Her Texas Family (10 page)

His tone startled her. “What do you mean?”

He motioned to her feet. “Why are you doing that?”

“It's comfortable.”

“Well, stop it.”

She shifted in her seat to face the crazy man next to her. “Why should I stop?”

“Because I just put on dash protectant, and you're messing it up.”

He
had
to be joking. “Dash protectant is not a thing.”

“Of course it is.”

Wow. A giggle escaped. And she'd thought the floor mats were overdoing it. Still. “It's not like my feet are dirty.”

“I wasn't saying your feet were dirty, just that they'll leave a footprint up there.”

With a huff, Lucy dropped her feet back to the floor. “Anyone ever tell you you're a strange man, Graham Redmond?”

“No. Anyone ever tell you that you drive people crazy?”

“Actually, yes.” Lucy grinned. “I've heard that one before.” Her phone beeped, and she pulled it out of her purse. Olivia knew about the day, and she was likely going nuts without a steady stream of information and updates coming her way.

But it wasn't Liv. It was Bodie. Lucy hadn't heard from him in almost a week. She'd hoped he'd finally accepted that things wouldn't progress between them.

After typing a quick reply, she shoved the phone back in her purse.

“Here it is.” Graham drove into the lot, slowing to a stop by the boots.

The size and quirkiness of them standing outside a mall made her chuckle. So worth annoying Graham for this. “They are ginormous.”

“Yep.”

“You could act a bit more excited about seeing them.”

His sigh filled the car. “Fine. Wow. They are amazing. So large. I am impressed. Happy now? Can we go?”

“What?” What was wrong with this man? “We can't leave.”

“Why not? You saw them. Isn't that what you wanted?”

“We have to get our picture by them.”

Graham's head fell back against his headrest. “Lucy, we don't have time. We need to get to the wedding.”

“Oh, come on, gramps. It will be quick.”

Surprisingly, Graham gave in and found a parking spot without an argument. Lucy popped out of the car, waiting to make sure he followed.

They crossed over to the boots, and Lucy stared up in awe. She couldn't believe how huge they were in person.

“Picture.” Graham growled the word near her ear. She was losing ground with him. She'd better make this quick.

An older couple stood nearby, and Lucy flagged them down. “Would you mind taking a picture of us?”

“Of course not, sweetie. It's always good to see young love. We were just like you once, weren't we, Arnold?”

Arnold didn't get a chance to do more than nod his head.

“We had the whole world ahead of us back then. Are the two of you on your honeymoon?”

Graham looked as if he'd rather be anywhere else, and this woman thought they were a couple? Laughter bubbled. “Something like that.”

“Elaine, don't pester the children.” Arnold's reprimand to his wife was adorable, as he was holding her hand and smiling while he said it. They had to be around eighty and so sweet with each other. Lucy didn't have the heart to tell Elaine anything but what she wanted to hear. Though where the woman had come up with the honeymoon assumption, Lucy didn't have a clue. It wasn't as if she or Graham had wedding rings on their left hands.

But if Elaine wanted to see a couple in love, Lucy planned to give her exactly that.

She grabbed Graham's hand and tugged him close, receiving widened, dangerous eyes as a response. This might be the most fun she'd had all day.

“We're not—”

“Oh, come on, honey.” Lucy cut Graham off. “Let's get our picture taken.” She handed Elaine her cell phone and went through a five-minute explanation of how to take a photo with it, then pulled Graham toward the boots.

The agitation rolling off him made Lucy's laughter build. He was going to kill her. Which somehow only made the situation more entertaining.

“What are you doing?” Spoken low and near her ear, Graham's words sent shivers down her neck.

“Play along,” she whispered back. “I'm just having fun. Let the sweet couple see us happy newlyweds on our honeymoon.”

“Lucy.”

She tugged Graham next to her and snuggled into his side. When his arm didn't go around her, she lifted it up and put it on her shoulders, then tucked back against his chest.

“You look adorable!” Their cupid was waving one hand as Lucy's phone wobbled precariously in her other hand. “Look here! I'll take a few.”

“Smile,” Lucy commanded. “Look at the camera.”

She could feel Graham glaring at her. “No. You're lying to this woman.”

Lucy met his heated gaze. “Graham, she doesn't know us. I'm just trying to make her day. I—”

“I love that with you looking at each other!” Their photographer was still snapping away, acting as if she were on a professional photo shoot. “Now kiss!”

“See?” Graham raised the arm that wasn't around Lucy. “See what you've done now?” He faced the woman, and Lucy just knew he was going to call out the truth and totally ruin the moment. It was just a kiss. Why did he have to make such a big deal out of everything?

