Chapter 1
Chapter One
I pulled into Miss Laverne’s driveway. The rumble of my Harley settled into a purr before I killed the engine.
I was going to have to bribe some of the guys around town with plenty of pizzas and beer soon to help me paint her house.
But other than needing a fresh coat of paint, Miss Laverne kept it nice and tidy.
The wide front porch stretched across the front, and the hanging ferns looked awfully nice.
She had a good eye. I wasn’t sure when she had me hang them, but she’d been right.
I really enjoyed the days I came and visited Miss Laverne. She soothed me, made me concentrate on the here and now. She made me feel like a better man than I knew I was.
Stepping off my bike, I grabbed a bag of groceries from one of my saddlebags.
She was gonna be pissed that I had bought them.
But, because she hadn’t written out a list, that meant she couldn’t pay me for them, so it was a win.
A bigger win was the fact that I picked up some red licorice, her favorite.
I walked up the steps and knocked on the storm door.
“Miss Laverne?” I called out. When she didn’t answer or come out front, I tried the door.
Dammit, it was open. I hated the way everybody in this town thought it was okay to just leave their doors unlocked.
I stepped inside. Before I had a chance to work up a good mad, a delectable smell hit me.
She was cooking something wonderful. I couldn’t make it out. I knew all of her different cookie flavors, but this was different. I wandered farther into her parlor.
“Miss Laverne?”
My stomach growled. I wanted a taste of whatever she was baking.
“I’m in the kitchen, sweetie.” I shook my head at the word sweetie. It had taken me by surprise the first time she’d used it. I was six foot four, with a beard, t-shirt, and tattoos. Not exactly a man you would call ‘sweetie.’
Then again, who would have thought I would feel comfortable around all these cat figurines and doilies?
I wandered down the hall to the kitchen and stopped short. I was confronted with a spectacular heart-shaped ass that was leaning over the oven. It wiggled backward as a sweet Southern voice called out, “Yay, it came out just like I’d hoped.”
I was standing there, transfixed, as the beautiful blonde stood up with a wide grin, shut the oven door with a twitch of her hip, and put a pan on the stove.
“Look at that beauty,” Miss Laverne said.
“I am,” I muttered, stunned.
“What?” Miss Laverne said, glancing over at me. She looked me over, then grinned. It was a knowing grin. Miss Laverne was one sharp lady.
“Joy, I think Graham is impressed by your pineapple upside-down cake.”
I sure as hell was impressed by something.
Joy turned around to look at me, then stood still, her smile freezing, her big, blue eyes going wide as she blushed. Was she having the same reaction as me?
Fuck, I hoped so.
Then she smiled. It was a shy smile, but it blew apart every one of my circuits.
My world tilted. Actually, fucking tilted. What the hell? My heart started pounding against my chest like it was some kind of wild beast trying to break free. I forgot how to breathe. All I could think was “mine, mine, mine.”
Who in the hell was she?
“Graham, sweetie?”
It took everything I had to stop staring at the beautiful woman in front of me. It was like my eyes were glued to her eyes… her smile… and if she’d just turn around again, her ass.
Finally, I could look over at Miss Laverne. “Huh?”
“I want to introduce you to Joy Magill.”
Miss Laverne nudged Joy with her elbow. “Joy, Graham Wallace works with those nice boys who have that safety business. Don’t some of them ride motorcycles too, Graham?”
I winced. It wasn’t the first time she had referred to Roan Thatcher and Simon Clark as nice boys.
The first time Roan had heard, he almost busted a gut, he laughed so hard.
Simon, the other owner of Onyx Security, just narrowed his eyes and shrugged.
When I thought about it, he had an eight-and-a-half-year-old daughter who was a pistol, so he was probably used to unfiltered women.
“Hey,” Joy gave me a tentative smile and wave and brought me back to the present.
“Joy’s my houseguest. She’s a lot like you, Graham. She helps me out around the house.”
I couldn’t stop the frown from forming on my face.
“Miss Laverne, we’ve discussed this,” Joy said gently. “I love it that you consider me your houseguest, but you also need to explain that I’m your tenant. Otherwise, people might think I’m taking advantage of you. It’s better that they know I’m paying you rent.”
“Nobody would ever look at you and think you would take advantage, honey.” Miss Laverne tipped her head to the bag I was holding. “Did you bring groceries when I expressly told you I didn’t need anything?”
“I brought you red vines,” I said as I pulled the licorice out of the sack.
Her face lit up, and she took them out of my hand. “I’ll save these for later. Right now, I can’t wait to try Joy’s cake.”
