Playing For Keeps (10 page)

She was shocked to find Eric and Arthur in the kitchen doing the cooking. Eric had turned and looked at her when he heard her enter the kitchen. She instantly began to wonder if this was what it would be like to wake up to Eric every morning. A man that could cook was a turn-on. She didn’t find it appealing to have to be the one to do all of the cooking in the relationship. The smell of coffee drifted over to her, and she looked at the pot with longing before entering the kitchen. Both men greeted her, and Eric instructed her to have a seat. A moment later he brought her a cup of coffee. She took a grateful sip of the black coffee, turning down the cream and sugar he offered. It was the only way she could drink it.

She wasn’t certain when she had become addicted to the stuff, but she had to have one cup every morning. Her eyes closed, and she murmured an appreciative thank-you to him.

Several minutes later, Charlotte appeared in the kitchen, and she greeted everyone before taking a seat at the table with Keirra. The way that Charlotte took her seat told her that the men cooked often. Arthur appeared by his wife’s side a moment later with a cup of coffee and received a warm kiss for the effort.

She looked at Eric over her cup and wondered what was in store for her. Would he ever greet her the same way? Charlotte pulled her from her thoughts when she spoke.

“I hope you had a good time.”

She gave Charlotte a heartfelt smile. “I did. Thank you for making me feel so welcome.”

Charlotte reached out and patted her hand. “You are welcome here anytime.”

Keirra appreciated Charlotte being such a gracious host. “With a family like yours, it is no wonder that Eric’s girlfriends don’t want to let him go.”

Charlotte gave her a look of surprise and shook her head. “Oh no, dear. You are the first girlfriend that he has brought home.”

Keirra’s eyes widened, and she managed to get the sip of coffee that she’d taken down without choking. That had been the last thing that she had expected to hear. It was becoming harder and harder to cast him as the bad guy that she needed him to be in order to resist him. She looked at Charlotte, searching for any hint of playfulness on the older woman’s face. There was none.

Charlotte was completely serious. She looked over at Eric, and as if he felt her eyes on him, he looked over at her. He winked, and she gave him a small smile before looking down at the coffee trying to digest that information.

After breakfast Eric had taken her on the tour of the house as he promised to do earlier. The house had a lot of good memories in it. She could tell by the pictures on the wall and the stories that he told. After the tour they ate a light lunch, and then they began to pack up for the trip back to Baxley.

She made no mention of Charlotte’s statement, although she was certain that Eric had heard his mother’s statement as well. If Eric wanted to talk about it, she would listen, but she wasn’t going to be the one to bring it up. To know that she was the only woman that he had brought home to meet his family was humbling. It was also frightening to know that he thought that much of her.

She fell asleep during the car trip back with that thought on her mind. Eric awakened her after he pulled up in front of her house. With a quick kiss, she told him that she would talk to him later and made her way up the walkway. She could feel his eyes on her as she walked toward the house. Once she had the front door open she turned and waved. He returned the wave with a grin before backing out of the driveway and heading home. Keirra closed the door and dropped her bags before sinking to the floor. Eric had her right where he wanted, her and she was certain he knew it.

She took a deep breath before realizing the television was on. Standing up quickly she tried to clear her mind. The last thing she needed was for Kayla to sense something was amiss. She picked up her bags and walked into the living and saw Kayla sitting on the couch. She walked over and collapsed on the couch beside her sister. She couldn’t wait to tell her sister about it but only the parts she wanted to reveal.

Kayla grinned at her. “So how was your weekend?”

Keirra fought a smile, but her lips twitched, and she gave in. She relayed all of the details of what had happened over the weekend to Kayla who laughed.

“So are you ready to pay up on our bet yet?”

Keirra shook her head. “We never bet anything.”

Kayla snapped her fingers. “I knew I had forgotten something.”

Keirra looked at her sister and rolled her eyes. “You have some serious issues.”

Kayla laughed and shrugged her shoulders. “We all do.”

Keirra sat up as she looked over at her sister. “So did anything exciting happen here while I was gone?”

