Smokin' Hot Page 13

  “Regular, peach, or black mango?” Jami asked.

  “I’ll be adventurous and try the black mango.”

  “You’ll like it. It’s really good.” The waitress turned to Marcus. “Regular for you?”

  “Guess I’m too predictable, huh?”

  “In some things.” Jami smiled. “Be right back with your drinks.”

  Marcus watched her walk away, a small smile on his lips. “She was just a gawky teenager a couple of years ago. Working here has helped her grow up and not be so shy.”

  It surprised Rayna when a spear of jealousy hit her stomach, until she realized Marcus didn’t look at Jami the way a man who wants a woman does, but as a big brother.

  Or a father.

  Stop thinking like that, Rayna, she scolded herself. You can’t let memories intrude on a business lunch.

  She opened her menu to see a selection of at least twenty-five different types of hamburgers. Marcus hadn’t exaggerated about the variety. She had no idea how she could pick only one when they all sounded so good. Marcus laid his menu on the edge of the table without opening it. “You already know what you want?” she asked.

  Marcus nodded. “Chophouse Burger. It’s huge and delicious.” He leaned forward and tapped a selection on her open menu. “As much as you love mushrooms, you’ll like the ’Shroom Swiss Burger.” He pointed to another selection. “Don’t try the Burnin’ Love Burger. It’ll be too spicy for you.”

  First the chocolate old-fashioned donut, and now this. Rayna stared at him, amazed again that he still knew what she liked to eat, or not eat. “You remember I like mushrooms and don’t like spicy food?”

  He lowered his eyelids to half-mast, which gave him that sexy, bedroom look that had always turned her bones to mush. “I told you this morning I remember a lot of things.” His gaze briefly dipped to her breasts. “I remember everything about you, Rayna.”

  5

  Marcus watched Rayna’s eyes turn liquid and dreamy, the way they had so often when he took her in his arms. The hard nipples showing through her T-shirt proved her thoughts traveled along the same path as his—right into their bedroom. Or living room. Or backyard. Or any of the other dozens of places where they’d made love.

  Knowing how mortified she would be if she knew how her eyes gave away her thoughts, he pulled his clipboard over in front of him. “We’ll talk about the repairs to Grace’s house after we order.”

  His statement seemed to snap her back to the present. “Right. Okay. Well, I’ll take your advice and try the ’Shroom Swiss Burger. Is it huge like the Chophouse?”

  “There are two sizes—the regular, which is a third of a pound of meat, and one for the smaller appetite, which is about a fifth of a pound.”

  “I’ll take the smaller one.”

  “It comes with fries, but you can substitute onion rings. They make the rings fresh from sweet purple onions. There will also be a slice of purple onion on your plate with your burger, unless you specify that you don’t want it.”

  The corners of her mouth tilted up. “Hence the name of the restaurant.”

  Marcus grinned. “You got it.”

  She bit her bottom lip, which she’d always done while trying to make a decision. “I haven’t had fresh onion rings in forever.”

  “Then it’s time you had them again.”

  Jami returned with their teas. Before Rayna could say anything, Marcus placed their orders, substituting rings for the fries and including the slice of purple onion on their plates.

  “You realize we won’t be able to get within twenty feet of each other with our onion breath,” Rayna said once Jami left.

  Marcus shrugged. “If we’re both eating onions, it won’t matter.” He flipped to the page on his legal pad where he’d made notes about Grace’s house. “Part of the roof will definitely have to be replaced, and the kitchen wall that was damaged. I peeked through the hole, but couldn’t see enough to know if there’s extensive damage in any other rooms besides the kitchen. I can tell you more once we go inside after lunch.”

  “I hate that this happened. Nana’s house is only three months old.”

  “All the houses in Parker Place are no more than eight months old.”

  Rayna took a sip of her tea through the straw. “Does anyone know how the fire started?”