Lucy put her hands behind Graham's neck and pulled his head down to meet hers. Just a quick lip-lock was all she needed—enough to satisfy Elaine.

But even with that logic backing her up, Lucy paused with Graham's mouth inches from hers. And then, before she could overanalyze, she went for it, pressing her lips to his.

Graham's mouth and whole body went rigid. Lucy braced for him to pull back and scold her, hoping Elaine wouldn't be able to see the truth of their relationship when he did. But instead of pushing her away, something in Graham's stance softened and his lips stayed on Lucy's.

It wasn't
exactly
a kiss back. But it definitely registered somewhere in the lips-meeting-and-staying department. Lucy didn't know what to call it. She only knew that while she was analyzing the moment, his lips were still on hers. They were soft, and the surprising taste and scent of Graham swirled around her, almost taking her out at the knees.

His hands traveled to her back, and Lucy let out a small sigh. Was he going to pull her closer?

All of a sudden she was cold. Alone. Her body swayed, and she opened her eyes to find Graham standing a foot away from her, looking as though he were standing in the middle of a freeway about to be run down by oncoming traffic.

He didn't speak. His mouth opened. Closed. Oh, man. She might have to take him to the ER. She could see them racing through the automatic doors, envision the conversation now.

He's in shock. Help him, please.

What happened?

We had an almost kiss.

Lucy clung to her amusement. She wanted to laugh. To think about the encounter as a typical Lucy decision and not dwell on the fact that Graham hadn't immediately pulled away.

She didn't want to think about how his lips had felt on hers.

Because then all she'd be able to think about was how she'd like to do it again.

Chapter Ten

W
hat had just happened? Had Lucy just
kissed
him? “What was that?”

She winced. “A kiss. For Elaine.”

“For Elaine?” His voice was somewhere between snarl and about to lose it.

Lucy took a small step back, palms raised in defense. “It was just—”

“That was quite the kiss, you two.” Elaine shoved the phone in his face. When he didn't take it, she offered it to Lucy. “Here's your camera, sweetie.”

Lucy was coherent enough to accept it. She exchanged a thank-you and a few more sentences with the couple before Elaine and Arnold left.

Why did Lucy look so calm? Why wasn't she as much of a mess as he was? And again, what had just happened? One moment, Graham had been arguing with Lucy, and the next, their lips had met. And stayed.

Why, why, why had they stayed? Why hadn't he stepped back? Grabbed Lucy's arms and removed her mouth from his?

Because he hadn't wanted to.

That couldn't be right. It had to be that he...hadn't kissed anyone in years. He'd been thinking of Brooke. He'd wished it was her.

Had to be.

When Lucy had yanked him down and kissed him, his first instinct had been logical. Back away and ask her what in the world she was doing. The move had seemed dramatic, even for her. But then, while he'd been contemplating all of that, he'd edged...closer. As if he couldn't stop his hands from sliding around her, as if she'd been made to fit into his arms.

His conscience and logic were having a huge after-party in his brain right now, raking him over for letting that lip-lock moment continue.

He knew better. Lucy might not, but he did.

“I'm sorry.” His words came out strangled, as the situation wasn't really his fault, but he didn't know what else to say. Lucy might be Lucy, but he should have stopped her antics. And he was done wondering why he hadn't. Now he just needed to fix it. He needed it to go away.

“Me, too.” She slid her phone into her back pocket. Took another step back. “It was just a joke that got—”

“Out of hand.”

“Exactly. No big deal.” Then why did she look sort of wounded and shocked at the same time? “We should go.” She waved her hand in the direction of the parking lot. “Wedding.”

“Right. Wedding.”

They walked to the car in silence and got in. Lucy put on her playlist, and Graham punched in the address to Danielle's uncle's house on his GPS.

The whole drive, Graham kept repeating Lucy's words in his mind.

No big deal.

Not once did they feel true.

* * *

Lucy wouldn't mind a dance. They'd been at the wedding for hours already—from the outdoor ceremony through the dinner and now into the twilight reception.

So far her nondate had talked to everyone but her.

The whole plan to give Graham a day of fun had backfired. Since their kiss, he'd been unable to look her in the eyes. Not only had she
not
given him a relaxing day off, she'd moved their budding friendship back a few steps.

She stared past the makeshift dance floor under a tree strung with white lights and paper balls, toying with the napkin in front of her.

Danielle's uncle's place looked like something off of Pinterest. The massive lawn stretched from a tall, regal white house down to a man-made lake. A private lake hadn't ranked high on Lucy's need list until tonight. It was gorgeous with hints of sunset reflecting off the water.

