by LuAnn McLane
“What do you mean?”
“What will it take for you to believe me and not think I’m spitting game at you?”
“I don’t think that!”
“What was the sigh for, Jessica?”
She set down her wine and scooted to face him on the love seat. “I came out here to knock your doggone socks off and . . .”
“And what?”
“I don’t know how to banter. To flirt!” She raised her palms skyward. “I suck!” she said so forcefully that Ty almost laughed, except that she was serious and it went straight to his heart.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“No, I suck, suck . . . suck!”
“That’s what I . . . like about you.” He almost said love.
She dipped her head and gave him a pointed look. “That I suck at flirting?”
“Jessica, I’ve had a lifetime of bullshit from women. I don’t need batting eyes and playful pouts. Games.” He sliced his hand like a salute to the forehead. “I’ve had it up to here with all of that meaningless crap. When I pay you a compliment, I’m not flirting. I damned well mean it. And you don’t know how refreshing it is to have real, meaningful conversations with you. No pretense.”
She grinned. “No bullshit?”
“Exactly.”
“So, I should just get down to brass tacks?”
“Damned straight.”
“Thank God for small favors,” Jessica said, and before he could voice his total agreement, she closed the gap between them and pulled his head down for a long, hot kiss. Damn, she tasted like wine and woman, and he couldn’t get enough. The pie had been a party in his mouth, but this was a full-blown celebration. He had been daydreaming about this all day long, but the reality was so much better. He cradled her head, wishing for her hair to be loose and sliding between his fingers. To hell with playing this out. He wanted her more than enough now, and he wanted her in his bed.
“Jessica, are you finished for the night?”
“Not with you,” she said, and kissed his neck. “I’m just beginning.”
“Damn, that was straight to the point and smokin’ hot. Who needs wimpy-ass flirting?” He chuckled but then inhaled a quick breath when she sucked his earlobe into her warm mouth. When she nibbled, a jolt of pure desire shot all the way to his toes. “How quickly can you meet me back at my condo?”
“World Record time. I’ll tell Madison to lock up.”
“Good.” He let out a long sigh.
“What?”
“The only thing better than you bringing me dessert is you being the dessert.”
Jessica tossed her head back and laughed. “Oh, I like the way you think.”
“Let’s get out of here.” He sensed that she was finally letting her guard down and saying what she felt, and he loved it. Her personality was shining through, and she seemed tired but as though she was beginning to finally relax. He planned on giving her a back rub that would turn her into warm putty in his hands. She deserved to be pampered. And then it hit him hard that no one had probably ever done that for her. She was always doing for everyone else. He ground his teeth together when unexpected emotion gripped him, but then he smiled.
Jessica Robinson was about to get swept off her tired feet.
14
This Kiss, This Kiss!
“Check it out.” Bella gave Madison an elbow when she spotted Jessica scurrying into her office.
“You girls lock up. Okay?” Jessica requested when she emerged a moment later clutching her purse.
“Sure, Mom,” Madison replied, and they watched her rush toward the front door and then pause to catch her breath.
“Oh, Bella, awesome job tonight!” Jessica tossed over her shoulder. “See you both tomorrow! I’m, uh, really tired and—”
“Mom, don’t even try.”
Jessica flushed a pretty shade of pink and pointed at Madison. “I’m going to get you for this. A disgruntled customer. Right.”
“Go on and get out of here,” Madison urged with a giggle and shooed her mother out the door.
“Wow,” Bella commented with a sense of wonder. “I always kinda thought your mom had a thing for Ty, but he was such a player back in Chicago and she wouldn’t give him the time of day. Wouldn’t it be cool if they stayed together? You know, became an official couple?”
“They will,” Madison responded with a firm nod.
“What makes you so sure?”
“My gut.”
“You trust your gut?” Bella snorted. “My gut lies to me all the damned time.” She frowned down at her stomach. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I am,” Madison replied with a tilt of her head. “Bella, your gut doesn’t lie. You just don’t listen.”