Kayla nodded. “James Denton moved into town.”

Keirra sat up straight. She loved James Denton. Her sisters did as well. They never missed an episode of
Desperate Housewives
.

“Excuse me?”

Kayla smiled. “Actually his look alike did.”

Keirra held up her hands. She was completely lost. “Okay, you need to start from the beginning.”

Kayla did so and happily. Mr. Feldon was the retired principal of Baxley High School. She knew that Dennis had a son, but she didn’t know him because they had never met him. By the time they had moved to Baxley, James was living with Mr. Feldon’s ex-wife in another state. Basically she knew nothing of him except he had her sister drooling.

A smile came to her face. “So there is a chance you will fall head over heels in love before I do?”

Kayla laughed. “Are you kidding? I am already in love.”

Keirra shook her head and stood up. It was irrational that her sister was willing to admit she was in love with a man she hardly knew, and Kayla was never irrational. Still if her sister could become irrational over such a thing, Keirra knew there was no hope for her.

It was getting late, and there were some things that she needed to prepare for tomorrow. She had a feeling that it was going to be an interesting week.

* * * *

Keirra sighed as she sat down at the table joining her sisters at Sam’s Café. It was their weekly hangout during the week. She appreciated it even more now that Kristen wasn’t living with them anymore.

Keirra looked over at Kristen who was glowing. With her sister looking so happy, she couldn’t be upset that things were no longer the same. She also noticed her sister looked so content with the way that things were. It was mainly due to Randy. She had her own sense of contentment, and as much as she didn’t want to admit it, Eric was the reason behind that.

They talked on the phone last night before she had gone to bed, and half of her night had been spent dreaming of him. Even now he was dominating her thoughts. She rotated her head from side to side to clear it.

“So was anyone’s day as interesting as mine?”

Both sisters groaned in reply, and Kristen sighed before she spoke. “Yes, but let us share good news first, if there is any.”

Kayla spoke first. “Jamie Feldon was enrolled into my class today.”

Keirra laughed. “Jana Feldon was enrolled into my class.”

Kristen joined Keirra. “Jenna and Josh Feldon were enrolled into my day care today.”

Kayla’s mouth dropped open in shock at the major revelation. “He has four kids?”

Keirra nodded, trying to keep her own shock at bay. A man with four children would be a challenge, but her perfectionist sister would find a way to manage.

“Seems like it,” Keirra murmured.

Kristen sighed. “I hate to spread gossip, but Zebbie said that he moved back here to help Mr.

Feldon recover as well as himself.”

Kayla’s eyebrows rose. “From?”

Kristen’s expression was full of sympathy. “His wife died in a car wreck about six months ago.”

“Oh, that is
awful,
” Kayla exclaimed.

Keirra couldn’t agree more. It was awful. No one should have to experience a tragedy like that. They all knew it first hand. Nadia came up to the table and took their orders. Once she left the table, all eyes fell on Keirra. She held her hands up in surrender since she knew what was coming.

“I had a good time. Can we just leave it at that?”

“No,” Kayla and Kristen replied simultaneously.

She sighed as Kayla proceeded to fill Kristen in on Keirra’s weekend. By the time Kayla was finished, Kristen sat there smiling. Her gaze turned to Keirra.

“See, I told you Eric wasn’t a bad guy.”

Keirra rolled her eyes. “I never said he was.”

And she hadn’t. She just thought of him as a bad guy for her. His reputation was a little disconcerting to her at times. Their food arrived saving her from any more torture until she had a full stomach. Maybe then she could think. They all began to dig into their food. Most of their food was gone before anyone spoke again, and it was Kristen who did so first.

“Before I forget, I want to invite you guys over to the house for dinner sometime this week.”

Keirra thought that it was sweet that Kristen wanted to invite her sisters over to her place for Thanksgiving. This was going to be the first holiday that they had spent apart in their entire lives otherwise. Hopefully Kristen would stop worrying about them so much and concentrate on herself.

