Another Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No Body (A Page Turners Novel) (20 page)

But how was he supposed to talk to her with
him
always hanging around
?
Who was this guy anyway
?
He needed to find out more about this Jake guy and show Sunny he was no good for her. Then she would see how much he cared for her. He needed to prove that Jake was the one who had planned to kill Walter in that explosion. She sure wouldn’t giggle and smile at Jake then. He needed her to see that she was meant to be with him.

Only him.

17

Saturday morning dawned clear and bright, and Sunny woke with a good feeling about the day. Even if Levi turned out to be a dud, she would get to spend time outside at a real working ranch. And this time, she would have Edna along as a date-buffer. A day with Edna could never be boring.

Levi was supposed to pick them up around two, so Sunny spent the morning putzing around the house doing light housework – which meant straightening some magazines on the coffee table and throwing away some take-out cartons. Then she took a break in her favorite lounge chair in the backyard. There was nothing she liked better than having a Diet Coke and some chocolate while sitting in the sun soaking up the summer. Images of a shirtless Jake ran through her mind.
Well, there are some things I like better
.

A sound rousted her from her daydreaming, and she looked up to see Jake as he pulled the lawn mower from Walter’s shed. She waved, feeling a tiny bit disappointed that he was wearing a shirt. “Feel free to cut my lawn next.” 

He smiled that dang crooked grin of his. Tingles tickled her insides and she couldn’t help from grinning back like an idiot.

Sunny did actually get a small Jake-Break because she hadn’t seen him since Thursday afternoon. She had worked in the flower garden while Jake had installed the deadbolts. She had really tried to keep her mind on yanking out weeds, but her eyes strayed to the doorway where he worked and to the way his biceps flexed as he used the drill.
What was it about guys and power tools?

He had finished installing the locks and handed Sunny the keys when his cell phone rang. He answered and his face went hard as he turned from her and spoke into the phone. “Listen, this isn’t a good time. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll call you back.” 

“Sorry about that.” He turned back to Sunny and tried to put the smile back on his face. Unfortunately, the smile didn’t quite meet his eyes this time. “Work,” he said, alluding to the caller he had just hung up on.

“Oh, sure,” she replied. “Of course. What kind of work did you say you did again?”

“Financial consulting,” he replied smoothly. “Did you have some stocks you were interested in?”
And the easy charmer was back.

Where had this come from? Financial consulting?
She hadn’t heard him say anything about finances, even when she was telling him about her date with Blaine, the boring stockbroker
.
Another reminder of how much she didn’t really know about this man.

“Yeah, all that extra money I make as a teacher,” she said, sarcastically.

“Well, I better get going.”

“Yep. You gotta return that call for work.”

“Yeah. So, I guess I’ll see you later.” The fun banter they had earlier had deflated into dry small talk.

Not able to just let him walk away, Sunny had reached out and touched his arm. “Thanks again for installing the new deadbolts, Jake. I really will feel safer now.”

He looked at her for just a moment too long, as if he wanted to say something, then changed his mind. “No problem. I was happy to do it. I’ll see you soon.” Then he disappeared into Walter’s house, and she hadn’t seen him again until now.

Unfortunately, the mini Jake-Break hadn’t done a thing to keep her from thinking about him, how he had held her, the way they had kissed on the sofa, the way he had touched her…  

“So, today’s Saturday. Who’s lined up for tonight?” Jake asked, referring to her weekly blind date schedule, and bringing Sunny crashing back into the present. She hoped she wasn’t blushing
.

“A cowboy,” she said.

“Yeehaw. That should be fun. Are you gonna rustle up any ‘dogies’?”

“Stop.” Sunny smiled a little, in spite of herself. “He gives Piper horse-back riding lessons, and she claims he’s ‘super-hot’.”

“Well, I hope you have a good time. I’ll be getting ‘super-hot’ around here as I mow the lawn and do yard work,” he teased, then yanked the cord, and the mower started up with a sputter before it caught.

Jake mowed Walter’s entire backyard, but to Sunny’s chagrin, he never peeled off his shirt. He caught her staring a couple times and gave her that heart-achingly gorgeous grin.

What was it about that smile and the way his sandy hair fell across those gorgeous blue eyes?
That tingly feeling was back, and her cheeks were getting warm.
Must be too much sun.

With that thought, Sunny grabbed her glass and headed inside for a shower.

After running the water slightly cooler than usual, she spent twenty minutes applying some light makeup and blew out her hair. She chose jeans, a floral print button-up blouse, and rummaged through the closet for her only pair of cowboy boots.

Pulling on the second boot, she heard the doorbell ring, then the door opened. Her breath caught as she worried that her intruder had returned. She looked around for a weapon to protect herself. She really needed to buy more dangerous household items. All she saw was a dresser covered in costume jewelry and a closet spilling out a waterfall of too many shoes. Her choices of protection were to poke him with an earring or whack him with the latest style in footwear
.

“Yoohoo!” hollered the familiar voice of her favorite neighbor
.

Sunny’s shoulders relaxed, and she laughed at her own paranoia. Edna always let herself in. “Be right down.” She grabbed her purse and headed for the stairs.

“Why, don’t you look snazzy?” Edna said when she saw Sunny. “I wonder if I should get some cowboy boots too?”  Edna was dressed in jeans, sandals, and a white t-shirt with a pink handkerchief tied bank-robber style around her neck. She had on large turquoise earrings and a pink cowboy hat sat atop her silver curls. “Maybe I don’t look Western enough.”

“You look great, Edna.” Sunny smiled endearingly at her friend. “I think the hat is just the right touch.”

A loud engine rumbled as it pulled up out front, and they peered through the door Edna had left open as she came in.

