The Hookup (Moonlight and Motor Oil #1)(49)

It was me because of Francine.

And it was Francine because of what she saw happen at The Star between me and Johnny.

Crap.

I fell to my hip and curled my legs around, cradling a snuggling Brooks in my arms and trying to ignore the attention I was receiving.

“Okay, well,” I began in a half hum, half coo to my nephew while rocking him gently side to side, “the good news is, it seems I have the town’s approval when it comes to me and Johnny. The bad news is, it seems the town thinks there’s something to approve of.”

Brooks’s eyes were drooping but that wasn’t the only reason he made no reply.

The sun dappled the picnic blanket, the big trees over us offering shade and coolness that wasn’t to be found on some of the paths that were in the sun and I decided to put Brooks down so he could settle in.

I also decided to have a bit of a rest myself. I told no lie, the souvlaki was not in Africa and Addie would be back in no time.

So I put Brooks on his belly on the blanket. I was careful to tuck around my bum the full (but knee length) skirt of my black sundress with its stark red, orange and yellow flowers intermingled with teal peacocks print, subtly ruffled short sleeves and plunging vee neckline (so, okay, the possibility I’d run into Johnny crossed my mind while dressing that day, sue me). I curled my legs in their dusty cowboy boots up to cocoon Brooks as much as I could. I then rounded him with an arm, resting my head on my other arm that I stretched out.

In that position, I watched my nephew drift off to sleep.

I thought I might doze, but Brooks was out and Addie would be back shortly, we’d be okay.

And I didn’t keep track because I fell asleep, but that was the last thought I had before I fell asleep.



I woke in the much the same position.

But with profound differences.

Therefore I opened my eyes and I saw Brooks’s body lying atop a yellow-gold T-shirt. That T-shirt was what my head was lying on top of too. Under it, I felt soft and hard. And beyond it at a downward angle there was a flat area covered in T-shirt with my arm wrapped around it. Beyond that were very, very faded men’s jeans with a man’s lower body inside them, one of his legs cocked, knee to the sky, the other one of his legs straight, my legs wrapped around it.

What on earth?

In order to support a little of my weight, I pulled my arm up from where it was trapped between me and some solid heat and tilted my head back to look right into the beautiful black eyes of Johnny Gamble. Eyes that were shadowed by a beat-up baseball cap.

Brooks was dead to the world with his face tucked in Johnny’s neck opposite where I’d had my face tucked in Johnny’s neck with my head further supported by the crook of his arm, since he had one arm holding Brooks steady and the other one bent so his head could rest on his hand.

Never . . .

Never . . .

Never . . .

Was he more beautiful.

“Hey,” he whispered.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“You were out,” he stated.

I blinked at him.

“He was out too, but he’s a mover,” he told me, gently jostling Brooks who didn’t flutter an eyelash. “Kept my eye on you two, he got out from under your arm, you didn’t feel it. So thought it best to move in and make sure it was all good.”

“So you laid down on my blanket and cuddled into me?” I asked.

“No. I sat down on your blanket, until you cuddled into me,” he answered. “That was when I laid down.”

Oh man.

He was close, very close, my body still pressed to his side, my arm still wrapped around his stomach, my legs still tangled with his, and suddenly I lost track of the conversation.

“You look good in that baseball cap,” I told him and his lips hitched.

“And you look good in that dress, sp?tzchen. But just to say, you look a lot better in that dress than I look in this cap.”

“I’m not sure that’s true,” I replied.

“I am,” he returned.

And there came the thrill down my spine.

“Margarita night got out of hand,” I shared and got a white flash through his black beard.

“That tends to happen with you.”

That got a tingle and not along my spine.

“I needed a nap,” I defended myself.

“I kinda noticed you like to crawl back into bed after you crawl out of it after you down some margaritas.”

That got a shiver.

Johnny felt it and took pity on me, gently jostling Brooks again.

“He’s cute,” he noted.

I moved my attention to my nephew, took my arm from around his stomach, laid my hand on Brooks’s diapered booty and whispered, “He’s the whole world.”

A change came over Johnny. I knew it because I felt it since I wasn’t looking at him.

Then I saw it when I lifted my eyes back to Johnny and the whole world became something else, and that something else started and stopped in the infinity of Johnny Gamble’s black eyes.

“You want some?” he whispered.

“Yes,” I whispered back immediately.

“How many?” he asked, still whispering.

“Fifteen, but I’ll take one if he’s healthy and happy.”

His heated eyes warmed a different way. “Fifteen is a tall order, sp?tzchen.”