Hotter than Texas (Pecan Creek)

by Tina Leonard

  He turned. “Yeah?”

  “Why did you come by?” Sugar looked confused, and frankly, Jake was too. Guilt gnawed at him.

  “Just to say hi,” Jake said. “Congratulations, again.”

  “Thanks,” Sugar said. “Hope you get your restaurant fixed.”

  He left, wishing like hell he could have accepted Sugar’s invitation. Nothing would have made him happier than to fall into bed with Sugar in the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas room, draw those funky drapes around the circular bed and make crazy love to her until he couldn’t make love anymore.

  With Sugar, he could see pulling all-nighters.

  Some things were going to have to change. He just didn’t know if the changes were going to be for the better—or the worse.

  Sugar’s breath left her with Jake. She’d thrown herself at him, and he’d jetted off like she was the devil. Was it because this was his house? Had she made some kind of faux pas?

  He’d make the observation that she hadn’t let him into her life, when he’d shown her all his favorite private haunts. But when she’d tried to level the playing field, he’d passed in a hurry.

  “He’s a guy,” she told Paris. “You never can really figure them out.” She bit into a nut, sighing. “I’ve got the packaging ordered, the designs, and now we’ve finally got the product. It’s a winner, Paris. We’ll be able to keep you in dog bones morning, noon and night.”

  No doubt Pecan Creek would be proud that there were nuts being grown, packaged and sold out of their glad-handing, self-promoting town. Sugar smiled. Christmas was coming, and if there was ever a time when nuts went over like candy in stockings, it was the Christmas season.

  Finally, she’d found their home.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Here’s the thing,” Jake said to the four females seated in the meeting room at the courthouse. Dodie, Vivian, Minda and Charlotte looked at him expectantly. “I didn’t come here to talk about running for mayor of Pecan Creek.”

  “As we noted before, we’re happy to let Maggie Cassavechia be the honorary mayor for the Christmas parade,” Vivian said, in her position as president of PC’s town council. “But we’ve discussed it, and we definitely know that Pecan Creek has grown to the point where we need a dedicated full-time mayor. You’re our choice.”

  Jake shook his head. “I’m not mayor material. Ask Lassiter, if you don’t think Maggie would take the job.”

  Minda looked at him. “The thing is, Maggie hasn’t lived here long. We don’t know how long they’ll stay here. We need someone who knows Pecan Creek. Pecan Creek has its ways.”

  Dodie nodded. “It’s true. This is a special town. How long is the lease the Cassavechias signed?”

  “Four months. We start going month-to-month after that, if they want to stay.” Jake didn’t want to think about Sugar leaving—but he did know what would keep her.

  “What possessed you to give them such a short lease?” Vivian asked.

  “Because the house hadn’t been rented in years,” Jake said. “We don’t exactly live in a metropolis. Anyone who had the faintest dream to live in the country at least wants to live somewhere close to a large town.” Not to mention the décor was a bit of a hard sell for families. Vivian knew all this. “Anyway, here’s what I need to put before the council. The Cassavechias want to lease the billboard on the road into town.”

  “The Pecan Creek billboard?” Vivian stared at him, her face astonished. “Whatever for?”

  It was time to let all kinds of sugar hit the fan. “The Cassavechias would like to advertise their family business on it.”

  “Which is what?” Charlotte asked.

  “Hotterthanhellnuts.com,” Jake said, and the four women stared at him, electrified.

  “What did you say?” Vivian asked.

  There was no easy way to spring the truth on the council. “The Cassavechias leased the grove from us, and they plan to harvest the pecans and sell them over the Internet.” Just like the rest of this council has online businesses. They just don’t advertise it.

  “You want Pecan Creek to have a billboard that has a curse word in it on the way into town? When we’re trying to show everyone what a nice, clean family place this is?” Vivian said.

  He wasn’t supposed to know about the doodahs and the willy warmers and the love potions. Jake sighed. “What could be more family friendly than nuts?”

  “Jake,” Minda said, “we can’t have a billboard that isn’t family friendly in Pecan Creek. Would you feel good about us looking like Houston or Dallas?”

