Tempting the Artist (14 page)

Christina wrapped her arms around his
waist and laid her head against his chest. Hearing his heart beat
wildly against her ear, she should have felt guilty for forcing him
to go with her, but she didn’t. No way would she let him close
himself off because of fear of getting too close to others. He
deserved to experience what it was like to have a close family love
on him. And the Jenkins’ were just the people to show him what that
was like.

*

“
Damn man. Is there
anything you’re not good at?” Christina’s cousin, Ben Jr. asked as
Luke leaned over the pool table preparing to hit the eight ball
into the left corner pocket. “I let you beat me in air hockey, but
here you are wiping me out in ping pong and pool.” BJ was a painter
who often worked with Christina and the biggest competitor of
tabletop games from what Luke could tell. They had met a few weeks
ago at a bar for a man’s night out that Zack had pulled together.
Like then, they all got along well, dishing out nonsense and were
having a good time.

Luke laughed when BJ groaned as the
eight ball tapped the sidewall of the pocket before falling in. He
and Christina had arrived at her grandparents’ home over an hour
ago and he had to admit that he was having a good time with her
cousins and her brother. Not having family, he could now see what
he had been missing – the jokes, the laughs, and even a serious
moment when BJ asked the fellas’ advice on dealing with his baby’s
momma.

“
BJ, don’t even bother
playing Luke in basketball. He’s good at that too and will have no
mercy when he dunks on your ass,” Zack said when he came up behind
Luke, slapping him on the shoulder. “He’s been this way since
college. Unlike some people who lose their talents as they get
older, he seems to get better.”

“
Zack, you should have
given a warning before you introduced him to us,” Jerry,
Christina’s brother, chimed in. “I lost twenty bucks to Luke when
we played pool at Terrance’s bar a few weeks back.”

Six years younger than Christina,
Jerry was six-two, over two hundred pounds and looked as if he
should’ve been on a football field blocking for a quarterback
instead of being a fifth-year electrician apprentice.

“
Well, that’s better than
the forty dollars I lost playing poker with him the other night,”
Craig Logan, Toni’s husband said.

Luke laughed and accepted the moans
and groans of how he had beat the cousins and walked away with
their money. He had inherited his father’s competitive nature and
ability to excel at almost anything he attempted. Back in college,
Luke’s skills had served him well as he often had to hustle up
extra cash for things his scholarship hadn’t covered.

He put the cue stick back in the rack
and grabbed his baseball cap, shoving it on his head low over his
eyes. “I’m going to give you fellas some time to practice while I
go for a second round of food.”

“
Whatever, man. Maybe you
should just stay up there,” BJ said as he racked the pool table,
preparing to play the next person.

Luke walked upstairs and outside to
the backyard for another plate of food. From where he stood near
the deck, he could see Christina and her sister arguing again near
the food tables. When he and Christina arrived, Peyton had laid
into her for not getting there early to help with the setup. Her
sister had shot him the evil eye and he was pretty sure part of the
problem between the sisters had to do with him.

They were so into their conversation,
they didn’t notice a woman lingering near the table listening to
them. For the most part, no one else seemed to notice their heated
discussion. Children were running around playing. Christina’s
parents, as well as another couple, were on the makeshift dance
floor dancing near the table that held a sound system and speakers.
And everyone else sat at tables eating and laughing, enjoying their
own conversations.

Luke’s attention returned to Christina
and her sister as he slowly approached them.

“
You came late with your
man and now you’re sitting around as if you’re an invited guest,”
Peyton said and set a fruit platter on the table next to the
vegetable tray. “I shouldn’t have to be the one who always has to
set up and then clean up around here.”

“
PJ, you’re really starting
to get on my nerves. You’ve been on my case since we arrived. If
there’s something wrong and I’m not talking about the brunch, you
need to just say it so we can move on.” Christina looked up at that
moment and smiled when she saw Luke. “Hey there. I was getting
ready to search you out to see if you wanted something else to
eat.” She approached him, planting a sweet kiss on his
lips.

He didn’t miss Peyton’s boy-toy
comment and though Christina was smiling, the smile didn’t reach
her eyes. “What’s going on with you and your sister?” He grabbed a
couple of pieces of barbecue chicken and ribs. When Christina told
him her uncle Martin could burn on the grill, she wasn’t kidding.
This had to be the best barbecue Luke had ever tasted.

“
Nothing.” Christina’s gaze
followed her sister’s retreating back as Peyton stomped off to the
house. “She has a bug up her butt about something. Instead of
telling me what her problem is, she’s harassing me about missing
the last couple of brunches and claims I’m not much help today.”
Christina followed behind him, making a plate full of vegetables
for herself.

“
Does she have an issue
with you dating me?” Luke asked the question quietly when two
people he didn’t know walked past.

Christina’s hand hovered over the
dinner rolls and she shot him a quick glance. “Wh … why would you
say that?” She grabbed the roll and looked everywhere but at
him.

“
Just a hunch. So why don’t
you tell me what the problem is. I have a feeling you already
know.”

Christina sighed and added a spoonful
of potato salad to her plate as well as his.

“
I’m not really sure. She’s
been acting strange for months and seems to be taking her issues
out on everyone around her.”

“
So she doesn’t have a
problem with me or us dating?”

Luke followed Christina over to an
empty picnic table set up under an oak tree. He was glad to see it
unoccupied since none of the other tables were
available.

“
She might’ve mentioned
that she thinks you’re a bad influence on me.”

“
How so? She doesn’t even
know me.” Luke had stopped caring a long time ago what people
thought of him, but if Peyton was giving Christina a hard time
because of him, it was time to nip it in the bud.

