Bitter Hearts (A Southern Loving Book 3) (12 page)

“It’s
was lunch,” he interrupted.

“FWB
don’t make breakfast, lunch or dinner for the other person. That’s something
you do for a girlfriend. Lastly, D.) You don’t fall in love and you, my cousin,
have that twinkle in your eyes when Kari comes into the room.”

“What
are you and Farrah drinking? There ain’t no twinkling in my eyes.”

“The
same stuff Kari and you were drinking when I fell in love Farrah,” Austin
howled with laughter. “Stop fighting it.”

Hank
stop brushing Scout and looked at Austin. “Don’t you have a song to write or
something?” Hank asked.  “I don’t need advice about dating from a man who
couldn’t get it right the first time either.”

“Yep,
isn’t that the irony,” Austin tossed the brush into a bucket, “except I found
exactly what my life needed, but don’t take my word for it.”

“Go
home to the wife,” Hank mumbled.

Austin
playfully punched Hank in the shoulder. “Are you jealous?” he asked, leaving
Hank by his lonesome.

Was
he jealous of Austin and Shane? Hank shook his head no and went back to
grooming Scout.

***

Kari
looked up from her desk to see Corey looking at her with a huge grin on his
face. She knew what Corey was doing, and she was going to play his little
childish game. The best approach to handle Corey was to ignore him, she went
back to sketching. “What?” she asked, looking up from her sketches.

“You
got some and the way you’re smiling, it was gooood.” Corey rushed over to her
desk and sat down in front of her. “Tell me about him.”

“What,
who? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said with a quizzical look on
her face.

“Don’t
give me that,” Corey snapped his fingers. “I’ve been watching you for the past
couple of days, one minute you’re sulking around here and now your ass is all
grinning and smiling.”

Kari
looked at him sideways. “Don’t you have some samples to get made?”

Corey
waved his hand in the air, dismissing Kari’s question. “I’m happy your
pocketbook is getting some action, god knows it about time.”

Kari
closed her sketch book; obviously she wasn’t going to get any work done. “What
I do with my body is none of your concern,” she mumbled.

“Is
it the hunky cowboy?”

Silence

Corey
clutched his chest and appeared shocked. “It is,” he said, as his mouth formed
an “O.”

“None
of your business,” she sing-songed.

“Girl,
I’m happy he’s saddling you up every night.”

Kari
laughed so hard she clutched her ribs. “Shut up.”

“He’s
a winner, a major step up from you know who.”

Kari
stopped laughing and looked at him. “Weren’t you the one who’s been pushing me
to talk to Sam?”

Corey
reached across the desk and touched Kari’s hand. “All I know is that he hurt
you. The day you made the decision to leave Cali, I’ve been right behind you
every step of the way. Kari you deserve happiness even when you think it’s not
in the cards for you.”

“Did
you know that he was sleeping with Mariah?”

“What!”
Corey exclaimed with disgust etched on his face. “No! Sam wouldn’t.”

“When
there is millions of dollars at stake everything is off limits, including a
friend who family is in bankrupt.”

Corey
stood up from the desk and paced the floor. “You’re bullshitting me.”

“So,
if I don’t want to talk or see them.”

Corey
ran his fingers through his slick hair. “I can’t believe this. Your
self-proclaimed best friend was sleeping with the man you were going to marry.”

“It’s
all good, I’m happy they’re getting married,” Kari said.

“Kari…Sam
isn’t getting married to Mariah.”

This
news was like a bombshell to Kari. “Oh well, I’m happy whoever the lucky lady
is.” 

“It’s
some cougar,” Corey said. Pretending as if he had claws.

“Probably
for her money,” she mumbled.

“You’re
wrong for that…I told him that you were willing to chit chat after you come
back from Texas and he was cool with it,” Corey said.

“I
should be back in a week, but I trust that you can hold down the fort.” Kari
looked at her To-Do List, “You’ll still be instructing the contactors and
painter coming out to the McBride home.”