“Pfft.” Bella straightened up a stack of menus. “You really are joking, right?” She remembered that Madison had a wicked sense of humor.
“No, I’m not. You just can’t let your heart”—she tapped her chest—“or your brain”—she tapped her temple—“screw it all up.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Bella scoffed.
“If you’ve got a minute, I’ll explain,” Madison offered, and pointed to the stools at the counter.
“Sure. Every minute I spend here is a minute more I get to put off calling my mother. She’s left two messages, but I texted her that I was busy hanging out with you guys and catching up on old times.” She wrinkled her nose. “Little white lie. But no— Hey, I don’t want to keep you from Jason.”
“Don’t worry. I have to stay here and lock up after the cleanup is done in the kitchen.” Madison rolled her eyes. “They would have been done by now if they hadn’t been tripping over each other, sneaking peeks at you.”
“Shut up. I’m just the new girl in town.”
Madison handed her a cold bottle of water and then sat down. “Yeah, the new girl who looks like Eva Longoria.”
“Right . . .” Bella shrugged, even though she had gotten that too often to count in Chicago. “She’s, like, ten years older than me and Mexican, not Italian.”
Madison raised her hands in surrender. “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. I finally had Evan the busboy convinced that you were Eva Longoria and were doing that TV show I Get That a Lot, where celebrities pretend to be everyday Joes. Told him there were hidden cameras. I had him going.”
Bella laughed. “Madison, you’re crazy.”
“I know. And I get that a lot.” She shrugged. “I’ve embraced it.”
“Why fight a losing battle?”
“I keep telling my mother that.”
Bella laughed at her friend. “Okay, so fill me in on how to go with my gut—a gut that will get bigger if I keep eating here. I had forgotten how amazing your mother’s food is, and I love it here even more than at Chicago Blue. The Wine and Diner thing is genius. But anyway, go ahead.”
Madison put her hand over Bella’s and squeezed. “I hate to bring it up, but tell me how your heart and your head felt about David.”
Bella took a swig of her water and swiveled back and forth on the round stool while she pondered the question. “Well, he was a broody, edgy, starving artist, and my heart was all over that.” She looked at Madison for feedback.
“And your head?”
“I can’t draw more than stick people, and I was fascinated by his talent. My brain was intrigued.”
“I hear a but. . . .”
Bella played with her bottle for a thoughtful moment. “But David couldn’t stay focused and would get angry when I stressed the business side of his career. Look, my mother is a talented artist. She sketches her ideas and then works hard on her jewelry, but she knows she has to put effort into selling her creations. My brain warned me this was a real problem with David. I know now that it’s part of being mature. An adult. But my heart chalked it up to David being passionate about his work, and my heart trumped my brain every single damned time.”
Madison tapped her midsection. “And your gut?”
Bella gave her a
long, level look.
“Be honest.”
After inhaling deeply, Bella continued. “My gut never did really trust him.”
“And your heart and brain ignored your gut.”
“Wow . . . Bingo.”
Madison tilted her head, making her riot of curls slide over her shoulder. “So, from now on, trust your gut. It will be right every time.”
“I’ll try. But the brain and heart are difficult to ignore.”
Madison nodded. “Yeah, gut instinct, intuition . . . divine intervention? Call it what you want, but it is our most powerful tool as human beings and the one we fight the most.”
“Why is that, do you think?”
Madison toyed with the napkin holder. “A lot of reasons. Most of the time a gut feeling has no real tangible basis. It’s simply a feeling.”
“And we don’t trust our feelings?”
“Not when we don’t want to,” Madison replied slowly. “A gut feeling usually has a warning or foreboding. You didn’t want to believe that David was cheating, so you ignored the red flags. The old saying that the woman is always the last to know is bull. Even if you didn’t know for sure, you had a strong suspicion that he was capable of this behavior.”