  “Our fire marshal is still investigating, but I heard a rumor that it was three teenagers setting off fireworks in the undeveloped field. Fireworks have been banned in the county because of our drought. The fire department put on the show last night. We hired a professional company and the fireworks were all shot out over the river to reduce the chance of an accident.”

  “Any idea which three teenagers?”

  “Yeah, but I’m not naming names until I know for sure.”

  “I hope they’re punished.”

  “Trust me, our sheriff will make sure they’re punished. Instead of partying all summer, they’ll be on cleanup detail at Parker Place.”

  “Good. That’s what they deserve for being so irresponsible.”

  He looked around their table to be sure no one sat close enough to hear him. Although people began to file into the restaurant for the lunch rush, no one sat directly next to them yet. “One of the kids is the high school principal’s son.”

  Rayna’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”

  “Again, that’s the rumor. And if it’s true, that kid is in trouble big time. His dad is great with the students and they like him, but he doesn’t believe in letting the kids get away with pranks and mischief.”

  “I think I like him.”

  The corners of her eyes crinkled with her smile. She wore her hair to her shoulders now instead of flowing to her mid-back. Marcus could see subtle signs of aging on Rayna’s face, but all those signs only made her more lovely. He’d still describe her body as slim, yet her breasts seemed fuller, her hips a bit rounder.

  She still stole his breath whenever he looked at her.

  After taking a gulp of his tea to turn off those kinds of thoughts, he turned back to the legal pad. It gave him the excuse not to look at her for a few moments. “After we go through the inside of Grace’s house, I’ll give you an estimate of the cost of repairs. Does Grace have a local insurance agent?”

  Rayna nodded. “Her insurance is with The Marilyn Peters Agency.”

  Marcus had worked with Marilyn Peters many times and her agency had always been fair. “Marilyn’s good. Is she the one you’re talking to at three?”

  “Either her or one of her agents.”

  Jami returned with their plates of food. Marcus grinned when Rayna’s eyes widened.

  “This is the small burger?”

  “Compared to mine, yes.”

  “It’s a good thing your one o’clock appointment rescheduled. It’ll take me most of the afternoon to eat this.”

  Marcus chuckled before he added the slice of purple onion to his burger and took a bite. He watched her as he chewed. She stared at her slice, as if debating whether or not to add it to her burger. He could almost see her mental shrug before she lifted the bun, slid the onion on top of the melted Swiss, and took a bite of her sandwich. She closed her eyes in pleasure.

  “Oh, that’s good.”

  “Told you you’d like it.” He squirted a healthy amount of ketchup on his plate. “I remember another time when you enjoyed mushrooms.”

  Rayna quickly looked around them while she wiped her hands on a napkin. “Shhhh!”

  “What? I didn’t say what kind of mushrooms you ate.”

  “We ate. And you were the one who got them.”

  “Actually, Lee Wilkerson was the one who got them and shared with me.” Marcus shook his head. “They popped up by the football field after three days of rain. Can you imagine that?”

  “I imagined a lot of things after eating that Salisbury steak you made. You neglected to tell me those were psilocybin mushrooms in the gravy until after I’d already eaten it.”

  “You were high
for six hours.”

  “At least.”

  He grinned when a smile tugged at her lips. “You have to admit it was fun. Colors were brighter, food tasted better—”

  “Sex was hotter.”

  Her eyes widened and she pressed her lips together a moment, obviously wishing she could take back what she’d said. “Sorry,” she muttered.

  “I’m not. The sex was hotter that night. You were insatiable.”

  “I think we both were.”

  They’d only been married three months at the time of the mushrooms incident, so they still had a lot to learn about what pleased the other sexually. Rayna had been a passionate lover from the first time they’d ever made love, yet Marcus had always felt she held a piece of herself back, almost as if she didn’t want him to think badly of her if she let go and became even more passionate with him. After eating the magic mushrooms, all her walls collapsed. He’d lost count of the number of orgasms she’d had that night. Hell, he’d lost track of how many orgasms he’d had.

