as she stared at her mother. The thought was preposterous. Before she could open her mouth to say anything, Lillian waved Xander over to the table. Joely watched as her daughter blushed and shrank back against the seat in utter humiliation. “Xander,” Lillian said, “Kari’s going to join us this next week, doing dishes in the back each afternoon.”
Xander smiled wide. “Excellent. Glad to have you aboard,” he told Kari, whose blush deepened. She was much too mortified to argue. She barely said a word the rest of the night. Hannah pooped out a little after eight o’clock so Lillian and Granny Faye decided to make an early night of it. “I think I’ll stay until the cookies are gone,” Joely told her. It bothered her that it wasn’t another blowout sale. There were still about ten left and only a couple of hours to go until closing time. Had her success the day before simply been beginner’s luck?
The kids left with Lillian and Granny Faye, and Joely took her place behind the counter. Mason, the fabulous new waiter her mother had hired, moseyed her direction. “These cookies are amazing,” he praised as he picked up one of the ones that were left on the tray. “I tried to make some like this and let’s just say I don’t have your steady hand or patience. Epic fail,” he announced dramatically. “You’ve got quite a gift.”
She chuckled. “I don’t know how much of a gift it is. The first few dozen batches were horrendous. I just didn’t give up is all.”
“You got a lot farther than I did, that’s for sure.” Mason inspected the cookie. “You know, my daughter has a birthday coming up. How much would you charge to make cookies for her party?”
Joely’s eyebrows rose. “You have a daughter?”
He laughed. He was used to the skepticism. “Yep. She’ll be six in late December. Well, six going on thirty-seven. Her elite guest list would be super impressed with these cookies.” He leaned forward. “Most of her friends are people our age. Not a whole lot of parents in this neck of the woods want their kids hanging around the daughter of a gay couple.” He then brought his finger to his lips in a teasing gesture regarding the ‘scandalous’ secret he was sharing.
That made Joely sad. No little boy or girl should be shunned on their birthday. “I have a five-year-old,” she told him. “I’m sure she’d love to meet your daughter.”
Mason brightened. “That’d be great. We should arrange a play date.”
“Maybe this weekend?” Joely offered.
“Maybe this weekend, what?” Xander asked as he walked behind the counter.
“A play date for our kids,” Joely explained, though she didn’t know why. It wasn’t like she owed him an explanation. Xander merely nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer, before grabbing the clipboard with the closing duties checklist.
“Sounds like fun,” he offered before he headed back out to the restaurant.
Joely turned to Mason. “Here, let me give you my number,” she said as she dug her purse out from under the counter.
“I really don’t know what to say. My Lilah will love this.”
“So will Hannah. She loves meeting new best friends.”
Mason wore a soft smile, which made Joely wonder how much shit he’d gotten in this town, or in this state, for having an atypical family. She’d love to know more, she could only hope he’d share.
He glanced over his shoulder towards Xander. “I guess I better get back to my station before the boss man cracks the whip.”
Her eyes traveled over to where Xander stood with another server, going over the list. “A real slave-driver, huh?”
Mason shrugged. “He just knows what he wants. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, I rather like that in a man,” he said with a wink before he pocketed her number and headed over to his manager.
Joely watched the exchange with interest. In fact, she couldn’t seem to keep her eyes off of Xander the rest of the night. He was completely respectful of the work environment, keeping all his flirty, inappropriate behavior under wraps. If it weren’t for that consuming look in his eyes every time she caught him looking at her, she might have believed that she scared him away.
The more she studied him, the more she hoped that wasn’t true. He was young, sure, and a total flirt. He was cocky, but not like Russell like she had originally thought. He was confident without being competitive. No one around him had to shrink to make him taller. Russell’s laughter rang in her ear as she remembered how ridiculous it seemed to him that someone else might want her. He didn’t, so surely no one else would.
From the look in Xander’s eyes to the way his body strained against the clothes he wore, there was nothing funny about the interest he was shamelessly demonstrating.
In fact, she almost had to admire Xander’s honesty. He made no bones about who he was. He wasn’t a liar or a cheat, at least not yet. And if a gal has to have an admirer, he wasn’t too hard on the eyes either. He was tall, lean but not skinny, with broad shoulders that tapered down to his slim hips. His ass was firm and the promise of his noticeable ‘package’ sent a shiver right to her toes. She had to fight to pay attention to the actual work she was doing, checking customers out and, fortunately, selling more cookies.
By the time Xander locked the door for the night only two were left. She pouted only a little. “I didn’t sell out.”
