The Perfect Gift (4 page)

CHAPTER SIX

“You have a date?” Ahmed asked as he watched the newest batch of three-year-olds gallop around the practice track at the back of the farm.

“Yes. What do I do?”

“What do you mean, what do you do?”

“What do I wear, what do I talk about? Do I bring something with me?”

“What kind of date is it?” Mo asked.

Nabi thought for a second and then his shoulders slumped. “A pity date.”

“A pity date?” Will Ashton, former NFL quarterback and co-owner of one of the horses they were training, asked.

“Yeah. I helped her out with old Cross. I’m letting her board her horse next to mine, and he tried to get her to pay $1000 for breaking their supposed contract. He threatened to keep her horse if she didn’t pay. I put a stop to it, and then the kids told her it was my birthday, so I think she did it just out of pity since I had no plans.”

Ahmed, Mo, and Will exchanged glances and shrugged.

“Nothing wrong with that,” Will said.

“Yeah, you have to get your foot in the door somehow,” Ahmed told him.

“I don’t know. It’s been forever since I dated. But it seems to me a pity date would be coffee or something that didn’t last long. A home-cooked meal seems pretty intimate to me,” Mo said as he clicked his stopwatch when their stallion crossed the finish line. He showed it to Will who just smiled.

“That’s true. We aren’t really up to date on this kind of thing. I guess we could ask Sienna,” Will said.

Nabi cringed at the thought of asking Will’s oldest child, who was no longer much of a child. “No way. I would sooner ask Ryan, but that is not going to happen.” Nabi shook his head. Talk about pathetic.

“Then we could ask the next best thing.” Will pulled out his cell phone. “Cole, it’s Will. I’m over at the track at Desert Sun Farm. Nabi has been invited out to dinner with some woman. Has Ryan mentioned anything about dating?”

Nabi covered his face with his hands. Could this get any more embarrassing?

“Cole’s calling the guys, and they’re on their way over,” Will informed them.

Nabi had his answer. Yes, it could get more embarrassing.

*     *     *

Grace kicked off her dusty cowboy boots and turned on the shower. She unbuttoned her shirt and tossed it into the hamper. Taking a deep breath, she looked at herself in her bathroom mirror as she reached for her toothbrush. Kinda flat-ish stomach, breasts a B cup, strong, muscled thighs from riding . . .

“What have I gotten myself into?” she groaned.

Grace walked to her closet and pulled out a cute wispy skirt that made her feel young again. It stopped above her knees and was the kind of skirt she used to twirl around the room in when she was a child. She pulled out an ivory lace top and put them both on the bed. She could do this. It was just dinner . . . at her house . . . with the sexiest man she’d ever laid eyes on.

Grace fell back onto her bed and closed her eyes. Nabi was so out of her league. She hadn’t been on a real date since she was a kid. Bo had been her only boyfriend and they didn’t “date” at that age anyway.

She stepped into the shower. Should she talk about the weather? Or maybe ask about the weather in Rahmi? She’d never been there and didn’t know much about that small island country in the Middle East. As important as Nabi was to the prince, she was sure he had a lot of interesting stories to tell. But what did she have to offer someone like that? She was just a kindergarten teacher. Granted, there was nothing better than the feeling of accomplishment when a student learned to read and write, but would a man who was into personal security want to know about that?

She turned off the water, stepped out of the shower, and dressed. She was about to dry her hair when there was a knock on the door. She shot a glance at the clock and cursed. He couldn’t be this early! She hurried to the door and nervously opened it.

“Hello, dear,” Miss Lily said sweetly.

Grace smiled at Miss Lily and her two sisters who stood on her tiny porch. “Hi, ladies. What a surprise. Is there something I can do for you? Please, come in.”

Grace opened the door wider and stepped back to allow the elderly sisters to slowly walk inside.

“Thank you. We don’t want to take up too much of your time,” Miss Violet said as she patted Grace’s cheek. “Don’t you look lovely.”

“Thank you.” Grace gave each sister a hug. It was hard not to with these three.

“Aren’t you sweet?” Miss Daisy set a large pitcher on the kitchen table.

“We made a big batch of iced tea and realized we made way too much. We thought you might want some,” Miss Lily said as she gestured to the large pitcher.

“Thank you. That’s very kind of you. Your iced tea is the best,” Grace said. Relief coursed through her. She could serve it at dinner tonight. She could only make regular from-a-box iced tea, but the Rose sisters’ tea was the stuff of dreams. And tonight she needed all the help she could get to impress Nabi.

“You’re welcome. It’s a very special batch of tea,” Miss Daisy told her as the three sisters shared a look.

“I appreciate it. I must admit my iced tea isn’t up to your caliber.”

“We know,” Miss Violet said cheerfully.

“Well, we must be going. Father James is having bingo at the church. Enjoy the special tea,” Miss Lily called over her shoulder as the sisters shuffled out as quickly as they had arrived.

