“Know what?” Jason demanded.
She ignored him and focused back on Brad. “Do you think you could give me a hand? I’m having company over and I can’t get the grill out by myself. It’s kind of heavy.”
Brad chuckled as he came to the door. “Sure. I was on my way home, but I can give you a hand since there’s no one around here strong enough to help you,” he said, sounding amused.
“The hell you will!” Jason snapped as he grabbed Haley’s arm and practically dragged her back to her house. Haley threw Brad a wink over her shoulder, making him chuckle as he strolled to his car while Jason gave her a lecture on his manliness and something about her being a bad grasshopper, whatever the hell that meant.
He looked back over his shoulder in time to catch Jason giving Haley’s ass an appreciative look without breaking from his lecture. His buddy might not know it yet, but he’d met his match in that little lady. If any woman could bring Jason to his knees, it was Haley.
“That’s not enough,” Jason said, sighing heavily as Haley tried to put the hamburger patties and hot dogs back in the freezer.
“There are only three of us. How much food do you think we’ll need?” Haley asked as she tried to sidestep him to put the food away, but Jason swiped the packages from her.
“What the hell?”
He shrugged. “I’m hungry.”
“You’re not invited.”
“Since when do I need an invitation?” he asked as he doubled the amount of hot dogs on the plate.
“Three weeks and we already have a set history? For five years, I contemplated manslaughter.”
He shrugged.
She growled.
He smiled, making her knees tremble. Damn him.
“Tell me who’s coming? It can’t be any of your friends because you wouldn’t care if I was here since they all think I’m a prick and you get a kick out of watching them bitch me out.”
She sighed dreamily. “It entertains me so.”
“As it should. I’m a very entertaining guy,” Jason said with a smile as he stole a forkful of the potato salad she’d made yesterday. She’d considered bringing it with her today, but she knew how it would have been received and decided to leave it at home.
“Damn, that’s good, woman,” Jason practically growled.
“I’m glad you like it,” Haley said casually, but in truth, it was really nice to have someone to cook for. Her friends were constantly on diets and glared at her whenever she offered them baked goods. It seemed that Jason hadn’t found a food that he didn’t like. She really was surprised that he wasn’t fat.
“So?”
“So what?”
“So, tell me why you stayed less than an hour at a barbecue only to come home to have one of your own? Food suck or something?” he asked while sneaking another bite of potato salad before she returned it to the fridge. “Or was there a family smackdown?”
“It’s complicated,” she finally said.
“What’s so complicated about a family barbecue?”
“Just drop it. My grandmother is coming here with her helper. Actually, she should be here by now, but knowing her, she probably stopped at the grocery store to buy all her favorites.”
His brows arched at that. “Your grandmother’s coming here? I didn’t think any of your family ever came to visit you.”
She gave him a sly smile. “Been spying on me, have you?”
“I’ve picked up on a few things over the years,” Jason said, shooting her a wink.
“Well, my grandmother comes here several times a year. I usually invite her when I know that you’ll be out of town.”
