“Please, if I hadn’t rescued you, I think you may have been on the floor crying right along with him. I have never in my life seen a grown man so frightened by a baby.”
Humph. “Frightened, please.” He held his hands out toward Blake, and the little man’s lip puckered out in the most dramatic way.
“Are you scaring my kid?”
We all looked behind AJ as Rhett moved in to snatch up Blake. “C’mere, boy, Daddy’ll save ya.” He didn’t stick around, disappearing out of the kitchen whispering about teaching him to beat the shit out of big apes with blond hair.
AJ and I both shared a smile. Landon pushed off the counter and exited the kitchen in the direction that Rhett had gone.
“Looks like the two of you are getting along well.” If there was something that every single female in our family had in common, it was prying, the eagerness to know everything about everyone, and none of them were shy to admit it. Hell, I was the same way…when it wasn’t me that was being questioned, that was.
I shrugged and turned back around to place the now rinsed pacifier on the folded dishtowel at the edge of the sink.
“Did you just cold shoulder me?” Oh, and sassiness, that was something we shared, too. “If you think you can just turn your back to me and I’ll forget the question I asked, you are sadly mistaken, Chloe Rigdon. Either you fill me in or I will call your momma. You do know that will only lead to your dad knowing, too, which then will lead to a visit and his beady eyes interrogating you on the subject of the time you’re spending with a certain man that we all thought you hated.”
“Hated is such a strong word.” I would be forced to tell her something, but the thing was I still wasn’t sure what was going on. Landon and I had only spent a little time together…Friday night at Lucky’s and then a few hours today. It was safe to say we were nothing more than friends.
“All I can offer is that he and I are friends.”
“Friends?” Spinning around, I faced AJ and realized what Rhett referred to as the look firsthand. That motherly you will tell me what I want to know and you will tell me now look. “Friends do not dance with one another the way you two were dancing the other night. And I can assure you that friends do not get caught in a compromising position while they are supposed to be babysitting, either.”
I felt my stomach bottom out.
“We are just hanging out,” I said in a hushed whisper, “and there was no compromising anything going on. He was trying to get your son to like him.”
“By molesting his aunt?”
“You are ridiculous.” I looked over her shoulder, hoping that luck was on my side and Landon did not pick that very moment to enter the kitchen once again. A sigh of relief escaped me when I realized we were still alone. “There was no molesting of any sort.”
“Why do you look disappointed?”
I stared at AJ, the once very quiet and reserved one. She was so embarrassed over the mere thought of any one of us knowing that she and Rhett were doing the nasty in an unfinished loft above the garage. The poor girl was mortified for weeks when the elder generation ransacked the project to find her standing in the doorway with her shirt on backwards from a hurried attempt to hide her nakedness. Now she was giving me the third degree about naughtiness that wasn’t even happening between Landon and me.
“What happened to you?” I asked, shaking my head at her. “You used to be so quiet and”—I couldn’t find the words—“less intimidating.”
I walked away, hearing her laughter echo behind me. “You do know who my fiancé is, don’t you?”
At that, Rhett peered over the back of the couch, giving me a curious stare. I was surrounded by animals, dirty-minded, pushy animals.
Chapter Twelve
Landon
“You sure this is okay?” Suddenly, I felt a little ridiculous suggesting that we go fishing, but I wanted to do something where Chloe and I would be alone. I didn’t want any interruptions from family or friends. I honestly just didn’t want to share her with anyone.
“It’s fine, really.” The way she responded gave me an empty feeling in my stomach. This was an idiotic idea.
“If you want to go back—”
“No, this is good.” Her eyes met my own, and she smiled. “It’s peaceful.”
It was, just the sounds of the birds, the crickets, and the wind rustling the trees that lined the lake on the east side. The added bonus was the way that same wind continued to blow Chloe’s blonde tendrils that had fallen from her ponytail. She wore shorts and a tank top, matched with her worn boots. The woman made my heart race; her beauty honestly took my breath away at times.
“Do you want a bobber on your line?” When she arched a brow at me, I reached inside the tackle box and held up one. “This is a bobber. It just helps you determine if you have a bite on your line or not.” Again she stared at me like I’d lost my damn mind. “You hook it on the line and the red half rests upon the water. When you see it bounce, the white dipping under, it means you have a nibble or a bite on the bait.”
“Um…” She bit her lip and pulled in inward.
“If you don’t have the bobber, you just go by the bend at the end of your pole. A tug will slightly bow the tip, and at that time, you basically go by instinct. If you get a slight dip, he may
