Free Sweet Southern Nights (Home In Magnolia Bend Book 3) by Liz Talley Page A

growled.
    “God, you’re acting like a normal woman.”
    “I am a normal woman, you creep. You can’t do what you just did.”
    “Why?” he asked, his eyes focused on her hands.
    “Because.”
    “Because?”
    Eva backed away from him. “You and I both know why I’m pissed. Because you turned that into something. You...” She couldn’t say it.
    A few seconds ticked by.
    “I made you want me,” he finished, the teasing gone from his voice.
    “Yes. Why did you do that? God, Jake.” Eva backed away, shoving her glasses up her nose, feeling as if she wanted to run to her room, slam the door and lock him out. Physically she could do that, but that would be childish...and he’d still be in her head anyway. She’d still taste him on her lips.
    “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying... I don’t know why I did that. I’ve been feeling strange when I’m around you lately.”
    “Why?”
    “I don’t know. You’re Eva. I shouldn’t feel uncomfortable around you. I shouldn’t notice your lips, the way your boobs look in a tight T-shirt. I shouldn’t think about...” He stopped, his face registering that he hadn’t meant to be so honest.
    “What are you saying?”
    “Nothing. I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets and getting off the couch. “I’ll go.”
    She watched him, not knowing what to do. Things had gotten out of control.
    Jake set his hand on the doorknob, turning back to her. “I’ll see you Monday, right?”
    Eva shook her head. “Dutch is covering for me. I have to go to New Orleans for family business.”
    “Then tomorrow? Hilda’s birthday party?”
    “Maybe.” She wasn’t sure if she was going. She had to go to Baton Rouge and get some things for Charlie so she could turn her girly guest bedroom into something a little boy would feel comfy in. Plus, the lady from CPS was coming over to do an inspection and meet her.
    So much in her life was about to change, and to top it off, so had her relationship with Jake.
    And that scared her because now he knew...somewhere deep down he had to know how she felt. It had been in her kiss.
    “Don’t be mad at me, Eva. I didn’t know it would turn into that.”
    And then Jake slipped out the door into the fading day.
    Leaving her wanting...leaving her knowing that she could never be the same woman she’d been just days ago.

CHAPTER SIX
    J AKE WALKED INTO his cousin Hilda’s house and nearly stepped on his sister, who looked to be hiding in the foyer’s coat closet.
    “What the hell?” he whispered, righting himself against the door frame of the closet.
    “Shh!” Abigail said, putting a finger to her lips. “Cal’s mother is in there—” she jabbed a finger toward the formal dining room Hilda rarely used “—telling Violet I was the one who made Cal leave in the first place.”
    “What?”
    “Shh!”
    “But—” he started before Abigail cupped a hand over his mouth.
    “I know, but I still want to hear the conversation since it’s about me.” Abigail cocked her left ear toward the dining room. Jake grew still and listened, too.
    “Well, after working on the Laurel Woods Art Fest committee with her, my opinion has certainly changed,” someone said. Jake was almost certain it was Violet Joyner, the Magnolia Bend First Baptist Church’s pastor’s wife. Sounded like someone with a stick up her ass, and Violet
always
fit that description.
    “What do you mean?” Minnie Orgeron, Abigail’s former mother-in-law, asked.
    “Well, you’ll never believe how crassly Abigail behaved, running around with that hippie guy, acting positively like a heathen. Never would have thought it of the daughter of a minister, but you never know with people. Of course they
are
Presbyterian.”
    Abigail’s eyes widened and she stifled a laugh.
    Minnie sighed. “I agree, Violet. What a person sees on the surface is one thing, but the inside is quite another.”
    Jake whispered, “Jeez, don’t they know