Page 38 of Tart
Nine
The scent I followedas I walked across the driveway to my neighbor’s yard was heavenly. I don’t know what he was grilling, but I wanted a taste. It was nearly nine p.m., and the sun was setting lower in the sky. After my cold shower, I decided that a nap was necessary before I could even think about the bombshell that he’d dropped on me.
Truth be told, I still couldn’t wrap my mind around it. Most of my heart melted when I thought about his offer to marry me and his reasons behind it. He’d thought it out, but there was a lot he didn’t take into consideration. I was going to have to let him down easy and hope it didn’t ruin our friendship. I gave an internal snort. Sure, you’re worried about the friendship. You’re more concerned that you’ll never get a kiss like last night ever again.
I told myself to shut up and crutched carefully over the old fence line to save distance to his yard. “That smells amazing whatever it is,” I called, so I didn’t scare him with his back turned to me.
He spun around and set the tongs down, hurrying over to me. “Hey,” he said, moving to take my elbow but thinking better of it. “How are you feeling? I don’t think you should be up and about.”
I kept crutching until I could lower myself to a chair in front of the fire. “I’m fine,” I insisted. “I had a shower and a nap. My leg is already feeling better after the fluid was drained off it. I think the antibiotics this morning already helped because my fever is gone.”
“That’s good news,” he said, dropping a hand to my shoulder for a moment before he went back to the grill. “Have you eaten?”
“No, I was getting up to make something when I smelled your dinner. I hoped to mooch some of yours.”
“You’re always welcome to mooch some of mine. Do you like wild rice brats?”
“From Johnson Meat Company?” I asked, rubbing my hands together. It was a tiny butcher and processing shop in town that did huge business.
“That’s the one,” he agreed, pulling the links off the grill. “Let me get them ready in the house, and I’ll bring one out. Unless you want to come inside.”
“I’ll wait out here,” I said, already settled in the chair. “I take my sausage wrapped in nothing but a soft bun.”
I swear he moaned as he climbed the stairs to the house. I swear he also saidme too, but I couldn’t be sure. My phone beeped, and I pulled it out of my pocket, checking the message. It was from Hay-Hay. I opened it and read it twice with my head cocked to the side. She had big news to tell me tomorrow, and she’d be over when she finished baking. I wondered what that was about since she hadn’t mentioned anybig newswhen we talked today.
“A wild rice brat wrapped in nothing but a soft bun,” he said, breaking into my thoughts when he handed me a plate. I dropped my phone to my lap and took the plate, offering a smile.
“Thank you. My mouth is watering. I appreciate your willingness to share.”
He sat down in the chair next to me and set a soda in the cupholder on the chair. “I don’t mind sharing my sausage with you.”
The double entendre was less than subtle, and I smirked. Okay, so I was a child, but now I couldn’t stop picturing him sharing his sausage with me. “This bun looks familiar,” I said, picking up the hot meat. “I think I might know the baker.”
He was grinning when I looked up at him. “You might. Everyone in town swears by his dill pickle buns.”
“You won’t be sorry,” I promised, taking a bite. I know Bishop moaned, but he quickly covered it with a bite of his brat.
Neither of us spoke again until the food was gone and we sat sipping our sodas in the night air. The fire crackled to keep the bugs and the chill away as the sun finished its journey into the good night.
“I talked to Athena this evening,” he said, tapping his can on his leg.
“How is she? Missing home?”
His head shook, and he laughed heartily. “Not that girl. She loves her independence. She got a job working at Disney and is going to spend the summer selling Mickey Mouse ear balloons.”
“Wow, that sounds like fun for someone her age. Not to mention, a long way away from my experiences growing up in Minnesota.”
He nodded again, his head bobbing rhythmically. “It’s certainly not your typical summer job. She has always loved everything Disney, though. She felt bad that she had to push her visit here back to the end of August and will only be able to stay a few days. I assured her that I love her and that I want her to take these opportunities when they come up, not let them pass her by because she was trying to please someone else or do what someone else thinks she should do.”
Oh boy, it didn’t sound to me like he was talking about Athena anymore. Was he sending me a message in dad language? I chuckled at the thought inside my head and rolled my eyes. If he was, he was the hottest damn dad I’d ever met. There was no dad bod on this guy. He was one hundred percent ripped. I couldn’t stop thinking about him inside me, his breath hot on my ear when he asked,who’s your daddy, my little tart?
I rubbed my forehead and took a steadying breath. It must be the fever. It was the only thing to explain the nonsense floating around in my head right now. Maybe I hadn’t had sex in so long I’d forgotten how, and the hot man next to me already proposed. Okay, so he didn’tproposepropose, but he did suggest we get married—kind of the same thing.
“I hope I get to meet her when she comes to visit. She sounds like an awesome young lady,” I said, clearing my throat. I was thankful that the sun was gone, so he couldn’t see how those thoughts of heated sex brightened my cheeks with blush.
“You will, and she is. I’m pleased she’s confident enough to go out and do the things she wants to do without one of us holding her hand.”
