Page 23 of A Little More

Lexi blinked at Ms. Peggy, catching up with the conversation. “I’m sure he does.” Nash had packed away two platefuls of his mom’s pork chops and mashed potatoes. How, after their lunch, he’d managed to eat that much and stay looking as incredible as he did, Lexi would never know. But, he’d cut out shortly after dinner to work on the accounting books for the farm.

As if he hadn’t flirted with her half the day, he did nothing more than give her a short wave before he walked out of the house without a second glance. She didn’t know what to expect. Not a goodnight kiss. Nope. Not at all. That was beyond any reasonable expectation. Ever.

“I’ll let you cook Nash’s favorite meal tomorrow night, so you make sure you have it down.” Ms. Peggy didn’t even give Lexi a chance to explain that it wouldn’t be necessary. “Keep drying, honey.” She passed over the skillet she’d fried the pork chops in and turned the water off. “I hope you’re not too tired. I wanted to get to know you a little better.”

Why? She didn’t say her question out loud, but coming from the city, most people didn’t take the time to know each other. She’d spent more time with Ms. Peggy than she’d ever spoken to her own neighbor. But Ms. Peggy made it easy. She’d miss her after her assignment in an entirely different way than she’d miss Nash. Or maybe regret what she didn’t get to have with Nash.

“I could stay up a little longer.”

“Great!” Ms. Peggy walked into the living room. Lexi followed, assuming she should. Nash had mentioned his mom was lonely. She hadn’t seemed overly lonely but having visitors every now and then was nice for anyone.

“We’ll have a nice, quiet evening, playing a few hands of poker and chitchatting. Aside from designing beautiful buildings, what do you do for fun, Lexi?” Ms. Peggy, with a sweet, serene look, managed to shuffle the deck like a professional dealer in Las Vegas. Her living room should have had the clanging sounds of slot machines with lights flashing, not floral sofas and the scent of lavender. “Do you knit? Play sports?”

Obviously not the same hobbies as an eighty-year-old woman. “I don’t have any hobbies.” Which sounded pathetic saying it aloud. “Oh, I do yoga each morning.”

“I have always wanted to do yoga.” Ms. Peggy dealt the cards in rapid succession. “Not many places around here to try it. I bought a mat and watched a video once. My husband said it didn’t count since I’d stayed on the sofa the entire time it played.”

“That’s funny,” Lexi said, staring at her cards, trying to remember how to play the game. Two queens had to be a good sign. Her mind couldn’t settle on the right rules to know what to say. Ms. Peggy shifted her cards around in her hand, discarding two before picking two off the top of the stack. It might be fun to learn how to play poker from someone that looked to be as close to a professional as she’d ever meet.

“Um, Ms. Peggy, I’d like to make a trade.”

“This isn’t Old Maid, honey.”

“That’s not what I meant. If you teach me to play poker, then I’ll teach you yoga in the morning.”

With a serene smile, she said, “You have a deal.” She leaned forward, her pale blue eyes sober. “Your first lesson is to concentrate on your cards and remember that poker is serious business around my house.”

6

Nash leaned against the frame of the door into his house. His mom and Lexi, each standing on a colorful mat in the living room, twisted into some type of pretzel looking thing with Lexi whispering, “breathe,” to his mom. His own breath had left him. Yoga pants were illegal on someone like Lexi. A piece of hair drifted from her ponytail and along the curve of her cheek as she moved into a lunge. A moment later, she bent over and touched her toes.

He scrubbed his hands hard over his face, erasing the trance. It didn’t help that he’d only squeezed in four hours of sleep, putting in a couple hours of early morning fieldwork before his stomach drove him to his mom’s house. He’d have gotten here a few minutes earlier if he’d known the view would be this amazing.

The women sat down, facing away from him, legs crossed with their hands resting on their knees. He wished he could see Lexi’s face. It was the first thought he had that pushed him out of bed at four-thirty in the morning. The promise of spending a day with her giving him a jolt of energy no coffee could compare to. Until he remembered her boss came down today. He’d never met the man, but by the way Lexi said his name, Julien wasn’t a pushover.

Lexi patted his mom on the back. “You should do this every morning. You did really well.”

“I absolutely loved it, Lexi. Thank you.”

“We can do it again tomorrow if you’re up for it.”

His mom laughed. “Only if you’re up for another poker lesson.”

“Please tell me you’re not teaching her poker?”

They both snapped their head around. Lexi’s lip tilted up, excitement evident an instant before she busied herself with rolling up her mat. That quick flash in her eyes confirmed it. She was interested in him. He had to get her to acknowledge it. Without Julien finding out.

In her business suit, Lexi turned heads. When she wore a pair of jeans, his mouth watered. Now, without any makeup, his heart seized.

Careful, boy. The infatuation with her didn’t amount to anything but a temporary situation. A physical reaction. Nothing a few dates wouldn’t get out of his system. Hearts needed to stay the hell out of it. As far as he was concerned, his heart was out-of-order. Permanently. Not because he hated women. He didn’t even hate marriage. He had simply lost interest in it.

“She’s a natural at poker.” His mom moved to her hands and knees to stand up. Nash stepped forward to help, but she waved him off. “Better than you, I dare say. Prettier to look at, that’s for sure.” She shooed her hand at him. “Go away, Nash. I just did some tree pose. I can get myself up off the ground. Help Lexi up instead.”

Lexi sat back on her heels as she concentrated on rolling up her mat. “I can get up. But, if you don’t mind, can you grab the two protein shakes I made for us this morning? They’re in the fridge.”

“By ‘us’ you mean…” Nash wasn’t drinking a protein shake. He’d leave those to Cameron and Dewey. They were the ones that had time to exercise in a gym. Nash’s exercise came in the form of real work. That meant he ate real food.

“They’re for your mother and me. I told her that she should see if she had more energy by replacing her heavy breakfast with a shake every other morning.” Lexi rose gracefully from the ground. How did she make standing up look sexy? “You could try it too if you wanted to. There’s more protein powder in the canister on the counter.”

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