Even as she thought it, she knew it would never happen. Kristen was very maternal even though she was the youngest, and she knew her sister always would be. Still she was very happy Kristen and Randy had been able to overcome their past to step forward together to the future.

A smile came to her face as she thought about Eric. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she was starting to think Eric was the man she needed in her life. He was good for her because he challenged her. She needed to be challenged. She thrived on challenges. Eric would also keep her grounded when she was out of control. Most importantly, he would test her need to be in control. So far, he was definitely doing a good job of it. She looked over at Kristen, who was deep in thought. Maybe her sister’s thoughts would get her mind off Eric.

“What is on your mind?”

Kristen grinned. “Eric.”

Keirra’s eyebrows rose. “I may be a little new to this, but isn’t that where my thoughts should be?”

Kayla gave her sister a teasing glance. “Are they?”

Keirra gave Kayla a look full of impatience. “No more than you are supposed to be thinking about James Feldon.”

Kayla winked. “You won’t get an argument here.”

Kristen shook her head at the two of them. “Some things never change.”

Kayla laughed, and Kristen took one last bite of her honey mustard chicken and pushed the plate away. Keirra ate the green beans that she had left behind on her plate. A few minutes later, Kayla pushed her plate away.

“So what do you two have planned for the rest of the week?” Kristen asked before taking a sip of soda.

Kayla shrugged. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”

Keirra nodded. “Same here. Why do you ask?”

Kristen grinned. “I was thinking of spaghetti night on Wednesday for dinner if you guys can come over to the house.”

Keirra rubbed her stomach in anticipation. That sounded good, and they hadn’t had spaghetti since Kristen had moved out. It wasn’t that they couldn’t cook it themselves. It was that Kristen made the best spaghetti.

Keirra could already taste it. “That sounds good.”

Kristen graced her with her scheming smile, and Keirra began to have a sinking feeling.

“Good, but there is one condition.”

Keirra could feel her stomach begin to tighten in anxiety. Whenever Kristen’s issued stipulations it was never a good thing. “What is the condition?”

Kristen’s smile grew. “You have to invite Eric.”

Keirra closed her eyes and groaned. She might have dropped her head on the table, but it would have caused too much racket. One of these days she was certain her sisters were going to kill her or make her an emotional wreck, if not both.

“Will you stop that,” Keirra snapped at Eric under her breath.

He had been doing his best to irritate her all night. Her best guess was that her sisters had put him up to it, but she had no way of proving it. She was starting to get pissed off because he was making it hard for her to enjoy her sister’s spaghetti. He looked over at her with the innocence of a two-year-old.

“What?”

She started to tell him exactly what to stop doing, but she remembered other people where at the table with them, and they would only be amused by the situation. Maybe this was her fault because she had chosen the wrong outfit to wear. She had thought the ivory print tank dress would be safe.

Sure, it was a little form fitting, but it was knee length at least until she sat down, and Eric was taking advantage of the length.

“Are you always this beautiful?”

She looked at him as though he’d lost his mind. Actually, she was pretty certain that he had. He whispered the comment, but evidently, Kayla had heard him because she snickered. Keirra groaned and dropped her face into her hands. Eric smiled. She didn’t want to admit he made her feel beautiful. She was an attractive woman and heard the words quite often but not from men that meant it. At least not from someone who meant it simply because it was how he felt, not because he was trying to talk her into bed. Not that she would mind being in his bed. She paused when she realized where her thoughts were going. She might need to have her head examined. Looking over at him, she realized that he was watching her expectantly. His confidence could be maddening at times.

“You haven’t seen me in the morning,” she grumbled.

He smiled wickedly. “Is that an invitation?”

She gave him an appalled look that he would even make such a suggestion. Then again, she shouldn’t be surprised considering he was a man, a virile man. He didn’t need any encouragement.

“Absolutely not.”

Eric laughed as his hand continued on its journey up her thigh. Fighting off a tremble, she reached for her fork. His hand slid between her thighs, and she clenched them trying to prevent him access.

She almost gasped as he tightened his grip on her thigh.

He leaned over to her and whispered into her ear. “You have very soft skin.”