Chapter 19
Knox propped up on his elbow and fought back the desire to brush Lottie’s silky hair from her face.
Touching her, even lightly, might wake her, and she deserved to sleep until she was ready to get up and face the day.
The idea of opening his eyes to see her beside him put a smile on his face.
She could so easily be the one if everything worked out right.
After a few minutes, he eased out of bed, got dressed, and tiptoed out of the bedroom, down the hallway, and into the kitchen.
While a pot of coffee perked, he stared out the kitchen window at dawn pushing away the darkness. Was Lottie his dawn? Would she be the light of his life forevermore?
“I’m a carpenter, not a poet,” he whispered. “I build houses, and my romantic side only comes out when I’m with Lottie.”
A deer with twin fawns caught his attention when the little family wandered out of the woods at the back side of the house.
If things worked out with Lottie, would they have twins at some time in the future?
No answers drifted through the window, and the doe must have sensed a presence because she turned tail and bounded back into the dense thickets.
Both of the babies were nothing but blurs as they flashed their little white tails and disappeared with her.
Is that one of Lottie’s omens? he wondered as he poured a mug full of coffee and carried it out to the front porch.
He sat down in a rocking chair and appreciated the fact that the house faced the east so he could watch the sun come up every morning.
In that moment, he decided that all the plots and houses in his new gated community would face that direction.
The folks who lived in them could watch the sunrise from their front porch and the sunset from the back.
A chattering squirrel took his attention to a low limb of a pecan tree. “Enjoy it while you can because in a few weeks, I’m bringing a cat and a rooster to live here,” Knox told the critter. “And I may get a few chickens so Cheeto will have some company.”
The old, wooden screen door squeaked when Lottie opened it and must have put some fear in the squirrel because he twitched his tail a few times and then scampered up the tree trunk.
Knox turned to see her wearing a short, silky robe tied in the middle.
She looked like a statue of a Greek goddess with her hair flowing down her back.
He raised his coffee mug. “Mornin’ to you, my queen. You look lovely this morning.”
She touched the mug in her hand to his and sat down in the chair next to him. “Good morning, Your Majesty, and you look sexy as hell this morning.”
“We make quite the pair.” He chuckled.
“Yes, we do,” she agreed. “Royalty in a house that got stuck in the seventies.”
“It can be remodeled and refurnished,” he suggested.
“No, sir!” she declared. “We might ruin the peace if we did that.”
“I agree about the peacefulness, especially with no sirens or flashing lights, or folks coming by the trailer while we have breakfast. But answer me this,” he said. “Just how sexy is hell?”
“I’d say it can be described in one word, and that is hot.”
“Will you miss our hot nights when you are in El Paso?” he asked.
“More than you will ever know,” she answered and moved from her chair to sit in his lap. “But last night could have been a one-trick pony.”
“Oh, honey, that was just the opening act. The concert will last for years and years,” he teased as he set his coffee on the porch, and then did the same with hers.
His lips found hers in a string of kisses that didn’t end when he stood up with her in his arms. He carried her into the house and back to the bedroom to prove to her that the previous night was only the tip of the iceberg—which could and would be melted before breakfast.
* * *
Even sucking on a lemon could not wipe the smile off Lottie’s face, or the semi-blush from her cheeks when she thought about the day so far.
Sex before breakfast, and shower sex afterward.
Then dozens of hot little kisses as they walked around the property.
And now they were crossing the parking lot of Bo and Maverick’s bar.
Simply holding hands seemed like more of an intimate act than it ever had before.
“Are you ready for this?” he asked.
“Yes, and I’m ready to face Bernie now that we aren’t fake anymore,” she answered.
“Have I told you how beautiful you look in that cowgirl getup?”
“Just a dozen times, but I’m not complaining, and you make a fine-looking cowboy in your boots and pearl snap shirt. Do all of Bernie’s events have a theme?”
“Oh, yes, but she says the Wild West is the one the folks like best—all the way from the younger crowd to the elderly folks that we have here this evening,” Knox answered and kissed her on the forehead. “That’s just to hold me until this is over, and I can really kiss you again.”
