Lost in You: Petal, Georgia, Book 2 (6 page)

“All you Murphys have done well for yourselves. It’s nice to come back home and see your friends living good lives.”

“Tate wouldn’t have allowed anything else.” Their older sister was far more a mother to them than a sister. She’d taken the brunt of the abuse, had skipped a lot of school to clean houses and pick up side work to keep them fed. She made sure they all went to school, wouldn’t have tolerated anything else. They had a strong family and Tate was at the heart.

“For a gal so tiny, she’s pretty ferocious.” Joe grinned.

“She totally is. And now that she’s got babies? Even scarier. It’s sort of awesome how people scurry out of her way when she’s on a tear.” Beth smiled, full of love at the thought of her sister. “I forgot to ask you the other day. How’s your sister?”

“She’s good. Lives in Maine with her husband and kids. He’s an engineer. She works part time now that the kids are in school.”

They chatted a while until Lily came in with Chris.

Beth had eaten her fill and stood to hug her friend. “I’m off. Take my chair. Hey, Chris.”

Chris blushed bright red and waved.

“Let me walk you home and I’ll come right back.” Nathan stood.

“I’m perfectly capable of walking five blocks to my apartment. It’s light outside. Also, it’s Petal.” Beth pushed him back into his chair.

Joe stood. “I’ll give you a ride. I need to get home anyway. Buck gets lonely.”

Nathan gave her a look and she rolled her eyes. A ride home from Joe was way better than hanging out with Nathan. She’d gotten her time in with her brother and that was great. But her plan was getting Joe alone as much as she could. She hoped Nathan read in her features that if he messed this up she’d draw on his face with a permanent marker when he was sleeping.

Lily smiled all serene-like, reaching out to pat Nathan’s hand. “I’m so glad you’re still here, I’m starved.”

Beth shot her a grateful look. “Appreciate the lift. At least I won’t melt now.” She bent to kiss Nathan’s cheek. “Thanks for dinner.”

“You coming to Tate’s tomorrow?”

“As if I’d miss dinner at Tate’s?” Her sister had a weekly dinner for their ever-growing family. All the Murphy siblings were there without fail, and quite often at least several of the Chases were there too. The yard was big, kids ran all over the place. A good time was had by all.

“Love you.”

She grinned. “Love you too, goofus. See you three tomorrow night.” She turned to Joe, who led the way out, his hand on the small of her back.

His truck was at the curb. “I was hoping for the bike.”

“You like motorcycles?”

“I’ve never ridden on one.”

He looked shocked. “Get out of town.”

“I’m serious.”

He opened her door, and she hopped up into the cab, waiting for him to come around the other side.

“Riding on a motorcycle is one of life’s greatest pleasures, Beth.”

“I’m on Maple. Just go up here and hang that first left.” He followed her directions. “Then to 4th, go right and right again on Maple. So you should take me then.”

“Huh?” He’d imagined taking her a few dozen different ways over the last few weeks. And then he realized she meant the motorcycle. “Oh for a ride?”

“Yes.”

She smiled, and it made him all sweaty, both the good and bad kind. She was the wiliest female he’d ever met. And she was beautiful. And she had the most awesome boobs he’d beheld in several years.

“I’m the blue townhouse. The driveway on the right is mine.”

He pulled up and turned the engine off, and she reached for the door handle.

“Don’t you think about touching that door.” He got out and moved around to her side to open the door for her. She hopped down.

“Look at you with your manners and everything. I should let you know, however, that I totally have opening doors down. It’s a skill I’ve had mastered for many years now.” She fluttered her lashes.

He snorted. “Look here, we may come from the crappy side of town, but I know how to open a lady’s door. And I’m going to walk you inside too.”

They walked to her front door and she unlocked it. He went in first and turned to leave, but she closed the door, backing against it.

She smiled that smile of hers, the one that made him sweaty.

“How about you and me make a deal?”

“I know I’m going to be sorry for asking, but I can’t help myself. What deal would that be?”

“I was going to invite you to share a beer or two with me. But Buck is at home all alone so we can’t have that. So. Why don’t you run home, grab Buck and come back over? Then you can enjoy a beer and Buck won’t be lonely. Really, Joe, it’s the neighborly thing to do. Otherwise you’d be rude. That would suck.”

He couldn’t help it, he laughed, he was so charmed. Damn it.

But. She was a temptation. A big one. He shouldn’t have volunteered to drive her home in the first place, and yet, he’d jumped at the chance when he got it.

This was dangerous ground. But he had no energy to stop himself from going down a path that would end in kissing those damned lips of hers.

“You’re fascinating to watch.”

“Huh?”

She walked to where he stood. He told himself he didn’t move because the hall was narrow and she was between him and the door.

She put a hand on his chest as she took him in. “Every emotion is all over your face. But I won’t poke at you just now. A man can only take so much. Or so I’m told. Go get your dog. I’ll be waiting for you.” She stepped aside, and he sucked in a breath that was heavy with her scent.

He started to argue.

She rolled her eyes. “Really? You know you want to. So go on now. Buck will like the company.”

He huffed a sigh. “Probably. He likes company. Beth, you know this can’t be more than friends.”

She raised a brow. “Oh good Lord. You’re here in my house. Not because we’re friends. You’re going to run and grab your adorable dog to bring him back here, not because he likes company. You want to be with me. You want to get to know me not as William’s sister. You’re a grown-ass man. I don’t play games. Life’s too short.”

He stared at her. She wore a short-sleeved dress with a collar that should have made her look matronly but instead only made her look better. More feminine. Her legs were long and sun-kissed.

Beth Murphy was flat-out beautiful. And she knew him from before.