“Ms. Lucy, will you dance with us?”

She turned to see two little girls from her dance class standing in front of her. The twins had been the flower girls in the wedding—Danielle's cousin's daughters, if Lucy recalled correctly. They were wearing white taffeta dresses and those little-girl high heels that nights like this were made of.

“Of course.” Lucy wasn't going to let the kiss with Graham ruin her whole night.

They walked onto the dance floor and held hands, turning in time to the music. After a few minutes, Lucy's enjoyment grew. The girls were delightful, spinning in order to watch their dresses twirl around them. She joined in, making the skirt of her yellow lace dress do the same.

When the music changed and the tempo increased, the three of them broke out into crazy dance moves, and Lucy giggled along with the girls. She even threw in a few robot moves for good measure. By the end of the song she was feeling far more like herself. One mistake wouldn't get her down. She'd talk to Graham and apologize again. Somehow she'd convince him to forget all about her kissing him. Somehow she'd shake the moment from her mind, too.

When the song changed to Beyoncé's “Single Ladies,” the little girls started singing along. Lucy bent to hear the words they were using, laughter bubbling when she deciphered them.

All the singing ladies.

Danielle came flying onto the dance floor to join them. “I can't believe this song doesn't apply to me anymore!” She glowed with a color makeup couldn't produce. Only a bride could pull off that look.

“I'm so happy for you.” Lucy hugged Danielle, thankful she'd become a friend so easily in the past few weeks.

“Thanks, hon. Oh!” Her eyes widened. “We should have done the bouquet toss to this song. It's perfect. These are the kind of details that don't get planned when you do a wedding in two weeks.”

“The wedding, the place, everything is perfect. I thought maybe you were skipping the bouquet toss.” That part of a wedding usually didn't bother Lucy, but tonight, she wasn't feeling it.

Danielle laughed and shook her finger. “Nice try.”

The music switched to something slow, and the current crowd filtered off, a new group taking their place.

Including Graham and the woman he'd been talking to for a while. Lucy watched them as she waved goodbye to the little girls and left the dance floor.

Beautiful, with dark brown hair, the woman was laughing at whatever Graham said. She wore a fitted plum dress that landed just above the knee, simple black heels and a pearl necklace. With Graham rocking a black suit, blue shirt and striped tie, the two of them looked as though they came from the same world and belonged together.

The kind of woman his in-laws would probably approve of.

Lucy glanced down at her fitted yellow lace dress that flared at the waist. She'd paired it with whimsical gold high-heeled sandals and a thin leaf forehead necklace. Earlier, she'd loved the outfit. Now she just felt out of place. Not at the wedding, but in Graham's life. What had she been thinking, trying to help Graham relax and have fun? Why had she thought she could be the one to bring happiness into his life?

Lucy walked over to the outdoor fireplace and snagged one of the blankets stacked on the short brick wall. The day had been gorgeous, temperatures hovering above seventy. Now the heat faded without the sun. With the gas fire pit and outdoor heaters going, none of the guests seemed to notice, though a few had slipped inside. Lucy considered it balmy compared to what she'd be enduring if she were back in Colorado.

She made her way down to the water, stopping to take off her shoes. Slipping her fingers into the heels, she continued walking, the grass tickling her feet.

A wooden dock stretched into the fading light. Lucy walked to the end and sat down, her toes barely nipping into the water. It was cold, and the temperature had her scooting back so that her feet no longer touched. She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and tugged it close.

Her sigh echoed into the night, the pain that accompanied it surprising her. Unwanted tears surfaced as the events of the afternoon came rushing back. Mainly one event.

What had she done?

Lucy had always been adamant that it wasn't the fear of getting hurt that kept her from serious relationships. She'd fought with her sister over the very subject mere weeks ago.

But Olivia had been right. It was about protecting herself. It was about not letting herself get hurt.

Lucy could finally see it as the truth. But it was a truth that came too late.

Because her attraction to Graham was more than just that. She...was interested in him. She liked him. He drove her crazy. He was insanely neat and detailed—the total opposite of her—and she wanted a repeat of that kiss.

More than one.

She'd gone from
I'm never getting serious
to
I'm in serious trouble
in one instant today.

“No.” The word hissed into the night, joining the muted sounds of the party behind her and the silent lake before her. She couldn't turn a one-eighty like that. She couldn't go from nothing to having feelings for Graham, could she?