“That’s for after lunch,” Joy admonished. “First, we’re having some of your okra bean stew. My Great Aunt Pattie makes that sometimes for the diner, but she uses white rice and pinto beans and then some spices that she hasn’t ever told us about.”
I loved the way she coaxed Miss Laverne not to indulge her sweet tooth. I always worried about the older woman’s sugar intake. Diabetes was no joke. Of course, it never stopped me from occasionally buying her the licorice she so loved.
“I’m sure mine won’t taste nearly as good as hers,” Miss Laverne said in her normal humble manner, but I was betting she’d knock Joy’s socks off.
“What can I do to help with lunch?” I asked.
“You can go to the dining room and sit down,” Miss Laverne said with a shooing motion.
“Are you telling me I’m in the way?”
“If the shoe fits.”
I chuckled and left the kitchen. This was the first time I’d eaten in her dining room. Normally we just had our meals at the kitchen table. I noted that Miss Laverne had gone all out, using her ‘good china’. Hmm… Was she setting up me and Joy? If she was, I was all for it.
I took a seat at the head of the table, hoping that I would be sitting next to Joy. It would be fun seeing if I could make her blush again as we had lunch.
It took less than a minute for Joy to come out with a soup tureen, and she placed it in front of me.
“I’ll be back with the cornbread in just a minute. I don’t want Miss Laverne to have to carry anything.”
“Gotcha.” I agreed with her plan. Trying to take as much work as possible off Miss Laverne was how I rolled, too.
“Miss Laverne, take a seat,” I insisted as I got up to pull out her chair. After I got her seated, the older lady smiled at me. “You are such a gentleman, Graham.” She turned to Joy. “Isn’t he a gentleman?”
I watched Joy blush and laughed to myself.
“He sure is.”
I’d been living in Tennessee for two years now, so I was used to people speaking with Southern accents, but Joy’s accent was washing over me like warm honey.
Soon we were enjoying one of the best meals I’d ever had.
“I have to admit, Miss Laverne, this is better than Great Aunt Pattie’s, but I’d never tell her that.” Joy’s eyes sparkled like the summer sun off a lake. It lit up some of the dark places inside of me.
The older lady patted her hand. “I wouldn’t expect you to, honey. I think it’s time for us to clear the dishes and get dessert. I’ve been hankering for a piece of your cake since you took it out of the oven.” She turned to me. “What about you, Graham? Didn’t Joy’s cake smell sweet?”
“Definitely,” I drawled. “Joy and her cake are all kinds of sweet.”
Joy shot me a startled glance, then she stood up to clear the table.
“Uh-uh,” I said as I stood up. “You two cooked and set the table, it’s my job to clear and clean.” I soon had the table cleaned off, and the cake set on the table with small plates, forks, and a knife.
Joy stood up and cut three slices. She didn’t need to be told to cut only a small slice for Miss Laverne and a large slice for me.
“Are you sure I can eat all this?” I teased.
“If you’re anything like my brothers, you’ll probably be back for seconds. Not necessarily because it’s good, just because it’s food,” she laughed.
She had a warm laugh that washed over me like her accent, sparking an immediate smile out of me. Come to think of it, I’d been smiling all through the meal. Joy was just like her name, she spread it around, making me happier than I’d been in a long time.
I took a bite of her cake and let the warm goodness settle on my tongue before swallowing. “Damn, that’s great. Girl, you really can cook.”
“Bake,” Joy corrected. “I can bake. I’m only fair to middling when it comes to cooking.”
“You’re coming along, honey.” Miss Laverne smiled at her.
“So how long have you been in town, Joy?” I wanted to know, I would have noticed if she’d been here a while.
“I arrived a month ago. I’m working at Roxie Hart Veterinary Hospital,” she said proudly. “I really like it there.”
“Wait a minute, are you related to the Magills? Like Little Grandma and Miss Gladiola and all of their brood?”
Joy laughed. “Guilty as charged.”
Shit, I should have realized that when she first told me her name.
“Who are your brothers?”
“Seth and Randy.”
I knew them. Seth had a stick up his ass, and Randy liked to play pool. He wasn’t always a gracious loser. But he was young. There was still hope. Plus, there were her parents, Sarah and Cobb, salt of the Earth.
“I bet they have you baking for the diner all the time.”
Her smile turned down just a bit. “No. I’ve been living in Nashville for the last three years. I just came back a couple of weeks ago.”
I let that sink in for a minute. I didn’t want to ask how old she was, even though I desperately wanted to know how old she was. “Why Nashville?”