With a grin he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, which drew her attention to that area of his body. Much like Kari, she blushed and looked away while Xander purchased the last two cookies himself. “There. Now you’ve sold out two days in a row.” She chuckled as she looked up at him. That was one of the sweetest things anyone had ever done for her. “There’s a smile,” he murmured softly. He handed her one of her cookies. She mirrored him as he pulled the wrapper off of the cookie and sank his teeth into it. His eyes practically rolled back. “These are bloody fantastic,” he said, his mouth full. She savored her bite as well. He watched her mouth as she chewed. “You should show me how you do it.”
She shook her head. “Top secret.”
He
leaned against the counter. The look in his eyes was intoxicating as he said, “All good secrets are meant to be shared.”
Her breath caught and her heart thundered against her chest. Opportunity was once again presenting itself, but was she really prepared? She thought about Jena, the young girl who looked so at home at the house in Fairway Oaks – who was likely in her bed that very moment, wrapped in Russell’s arms. That’s what happens when you take risks, Joely decided. You get what you want. Joely finished off the cookie and threw the wrapper in the trash. “You think I could speak to you privately for a minute?”
He stood. “Of course.” He led her around the counter and kept his hand on the small of her back until they were locked away in his office. The minute the door shut, Joely pushed him up against the door, reached up and planted a kiss on his unsuspecting lips. It was the most brazen thing she had ever done in her life, but after the day she’d had, she needed something – anything – to make her feel good about herself again. Russell and his new little friend made Joely feel about two inches tall, which devastated her after the great day she’d had the day before, when she’d actually dared to believe she was special.
It was that need that made her open her mouth over his. The minute her tongue touched his lips, he surrounded her with his arms and crushed her to him for a white hot kiss. It set fire to her insides when he searched the recesses of her mouth with his forceful tongue. She moaned against him. He spun her around, his hard body pinning her to the door. She was breathless when the kiss broke. His eyes never wavered from hers. His hand snaked up to her hair, grabbed the pin holding the perfect bun in place, toppling her long hair down around her shoulders. “There,” he murmured as he bent for another kiss. “Much better.”
She shuddered in his arms as he kissed her slow, like Russell used to kiss her when they first met. Long, leisurely make-out sessions were a thing of the past once the kids came along. He was working all the time and she was tired all the time.
She wasn’t tired now. She’d felt more alive than she ever had. Every nerve ending sang with pleasure as his body responded to every kiss, every moan. She felt him grow against her, which made her long for something she hadn’t had in a long, long time. When he muttered, “Come home with me, Joely,” into her mouth, she very nearly said yes. Despite the intoxicating spell he was casting, it scared her straight.
As impulsive as she had been, this wasn’t her anymore. This wasn’t her… ever. She pulled back, regretfully shaking her head. She realized too late that her wanton behavior had very real consequences, like forcing her to make decisions she wasn’t quite ready to make. “I can’t. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that,” she tried to say, but he put his finger over her mouth. His eyes dropped to examine her swollen lips as his fingertip gently brushed against them.
“You needn’t apologize for kissing me, Joely,” he murmured. “You took what you wanted.” He bent to kiss her lightly, his eyes locked with hers. “You should do it more often.” His eyes closed and he kissed her long and deep, until she was practically jelly in his arms.
She was breathless as she attempted to wriggle out of his arms. “I should go.”
His grip slackened. He watched her with those mesmerizing eyes as she fumbled with the doorknob and scurried from the room.
She was still flushed and breathless as she reached her car in the parking lot. She almost expected to see him slam out of the building and follow her, demanding that she come home with him for a night of passion she could only imagine.
The thought was so primal and so thrilling that she sat there for a couple of minutes, dallying with every minor task in the world, just to see if he would.
Finally there was nothing more to do than start the car and pull out of the parking lot. No one was more surprised than she was how disappointing that proved to be.
Chapter Seven
Joely spent a sleepless night tossing and turning as she relived her kisses with Xander over and over again. She was exhausted when her alarm went off at six-thirty that following morning. She dragged herself out of bed and trod down the hallway to rouse her sleepy children. She didn’t even bother changing out of her lounge pants and T-shirt. She figured she could get a short cat nap after she dropped them off at school, then she’d begin her new workweek as a cookie entrepreneur. She was about ten minutes into said nap when someone rang her mother’s doorbell.
She dragged herself out of the bed and down the stairs. She gasped as she peered through the peephole. For a split second she considered not even opening the door. Finally she pulled it open and used it to brace herself against the entirely too cheery Xander Davy.
“Good morning,” he bid as he gave her a mock bow.
“Morning,” she managed. “What are you doing here?”