“You know I’m bad news.”

She snorted, one hand on her hip, an annoyed look on her face. “I know you
were
bad news. I’m inclined to cut a man some slack for what he was like at nineteen. God knows William had his problems when he was that age, and look at him now.”

“You’re very sure of yourself.”

“I grew up in a household with a mother who threw herself at one man after the next because she has some gaping hole she can’t fill. And no, I don’t mean that to be a pun. I may have flaws, but I know my worth. I’m not desperate for a man who doesn’t want me. If you didn’t want me, you’d have left by now. Hell, you’d have said your goodbye at the restaurant and let Nathan bring me home. I’m too old and too tired to dance around what is totally clear. You’re interested in me. In my lips, which you can’t stop looking at no matter how many times you tell yourself I’m William’s little sister.”

She sighed. “Look, go get your dog and come back here. You want to. I know you want to.
You
know you want to. You don’t have to marry me, for heaven’s sake.”

“I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Chapter Five

“Buck, we’re in trouble.”

Buck looked up from where he’d been chewing on some rawhide. One of his ears flopped back as he barked.

“It’s Beth. We’re going to her house.”

Buck hopped up, tongue lolling, big goofy grin on his face.

“Yeah, easy for you. But she’s my best friend’s little sister. A guy doesn’t go there.”

Buck sighed before he snorted and walked to the door, waiting, doing that little dance of his.

He would have spoken to Virginia about this in the past. But that wouldn’t be so easy now. First, she lived in Dallas. Second, when they’d gone from friends to lovers the transition back had been rocky and pretty much impossible.

He’d tried to tell her it wouldn’t work before they gave in and had sex. But he thought with his dick and she was an adult and they had some chemistry. But after a few weeks it had sputtered out and they’d never really been the same.

So he couldn’t call her to talk about another woman. Especially when what he felt for Beth was far more than sexual curiosity. He wasn’t that great at dealing with women, but he knew the one you broke up with doesn’t want to hear about how a new one is something you’d never experienced before.

He could talk to his best guy friend. But that happened to be Beth’s older brother. Not a good idea.

Buck barked again, scratching the door.

“Fine. But this is your fault.”

He grabbed a bowl and some food, and they headed back over to Beth’s.

She opened her door with a smile and then grinned to Buck. “Come on in.”

Joe allowed himself to take a good look. Both at her, and her apartment. It was warm. Framed pictures all over the place. This was a woman who loved people and who was loved in return.

“Lots of pictures.” He indicated her walls.

She nodded. “I like being surrounded by people who make me happy.” Her living room had a sliding glass door leading to a small patch of grass. She had a table and a few chairs with a big umbrella out there.

“How long have you lived here?”

“Um, let’s see. Three years now. I used to live in an apartment my landlord owns. I had my eye on this place a while.” She shrugged. “When it opened up I grabbed it. Tate is forever on me about buying my own place.”

“Roots are important.”

She snorted. “Yes. For Tate, they’re everything. Want a beer?”

He nodded.

“My yard is fenced if Buck wants to wander out and sniff stuff.”

He watched as she bent to grab the beer from her fridge. His whole body hardened. Buck wandered over to see what she was up to. She spoke to him absently as she cracked the bottles open.

He held up a bag. “I brought ice cream sandwiches.”

Her smile shot through him, pulling him closer.

“You did? I love ice cream sandwiches.”

Buck barked. She frowned down at him. “Not for you, Buck. You’ll get sick.”

He snorted.

“He’s a pig. You can’t tell him no because he doesn’t care. I brought his bowls but I’ll keep him outside so he doesn’t get food on your floor.”

She laughed. “Do you feed him outside at your place?”

“No. But we have company manners.”

She bent and pulled out a placemat. “I’ve got toddlers over here quite often. They’re worse I bet. We’ll put the bowls on this.”

Once she’d fussed around and Buck had pigged out—and Joe and the dog both knew he’d just eaten at home—they settled in on her comfortable couch.

She clinked her bottle to his. “Cheers.”

“Why’d you stay in Petal?” He’d asked it so suddenly it surprised them both. “I mean, you didn’t have the best childhood here.”

She shrugged. “I didn’t. But Petal isn’t about my parents.”

No, but he’d noted the look in Dolly’s eyes when she’d taken Beth in. The thing about travel, even to dangerous shitholes where people shot at him all day long, was that he could see where he came from more clearly. Petal was a good place in many ways. But divisions existed. Class mainly, though certainly race as well.

“At first? I stayed because I didn’t have the means to go anywhere else. I had an accounting job, and it was good enough to get me some healthcare and to pay rent. Tate and Anne started the salon, and they needed some more capital. I bought in. My brothers started having babies, and then I couldn’t leave or how could I see those kids as often as I want to? Tate got married and had babies and she’s…well, she’s my touchstone. I could move a few towns over. I worked in Riverton a while before I came to the shop. But…I think I stayed as a big middle finger to the people who made fun of us because of our clothes and our parents. I’m still here because Petal is my home. Jill, my youngest sister, she lives in Atlanta. She’s got a fancy life and a great job. But boy do I miss her. She’s cut out for that life. Big and exciting. Fast paced. I like it here. I like the slower pace.”

She’d been tearing the label off her beer and looked up, her gaze locking with his.

He wanted to kiss her really badly. Jesus.

He sucked a few gulps of his beer down and tried to break that moment, but she wasn’t letting it go.

“You should take pity on me.”

She smiled. “I should? How’s that?”

“You should stop being so hard to resist.”

She leaned forward, placing her beer on the low table. And then she climbed into his lap, settling in, her body facing his, the hottest part of her sliding over his cock.

“Am I then?”