Uninhibited in Apple Trail, Arkansas - Volume 2 by Keri Ford Read Free Book Online Page B

expect it. What did you have in mind?”
    “The flowerbeds need weeding and the grass cut here at the courthouse.”
    “Don’t you have someone to do that?”
    He pointed at himself. “And Mary Sue typically does the beds, but I don’t want her bent over like that, doing that work for long periods of time.”
    “Agreed.”
    “So what’s for dinner?” He asked, wanting to keep this easy conversation going. If there was the briefest of pauses, he might fuck up and say or do something he would later regret. He didn’t know exactly what he wanted, but he knew he wanted more of this. He always thought having her would be harder, but now that she was here and he was wanting something, the tension was gone. It was, plainly put, easy.
    “Mike.”
    He looked up.
    “I said, it’s still the middle of the day when you’re in charge of choosing.”

    He nodded and a smile came easy. “In that case, you pick it, you cook it.”

Chapter Six

    The dishwasher clicked and Tiffany turned for it. She wasn’t fast enough to slip it past Mike though. This would have been easier at her house. Jessie could have put dinner in early for her and then Mike would have never known, but their house was falling apart. And she knew how Mike would take that with his take care of everything attitude. So his house was pretty much a requirement.
    Just as she dropped open the door and steamed rolled out, Mike walked in the kitchen.
    “What did you decide for supper?”
    “Ham, corn, and potatoes.” Time to get the walk of shame over with. She bent with a rag in her hands and lifted the plastic sealed, fully cooked ham out of the dishwasher and set it in the sink.
    Mike moved next to her and looked in the sink. He pointed at the steaming ham. “You just pulled that out of the dishwasher.”
    “Yep.”
    She turned back and tested her fork on the potatoes boiling on the stove but they weren’t quite ready yet. When she looked back, Mike was staring into the dishwasher. “There are tubes of foil still in there.”
    “The corn.” She closed the door. “I’ll leave them in to keep them warm.”
    “I have an oven.”
    “I know, but this is how I know to cook ham. It’ll be juicy and perfect. Trust me.”
    “How in the hell did you ever think of trying this?”
    She swallowed down the sudden knot in her throat. “The first Thanksgiving after the accident, Jessie and I planned a menu. What we didn’t count on was the oven going on the fritz that morning. Luckily there was instructions right there on the ham saying to just run it through the dishwasher.”
    “And the corn in there?”
    She shrugged. “We figured we might as well while the cycle was going just to see. Not enough heat for potatoes though. That year they were still pretty hard. Jessie sliced them real fast and skillet fried them.”
    He was still frowning, clear confusion on his face. “But my oven works just fine.”
    “But I know the ham will come out right this way.” She shook her head and turned back for the pot of potatoes, poking at what she already knew was firm. “Momma didn’t have me in the kitchen much. Unless it’s sandwiches, this is pretty much it for what I can do. Except grilled cheese. I burn those every time. Mostly. One side gets golden, the other is blacker than pavement. Get the salad out of the refrigerator? It’s a pretty day, so I fixed your picnic table outside.”
    Mike followed her instructions, thankfully leaving the kitchen and giving some much needed breathing room. This was going to be a long night of trying to get through with her hands to herself.
    He came back through the kitchen all too fast though, his masculine scent of course came with him. “I’ll start cutting this up.”
    “Okay.” She poked her potatoes, relieved to see they were done. Busy hands. No reason to talk. No reason to put her hands on his hard body. Wide shoulders. Narrow waist. Or perfect ass in those jeans and the best pair of man legs she ever saw.
    She