“
She thinks my piercings
and the fact that I don’t bend to her every command has something
to do with me dating you.”

“
And does it?” Luke bit
into his chicken, savoring the tangy heat and stopped short of
licking his fingers.

“
Maybe.”

“
And how do you feel about
that?”

Luke had noticed some subtle changes
in Christina since they first met, but he liked the changes. Gone
was the goody-two-shoe, girl next door type who dressed simply and
tried to be everything to everybody. Christina was still sweet, but
now she was edgier in her style of dress, the music she listened
to, as well as the way she spoke. She cursed more than he
remembered, which was probably because of his potty mouth, but she
seemed happier, freer.

“
I feel great. I love the
new me. Well, actually, I don’t think it’s the new me. I think I
have finally come into my own and I’m more comfortable with
myself.”

“
Well, for what it’s
worth,” he scooted closer and nuzzled her scented neck, “I love
everything about you.”

*

Christina was still grinning when she
walked into her grandmother’s newly remodeled state-of-the-art
kitchen. Luke always knew just the right thing to say to make her
feel good. Reiterating how much he loved her was an added
bonus.

“
Hey Gram, we’re running
low on potato salad and dinner rolls. Do we have more?” Christina
set the semi-empty glass bowl on the dark granite
counter.

“
We’re also out of baked
beans,” Violet, Christina’s mother said when she walked in carrying
a long aluminum pan.

“
Okay, there’s more potato
salad in the refrigerator, but we’re going to have to make more
baked beans.”

“
I can whip up a batch real
quick.”

“
No!” Christina and her
grandmother said in unison. Christina fell out laughing at her
mother’s facial expression.

Violet placed her hands on her hips
and scowled at Christina. “What’s wrong with my baked beans? Your
daddy loves them.”

“
That’s probably true, Vee,
but I was already planning to make some more,” Katherine Jenkins
said. “But since you’re in here, can you slice up the coconut
pineapple cake and that chocolate marble cake that I just finished
frosting?”

Christina almost burst out laughing at
how cool her grandmother handled what could have been a messy
situation. Katherine Jenkins was remarkable in dealing with people.
She could diffuse practically any type of problem before it
happened.

Christina removed the other bowl of
potato salad from the refrigerator. She thought her mother was the
most amazing woman she knew, but Violet was a horrible cook.
Unfortunately, her mother didn’t know just how bad of a cook she
was since Christina’s father ate anything she made as if it were
the best thing he ever tasted.

“
Okay, let me run to the
bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

“
You handled that well,”
Christina whispered, standing next to her grandmother. “Then again,
maybe it’s time you told her that she doesn’t know how to cook. She
clearly hasn’t taken the hint from anyone else.”

Her grandmother chuckled. “Bless her
heart. Vee is a doll. Even after months of giving her cooking
lessons before she and your daddy were married, I don’t think she
grasped any of what I taught her.”

“
Is that why you were so
adamant about me and Peyton learning to cook?”

“
Yes. There was no way I’d
have the next generation of girls not knowing how to prepare a
decent meal. Besides, someone had to know how to cook in that
house.”

Christina took the bowl of potato
outside. Her grandmother had taught her, Peyton, Toni, Martina and
Jada how to cook. As each one of them turned seven, she would have
them over to her house for cooking lessons twice a month. Christina
and Toni enjoyed it more than the others, especially their baking
lessons and the monthly Gramma/granddaughter breakfasts. As they
grew older, their relationship with their grandmother grew
stronger. For Toni and Martina, their relationship with their
grandmother was even tighter since both of them didn’t have strong
relationships with their mothers.

“
We missed you here last
Sunday,” her grandmother said when Christina walked back into the
kitchen.

“
Luke and I went away for
the weekend.”

“
I see.”

Christina groaned inside. Usually “I
see” meant that she really didn’t see, or that she wanted to say
more.

“
Okay, I’m back. I had to
let hubby know where I’d be.” Violet floated into the kitchen.
Christina couldn’t help but think of the phrase,
a breath of fresh air,
whenever her mother entered a room. Always smiling with a kind
word for everyone she met. Violet Jenkins could light up the
darkest room. “Is this platter okay for the coconut pineapple
cake?” She held up an oval glass dish.

“
Perfect. And CJ, why don’t
you frost that cake on the counter next to the stove. Use this
buttercream frosting.” She pointed to two containers of frosting
near where her mother was working.

The three of them worked in a
comfortable silence. Christina loved moments like this when she
could spend time with the most important women in her life. She
felt so blessed to have not only one strong, confident, older woman
to guide her, but two.

“
So what do you guys think
of Luke?” she asked adding frosting to the second layer of the
three-layer cake.

“
Question is what do you
think of him?” Her grandmother added brown sugar to the pan of
baked beans.

Christina wasn’t surprised by the
question. Katherine often answered a question with a question.
Anything to get them talking.

“
He’s the most incredible
man I have ever met. I’m in love with him.”

“
Aw, honey, I’m so happy
for you.” Her mother wrapped her arms around Christina and kissed
her on the cheek. Christina didn’t think she would ever get tired
of her mother’s hugs. “I like him too! He’s good-looking,
intelligent, and have you noticed that he has a sexy walk just like
President Obama?”

Christina threw her head back and
laughed. Leave it to her mother to notice Luke’s walk. God only
knows what else she had noticed.

Violet put the dirty, empty cake
plates in the farmhouse sink and rinsed her hands. “I know you were
pretty upset when you guys broke up, but your relationship seems
stronger than ever. I also can’t help but notice that your aura is
in full bloom now that you two are back together.” Violet closed
her eyes and held her arms up as if praying. “I can so see you guys
making beautiful music, and beautiful babies together.”