She went back through the moments in her mind, from when she'd first met Graham until now, including her sister's wedding last summer. Had it all started way back then? Seeing Graham on the dance floor with Mattie?

She had to be wrong.

Lucy wanted to go back to her innocence again, to believing she didn't date because of her desire for fun. She wanted it to have nothing to do with trying to protect herself.

But the kiss today—albeit an almost kiss—had shattered all of those beliefs.

* * *

Graham had a beautiful woman in his arms, but she didn't hold his attention. He'd asked Cherie—an old friend from school—to dance when she'd prompted him. It hadn't been his idea, and truthfully, he wanted to stay away from women in general at the moment. After what had happened with Lucy, who knew what would happen if he got near another one? But since Cherie had openly hinted...it would have been impolite not to ask.

So here he swayed, on a makeshift dance floor underneath a tree dripping with lights. Danielle and Scott danced together a few feet away, both looking so happy. Graham didn't know how they'd made the wedding come together on such short notice, but the place looked fantastic. Intimate and relaxed at the same time. The wedding fit Danielle.

She'd been with him from the beginning of opening the clinic, and Lucy was right. He'd never have missed this. Danielle meant too much to him. He'd danced with her earlier and told her that. She'd laughed away his sincerity, though her eyes had filled with tears. Graham had great people in his life. He'd seen God's presence and provision in so many little and big ways over the past few years. Losing Brooke had been horrible, but he wasn't alone.

While they danced, Cherie chatted and Graham halfway listened. Something about what old classmates were doing now. But the vision of Lucy dancing with the little girls minutes earlier stole into Graham's mind despite his attempts to shake it—much like that kiss.

Lucy was always beautiful. Graham wouldn't be a living, breathing male if he couldn't admit that. But in that moment, she'd been even more breathtaking than usual.

There was something about her Graham couldn't put into words.

She'd been laughing and acting goofy with the girls—not caring what anyone thought. Not realizing that every single man attending the wedding had his eyes on her.

When they'd arrived at Danielle's uncle's house and changed for the wedding, Lucy had got ready with some of Danielle's wedding party. Now she had on a yellow dress and a necklace that went across her forehead. He didn't know what to call it. It was delicate, with tiny gold leaves along the chain. With her hair down and loose curls flowing over her shoulders, she looked like a flower child. As though she should be running through a field barefoot.

But the dress didn't make her. She made the dress.

Graham didn't know what to do with her. He didn't have room in his life for Lucy. He wasn't willing to make space. Not that she was asking him to. He doubted she had any feelings of attraction to him at all. He was too old for her. Lucy would find someone young. She'd marry someday and have kids. But not soon. She had too much life to go out and live. Graham imagined she could easily bounce from city to city without a care. She'd be leaving the office after Hollie came back from maternity leave. And though she drove him crazy at times, he would miss her. He could admit that. But then he'd move on.

“Graham?” Cherie raised one dainty eyebrow. “Are you okay?”

“Fine.” He shook his head, wishing the movement would clear thoughts of Lucy from his mind. “Tell me about your new place. Do you like it?”

“I do. I think I'll stay.” Her hand slid along the collar of his black suit jacket. “Unless I find a reason not to.”

The move made Graham uncomfortable. When his phone buzzed in his pocket, he jumped at the escape. He stopped dancing and checked the call. “It's my mom. I need to take this. She has Mattie.”

Cherie nodded, and he escorted her off the dance floor.

Even if the call wasn't about Mattie, he'd take his mom as an interruption right now. As long as she didn't have any “feelings.” He'd already had to do some quick explaining about why he absolutely wasn't dating Lucy but they just happened to be going to a wedding together sans Mattie.

Good thing his mother couldn't read minds. This afternoon's incident would send her into a matchmaking tailspin.

He answered just before it went to voice mail. “Mom? Everything okay?”

“It's Dad. Everything is fine. Mattie just wants to say good-night.”

Graham heard the shuffling of the phone and then his daughter's voice.

“Night, Daddy. Are you having fun?”

His mouth curved. “You know what? I am. It was a good day.” So he and Lucy had locked lips for a second. That didn't mean anything. And he had relaxed today, more than he had in months. Maybe years. “Did you have a good day?”

Her sweet sigh about melted him into a puddle. “The best. I just wanted to check on you before I went to bed.”

Wasn't he supposed to be the parent?

They talked for another minute and then said goodbye. Graham ended the call with a grin. He loved that girl. Once again, he was reminded he already had everything he needed. He'd had the love of his life. And he had a daughter who slayed him with her thoughtful, serious little spirit and a God who watched out for him, orchestrating the smallest details.