Shotgun Groom. Kristin Morgan
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relax in the company of his friends.
In fact, he was going over to Beth’s house tonight. She’d invited him for dinner when he’d called earlier to tell her that he was back. He couldn’t wait to see her. Of all his immediate friends, she was the one whom he missed the most when he was away on business. Of course, there was a perfectly good reason for that. With Beth, he never had to worry about his next move. He could tune out the rest of the world and just be himself. With her, he didn’t have to pretend to have all the answers. She was his sounding board. His best buddy. She was the kind of person who could bring him to his knees and make him face the truth about himself faster than anyone else. Still, he always felt at ease when in her company. And, truthfully, there wasn’t another female alive whom he could say that about.
He was a lucky man, all right, to have Beth there for him when he needed a pal. He was, in fact, perfectly content with his single way of life, and had no problem admitting that in many ways he had Beth to thank for that. He only wished that she was as pleased with the way her life was turning out. But she wasn’t and lately he could almost sense her discontent. If only the man of her dreams would finally come along so she could get married and then get pregnant with that baby she was always wanting. It was disconsoling that her life hadn’t worked out exactly as she’d planned. Even more unfortunate was that he couldn’t help her, no matter how good a friend he was. It was Mother Nature’s call—not his—to attract the right man to Beth. He was just someone whose shoulder she could cry on time and time again when it didn’t happen.
If it was up to him, he would see to it that Beth got what she wanted most in life. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that his friend would make the best mamma any little kid ever had.
With that thought still on his mind, Jack pulled up in front of Beth’s house. He saw that her porch light was on, and it beckoned to him like a friendly greeting as he climbed out of his car with a sense of urgency. With a grin on his face and a swelling in his chest, he headed for her front door.
It had been two long weeks since he’d seen Beth last. It was a long time for him to have gone without his best pal in his life. A part of him needed her more than it needed nourishment.
Beth was in her living room when Jack drove up, and she watched his approach through the long window next to the door. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a navy pullover shirt. He looked great, just as he always did, and her heart began to pound erratically. It was always that way when she saw him coming from a distance. It was, she knew, the sensuous way his hips rolled forward when he walked that mesmerized her. Sometimes her heart seemed to roll right along with them. Sometimes her equilibrium did, too, although it was rare that she let herself recognize those particular feelings for what they really were. Usually she chose to ignore them altogether.
By the time Jack reached her porch, Beth had her hand on the knob and was pulling the front door open. He immediately waltzed inside with a grin on his face that for as long as she could remember had always had a way of melting her cares away, no matter how bad they had seemed before. Suddenly she was swept up into his arms and wrapped in one of his infamous bear hugs.
Bear hugs, Beth had come to realize a long time ago, were a safe way for them to express their feelings for each other. Bear hugs lacked... well... great passion. They were fun... friendly... acceptable.
“How’s my favorite girl?” Jack asked, squeezing her tight against him. “Mmm... You know, it isn’t until I get a whiff of your perfume that I know for sure that I’m home.”
Beth was so glad to see him that her laughter bubbled out when he squeezed her.
And then, for some silly reason, her stomach went spiraling down to the floor. She quickly decided it was because she was so excited to see him. Certainly it was nothing more than that He was her friend, for heaven’s sake.
Ignoring the sensation, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him as tight as she could. The light musky scent of his aftershave was as familiar to her as her own perfume and for a moment the combination of the two gave her a heady sensation.
His body was so hard... so solid.
His arms went around her waist.
Her stomach quivered.
Her world was back in town now, and everything was going to work out just as she had planned. She was sure of it.
“I cooked your favorite dinner,” she said, smiling up at him.
He grinned down at her with his wide, full lips. Lips that were perfect for grinning.
And for kissing, no doubt.
Not that she knew for sure. She was only imagining what his lips would feel like pressed against hers. Hypothetically speaking, of course.
“So what’s the occasion?” Jack asked. “Did I forget a holiday or something?”
“Nope,” Beth replied, pleased as pudding with herself for having planned such a great evening. Motherhood was practically in the bag for her. All she had to do now was to convince Jack of just how important his help was to her. She widened her grin. “No particular reason. I just felt like making this night kind of special. Actually,” she added, “I have a bottle of your favorite wine, too.”
“Oh...?” he said, giving her a rather odd look. His grin faltered somewhat. “Beth, you haven’t done it again, have you?”
She widened her eyes in response. “Done what?”
He narrowed his gaze. “You know what.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Then you’re obviously forgetting the last time I came over to discover that you had cooked all my favorite foods for no particular reason. But we both know that in the end you did have a reason. You had volunteered my services as judge in that pie-tasting contest, remember? And do you remember what a catastrophe that turned out to be?”
Beth gave him a placative smile. “Now look, Jack, that women’s club was happy to have you as their judge...originally. In fact, for a time you had the entire membership charmed right down to their silverdyed roots. It wasn’t a catastrophe until you made it into one.”
“Me?” he said, incredulously, placing his fingertips at the center of his chest. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I simply picked a winner. Isn’t that what a judge in any contest is supposed to do? How was I supposed to know that all those little old ladies were going to suddenly turn on me when I announced the winner and it turned out to be the same woman who had won the contest the previous year?”
“Jack, all those women were well into their seventies—some, probably, in their eighties. Most of them were great-great-grandmothers. They weren’t exactly going to eat you alive.”
“Yeah, well, you can stand here and say that. It wasn’t you they were aiming their dirty looks at. To this day, if I meet up with a couple of them in the supermarket, they won’t even speak to me.”
In spite of the serious discussion she had planned for later that night, Beth laughed at Jack’s recollection of that particular afternoon. Thank goodness, she had gone with him to help with the contest. Otherwise, he would have panicked for sure. As it was, he had vowed never to sit in judgment of another woman’s cooking for as long as he lived. “It wasn’t that bad, Jack.”
He placed his hands on his hips. “Look, I like little old ladies as much as anyone, but please tell me that you haven’t volunteered my services to them again.”
“No, Jack, I haven’t,” Beth said prudently, suffering from a moment of slight indignation. After all, she’d only volunteered his name to the Retired Women’s Business Club of Acadiana because he’d said he wanted to get more actively involved with the community. And regardless of what he thought now, he was a better citizen today because of it. “It’s nothing like that. Besides, it just so happens that the committee chairperson this year didn’t ask me to find a judge for the contest.”
That remark seemed to