Walk (Gentry Boys) (8 page)

“Thank you,” she said. 

Fuck. I wanted her.  Here.  Now. 

I crossed my arms over my chest.  “For what?”

Evie grinned and stepped behind the couch, running her fingers along the back of it thoughtfully.   “For letting me do that.” 

Baby, you have no idea what I’d let you do and what I’d do to you in return.

“Well, feel free to revisit the task anytime the mood strikes you,” I said casually.

Even though my heart pounded and my dick was a rod of steel I felt strangely at ease.  There was just something about her. 

Evie nodded.  “Do you like hamburgers?”

“Hamburgers?”

“Yes.  I have a new favorite restaurant that’s about five miles from here.  There used to be an old house beside it but the house was razed to make room for a tiny urban farm..  The restaurant gets all their greens from the mini farm.” 

“I like hamburgers,” I said smoothly

“Good!”  Evie held her hand out.  “It’s past the lunch hour, Stone.  So how about it?  My treat.” 

I took her hand and she immediately laced our fingers together.  It was such a little thing and yet seemed so intimate.  I didn’t know her last name and we’d only enjoyed a grand total of about twenty minutes of conversation.  Yet I wanted to go anywhere and everywhere with her. 

“I can’t,” I said and almost bit my own tongue off when her face fell.  “I mean, I’d really love to and I’m not bullshitting about that.  But I have a family thing this afternoon.” 

“Oh.”  She was disappointed and didn’t hide it.  “That’s okay.  I mean-“

“Come with me.” 

She looked up in surprise.  I hadn’t thought about it.  I’d just said it.  But now it seemed like a great idea.  Cord wouldn’t mind; I was sure of it.  My cousins were always ‘the more, the merrier’ type of people.  They wouldn’t even blink over the fact that I barely knew this girl.

Evie looked uncertain but hopeful.  “You sure it’s okay?  After all, if it’s a family thing…”

“It’s fine,” I said and tightened my grip on her hand.  “My cousins are cool with just about everything and everyone. I would really like to bring you.” 

She beamed, so plainly delighted you’d think I’d just asked her to the damn prom.  She offered to drive but I had enough male macho attitude left in me that I wanted to be the pilot.  If getting behind the wheel still made me sweat a little I’d never let her know it. 

We chatted easily on the way to Cord’s house.  Evie talked about her job in the corporate office of a big construction company that was based downtown, mentioned that she lived alone and was twenty-five.  She was surprised to learn my age. 

“You seem older than twenty-two,” she said bluntly. 

“Yeah, well I
feel
older than twenty-two,” I admitted. 

Once, when we were stopped at a light, I tensed when I heard sirens but they faded and so I relaxed.  Evie didn’t seem to notice; she was telling me about her childhood in the pine country up north.  She talked fast, using rare words like ‘whimsical’ and ‘capricious’ and gestured with her hands a lot.  She also had a sharp sense of humor, blurting out comical phrases that got me laughing out loud.   I stole glances at her whenever I could, wondering how I’d ever come by that first impression in the café a few weeks ago that she was cute but not gorgeous. 

The more I looked at her and the longer I listened to her the more I understood that Evie wasn’t cute.  She wasn’t pretty.  She was absolutely fucking beautiful. 

Evie

There are probably a lot of women out there who would find all kinds of sensible reasons not to get into the passenger seat of a rickety pickup with a stranger who had a great body and a prison record.  

But I couldn’t think of a single one. 

Then again, I didn’t recall ever being accused of being too sensible. 

Stone was younger than I’d assumed.  So many guys his age and even older were full of a certain kind of cocky superiority that demanded the world, but there was nothing casual about his watchful blue eyes. 

There was pain in there.  Heartbreak.  Damage.  Sometimes I caught him looking at me almost warily, as if he thought I was something risky and unfathomable.   It was funny to me that a guy his size, and who looked the way he did, would be timid even for a second. He’d been genuinely shocked when I kissed him in his apartment.  

Stone had grown up in the small town of Emblem, coincidentally where the Central State prison was located.   But he shifted uncomfortably when he said the name of his hometown and I could tell he didn’t want to talk about the past.   I didn’t mention to him that I’d been to Emblem, that I’d been to the prison, that I had a blood-related reason to return there.  There were things I didn’t want to talk about either.  So instead I talked about life up north, where the air was crisp and not dusty, where ten thousand adventures waited in the shadows of the ponderosa pines. 

“Wait!” I shouted as we passed a supermarket.  “Pull in here real quick.”

He was confused.  “What for?  They’ll have food at the barbecue.” 

“Silly.  You shouldn’t arrive empty handed to a party.  Let’s stop in and grab a cake or something.” 

Stone swung into the parking lot.  “That’s a good idea actually.” 

After he set the break he sat there for a moment and gave me a long, hard look of approval.  There was something else in there too.  Something I’d lived long enough to see in many men and could easily recognize.  Something that caused heat to rush between my legs and produce the flutter of desire in my belly. 