Bo unlocked the door and motioned for them to come inside. “I’m sorry if you’ve been waiting a long time. I tried to keep a watch out for you, but we were fighting with Aunt Bernie. She’s determined to crawl up on the ladder and hang the garland around the ceiling.”
“Enough said.” Knox chuckled. “Reinforcements have arrived.”
Bernie stood in the middle of the bar floor with her hands on her hips and glaring at Maverick. “I am not so old that I can’t climb a ladder.”
Maverick did not back down an inch from the daggers shooting from her eyes.
“I don’t doubt that you can climb this ladder.
You could probably figure out a way to hang your skinny body from a thumbtack, but if you fall and break a hip or, worse yet, hit your head and die, I’ll be to blame.
Mary Jane would never forgive me, so you are staying on the ground. ”
“You are not my boss!” she declared as she set one foot on the bottom rung of the ladder.
Knox slipped an arm around her shoulders.
“Aunt Bernie, if you fall and die, you will fail your mission in helping me find a wife. You know your soul won’t be at peace until you get that job done.
You might have to sit on the steps leading up to the heavenly gates for many years, waiting on me to give up my bachelorhood. ”
“Okay, then.” She removed her foot. “But that’s the only reason. It’s not that I’m old and feeble.”
“Of course not.” Knox led her away from the ladder and over to a table.
“You know how us guys are all thumbs when it comes to decorating tables. Looks like the boxes right here are full of stuff for that job. Maybe you three ladies could get that done while we put the garland and twinkle lights up around the ceiling and bar.”
She shook his arm away and gave him a double dose of stink eye. “Don’t patronize me, Knox Callahan.”
“I wouldn’t think of it,” Knox assured her.
“Bernie, I’ll be glad to help you get the tables ready. Don’t the doors open for this shindig in less than an hour?” Lottie offered.
“And I’ll go get the boxes of centerpieces from the storage room,” Bo said.
“What are y’all waiting for?” Bernie snapped her fingers and clapped her hands.
“Chop. Chop. We’ve got a party to get ready for.
When you guys finish the garland, you can go to the storage room and bring out those boxes of cowboy and cowgirl hats.
I’ll sit at the table to take tickets or sell to the folks who didn’t already buy them and give out hats to anyone who hasn’t got one. ”
She pulled the first tablecloth from the box and turned to Lottie. “I’m glad you are here. You and I never did get that visit on Easter, so while we work, we will have it today. We’ll work together to get these on the tables. Bo can come behind us and fix the centerpieces.”
“Sounds like an organized plan to me.” Lottie ripped open a bag and laid the red plastic cloth on the first table.
Bernie did the same with a table right beside that one. “Okay, now tell me the truth about you and Knox. Is this relationship just a sham or is it real?”
“What do you think?” Lottie asked.
Bernie studied her for a few seconds and then sighed. “I’m of two minds about it. I was sure he had talked you into pretending so that I wouldn’t set him up on blind dates. But there’s something different between y’all tonight than there was at Easter.”
“What is it that’s so different?” Lottie asked another question without answering.
“The glow in your face. You are either having sex with Knox or you are pregnant,” Bernie said.
“Well, I’m definitely not pregnant, but we are really dating.
You really did kind of introduce us since you took me to Tripp and Willa Rose’s wedding, so I suppose you get the credit for us,” Lottie answered truthfully and attempted to change the subject.
“We spent last night at his new house. It’s so peaceful out there. You have to come see it.”
“Oh, I definitely will, but I’ve been in that house before. Eula Faye, Roman’s wife, was in our Sunday school poker club and hosted the game a couple of times before she passed away.” Bernie straightened the last disposable cloth.
“Sunday school poker?” Lottie giggled. “I never thought I’d hear those words in the same sentence.”
“Maybe so, but I sure miss those Friday night games.” Bernie pulled out a chair and sat down. “Now, tell me something. Just how serious are y’all?”
“Well, he asked me to help him with this new housing project he wants to build.” Lottie followed her lead and pulled out a chair for herself. “We’ve really become a team in the framing business.”
“Does that mean you’ll be living here when you get done with the job down south?” Bernie asked.
“After the summer”—Lottie paused—“if I take the job. I haven’t given him an answer yet.”
“Well, damn it! That means I might fail in this mission.” Bernie groaned.