  Dodie nodded. “What we’re selling here is family values.”

  “Honest values,” Charlotte said.

  Vivian set her china flower tea cup on the table. “Whatever were you thinking, Jake? You’ll have to ask them to move out, of course.”

  Jake blinked. “Move out?”

  “Of course. They can’t run a business out of the house, for one thing. They have no permit for it.”

  “That doesn’t mean they have to move out of the house,” Jake said.

  “The contract states that the house is not to be used for anything other than a single family function,” Vivian said, a bit too triumphantly, in Jake’s opinion.

  He’d stepped in it here. The town council had DBAs but no permits for their businesses. Jake didn’t think calling the Pillars out on that would necessarily endear the Cassavechias to the town council, who clearly operated under a set of rules that only iron-clad Southern belles might understand.

  He knew the rule: anything was all right as long as it wasn’t discussed. It was a cardinal rule the Cassavechias were breaking.

  He wondered if Sugar would consider changing the name of her business.

  Then again, why should she?

  She just wasn’t going to get the billboard. That was all there was to it. He backpedaled to save the Cassavechias socially. “Of course, as the mayor pro tem, I do feel the need to point out that the important thing about having a new business in this town is tax revenues. And if their business ever gets off the ground, maybe they’ll have need for additional hiring.”

  They looked at him with four pairs of still-indignant eyes. But they smelled the bone he’d thrown out, and since it was the bone they wanted most of all, he would become the mayor to save Sugar.

  “Just think about it,” Jake said, grabbing his hat and departing. “You wanted new blood in this town. Now we’ve got it. I’ve tasted the secret family recipes, and my taste buds went ka-ching.”

  They’d think about it, Jake knew. It would be discussed endlessly, and at the end of the day, the Cassavechias would probably get the social cut. There would be many reasons for that, but the uppermost was that the Cassavechias had broken an unbreakable and sacred code.

  But Vivian wouldn’t force Sugar and her hot nuts out of the house.

  Yet his attempt at being a hero had failed miserably.

  “I’ll be glad to get this out of the way.”

  Maggie sat fretting in the large, white doctor’s office two hours from Pecan Creek. She’d put on a pretty pair of peach pants and an off-white blouse that unbuttoned easily, so she could take off her top without mussing her hair. “I want a cigarette so bad.”

  Lucy looked at her mother. “It’s okay, Mom. Don’t be nervous. Your check-up’s going to go fine.”

  Sugar felt sorry for Maggie. She was so nervous for her mother she felt herself breaking a sweat. “Your last check was clean. This one will be another winner.”

  “I know.” Maggie looked out the glass window of the second-floor office building. “Lassiter told me to text him the results. One of you will have to do that for me.”

  “Mom, you need a phone. Phones are important.” Lucy looked at Sugar for support. “Especially now that you’re gone more frequently.”

  Maggie shrugged. “Okay. And you might as well know, I’ve been seeing a hypnotist.”

  Sugar glanced at Lucy, looked back at Maggie. “What does that have to do with
needing a phone, and why are you seeing a hypnotist?”

  Maggie looked out the window again. “I’m just letting you know that there are some new things in my life. A phone, a hypnotist and a boyfriend.”

  “Mom,” Sugar said, “it all sounds wonderful.”

  “Yeah.” Maggie nodded. “I love Pecan Creek. I’ve gotten used to that house, even if Vivian did decorate it like something out of a repressed woman’s imagination.” She looked at her nails. “I’m sure she’s repressed.”

  Sugar tended to agree, but there was no point in saying so aloud. Lucy shrugged, straightening her short skirt that didn’t come close to reaching the black leather boots she wore.

  “I don’t care about Vivian. But I’m proud of you, Mom.” Lucy hugged Maggie and kissed her cheek. “What’s the hypno for?”

  “I’m quitting smoking.” Maggie smiled with genuine pride and excitement. “I say I’m doing it for Lassiter because he doesn’t smoke, but the truth is, I need to do it for myself. After I get my clean bill of health today, there’s nothing but smooth sailing ahead for me. And pecans.” She looked at Sugar. “We’re starting a whole new chapter in our lives, and now I’m really and truly excited.”