I swallowed.  “It’s hot in here.” 

“Very hot,” he agreed.   Then he opened his door, walked around to the passenger side, and gallantly opened my door, offering his hand as I climbed shakily out of the seat.

We found an attractive chocolate cake in the bakery section of the supermarket.  I tried to pay but Stone wouldn’t allow it, plunking a twenty dollar bill into the cashier’s hand while I was still sputtering and trying to extract my wallet. On our way out there was a table of little girls in some kind of scout uniform, selling these charming handmade paper flowers in various colors.  Stone glanced at me, smiled, and then bought up all the blue ones. 

“To match your dress,” he said shyly as he handed them over on their pipe cleaner stems. 

I felt dizzy.  “Thank you,” I said softly, trying to persuade my head to stop spinning. 

I’d received flowers a few times before; lovely, carefully chosen bouquets that likely cost a pretty penny.  They were all nothing compared to these paper imitations made by the hands of children.  This boy was going to be the death of me. 

Less than ten minutes later we pulled up in front of a tidy ranch-style home in a nice section of Tempe.  Several small pink bicycles were propped against the garage. 

“Are we late?” I asked, noticing that the driveway was full and several cars were already parked in front of the house. 

“Nah,” Stone said, checking out the cars.  “It’s fine.”  Then he hopped out and ran over to my door before I could even get a grip on the handle.  He took the cake out of my lap with one hand and helped me out of the truck with the other.  “You ready to meet the Gentry family?”

“Gentry?”  I was startled.  We hadn’t gotten around to last names yet.  Surely it had to be a coincidence.  Gentry wasn’t
that
uncommon a last name. 

Then I remembered.  Yes, she’d told me about him.  Back when I first started working for her she had had mentioned a sad story about her husband’s cousin and how he was unfairly imprisoned for his role in an accident that ended in a girl’s death. 

Stone glanced back when I hesitated as he opened the backyard gate. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked. 

“Nothing, it’s just-“

“Evie!”  She was standing nearest to the open gate, her youngest son balanced on her right hip, her profile showing how her belly was already swollen with yet another Gentry boy. 

Stephanie set her son down and urged him toward the swarm of children playing nearby.  Then she beamed radiantly and came toward us.   She briefly hugged a confused Stone and then turned to me, opening her arms.  “I had no idea you knew each other,” she laughed. 

“We don’t really.  Well, we sort of do.  I mean, we met and we danced and now we’re here.”  I winced.   Brain damage often sets in when I get flustered, but a pack of other Gentry adults were starting to make their way over so I briefly explained to Stone.  “Stephanie happens to be my boss.” 

“Oh,” said Stone, still looking confused.  “That’s nice.” 

“And Evie is my favorite and most valued member of my team,” Stephanie said generously.  She winked at me.  Typically Stephanie wasn’t a winker but she seemed quite tickled by the fact that Stone and I had shown up together.  I knew the praise wasn’t a lie though.  Stephanie always let me know how much she appreciated my hard work.  She was a perfect boss. 

When Stone’s cousins were done slapping him on the back and saying crude but well meaning things, he escorted me around for introductions.  I tried to memorize names and faces but that had never been a talent of mine so it was proving difficult. 

Stephanie’s husband, Chase, was the only one I’d met before.  He was a high school teacher if I remembered correctly.  There was something else I remembered about him.  One time he’d surprised Stephanie at the office with a lunch delivery.  I remembered watching them together and hoping one day a man would look at me with the same kind of shining devotion that Stephanie’s husband showed her.  They had two sons, with a third on the way, adorable replicas of their father. 

The Gentry men looked a lot alike. Chase and his two brothers were triplets.  Not the identical kind, but it was clear they were closely related.

Cord, the host, was covered with tattoos and married to Saylor.  Together they had three girls. 

Creed was the biggest and quietly stayed back, holding a baby girl.  He did offer a friendly grin when Stone introduced me.  His wife, the mother of the baby girl, was movie star gorgeous with black hair, an enviable figure and a cheerful southern accent.  Her name was Truly and she greeted me warmly, taking my elbow and proudly pointing out her little son who appeared to be about four. 

Now that I was seeing Stone beside his cousins, the family resemblance was obvious.  They were all brawny and blonde and blue-eyed.  Give them helmets and swords and they’d look like a Viking raider party.  

Except one. 

Stone introduced him as Declan, another cousin, but the man smoothly extended a strong hand and said,  “Always call me Deck.  Good to meet you, Evie.” 

“Nice to meet you too.” 

There was something magnetic about this dark-haired, dark-eyed Gentry cousin named Deck.  He was staggeringly good looking but with a rough edge that wasn’t only due to his two-day beard and nest of tattoos. I guessed him to be somewhere in his early thirties and he had the kind of charismatic presence that, along with his obvious strength, likely made him a man no one was eager to cross.   

