Rescued (A McKenzie Ridge Novel Book 1) by Stephanie St. Klaire Read Free Book Online Page B

leaned in, elbows on the table, fully engrossed in Sam, letting it be known she was not leaving without the steamy details. “I would be sweating too if I was kissed so hard my lips swelled up like I just kissed the tail end of a wasp. This is going to be better than I thought…dish!”
    “Ugh. Fine. We went to lunch at the Pavilion, which you obviously already know. I had a hoagie…”
    “Eh! Nobody cares what you ate, get to the good stuff where you two were kanoodling in the parking lot, sucking face, and rubbing each other’s…”
    “We weren’t kanoodling or rubbing anything! I swear, Ev, this is so ridiculous. Look, we are just friends and…”
    Granny Lou walked in with a fresh pot of coffee and a clever, well-informed look, before Sam could finish…knowing that look couldn’t mean anything good. Not one to mince words, she bluntly questioned Sam, filling in the blanks that she apparently couldn’t fill from the gossip mill.
    “Have you decided what you are wearin’ tomorrow night and how was that kiss, honey?” Boom, there it was, shock and awe, Granny style. Sam considered making a run for it. “I hear it was a bit of a crowd pleaser, even if it was a little R rated. Thank goodness you had the good sense to keep your hands where they could be seen. It was the park after all, full of children, and Pastor Henry’s wife, along with the Ladies of His Kingdom for their weekly meetin’.”
    Jaw dropped, eyes wide, and pink cheeks, Sam was completely mortified, beyond mortified, she was humiliated, and felt the size of a gnat, the runt gnat in a family of freakishly small gnats. Sam left the park no more than 30 minutes ago and that’s being generous with time, so how on earth did Gran not only know the details of her afternoon ‘kanoodling’ in the park, but obviously already shared said details with her partner in crime, Everly, who was in full blown, head back, stomach holding, tears running, hysterics?
    This was an all-time record for the McKenzie Ridge gossip brigade! Pastor Henry’s wife and the Ladies of His Kingdom…she may as well add the scarlet letter to her attire now, and paint her door red. These women, and likely a handful of men, deserved a damn medal, they officially broke the record for the ten mile radius grapevine event!
    “So is everyone watching me or just your clan of vultures?” Sam shot back.
    “Oh honey, don’t be so dramatic, Carol called me from the park to tell me about her new granddaughter, you knew Sarah and Jack had the baby.” Granny had a way of pleading innocence in a convincing way, over just about everything. “Anyway, wouldn’t you know it, she was at the park minding to the older ones, to give their mama some time to rest with the baby, and…”
    “…and just happened to see me and Dawson and felt the need to spy for you?” Sam cutting Gran off would typically not happen, not due to respect or anything, but because Louise Shaw rarely shared the floor when there was a story to share, which is exactly why Sam cut in.
    “Oh, Sam, you make it sound so calculated. ‘Twas nothing more than a coincidence, honey,” Granny said while shoo’ing a hand at her because of course Sam’s reaction was more ridiculous than the gossip mill, apparently.
    Everly jumped in, tired of waiting for the good stuff, wishing she had popcorn for this one. She was rather enjoying the site of Sam squirming, a sign that this really was something and not the ‘nothing’ Sam claimed. “Ya, Sam, it was a coincidence , so spill it. I’m currently living vicariously through you. My love life is null and void, so you and a couple of racy books are all I have to feel scandaliiized!”
    “Ev, I don’t have a love life! I don’t date, you know that. I don’t have time or the desire for it, and men are just…they are just more trouble than they are worth. The only thing scandalous about this is the flock of hens turning nothing into something,” Sam defended.
    “Well, if hot