He didn’t bother waiting for an invitation as he pressed through the door frame, carrying two cups of takeout coffee. “We have a busy week,” he tossed over his shoulder as he headed toward the living room. She had no choice but to follow.
“What do you mean busy?” Then, “What do you mean ‘we’?”
He put her cup of coffee on a coaster on the table before he plopped down into a comfortable armchair. “Didn’t I tell you my major was marketing? I’ve come up with a brilliant plan for Back for Seconds.”
She approached warily. “What kind of plan?”
“PR stuff. Branding. Advertising, really. I think you have something here and I want to be a part of it. If you’ll let me.”
She took the coffee cup and brought it to her lips, studying him over the rim. “What do I have to do?” she finally asked, though she was scared to death of the answer – mostly because in her fantasy it involved his picking her up and carrying her upstairs to the bedroom, which was completely foreign to someone like Joely.
“It starts with you getting dressed.”
That was not the answer she expected, which is exactly why she decided to see where the day might lead. Within the hour they were at an upscale beauty salon, where a hairdresser was tasked with updating her ‘do. She added some blonde highlights in Joely’s dark hair, which lightened it up and brightened her face, and her new sassy layered haircut easily shaved about five years off. It also gave her more interesting things to do with her hair than ponytails and buns. A nail tech gave her a manicure and another cosmetologist gave her a makeover, complete with a tutorial how to replicate the look at home.
She was stunned when Xander pulled out a credit card to pay for her beauty treatment, splurging for hair products and cosmetics as well. “I can’t let you do this,” she said.
“Consider it an investment,” he dismissed easily.
“Seriously. I don’t want to owe you.”
His eyes met hers. “You don’t owe me, Joely.” He handed her the card. It was for Lillian’s Place. “What’s good for you is what’s good for the restaurant. Like I said, it’s an investment.” She blushed and said nothing as he finished the transaction.
Afterwards he took her to the mall, where he led her straight to a store that sold contemporary women’s clothing. “I have plenty of nice things. I don’t need clothes,” she resisted, but he pulled her by the hand into the plush environment anyway.
“You have clothes that make you look like a doctor’s wife,” he said before he grabbed a blouse from the rack. He held it up to her and appraised her with a critical eye.
“What’s wrong with that?” she wanted to know.
His eyes met hers. “That’s not who you are anymore.”
Just hearing him say it gave her a chill, and she couldn’t tell at first whether that was a good thing or bad thing. He loaded her arms with several blouses, a couple of skirts and some slacks. The selection was geared much younger than she’d normally wear, baring skin she wouldn’t normally bare. These clothes definitely would have earned Russell’s stern disapproval. It was the main reason she didn’t offer any resistance when Xander paid for them.
By the time they were done, it was w
ell after noon. When he suggested lunch at a popular cantina for lunch, she agreed. They were seated and he ordered a couple of margaritas to celebrate their productive morning.
The waiter put the frosty, fruity libation in front of her. “I really shouldn’t,” she said, which made Xander laugh.
“You say that a lot, Joely. Who exactly makes up all these rules to which you must so strictly adhere?”
She shrugged. “Society.”
He chuckled as he took a sip. “Ah, yes. Society. Where everyone pretends to be something they’re not in the name of being polite.” He gave her a wink. “Fuck society.”
She nearly gasped and looked around as he used the profane word with utter nonchalance. “I think I’d rather not,” she said, keeping her head low.
“Oh?” he asked as he leaned forward. “Then who would you like to fuck?”
Her head snapped back as she stared at him incredulously. She finally grabbed her glass and took a long enough drink to get a brain freeze. She used a water chaser to take the edge off of the sudden blinding pain. “Why do you do that?”
“Do what? Say what’s on my mind?”
“Bring it all back to sex,” she muttered.
“Why not?” he asked with a shrug. “That’s where it all leads anyway.”
She shook her head. “No, it doesn’t.”
His eyes drilled into hers. “Maybe it hasn’t, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t.”
“I think you say these things just to get a rise out of me.”
He grinned. “That’s part of it, it’s true. You’re repressed, Joely. That’s part of your problem.”
Now he was pissing her off. Again. “I don’t have a problem.”
“Really?” he challenged. “You’re completely and totally happy with the life that you are leading, are you?”
She glared back at him. “You know what just happened to me.”
“Yeah. I also know it’s not the end of the world. The way I see it, that asshole did you a favor. If he wasn’t in it 100 percent, he was right to let you go. A real man would have fought for you.”
Back for Seconds (Lone Star Second Chances Book 1) Page 8