“Oh, I was such a dumb-ass,” Bella admitted hotly, and felt tears spring into her eyes. “Never again!”
Madison reached over and grabbed Bella’s clenched fist resting on the counter. “My mother fell into that trap. Don’t you dare let what Dastardly David did to you screw up a chance at the real deal. What he did isn’t the next guy’s fault.”
“Yeah, but—”
“But nothing.” Madison gave Bella a steady look and waited.
“Don’t ask it.” Bella’s heart pumped, but Madison shook her head from side to side.
“I have to. So, what does your gut say about Logan?”
“You’re the matchmaker with the always-right gut feelings. You’re so sure about Ty and your mother. You tell me.”
“Oh no, you don’t, girlfriend.” Madison thumped her water bottle down so hard that water sloshed over the top. “Fess up. What is your gut saying to you?”
“That he’s an arrogant hotshot who will have the girls in this town falling all over him. That he’s talented, and, with the help of Ty and Noah, will make his way back to the minor leagues, where he belongs. That I had better not fall for him, because he will be leaving soon anyway.”
“Bella . . .” Madison tapped her midsection. “That’s all stuff. What is your gut telling you about him?”
“I hardly know him!”
Madison tapped again.
“I’m gonna grab that finger of yours and break it right off,” she threatened, but the hitch in her voice took away the heat. “Besides, I don’t believe in love at first sight. That’s plain bullshit. Not that I love Logan. We’re just living together . . . rooming together, and it was at your—” She stopped and stared. “Insistence,” she added softly. “Oh, boy, Madison, don’t deny that you have some sort of feeling here.”
“Okay, I won’t.”
Bella did a little head bop. “Not that I believe in your matchmaking mojo. It’s just one of those quirky Southern things.”
“Okay, I feel ya.”
Bella lifted one shoulder ever so slightly. “But just out of curiosity . . . you know, for shits and giggles?” She swallowed and then asked in a tiny voice, “What is your gut feeling about Logan and me?”
“Well . . .” Madison looked at her for a contemplative moment, as if reading her love aura or something. “It doesn’t matter what my gut thinks.”
“Ma-di-son!”
“Why does everyone say my name like that? Is it on my birth certificate that way?”
“It damned well should be!”
“Well—” Madison began, but they were distracted by the bell jingling over the front door.
“We’re closed,” Bella called over her shoulder, and was about to apologize when she spotted Logan coming into the diner. He walked toward them with the grace of a superior athlete.
“I know.” He shoved long fingers through his shaggy hair, which appeared just-showered damp.
“Oh.” Bella tried to appear nonchalant, but a whiff of his spicy aftershave had her pulse racing. It didn’t help that his black baseball-cut T-shirt molded to his chest and biceps like second skin. “So, what’s up?”
“I noticed that your car was parked over at the condo.”
Bella nodded. “I walked to work. It was such a pretty day, and after that stack of chocolate-chip pancakes, I decided I needed the exercise.”
Logan shrugged, making muscles do delicious things beneath his shirt. “Yeah, but it’s dark now, so I drove over here to pick you up.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” Bella said, and flicked a glance over at Madison to see her reaction. She didn’t seem surprised and, in fact, was smiling.
“I know. I just thought the temperature had dropped and . . .” He shrugged again and then shifted his weight, as if suddenly unsure. “But, listen. If I’m interrupting something, I can—”
“I think it was a nice gesture,” Madison broke in, and gave Bella a give-the-guy-some-credit look. “And, no. We were just having some girl talk. We’re finished here. As a matter of fact, I’m going to head into the kitchen to fix Jason a sandwich before it completely shuts down. It was good seeing you, Logan.”
“Same here.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Bella.”
Bella gave Madison an I-know-what-you’re-doing look, but she gave her an innocent smile back.
“Are you ready?” Logan asked.
