A big grin lit his face. “Well now, I reckon that’d be my problem.”
Anna reclined in the chair. “Sorry. Don’t believe you.” She took another sip.
“Aw, c’mon,” Kaci said.
“We might could make it interesting,” Jackson said. “Got a lot of boxes sitting around my house and not much mind to put ’em away. How about when us guys win, you come on over and set up my kitchen for me?”
Anna pulled herself upright. That should’ve sounded paternalistic and condescending, but instead it made her nipples tingle. This was the closest she’d come to having someone talk dirty to her in, well, a lot longer than it should’ve been. She licked her lips. “And if we women win?”
He scratched his head. “Suppose I could come on over next time you need a man to stomp out a spider. You still got my number?”
“Spiders don’t bother me.”
The glint in his eyes told her he didn’t buy her bluff. “I hear tell some ladies like fancy chocolates. Might could pick up a box or two.”
Oh, yeah. Definitely dirty.
“That’s a pretty darn good deal, sugar.” Kaci stood. “So we playing or not?”
Anna set her margarita aside and stood too. “Yeah. We’re playing.”
But only redneck golf.
Or so she told herself.
CHAPTER SEVEN
She partook of ladylike games in a ladylike manner, but when called upon to participate in gentlemanly endeavors, she executed her role regimentally as if she’d been a general in a previous life.
—The Temptress of Pecan Lane, by Mae Daniels
Afew minutes later, Lance carried two PVC ladders out of the garage. Jackson followed with the bolas, which were thin ropes anchored with golf balls on either end. Bama colors for Lance, Ole Miss for Kaci.
The guys set up the ladders about twenty feet apart. There were three rungs on each. One point for wrapping a bola around the bottom rung, two points for the middle rung, three points for the top. Lance and Kaci took their positions at one ladder, while Anna and Jackson stationed themselves at the other. Kaci was up to toss first, so Anna scooted as close to the pool and far away from the ladder as possible. After Kaci’s first toss went wild, Jackson joined her. “Guess this might could take a while.”
“Mm-hmm.” His drawl was growing on her. If he talked to his commanding officers like that, she doubted he’d be in the Air Force long, but that didn’t matter to Anna.
Nope, not at all.
But he was watching her like he thought she was worth watching.
And it couldn’t be bad for her to feel attractive for one night, could it?
Nothing wrong with feeling good.
She snapped her attention back to the game. Kaci wound up to toss her second bola at the ladder. It didn’t matter how Jackson looked at Anna, because that zinging thing in her chest that kept happening when he looked at her was margarita chemistry, not commitment.
He was like a practice date. A Kaci-approved, non-dangerous, practice date.
He tucked his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels, vigilantly watching Kaci. “So how’s the old ant-mobile?”
“Ant-free for over a month now, thank you.”
Kaci’s toss came up short. Lance wrapped an arm around her waist and guided her through the proper tossing technique.
Jackson tucked his hands under his arms. “You ever get to wondering if she’s tossing bad on purpose?”
“Used to, but I don’t anymore.”
