squatted by an ice chest, scooping ice into another glass. Hair she kept shoving behind an ear kept blessedly falling back to curl around her eyes. The jeans she wore were extra snug on her thighs with her bent down, but it was the heels that were killing him.
At the ice cream shop, all she wore were tennis shoes. Those red pointed shoes were about to have the best of him and the idea of trying to hold back until he had an extra twenty bucks in his wallet was downright laughable at this point.
Especially since the Chesters were leaving in two weeks. He didn't know who all she hung around with in town, but best he could tell, it was just Whitney. And now him. When the Chesters left, it was going to be just the two of them for nearly a month. "Need some help?"
She glanced up when he spoke. Her brows had been deepened and instantly released. "Please."
"You need twelve."
"Two unsweet, eight sweet, one Coke and one Dr. Pepper." She winced and her eyebrows did this sexy thing where they dipped, but the centers lifted. "I think."
"I'll get the two unsweets. One is going to be Mrs. Jana's. Coke goes to Tate. Wade, Whitney, Sam and me get the sweets."
She blinked at him. "I don't know how you remember that."
"I've been doing this a lot of years." He eased around next to her and couldn't help but notice the scoop of her jeans at her lower back. More specifically, the shadow over her naked, pale skin hovering at the top of her ass.
"My family gets together with some turkey and a box of potatoes and that's it."
Family . The idea of tracing that sway of her jeans smashed head first to the floor. He cleared his throat as he adjusted his belt. "If you're going to live here, you’d better get used to it. This is just the tip of what this family does together."
No more messing around. Last thing he needed was to walk around his friends’ dining room table sporting a stiff dick. He placed the drinks down, returned for two more and Tasha grabbed the last two. Seats were going fast and two were left next to Whitney. Tasha slid on the white padded seat and he eased on a chair next to her.
Sam cleared his throat. "I'm starved. Looks good, honey."
Mrs. Jana beamed from the other end. "Say the blessing so we can eat."
Patrick reached across the corner of the table and took Mrs. Jana's hand and then turned his hand up for Tasha. She looked around the room as Whitney grabbed her other hand and then she finally placed her palm to his.
Her fingers slipped between his and he was stuck to the spot watching the tips of her short, trimmed nails turn against his hand and hold him tight.
Sam started grace and gave thanks, but Patrick just couldn't look away from her hand finally in his. He pulled their grasp close and rested them on his thigh. Her breath caught and movement of her shoulder against his had him lifting his gaze and found hers on his.
Her blue eyes were a sparkling pool and red tinted across her checks. She glanced away and he dropped his gaze and focused on his plate as Sam continued on.
"Bless us and our families and friends. Amen."
"Amen," he repeated. Mrs. Jana's hand came away from his in an instant.
Tasha's didn't.
It wasn't that he was holding her too tight or that she was holding him too tight. At any moment, it would be easy to just slip his hand out. Or she could take hers out.
"Patrick, can you pass me the corn?"
He glanced to Tate across from him and he was left without a choice but to release her. "Sure."
It was the meal of the year to look forward to, but there wasn't much he tasted in it. Bowls were passed around, plates at some point too. Laughter surrounded the table as stories he'd heard a hundred times were retold. When people asked how his holidays went, this was the sort of thing he talked about.
Wade acted like he molded play-dough into a ball in his hands. "And Dad just rolled it up and hummed it out the back door like a bowling ball."
Tasha's mouth dropped. "No."
Whitney nodded. "Yep. And I