Grace shook her head but before she could think more of it, the oven went off. It was time to get her cakes out.

*     *     *

“You want to know how to date?” Cy, a stuntman super-spy turned farmer asked, and Nabi groaned, again.

“It shouldn’t be too hard. We all dated our wives. How much can change in twenty years?” Miles asked with a shrug.

“I don’t know. Ryan talks about rules. Were there rules when we dated? I just remember trying not to piss y’all off so I could keep sleeping with Paige,” Cole Parker, the head of the Lexington FBI Office, told them.

“I don’t care that you’ve been married and had children with my sister; they are the result of immaculate conceptions as far as I’m concerned,” Pierce, inventor extraordinaire, said with a shudder.

“I overheard Sydney complaining that some guy at college only talked about himself. So, you should probably ask her lots of questions,” Marshall, the Sheriff of Keeneston, put in.

Cade nodded his agreement. “Yeah, and listen. Sophie complained some guy she went out with was too busy on his cell phone to listen to her.”

“Layne complained about a date trying to be all macho—ordering for her when she didn’t want him to, telling her what to drink, and talking about how badass he was at the gym,” Miles growled. “Needless to say, she set him straight. Maybe tone down the whole big bad soldier thing.”

“That’s good.” Pierce snapped his fingers. “Go with all the good things you’ve done. Piper really liked this one guy who showed his
sensitive
side. But not too much, just a little.”

Cy nodded. “I’d leave out the explosions, shootings, and fighting until the third date at least.”

“Wait a second, you all didn’t do any of these things with your wives,” Nabi pointed out.

They all looked at each other and shrugged. “True, which is why we had to spy on our kids to find out how dating is done,” Will replied for the group.

“I’m sure this is real good intel then,” Nabi said, frowning.

“Oh, it’s solid intel. You think we’d let our daughters date without knowing about every single thing that went on? Shoot, I have Reagan and Riley’s phones tapped. Just don’t tell Gemma.” Cy lowered his voice and looked around as if his wife, Gemma, a newspaper reporter and novelist, might suddenly appear.

Cade similarly looked around for his wife, a former DEA agent turned sheriff’s deputy. “Don’t tell Annie, but I hack into Sophie’s phone and email, too. You know, just to make sure she’s safe.”

“I may or may not have answered the door to all of Sydney’s dates wearing my sheriff’s uniform and carrying a gun,” Marshall said innocently.

“I might have tampered with a date’s sports car so Piper could drive her car instead. What?” Pierce asked as Nabi shook his head. “As if I would trust a teenage boy in a sports car to drive my daughter around.”

“I had the whole offensive line from my old NFL team show up the first time Sienna brought a boy to dinner. I might have whispered that they like to break little boys who hurt my daughter,” Will said with pride.

Miles nodded. “I mentioned I knew twenty-three ways to kill someone with my bare hands during my introduction to Layne’s date.”

Nabi’s eyes went wide. “What did she do?”

“Layne? She shrugged and said if the boy was too much of a wimp to meet me then he wasn’t the boy for her. Have I mentioned I have a great wife who taught my daughter about men?” Miles smiled.

The rest of the men all nodded as they agreed that their wives were fantastic.

“It’s the only thing that keeps me sane. Knowing Annie taught Sophie all she knows. It doesn’t mean I don’t still check up on her, though,” Cade, the head football coach at Keeneston High School, said seriously. He would never admit that while Sophie was in high school, he told his team that if anyone tried to date her he would make them run sprints until they lost all interest in dating.

“Has this helped at all?” Mo asked.

“It has helped me decide Abigail doesn’t need to date yet,” Ahmed mumbled.

“It’s taught me that I’ll never spy on my daughter,” Nabi said as he shook his head at his friends, who in turn just laughed at him.

“You’ll be worse than all of us. Just you wait and see,” Cy said as he slapped Nabi on his back.

“Let’s see if I can just get through this date first. Thanks, guys.” Nabi waved as his friends went on laughing at the idea of Nabi not overprotecting any daughters he might have.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Grace took one last look in the mirror and opened the front door. Nabi stood smiling at her with a handful of daffodils. He was dressed casually in jeans and a white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to expose tanned, muscled arms.

“These are for you. Thank you for inviting me to dinner tonight,” Nabi said as he held the flowers out to her.

“Some say daffodils represent chivalry and new beginnings.” Grace smiled as she put her nose to the delicate pedals and took a quick sniff. She could have sworn his cheeks flushed as he looked at the floor quickly.

“Please come in. Dinner is ready. I hope fried catfish is okay with you.”

“Sounds wonderful. And smells wonderful, too.”

Grace led Nabi to her small kitchen and reached up for a vase. Nabi looked around and then walked over to the counter. “Would you like me to pour the iced tea?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Grace set the flowers on the kitchen table and served dinner. Nabi didn’t talk, but she didn’t mind. She was too nervous to talk anyway. At least the silence wasn’t awkward. She found it strange that they seemed to be able to work together to get dinner on the table as if they had done it a thousand times.