“Yes, I just need to grab my purse from behind the hostess stand,” she replied, and headed over to retrieve it. She slipped the strap over her shoulder. When she smiled up at him, he seemed to relax. Bella thought it was sweet that he was concerned, but it was his almost-shy uncertainty that got to her the most. Maybe Logan Lannigan wasn’t as cocky as he pretended to be.
“I didn’t mean to butt into your business,” Logan said as he held the door open for her.
“That’s my mother’s job and she does it well,” Bella said with a laugh, but when she passed him, their bodies brushed, and damned if she didn’t feel a hot tingle that had her melting like a marshmallow on a s’more.
“Have you talked to your mother yet?” Logan asked as they walked over to his blue Ford Ranger.
“No,” Bella answered glumly. “But I’ll have to face the music later tonight. She’s already called a couple of times.”
“You’ll feel better after you talk to her.”
Bella inhaled a deep breath. “Don’t count on it,” she said, as he opened the passenger’s door for her. “I didn’t realize you had a truck.”
“Are you surprised?”
“Kinda.”
Logan pointed down at his feet.
“Cowboy boots? Really?”
“I’m from Dallas, Bella.”
“You don’t sound like it. And you look to me like you just stepped off a California beach.”
“I have a little Texas twang that comes out now and then. My father transferred there when I was a kid so I could play baseball year-round. Most people living in Dallas are transplants.” He smiled. “But I love my boots and my truck.”
Bella scooted up into the passenger’s seat and watched Logan walk around to the driver’s side, while thinking here she was, living with a man whom she knew very little about, and by rights she should feel a measure of concern. But she just couldn’t muster much up. Oh, boy, but she knew her mother sure would! If anyone she knew were doing such a foolish thing, she would give them a piece of her mind.
Bella sighed. Apparently, her common sense had taken a holiday, and she should really tell Logan that this living-together arrangement was alcohol induced and should be reconsidered. But when he folded his tall frame into the truck and flashed Bella a smile, her common sense decided to extend its vacation.
“Well, it’s official. Ty told
me that I made the team.”
“Congratulations. Was there ever a doubt?”
“No.” Logan put the truck into gear.
“You don’t seem too excited.”
After steering the truck out onto Main Street, Logan flicked Bella a glance. “Don’t get me wrong; I’m grateful for the chance to prove myself, but this isn’t where I wanted to be at this stage of the game.”
“I understand,” Bella said, but felt a sharp stab of disappointment. “You can’t wait to head on out of here,” she added with more of an edge than intended. It didn’t matter what Madison’s intuition said. She needed to guard her heart where Logan Lannigan was concerned.
“You sound pissed.”
Bella shrugged but remained silent.
“Bella, that’s what this team is all about: second chances. Ty and Noah will tell you that.”
“I’m sorry, Logan. I’m just in a dark and twisty place right now. Don’t mind me.”
Logan reached over and covered her hand with his. “I know you’re going through some crap.”
She nodded and felt her throat constrict. His big hand felt warm and strong, but she untangled her fingers from his. “Look, it was a nice gesture for you to come pick me up. Really.”
“But you don’t want me to do it again.”
“No, I don’t.” When they stopped at a red light, Bella turned and gave him a firm, negative shake of her head. “You don’t need to be my rebound guy, Logan. And chances are, some smart scout is going to snatch you back up to the minor leagues.”
“I have a contract. I have to remain here for the season.”
“Regardless, you’ll most likely be leaving by the end of the summer. We need to keep our relationship platonic. Picking me up feels . . . too intimate. Like you’re my boyfriend, but you’re not.” She looked at his profile, but he remained silent. “You’re feeling me, right?”
Finally, he nodded. “Yeah, I’m feeling ya, Bella. But I promised Ty McKenna that I’d look out for you, and I won’t break that promise.”
“I don’t need anyone looking out for me,” she replied hotly. “I might be a little shit, but I can hold my own. We need to live as roommates but stay out of each other’s way. Otherwise, this isn’t going to work. Okay?”