  Sugar smiled. “I am too. Congratulations, Mom. I’m proud of you.”

  The nurse called Maggie back, and Lucy and Sugar scooted closer together for emotional support.

  “What do you think?” Lucy asked.

  “That after all the years of worrying about us, Maggie’s finally free to do what she wants to do.” Sugar leaned back in the chair, telling herself not to worry. She was scared as hell that Maggie wouldn’t get good news. All the old tests and charts had been sent to this doctor, whom Sugar had scoured the Internet for. She closed her eyes. No more chemo. No more anything. Please let Maggie move on to the next phase in her life. She’s finally happy.

  “Shit,” Lucy said, “no one ever tells you how hard it is when you’re waiting on the one you love to get checked out. I need a Valium Big Gulp.”

  Sugar took her sister’s hand in hers. “It’s okay, Lucy. Everything is going to be fine.”

  Lucy looked at her. “Sugar, who do you plug into?”

  Sugar blinked. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that you’re always taking care of everyone else. Who do you plug into for comfort and support?”

  Sugar looked out the window toward the parking lot. “You and Mom,” she said softly. “It’s always been just the three of us. We work like a triangle. One of us gets up, another gets down, we all take care of each other.”

  Lucy shook her head. “I don’t think anyone has ever taken care of Sugar except Sugar.”

  It might be true, but Sugar didn’t figure she needed anyone anyway.

  Not even Jake, as much as she might want him.

  “Maybe Jake,” Lucy said, and Sugar said, “No,” thinking about how strange he’d been when he’d left yesterday. She’d invited him into her bed, and he’d run off like an Olympic medalist.

  “Maggie remembered her recipes,” Sugar said, “and she’s happier than I’ve ever seen her, and that’s all that matters to me. I wasn’t looking for a hero.”

  She hadn’t been looking for a hero—but if she had been, he would certainly make love to her like J.T. Jake Bentley.

  Two hours later, Lucy woke up and glanced at Sugar. “Where’s Maggie?”

  “Getting put through the paces still.”

  Lucy wished she was still asleep. The nerves didn’t seem to bother her so much when she was conked out. “Did you sleep at all?”

  Sugar shook her head. “Can’t.”

  Sugar was nervous too. And damn it, Maggie had been back there a long time. Lucy bit off a fingernail and buried it in the planter beside her chair. “Think they’d tell me anything if I went and asked them how she’s doing?”

  “Sure,” Sugar said, “they’d tell you to have a cup of coffee and watch the TV over there, and we’ll know something soon enough.”

  “Damn it!” Lucy got up and stalked around the chairs. “I can’t be as calm as you are.”

  Sugar looked at her. “Come sit next to me.”

  Lucy did, and it felt good to have Sugar wrap her arms around her.

  “It’s going to be okay,” Sugar whispered to her, and Lucy closed her eyes, believing her, because all her life, whenever her big sister had told her it was going to be okay, it had been true.

  “That’s looking good,” Jake told Lassiter, looking at the beginning of the repair job he was doing at Bait and Burgers. “It looks better than it did before.”

  Lassiter nodded. “Cosmetic facelift more than structural, fortunately. It’s cheaper that way.”

  Jake squatted down to look at the new concrete. “Certainly looks stronger.”

  “Next time Bobby runs his tank through her, his tank’s going to take on more damage,” Lassiter said with satisfied pride.

  “That’s what I want to hear.” He clapped Lassiter on the back. “Good man.”

  Lassiter pulled out his phone, staring at it for a minute. “Good news. Maggie got a clean bill of health.”

  Jake blinked. “Clean bill from what?”

  “She had breast cancer.” Lassiter looked at him strangely. “Did you not know?”

  “I mean…not about this.” Sugar had never mentioned today’s trip to him. Jake’s blood chilled a bit. “They went out of town to a doctor?”