“Yes
ma’am,” he saluted. “Don’t turn around, but guess who just pulled up.”

Ignoring
Corey, Kari turned to see Hank stepping out his trucking carrying a huge
bouquet of sparkling flowers. He walked into the office and made a beeline
towards her wearing blue jeans, a button up white shirt and a black cowboy hat.
Her heart was beating fast as he neared her.

“I’m
leaving, but I want you to know that cowboy is a keeper,” Corey whispered
before grabbing his bag and leaving for the day.

“Hello
Sugar,” Hank said, as he leaned down and kissed her cheek, practically lifting
her out of the chair. Their lips connected in a kiss that sent butterflies
through her body. Hank sat her on her feet, she rested her forehead against his
shoulder and breathed in his cologne. God, he smelled good. Every time she was
with him it felt like she was dreaming, she was allowing him to sink into her
veins.

“What
are you doing?” she asked.

“Apologizing
for my actions.” He backed up and gave her the flowers.

Kari
accepted the bouquet of white hydrangeas, yellow roses, crème roses and yellow
alstroemeria. “Thanks, they’re beautiful…but you didn’t have to.”

“My
mom was a simple woman, when I got out a line I would run outside and pluck
flowers from her garden. She used to say any simple woman would love flowers
that spoke a language to the receiver.”

“These
flowers tell me that you’re sorry, and that you like me,” she said, kissing the
side of his cheeks.

“Uh-huh
and?”

Kari
put her finger to her chin. “Let’s see.”

Hank
pulled her to him. “These flowers are an apology, which also came with the
invitation to the fair tonight.”

She
gave him a puzzled look. “Of course I accept your apology and I never changed
my mind about going to the fair with you.”

“Oh
really?” He folded his arms across his chest and looked at her as she put the
flowers into water.

Kari
went to the closet and pulled out her suitcase she’d packed early this morning.
“I’ve never really been to a fair,” she admitted.

“Are
you serious?” he asked, taking the heavy luggage from her. “Have you ever been
on an American road trip?”

“Nope,”
she said, writing a note for Corey to water the flowers. “I’ve been to Mexico,
Caribbean Island, Greece and Paris.”

“What
if we got off the unbeaten path to Dallas and ventured to Graceland and Pigeon
Forest?”

Kari
wrinkled her nose, “I have no idea where those places are located at,” she
confessed. “But an American road trip sounds fun, what about getting to the
McBride House on time?”

“Austin
is giving a small concert in New Mexico, so we have three days to visit Graceland
and Pigeon Forest,” he said, surveying Kari’s clothes; she wore a black
designer skirt, a yellow blazer and matching yellow high heels shoes. “Do you
own any tennis shoes?”

Kari
frowned “What’s wrong with what I have on?” she said, twirling around in front
of him.

“Nothing
honey, but you ain’t going to last thirty minutes at the fair in those heels,”
he chuckled.

“I
have running shoes,” she said.

“Why
don’t we stop at a store for you to buy something more comfortable,” he
suggested quickly.

Kari
stopped and turned, eyeing Hank, who appeared nervous. “When did you start
worrying about a woman’s outfit?”

“I-I-”
Hank floundered. He knew this wasn’t going to be easy. “For the past couple of
days I’ve seen your impressive clothing collection; Prada, Michael Kors, Gucci,
Louis Vuitton. All you need is some jeans and a shirt, something simple.”

“So,
where am I supposed to buy these simple jeans and shirt at?” Kari asked,
turning the lights off in the back.

“I
have a place in mind that’s not far from here,” Hank said steering her to the door;
he waited until Kari set the alarm and locked the door to her business before
they walked towards his truck.

When
Hank opened the door for her, Kari had to ask herself; how could a woman walk
away from this endangered species? Since being in Nashville she heard the term
southern gentleman and Hank was exactly one. She bet he was the type of man who
would offer his coat to her if she was cold.