  Walking the next day hadn’t been easy. But worth every moment of discomfort.

  After that, she never held back in the bedroom. He couldn’t think of strong enough adjectives to describe how amazing they had been together.

  To erase the uncomfortable vibes he could feel coming from her, he returned to the subject of Grace’s house. “I visited with Grace about a month ago. She told me she loved her house, but wished she had a few more plugs in certain spots. Coleman Construction can add those for her when the repairs are done. No extra charge. It’ll be my gift to her.”

  He could see by the softening in her eyes how much his offer pleased her. “Thank you. That’s very generous.”

  “It’s easy to be generous with Grace. She’s a great lady.”

  “Yes, she is.”

  Rayna swished her straw through her tea. The sound of the ice tinkling against the glass reminded Marcus of the wind chimes they’d had on the patio of their house in Irving. When she left him, she’d taken nothing except her clothes and personal items. He’d packed up everything in the house that reminded him of her, but hadn’t been able to throw away anything. He’d ended up renting a storage locker until he’d moved to Lanville. Once settled in his house, he’d built a large shed in the backyard and moved all the plastic storage tubs into it.

  It had taken him three years to unpack the chimes and hang them on the back porch of his house. The rest of the items she’d left remained in the shed. He kept telling himself someday he’d go through all those plastic tubs and have a yard sale, or just toss everything. If Rayna had left the items, that had to mean she didn’t want them. Not even the photographs.

  No sense in going there. She obviously didn’t love me as much as I loved her or she wouldn’t have walked out on me when I needed her the most. There’s no going back from that kind of pain.

  “Look around while we do the walk-through at Grace’s house,” Marcus suggested to get his mind off the past and back on the reason why he and Rayna sat here together. “If you see anything else you want done, I’ll make a note of it.”

  “Mattie should be there, too, since she lives with Nana. She’ll know more about what Nana might want than I would. This will be the first time I’ve seen her house.”

  “She told me you bought it for her. How did you buy something as permanent as a house without even looking at it?”

  “It was Nana’s decision since she’d be living there. I just supplied the financing.”

  He swirled an onion ring through the puddle of ketchup on his plate. “You must have a well-paying job to pay cash for a house.”

  “I’m a floor supervisor at my hospital. I earn a nice salary.” She shrugged one shoulder. “It took me almost three years to save enough money, but houses are a lot less expensive in Lanville than in San Francisco. I was able to pay for half up front and I’m making payments. It’s worth it for Nana to be comfortable. I didn’t like her living alone so far out of town.” She shook her head. “She fought me about the new house for weeks. That woman defines stubborn.”

  Marcus chuckled. “I’ll agree with that.”

  “She finally gave in and let me buy the house. She has plenty of money to pay her bills, groceries, and Mattie’s salary, so I don’t have to help her with any of that. I’m so thankful Nana agreed to my suggestion of a live-in caretaker. She could pick who would help her, but I insisted she not live alone anymore. Mattie has been wonderful. Nana adores her.”

  “I’m surprised she didn’t move in with you in San Francisco.”

  “I asked her to, several times. She always said Lanville was home and that’s where she wanted to stay. She loves it here.”

  “I do, too. It’s a great place to live. It’s growing, but still has the small-town flavor and friendliness.”

  He could see the indecision in her eyes, as if she wanted to say something but didn’t know if she should. “What?”

  “When did you move here?”

  Marcus took the last bite of his burger, washed it down with a sip of tea. “Two months after our divorce was final.”

  “Oh.”

  She looked down at the remaining onion ring on her plate. Anger slowly built in his chest while he waited for the question that didn’t come. “Aren’t you going to ask?”

  “Ask what?” she said without lifting her gaze.

  “You know damn well what. I can’t believe you haven’t even—”

  “I’m going to visit Nana.” Rayna pushed aside her plate and picked up her purse from the chair beside her. “I’ll meet you at her house at three-thirty.”

