Bet on a Mistletoe (4 page)

     
Biting
the side of her lip, Lorna felt embarrassed that someone else had knowledge of
her shame.

     
“I’ll
pay you--”

     
Her dad
rubbed her on the shoulder silencing her. “That was kind of you, Greg. But,
I’ll get my checkbook and give you something on it.” Her dad turned to head to
the bedroom.

     
“I told
you, Samson, I don’t need your money. Richard took care of all that too. He
said it was his Christmas gift slash welcome home gift to Lorna.”

     
“
Ohmy, that
was very sweet of him.” Brightness lit her mother’s
gaze as she looked at her.

     
“Sweet.
I’ll have to thank him when I see him.” Or strangle
him is more like it, Lorna thought.

     
“Well,
here are your keys.” Uncle Greg dangled them before her, her Hello Kitty charm
hanging from it.

     
She
took them from him. With everything going on last night, Lorna hadn’t even
remembered that she never got her keys back from Richard.

     
“It’s
like the parade of cars out there Rebecca.” Carla Mae came in like a summer
breeze, trailed by her mother’s closest friends and charity group: Linda,
Sarah, Mandy Sue, and Pricilla.

     
“Lorna!”
They all screamed in unison and converged on her.

     
Let
the fun begin
.

 
    
“A quarter pound of sugar plums, please.”

     
Richard
came out the back office just in time to see Lorna standing by the candy
counter. With her natural curls held back away from her face with a band, it
reminded him of old times. Her face was clean of make-up and she looked just as
she had in high school with more sex appeal to the luscious curves of her body.
Nina must have given her a sample one, because Lorna was taking her precious
time at licking the sugar crystals off of the oval-shaped purple treat. Her
eyes were bright with enjoyment and her full lips were pulled back to a smile.
Those candies were how he’d discovered Lorna was the girl he kissed in the
trees that spring break.
Once everyone was gathered around the fire again,
she’d pulled an already open package from her purse and finished them off. He’d
remained hard the rest of the night until she left with her friend.

     
Unable
to get her out of his mind, he’d broken it off with his girl friend a week
later. Giving the excuse he needed to concentrate on school to get into a good
college even though he’d already been accepted to North Carolina State. By the
time he returned four years later, Lorna was gone.

     
Now, he
stared at her and wondered how she would’ve responded if he’d grabbed her by
the waist and laid her across the closest table in the dining room and tasted
all the goodness of her sugar plum.

     
The desire
to spread her legs wide and lick the cream from between her thighs as slowly as
she was doing the candy made him suck in air. His jeans were becoming tight and
if he didn’t keep his self in check, this family restaurant would become an
adult’s only spot soon.

     
Migrating
around the diners, he moved up beside Lorna. “Well, what do I owe the pleasure
of this sweet treat?” Crossing his arms over his chest, he waited.

     
Taking
her purple gummies away from Nina, his employee, Lorna faced him. “Can we
talk?” With her head she indicated a back corner.

     
Turning
he saw all the eyes of his patron’s observing them, so he nodded and followed
her to an empty table away from the other guest.

     
“Richard,
my uncle came by the house this afternoon and told me that you paid for all the
repairs on my car.” She ceased in licking the candy and bit into it.

     
“That’s
true.” He got comfortable in the booth bench across from her.

     
“Why
did you do that? I had planned to take care of it. Matter of fact, it would’ve
been just fine this morning.” Popping the remainder of the purple chunk into
her mouth, she leaned back against the seat.

     
“Lorna,
for one thing, your car didn’t start this morning. Second of all, I called your
uncle and he said he was free today with no cars in his bay and could take care
of it.”

     
Her
teeth seized the corner of her bottom lip. “How much do I owe you?” She pulled
her purse open and began to rummage inside.

     
Shaking
his head, he stretched across the table and touched her hand, halting her
search. “Lorna, you don’t owe me anything. It was a favor for a long time
friend.”

     
“Look,
Richard.” She leaned toward him and lowered her voice. “I’m not a charity case.
I can pay you.”

     
Lifting
his eyebrow he just stared at her. He wondered if she forgot that she’d
confessed to him last night that she was on her last leg financially which was
the reason she came home. “No, you can’t.

     
We’ll
call this a Christmas gift.”

     
He lost
the sight of her pretty brown eyes as she bowed her head and nodded.

     
“Whoa beautiful, why so silent?”
Touching her chin, he
lifted her face up and saw her liquid gaze.

     
“Sweetheart,
don’t cry. If it means that much to you, I’ll let you pay me back. Shoot, I’d
love your help with my bookke--”

     
“It’s
not that.” She waved her hand between them, stopping his words.

     
He
watched her take in a shaky breath to calm down. “What is it?”

     
“All
the things that my parents have done for me…” She turned her head, as if taking
in the painting of the cow wearing a bonnet. “I’ve been so selfish over the
years. Now here I am groveling again and I can’t even afford to get them
Christmas gifts.”