Thirty
minutes later they pulled up a boutique. Kari surveyed the small chic clothing
store. Was he punking her?

“You’re
kidding me.” Kari shuffled uncomfortably from foot to foot as she eyed the
clothes hanging around from the display cases. This wasn’t her style she didn’t
wear shirt that said “
HeyBo.
”

“Kari!
Stop whining and let’s get the shopping,” Hank said, before waving a sales
woman over to them.

Hank
was right she was used to high end clothing; this was nothing like the stores
she shopped at back home in Beverly Hills. This small boutique was decorated in
yellow wall paneling, lacy white curtains. Oh God was that a huge high heel
sofa in the corner. There were signs plastered at the front of the store-
‘20-45% off everything.’ This definitely wasn’t her cup of tea.

“Hank!
This is a surprise!” A woman said excitedly.

Kari
turned around to see a cute brunette walking quickly over to Hank and thrusting
herself into his arms. She pretended to be looking at the clothes on the
clothing stand, which Kari told herself she would never be caught dead in.

Hank
looked displeased to see the woman, Kari wondered what that was about.
“Maxine,” he said grimly.

“Fancy
meeting you in here,” Maxine said with her eyes glued on Kari. “Who’s this?”

The
clothes were long forgotten as Kari made her way to the woman who referred her
as “this,” “Hi, I’m Kari Hayes.” She extended her hand to the woman.

Maxine
placed her finger on her chin. “I know that name but I don’t know where I heard
it at.”

Hank
placed his hand at the small of Kari’s back. “Well, we should be getting on,”
he said, steering her towards a display case.

Maxine
reached out and touched his arm “I just want you to know that I’m sorry about
you and Natalie,” she eyed him seductively. “Too bad she didn’t realize what a
fine piece of man she had in her grips.”

Kari
cleared her throat, “Hank I’m going to go over here,” she pointed to a rack of
jeans near the window.

Hank
draped his arm over Kari’s shoulder to keep her in place. Maxine’s eyes became
huge as they bounced back and forth between Kari and Hank.

“Oh.”
She seemed irked at the revelation that Hank was a couple with Kari.

“Now
we should be getting on, Kari needs something to wear for the fair and plus I’m
doing a set with Austin tonight.”

Kari
noticed how the woman beamed just with Hank mentioning that he was performing
tonight.

“Well,
hopefully I’ll see you later tonight,” she purred.

Kari
couldn’t be mad at the overly flirtatious Maxine, her and Hank was nothing more
than friends with benefits.

 “Yep,”
Hank replied, pulling Kari towards the table with jeans. “Here, I’ll pick out a
few jeans for you, we can get done quicker… you wear a size eight right?”

“What?”
she whispered. “How did you get that number?”

Hank
looked up from pulling dark blue jeans with studded sequin pockets, his grey
eyes because hazy with desire. “My hands have roamed on every inch of your
thick thighs and ass. So a size eight right?”

Kari
gulped as the room temperature seem like it went up a few degrees. “Ten, but
we…I mean…I should try it on because you know.”

“I
know you have more thighs, butt and hips,” he said licking his lips slowly, as
he remembered lying in bed tracing her body.

“Let
me go.” Kari snatched up two different size jeans and practically ran to the
dressing room to get away from Hank and the sexual electrified air that
surrounded them.

***

                Kari
had already slipped between the doors of the changing room, Hank called over a
young girl, who helped him with the items he picked out for Kari.  He was so
busy pulling dresses down from racks for Kari that he didn’t notice Maxine
standing on the sidewalk outside taking a picture of him.

                “How
do I look?”

Hank
turned around, she was absolutely breathtaking in ivory color top with lace cut
detailing along the neckline and all the way down the sleeves. The light blue
jeans hugged all her curves that her momma blessed her with. He smiled when his
eyes traveled down her feet. “You didn’t have to get cowgirl boots.”