  “Rayna—”

  She threw up a hand, palm toward him. “Don’t.” She hurried away before he could say anything else, almost knocking Jami down in her haste to get out of the restaurant.

  Jami came over to the table with two pitchers of tea. “She’s in a hurry.”

  “Yeah.”

  Setting down one pitcher, she picked up Marcus’s glass and refilled it. “I heard a rumor she’s your ex-wife.”

  One thing not so great about a small town—the gossip. “Yeah.”

  “You still care about her.” She uttered a statement, not a question.

  Marcus lifted his gaze to Jami’s face. “No. That ended a long time ago.”

  The waitress tilted her head to the side and openly studied his eyes. “I don’t think so.”

  He released a humorless laugh at the serious tone of her voice. “You’re too young to think you know everything.”

  “Feelings have a nasty way of sneaking up on you whether you want them to or not.”

  He opened his mouth to comment, but she continued before he could. “I know what you’re going to say. I’m only twenty-one, I couldn’t possibly know that much about feelings or even life in general. I know what’s it’s like to be hurt so badly you can’t even breathe. So don’t tell me I’m too young.”

  A deep blush rushed to her cheeks. “Sorry,” she muttered. “I didn’t mean to …” She cleared her throat, straightened her shoulders. “Would you like dessert? We have fresh key lime pie today.”

  “No, thanks,” Marcus said softly.

  Jami nodded once. “I’ll get your check.”

  He watched the young woman walk away. He couldn’t help wondering what had happened in Jami’s life that hurt her so much.

  Blowing out a breath, Marcus removed his wallet from his back pocket, withdrew his credit card to pay the bill. He had too many other things to think about without adding Jami to the list.

  Like getting through the next few days with his ex-wife.

  6

  Despite the hot summer day, cold sweat covered Rayna’s skin. She’d barely made it out of the restaurant on her shaky legs. She thought she had prepared herself for whatever questions Marcus might ask.

  She apparently hadn’t prepared herself enough.

  It took several minutes of sitting in her car in the hospital parking lot before Rayna felt strong enough to visit with her
grandmother. She’d managed to hold back the tears, so at least her eyes and nose wouldn’t be red. Nana could always tell when she’d been crying with only one look at her rosy nose.

  She checked her reflection one more time in the rearview mirror before getting out of the car. The slap of heat and humidity helped bring her back to the present. She pushed aside all thoughts of her lunch with Marcus and concentrated solely on her grandmother.

  Rayna found Nana sitting up in bed, watching her favorite soap opera on television. It pleased her to see her grandmother seeming so refreshed. “Hi.”

  Nana looked her way and smiled. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d forgotten about me.”

  “Never.” She kissed her grandmother’s cheek, then sat in the chair next to the bed. “How are you feeling?”

  Nana pushed the Mute button to silence the squabble between the two characters on TV. “I feel fine. A little tired, but fine. When can I go home? Or do I have a house to go home to?”

  Gossip traveled fast in a small town, and even faster in a hospital. “You know about the fire?”

  Nana nodded. “Mattie told me there was some damage to my house. How bad is it?”

  “I haven’t been there yet. I have an appointment at three-thirty to look at it with Marcus.”

  Nana’s white eyebrows rose and a pleased glimmer filled her eyes. “With Marcus, huh?”

  “Get that gleam out of your eyes, Nana. My meeting with Marcus is strictly business.”

  “It could be more.”

  The hopeful tone to Nana’s voice sent a shaft of pain into Rayna’s heart. She knew how much her grandmother loved Marcus, and how much it hurt her when Rayna left him. “No, Nana, it can’t. Marcus and I have been divorced for four years. There’s no going back.”

  “Pffft. Until you’re dead and buried, there’s always a chance of righting a wrong.” She held out her hand, palm up, until Rayna laid her hand on top. Nana squeezed it gently. “You and Marcus belong together. You have since you were teenagers necking in my driveway.”

  Heat rushed to Rayna’s cheeks. She had no idea her grandmother knew about that. “Nana!”