     
Now he
understood. “I get it. Do you wan t me to lo--”

     
Both of
her hands came up like stop signs. “No! Please, don’t even think it. There’s
nothing I can do about it days away from Christmas.”

     
Richard
had never seen Lorna like this before. She was always so confident in school.
Head held high, knowing one day she was going to kick sand on this town as she
ran fast away from it towards her dreams in a big city. Now, she was back with
her dreams crushed.

     
“Just
having you home for the holidays or longer is more than enough for them, I’m
sure.”

     
Nodding,
she grabbed a napkin from the table dispenser and wiped her eyes and nose.
“You’re right.” She shrugged. “It just would’ve been nice to have something for
them.
A little appreciation.”

     
He
watched her lower her gaze to the table, fiddling with the strap of her purse.
Everything inside of him yearned to ease her mind and the stress weighing on
her shoulder.

     
“I need
to head home. My dad needed some things from the market. I want to get to them
before it gets too late.”

     
Reaching
his hand out, he grasped hers and halted her movement as she started scooting
off the bench. “Tomorrow night is the Carlton County Christmas party, are you
coming?”

     
Lorna’s
mouth twisted slightly as she sat silent, pondering. “Is it still here at your
family restaurant?”

     
Chuckling,
he said, “Where else would they have it?”

     
Her
nose crinkled in the cutest fashion as she smiled. “You’re right. I thought
maybe they would try the high school gymnasium again.”

     
“Not
since the disastrous event during your senior year.
Too small
to hold all the town folks.

     
Besides
I think my ears are still ringing with Principle Jenkins’ scream not to boot-scoot
because it would scratch up the floors.”

     
This
time she laughed outright and he loved hearing the sound. “I remember. Since
I’m in Carlton I guess I have to come. My parents would be heartbroken if I
didn’t show.” She groaned. “But I can honestly say I’m not looking forward to
the game of twenty questions on the topic of Lorna.”

     
“Well,
it is a small town.” Still holding her hand, he stroked his thumb across the
back of it. He was glad she didn’t make a move to pull away. “People don’t mean
any harm, their just curious as hell.”

     
“How
many cats have to die?” she grumbled. Finally, pulling her hand out of his, she
rose. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

     
“By the
way I do need some help with my bookkeeping,” he said.

     
“After
the holidays I’ll come by. Do you have QuickBooks installed?”

     
He
frowned.
“Quick what?
My dad used paper and pencil, if
that helps.”

     
The
start of a smile twitched at the side of her mouth, but the sadness hadn’t gone
away. “I’ll help.”

     
Getting
up as well, he towered over her. She looked so vulnerable, he wanted to pull
her in his arms and hold her. Shit, who was he kidding? He wanted to do a hell
of a lot more than share and innocent hug with her. More like hold her with
both of them buck-naked in a horizontal position and a lot of stroking and
grinding going on.

     
Thankfully,
someone called him from the kitchen. Clearing his throat, he waved a good-bye
to her and went to take care of the needs of his establishment. One second
longer of staring at Lorna and he’d have pulled her to his office. Once there,
he would’ve let her
unwrap
a big Christmas gift with
her name written all over it.

     
Lorna
felt guilty as hell. The night had finally
began
to
wind down. Three hours of grilling questions from everyone in the damn county
and three hours of her tap dancing around the truth.

     
She’d
been home now for four days and still hadn’t opened up to her parents about
what was going on with her.

     
She was
being a sacred selfish twit. Regardless of how wonderful it felt to be home and
around her family, she knew it was all pretence until she opened up to her mom
and dad. Five days until Christmas and she was still holding out, like her news
was going to be a happy surprise. She shook her head. No, her news was nothing
like, ‘Hi, Mom and Dad I’m getting married to the man of my dreams’ or ‘Mom,
Dad, your son in-law and I are pregnant.’ Nope, nothing
like
that. It was more in line with ‘Mom, Dad, I dropped out of college and spent
all your money on a time share in the Everglades’ or ‘Hi, Mom and Dad, please
answer the collect call, I’ve been arrested and need you to bail me out.’
“Again,” she mumbled.

     
“Beautiful
women shouldn’t stand around talking to themselves.”

     
The
smile that curled up her lips was instant at the sound of Richard’s voice.
“Good thing I’m just marginally good looking.” Still keeping her back to him,
her heart fluttered at their word play. It was doing a lot of that lately.
She’d find herself doing things around the house,
then
gazing off in the distance with thoughts of Richard. It seemed as if her crush
in high school was rearing its head with a vengeance.

     
“So,
you say. I disagree strongly, Lorna.” Richard’s breath tickled her ear as he
leaned behind her.

     
“Why
don’t you help me win a bet? I’ll give you fifty percent of the winnings.”