  “Yeah. Because of the breast cancer. Sugar wanted her mom to have the best doctor she could find.” Lassiter looked at his hard work, shrugging. “Sugar just about lost her mind when Maggie got sick. She quit the military to take care of her mom. Caught her ex cheating on her, so she divorced him, and packed the whole family up lock, stock, barrel to start over here. Maggie said in the beginning she wasn’t too sold on the idea, but now that they’ve been here for a while, Maggie’s fallen in love with the town.” Lassiter grinned. “I can easily see myself marrying Maggie Cassavechia, if things keep going the way they have been. My God, that’s a lot of woman.”

  “That’s great, Lassiter.” He slapped his buddy on the back, wondering why Sugar hadn’t updated him the way Maggie confided in Lassiter. He didn’t really know Sugar, he realized. She knew more about him than he knew about her.

  “I’d better go. You’re sending me a bill?”

  Lassiter nodded. “Yeah. I am. A big one. Raid your piggy bank.”

  Jake laughed. “Good.”

  “Hey.”

  Jake turned around. “Yeah.”

  “Maggie says she’s tired. She’s not coming over tonight. Meet you at the back fence, if you’re not having company of your own.”

  Jake nodded. “No plans that I know of. I’ll bring the hops.”

  He went off, his mind revving with everything he’d just learned. God bless Maggie C for taking on the parade crap when she had her own personal issues to deal with.

  Lucy certainly had run head-first into the brick wall that was PC.

  Sugar was a tough lady to never mention what she was dealing with.

  The Cassavechias would never admit it, but they needed help. They needed a firewall. He looked around the small town he loved and hated, and realized that if the Hot Nuts were going to survive the gauntlet here in this town that ran about as backward as a time-traveling clock, they had to have a champion.

  And that champion was going to be him.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Hey, Jake.”

  Averie gave him a sultry grin as she floated in the center of his pool, strategically arranged on a float for maximum sex appeal. She wore a tiny black bikini and an aura of come-and-get-me he couldn’t miss. Jake swallowed, wondering why his evening plans had just gotten hijacked—and how to get out of this unfortunate dilemma.

  He really was hoping Sugar would call. It was time the two of them talked. He was missing a big chunk of her life, and he didn’t want to keep getting updates from Lassiter. He understood completely what Lassiter meant when he said Maggie C wa
s a lot of woman. Sugar had not fallen far from the family tree.

  “What are you doing, Averie?” He felt pretty sour at the moment. He didn’t want to be cruel, but he certainly felt out of sorts.

  “Waiting on you. Dinner’s in the fridge.” Averie splashed some water over her legs and smiled. A beer sat in the holder in the float, and if his life hadn’t taken a drastic turn with the advent of Sugar in his life, Jake might have dived in.

  Fortunately, he did have Sugar in his life. He just wanted more.

  “It’s not a good time, Averie. As I may have mentioned before, you and I are over.”

  She let her bikini top trail in the water and flipped over, but not before he’d had a chance to view dark-tipped mounds of female flesh. Okay, he’d have to be dead not to appreciate a half-naked—almost-naked—woman in his pool, with dinner served—but he really wished she’d disappear.

  He’d take care of that in a moment. Right now, he needed to change. He was grubby from finishing up the patio with Lassiter. A shower would do him right. “I’m going upstairs to change. You really don’t have to hang around, Averie.”

  “It’s no problem.” She spread her legs on the raft, lazily kicking at the water. Jake recognized trouble and fled upstairs, cursing to himself. If he could get rid of her, and if Sugar hadn’t called, maybe he’d head over there and act like he just wanted to say hello to Maggie.

  Or maybe he’d just come clean and say he missed the hell out of her. Because he did. Every minute of every day he didn’t spend with her was beginning to seem too long, an eternity.

  I’ve got it bad.

  Funny how good it feels to be out of control over a female for the first time in my life.

  Sugar rang Jake’s doorbell, hoping he wasn’t busy. Today was a huge day. It was a great day. Maggie had a clean bill of health, and to celebrate the good news, she and Lucy were taking Maggie to Pecan Fanny’s later. On a whim because she saw Jake’s truck—and a car she didn’t recognize, but it was probably one of the guys’ or even Vivian’s—Sugar stopped to proffer the invitation to join them in person.