“The better question is what took you so long to come over?” Trap whispered back. But he was wrong. The best question was—why hadn’t he let go of Lila Mae’s hand yet?
4
“Excuse me,” Lila Mae managed to say as she stumbled away from the table. She wasn’t particularly sorry that Trap had pulled her away from the conversation, because as usual, Lila Mae had dug herself in too deep. Curses ran through her head at what she’d done—cuddling into his side like that and telling his ex that they had a date in the morning.
Trap’s confusion had actually been pretty cute in the beginning, but frustration frothed through Lila Mae’s veins as she found her feet and managed to keep up with him and Colt. Shehadbeen flirting with him since she moved to town, though her cousin had once told her that her flirting didn’t come off that way.
Fiona had had no idea about Lila Mae’s crush on the first-chair cellist in high school, and Lila Mae had thought she was really putting herself out there.
So maybe Trap hasn’t noticed, she thought. His skin burned against hers, going up and down between every finger and all along her palm, and she found it impossible that he couldn’t feel that.
Finally, Colt reached the back of the church and ducked to his left and onto the patio there. “All right,” he said, halfway under his breath. “I’m gonna look and see what’s going on.”
Lila Mae’s chest pinched as she tried to catch her breath, realizing she’d practically run away from the picnic. Thankfully, a huge oak tree shaded the patio, but her eyes swept the tables that had been set there, and she found them full of people a generation older than her.
“She’s not looking this way,” Colt said.
Trap chanced a glance over his shoulder, and then his shoulders relaxed as he sighed. They still carried plenty of power, and he dropped his gaze to where he still held her hand. That adorable frown rode her eyebrows, and then he sucked in a breath as he pulled his hand away.
“Sorry,” he muttered, and he actuallywiped his handon his slacks and stuck it in his pocket.
A brand new sting moved through Lila Mae, and she felt like she was covered in slime—or something worse. She still stood near enough to hear Trap furiously whisper to Colt what had gone on, and then she found both of their eyes on hers.
“I’m not open for brunch on Mondays,” Colt said.
More heat filled Lila Mae’s face, and she really didn’t need that right now. “I was just trying to help him out,” she said.
Colt sank onto a bench as if he’d suddenly become boneless. “Yeah, sorry, brother,” he said. “I couldn’t see past your body. And then I saw Lila Mae get all in close, and I thought that was weird.”
Lila Mae wanted to disappear, even as Colt continued to explain how he’d then stood up, seen Chelle, and come to save Trap.
Before she could find an appropriately Southern way to politely excuse herself from these cowboys who clearly had toomany women after them—and Lila Mae didn’t need to add herself to the mix—the sound of a crying child filled the air.
A woman said, “Look, there’s Uncle Trap. He’ll know where your daddy is.”
That got all of their attention, and Colt rose to his feet and froze as a pretty brunette joined their huddle.
“What’s the matter, Jonas?” Trap asked, his voice as sweet as honey and as kind as an elderly grandmother delivering pie. Lila Mae watched the smile spread across his face, taking that strong mouth and making it shine with happiness.
“Oh, I didn’t see you, Colt,” the woman said.
Lila Mae looked at him, along with everyone else. He stared at the woman, something swirling in his dark eyes that Lila Mae couldn’t quite decipher.
The dark-haired woman looked at Trap, her smile falling from her face before she looked back to Colt. “I told your mother I’d take him and some other kids to look at the frogs in the pond,” she said, her voice a touch nervous now. “He’s not hurt or anything. He just got scared when one of the frogs jumped out and splashed water on a few of the kids.”
That seemed to thaw Colt, and he jerked immediately, stepping toward Trap and taking the little boy from him. “Heya, buddy,” he said, his voice also kind, and not too placating, but definitely fatherly. “Did the frogs scare you? We got frogs all over the orchard.”
“Is a big one,” the little boy said, still sniffling, with big fat alligator tears clinging to his dark lashes. “And him hop out and gosplash!all over us.”
Colt grinned and Trap chuckled, and Lila Mae couldn’t help but notice how adorable the little boy was.
“I’m sorry,” the woman said, lighting touching Lila Mae’s arm. “I don’t know you. I’m Elaine Walker.”
“Oh, right,” Trap said. “This is my cousin, Elaine. Laney, this is Lila Mae. Remember she bought the Hensen place, and I’m fixing it up?”
“Yes, of course. I knew I’d gossiped about you.” Elaine gave a light laugh that somehow Lila Mae joined in on.
She reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear, her gaze moving back to Colt. Lila Mae’s followed when she found him once again staring at Elaine—and only Elaine.