Deck paused at our introduction and looked straight into my eyes.  Several seconds went by as he appraised me carefully.  He must not have found anything disturbing because he relaxed and waved his wife over.   

Jenny wasn’t the sort of woman I would have pictured to stand beside tough guy Deck.  She was about my age; a wholesome, pretty redhead with a ponytail.  She seemed like the kind of girl you’d befriend in a yoga class and then go grab a smoothie with.  After she kissed Stone on the cheek she smiled at me and I caught a glimpse of the exquisite face peeking out of the pink bundle in her arms. 

“She’s beautiful,” I breathed, staring.  I couldn’t help it.  I was a shameless sucker for babies. 

“Thank you,” Jenny said warmly, smiling when Deck leaned over to kiss the baby girl on her forehead.  She would have red hair, like her mother.  “Her name’s Isabella.” 

I grinned at the little family.  “A queen’s name.” 

“She already is a queen,” Deck insisted proudly, touching the child’s cheek. 

Then he turned his attention to Stone.  “Come on,” he said, putting a hand on the back of Stone’s neck.  “Your girl will be fine on her own.  We got some shit to talk about.” 

Stone glanced back at me questioningly and I nodded.  “Go ahead.” 

“So,” Jenny said, shifting the baby around.  “Are you guys old friends from Emblem or did you just meet?” 

“We just met.  I don’t know anyone in Emblem.  And I know Stone’s been, um, away…”

Jenny laughed gently.  “We know where he’s been.” She glanced over at the men.  Deck and Stone had found seats at an old redwood picnic table in the corner of the yard under the shade of a mesquite tree.  Deck was saying something and Stone was listening to him with a serious, almost sad, expression. 

“He got a bum deal,” Jenny said softly. 

“Stone?”

“Yeah.  Deck and the guys tried to pull whatever strings they could grab onto but the Gentrys aren’t the law.”  She made a face. “Still, I don’t recommend that you suggest that to them.” 

I wanted to hear more about Stone and his past but the baby woke up and started crying. 

“Excuse me,” Jenny said politely.  “I think Queen Isabella has a dirty diaper.” 

I watched her disappear into the house and felt a hand touch my elbow.  A pretty little girl with long brown hair and luminous green eyes was waiting for me to turn around. 

“Do you want to come play with us?” she asked hopefully. 

“What are you playing?” I asked her, bending down. I didn’t have to bend far, one of the perks of being short. 

“Hide and seek,” the girl answered.  “At least we will if these people will only listen to me.”  She gestured impatiently at the collection of children playing in a covered sandbox.  A blonde toddler, one of Stephanie’s sons, watched us impassively with his finger up his nose. 

“I see,” I said, trying not to crack a smile. 

“Cami,” Stephanie called, joining us and reaching down to tickle the little girl.  “Would you do Auntie Steph a big favor and go play with your cousin Kellan for a few minutes?”

“He eats sand,” Cami complained. 

“He does,” her aunt agreed. 

“And boogers.” 

“He does that too.” 

The girl groaned but retreated anyway.  The little boy who’d been watching us lit up at her arrival and held his arms out.  Cami sat down primly and pulled him into her lap. 

“Sweet,” I commented. 

“They all are,” Stephanie said, blowing a kiss to the children.  She pulled me over to a table in the shaded section of the patio.  Truly and Saylor were already there, sipping from wine glasses and watching their husbands argue in front of the large grill.   A baby was sitting in a bouncer beside Truly and she kept one hand on the child. 

Chase was examining a stack of grilled meat.  “The rib eyes are
not
medium well,” he declared. 

Creed looked up from the grill and scowled.  “What?”

“Did you test the internal temperature of the steaks before you tossed them on the plate like a barbarian?”

“Did I do
what
?”

“Check the internal temperature of the meat.”  Chase enunciated his words as if he were speaking to someone who was either deaf or three years old. 

“Up yours, Chasyn.”

“Now why’d you have to go and get vulgar?”

“You always bring out the best in me.”

“Cord,” Chase called, “you’d better get over here.  This animal is going to give us all e. coli poisoning.” 

Cord was a few feet away, filling a cooler with more ice.  “Knock it off, both of you,” he growled. 

Stephanie poured me a glass of wine and then opened a bottle of water for herself.  She grinned at the other two women. 

Chase tried to take the metal spatula from Creed.  “For crying out loud, give it up to someone who knows how to grill.” 

Creed didn’t give an inch and flashed his brother a dangerous glare.  “Only way you’re getting this is up the ass.” 

Chase scoffed.  “Nobody wants to hear about your fantasies, Creedence.” 

Cord slammed the ice cooler closed.  “Would it really fucking kill you guys to act like fucking adults for a few hours?”

Chase and Creed stared at him.  Then they stared at each other.  Then they stared at Cord again. 

“Wow,” Chase said, shaking his head.  “Cord must be having a bad day, dropping F-bombs like hail.” 

“Seriously,” Creed scolded as he pointed the spatula.  “Don’t you know there are kids around here, Cordero?”