“What is it, Cletus?” Billy asked sharply, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I glanced between the two brothers and moved my twisting fingers to my lap; it was the first time Cletus had looked in my general vicinity since the backstage sex pow-wow and the subsequent ravenous look.
“I know what you’re thinking.” Cletus shook his head slowly.
“I guarantee, you don’t.” Billy’s response was gruff and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up.
“No. I do. And you’re wrong.”
Billy’s throat worked as he swallowed, his glare piercing and hot. “It’s none of your business, Cletus.”
“Well, you’re right about that. It’s none of my business. It’s your business. But you’re still wrong. You can’t win a woman with brute force, or wishing, or begging—not that you were planning on begging.”
Billy’s eyes flashed and he ground his teeth, the muscle at his jaw and temple jumping.
“You can’t wear her down.” Cletus softened his words, like he was softening a blow.
I realized with some surprise that our immediate tablemates had turned their attention away; Roscoe, Jessica, and Duane had their heads together, and I heard Duane mention Italy. Beau was studiously picking through his rib dinner. Everyone else was too far away to hear Cletus and Billy’s conversation. The restaurant noise from the first floor masked their exchange.
I took a page from Beau’s book and redirected my eyes to my plate.
“Then what do you suggest?” Billy sounded confrontational, his low voice laced with frustration. “What would you do?”
“Lay it all out. Tell her everything.”
Billy’s gaze focused on where Claire had disappeared. Then, unexpectedly, his eyes moved to me. I saw him in my peripheral vision and I felt his glare. I held very still.
“Would you, Cletus?” Billy asked, his attention drifted back to his brother. “Would you lay it all out? Tell her everything?”
Cletus was quiet a moment before saying, “When you’re certain, when it’s the heart and mind you’re after, then you lay it all out. But if it’s empty, just physical, then there’s nothing to say.”
CHAPTER 17
“Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass.”
― John Steinbeck
Cletus
“Okay, now that it’s just us three, I want to know.” Jessica turned in her seat and lifted her eyebrows at me. It was keen eyebrow lift, so I knew the next words out of her mouth were going to be a question. “What’s going on with Jennifer Sylvester and Billy? Or is she with Beau? Or what’s going on?”
I met Duane’s eyes in the rearview mirror. He was driving my new car back from Nashville. Jess sat next to him on the bench seat, and I was in the back being chauffeured. The others, including the lady in question, had already departed for Green Valley on Sienna’s plane.
Duane was—by far—the best driver in the family. I suspected he was the best driver in Tennessee. Whenever I needed a fast four-wheeled escape, he was my guy. Which meant when he left for Italy and other grand capering, I would be without a getaway driver.
A depressing thought.
Duane cleared his throat, shifted a bit in his seat, but said nothing. He quickly returned his attention to the road.
He was no help.
Or, perhaps he was also curious.
“Come on, Cletus.” Jessica reached over the seat and pushed my knee with her fingertips. “Am I going to have to guess? Don’t make me guess.”
“She’s not attached to either Billy or Beau.”
“Are you sure?” Jessica pushed. “Because Beau and she seemed mighty friendly.”
I moved my attention to the window at my side rather than allow Jessica to see my displeasure at this news. Truth was, I’d been preoccupied by thoughts of Jennifer for weeks.
I was . . . attracted to her.
Physically.
A lot.
Her image haunted both my day and night dreams. Most were of the dirty variety, because the woman’s body drove me to distraction. But some fantasies were just flashes of us being together, talking and touching. Always touching.
I’d been fixating on her since our last lesson. Matters weren’t helped by her unexpected delivery of the most delicious muffins ever conceived in the history of muffins.
“Beau is friendly with everybody.” I forced calm into my voice and schooled my expression before turning back to Jess.
“Then what was she doing here today? And the other day at the house?”
“She’s a family friend.”
The woman definitely had an effect on me. Her voodoo had me doing and saying things without premeditated forethought. We had conversations. We spoke of events and our lives. I was sharing things about myself without conducting a mental chess game or deliberating how to best leverage information she communicated for my benefit.