Climbing from a large red Dodge Ram pickup was indeed a ‘super-hot’ cowboy. From his tight Wrangler jeans to his black felt cowboy hat riding low on his dusty brown hair, he was a tall, cool drink of water.

“Yippee-cai-aye!” whooped Edna. “He could ride my pony.”

“Edna, stop it now.” Sunny giggled and swatted her playfully.

They stepped out to greet him as he sauntered up the walkway.

“Well howdy, ma’am,” he said and extended his hand toward Sunny. “My name is Levi Garrett, and I’m mighty pleased to meet you.”

Sunny’s cheeks were flushed as she stammered out, “I’m Sunny, and this is my neighbor, Edna.”  His hand was large and calloused from labor, but warm, and he held her eyes an extra beat before he let go and reached for Edna’s.

“Well, pleased to meet you both. It will be my pleasure to accompany two beautiful ladies, such as yourselves, out to my ranch this afternoon.”

Was he for real
?
Pulling the door shut, Sunny looked up as Beau jumped into the window and began his
,
Please don’t leave me
,
saga of whining and crying.

“Hey, is that your dog?” he asked.

No
,
it’s the neighbor’s dog, that’s why he’s crying-to get out of
my
house.
Maybe this cowboy wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Good thing he was so cute. “Yes, that is woman’s best friend, my lovely Beau-dog.”

“You should bring him along,” Levi offered.

“Oh, no. He’ll be fine.”

“Really, you should bring him. There’s plenty of room to run around the ranch, and I love dogs. In fact, I have a yellow lab named Duke who would love to have another dog to play with.”

“Well…are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay, Beau
!
Road trip!” Sunny called as she pushed the door open and eighty pounds of yellow fur rushed past her to get to Levi.

Beau was doing his crying, butt-wiggling
dance of,
Please
,
pet me! I’ll be your friend forever
,
with Levi, who willingly obliged, bending down to ruffle the dog’s coat and murmur sweet doggie nothings into his ear.

Hmmm. There may be hope for this one. It seemed Piper might have made a good call this time.

They piled into the crowded pickup, and Sunny’s leg rested against Levi’s. Her shoulder bumped against his as they pulled out and headed for the ranch. His fingers tapped in time to the radio against his thigh, and Sunny felt the hard muscles in his leg. She looked at the strong outline of his jaw, and her palms began to sweat. He was a seriously hot cowboy
.
 

“Do ya think I could drive?” Edna asked, diverting Sunny’s attention from the tall, good-looking man half her body pressed against. “I bet there’s some real power in this baby.”

“I think I’ll drive this time.” Levi tried to hold back his grin, no doubt imagining this pink-hatted, five-foot-two granny in the driver’s seat of his beastly truck.

They fell into a companionable silence as they watched the scenery go by, the only sound was Beau panting and the light strains of country music coming from the radio.

Suddenly the cab filled with the rotten-egg-sulphur smell of passed gas.

“Oh Beau, how could you?” Sunny leaned across Edna to roll down the pickup window.

As the air cleared, she glanced at Edna who smiled sheepishly, and Sunny swore she heard Edna quietly humming, “Beans, beans, the magical fruit…” which led Sunny to believe who the real flatulence culprit was.

However, she still let Beau take the blame, just to save Edna’s pride.

A few minutes later, they turned into a long driveway and drove along a lush green field lined with white fencing. They pulled up to a yellow farm house with a wrap-around porch, complete with two rocking chairs and a kaleidoscope of colored pansies spilling from large white pots that hung from the porch railings.

“Wow. Your house is great,” Sunny said as Edna broke into song. “Green acres is the place to be. Farrrmm living is the life for me.”

Levi tried to smile but looked a little confused. Evidently, he wasn’t a fan of Eva Gabor’s
Green Acres
sitcom.

He slowed to a stop, jumped down from the cab, and jogged around to open the passenger door to help Edna.

Beau flew from the truck and ran frantically from one new smell to another in a nose-sniffing, tail-wagging frenzy.

“Woof! Woof!” 

The screen door pushed open, and a blur of yellow raced out in a direct beeline for Beau.

“Ladies, this is my dog, Duke. He’s named after…well, ya know, the Duke,” Levi said.

“Yeah, I get it.” Sunny laughed and shook her head at his feeble description of John Wayne.

The screen door banged again, and out rambled an older version of Sam Elliott.

“And this is my dad, Roy Garrett,” Levi explained as the man came down the porch steps toward them with his hand outstretched.

“Nice to meet you, ladies,” Roy said, shaking Sunny’s hand. He walked with the slightly bowlegged gait of a man who spent a good portion of his life in the saddle. He wore a straw cowboy hat stained brown around the band from perspiration. His gray hair lay straight and fell below his collar, and he sported a thick gray moustache. He smelled of hay, horses, and carried a slight scent of that working-in-the-sun-shoveling-dirt-kind of sweat.

He turned from Sunny and with a twinkle in his eye, lifted Edna’s hand to his lips and drawled, “And it’s especially nice to meet you, Edd-na.”  He drew Edna’s name out an extra syllable, going deep on the ‘na’ and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand.

“Well, aren’t you just the sweetest thang?” Edna drawled back. Sunny wasn’t sure where she had acquired a southern accent in the last three minutes, but it was definitely there as she batted her eyelashes and looked coyly out from beneath the brim of her pink cowboy hat.

A gasp escaped Sunny as she looked past Roy, and they all turned to see what had caught her attention. A double yellow flurry of super-sonic dog humping was taking place as Duke was evidently really enjoying his new playdate.

“Stop that!” Sunny cried and stepped toward poor Beau. He looked up at her from beneath his new prison boyfriend, with a plea
in his eyes of,
Help, make it stop
.

“Aahh, they’re just playin’,” Levi said, laughing. He swiped at Duke and hollered, “Go on now!”