Page 21
“Are you feeling okay, Granny?” Tempest asks.
“I’m feeling wonderful, especially since I know I’ll gain a beautiful, sweet granddaughter in the future. When are you going to marry my grandson?”
Tempest smiles. “I’m ready to marry this man any second now.” Her shoulders slump. “But I don’t want to be the one to ask him.”
“Of course not,” my mother says.
Everyone looks at me.
I know Tempest said what she did to needle me. My brain acknowledges that. My heart is thinking…not a bad idea….
On the hot seat, I fake a chuckle. “You never know.”
My answer seems to satisfy everyone.
We start the meal and I’m sure the food is good, but I don’t really notice. I’m too aware of Tempest’s tanned legs under her dress. I wonder how she got that tan. If she wore a bikini sunbathing. Lucky sun.
When she crosses them, there’s a gentle swish of skin on skin. I feel feverish. Burning with need to have those legs around me. And my dick is making my private thoughts public as hell. I discreetly place my napkin across my lap.
Or thought I did. I missed and it slithers to the floor between our chairs. Before I can move, Tempest leans down to get it and has a bird’s eye view of my dick bulging against my zipper. I imagine her taking it in her hand and—
“Do you want this or not?” Tempest asks.
So bad I can visualize it.
“Well?” she prompts, waving one of the cookies we made in front of my face.
My dirty mind…while she was talking about a cookie.
I lean over and take a bite.
“Tempest, honey, that’s so lovely to show affection like that,” Granny says. “I’m glad Maverick found someone he loves after the way his ex treated him. That no account woman ran off with his friend, and I swear it nearly broke our hearts, too.”
“Have a cookie, Granny,” I urge, not wanting Tempest to hear a play-by-play of that time in my life.
“Don’t be embarrassed, son. You weren’t at fault.” My father crosses his arms. “Being betrayed like that hurt you something fierce.”
“Dad—”
“I understand it,” Tempest says. “My ex cheated on me.”
“Oh, honey. Was it with a friend, too?” My mom asks.
“No. She’s my father’s mistress.”
Shock reverberates through me as the table falls silent.
“You poor girl,” Granny says.
“My mother named her Floozy so that’s what everyone calls the woman.”
“That’s not what I’d call her,” Granny mutters.
Tempest smiles like it doesn’t hurt but I know that lie. I smiled through the pain, too.
“It gets worse. She’s pregnant. My father believes it’s his, but it’s not. Floozy was angry I wouldn’t give her some of the jewelry my grandmother gave me. She told me she’d take something else of mine instead.”
“Your boyfriend?” my mother says on a gasp.