Finally sitting down, they raised their glasses of iced tea. “To a new friend, a hero of horses, and the birthday boy. Cheers.” Grace looked at the amused smile on Nabi’s face and downed the Rose sisters’ iced tea. He was definitely not a boy; why had she said that?

Grace coughed. The iced tea was strong. What had the Roses put in it? Nabi smiled and looked at the pitcher. “I see the Rose sisters made their special brew.”

“They did say it was special. It kind of burns. What do they put in it?”

“Bourbon.”

Grace’s eyes went wide as her body got warm. “That explains the floating feeling. I don’t drink . . . ever.”

Nabi raised his glass in silent toast. “Then this should really be a party tonight.”

Grace giggled. And she giggled again. Once she started, she couldn’t stop. “That’s funny, and this tea is yummy.” Grace poured another glass and took a bite of dinner. Dinner was awesome. She was an awesome cook. Nabi was an awesome man who she bet would look awesome naked.

“Tell me about yourself. Where do you come from? Have you always wanted to be a teacher?”

Warm fuzzies overtook Grace, and she felt herself relax. “I’m from Prestonsburg. I’m an only child and always wished for siblings. When my parents divorced, I sort of adopted all my friends’ younger siblings and fell into a teacher role with them. I knew by the time I was in the fourth grade I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to be someone reliable and caring for young kids. So many of them don’t have that at home.”

Nabi nodded and took another drink of the spiked tea. He looked across the table as Grace animatedly told of her love of teaching and smiled. She was beautiful, intelligent, and caring. Where had she been all these years?

“And then my husband died, and these kids became even more to me. My job was my life.”

Ah, that’s where she’d been—grieving. Was he the test-the-waters guy, or was she only inviting him to dinner to be nice? He watched Grace take a big gulp of tea. She didn’t cough this time. Instead her cheeks had a cute flush to them, and her eyes sparkled as she talked even faster while waving her hands around.

“But then I wanted to start dating, and no one would come near me. I mean, are widows really that scary? No one in town dared ask me out so I had to go online. Have you ever done online dating? No, you wouldn’t need to. I mean, you’re so hot and I’m so not. And so many of my friends found love online that it gave me hope. It seemed not to be, though. I did get an offer to spank a man with a ruler, though,” Grace tipsily rambled on.

Nabi coughed to hide his surprise and amusement. Some people got mean when they drank. Some got tired. Some got touchy-feely. Grace got animated. She was excited, and mixed with her nervousness, she was talking with her whole body. Her eyes went big, her hands played charades, and her mouth . . . her mouth was utterly kissable.

“There’s one thing wrong about what you said. You are very attractive. As for the ruler . . .”

Sienna Ashton parked her car a block away from Mrs. Duvall’s house. She cut the engine and pulled up the black hoodie. She walked down the street and stopped short of the house where Nabi’s SUV was parked. She glanced around and quickly ducked behind the hedgerow, making her way down the row until she had a good view of the kitchen.

A hand snaked out from the night and covered her mouth. Sienna let out a scream, but the hand muffled the noise. She was brought up tight against a hard muscled chest with strong arms holding her to him.

“It’s me,” a deep voice whispered in her ear. “Now stop screaming.”

Who was it?
It’s me
could be anyone. She nodded her head. As soon as he lowered his hand, she turned and connected with a left hook to his jaw. Before she could celebrate the victory over her mystery attacker, her arms were wrenched behind her, and her face was shoved into the ground.

“What the hell was that for?”

Sienna would have cried out, but the pressure he put on her arm could pop it out of its socket at any time.

“Don’t hurt me, please.”

“You idiot, I told you it was me.”

Sienna tired to stay calm. She took a shaky breath. “Me who?”

“Me, Ryan. I thought you’d know my voice by now. You’ve only known me twenty years.” He dropped her arm and turned back to the window.

“Ryan? What are you doing here? And for your information, your voice is a lot deeper now than when we grew up together.”
And sexier.
“Where did you learn how to do that?”

Ryan made a disgruntled noise and refused to look at her. It was hard with her striking green eyes and light red hair. “You do know my parents, right? I know more self-defense and have more weapons training than most police officers. Not too bad for a little kid, huh? As for what I’m doing here, Zain and Gabe got stuck at a family dinner and wanted me to come spy on the happy couple. What are you doing here?”

“Abigail is at the same dinner. She texted me to see if I could spy on them. I guess since we’re in college, we can get out of our houses easier. So, what have I missed?” Ryan had always been a love-struck puppy following her around. After being away at college for four years, she came back to see he had changed. Tonight was the first time she’d opened her eyes and seen him for the man he was turning into—a sexy badass.

“The Rose sisters dropped off some of their special tea. Mrs. D has had three glasses. She’s plastered, and Nabi is highly amused. I’ve never seen him smile so much. Can’t blame him, though. Mrs. D has that sexy girl-next-door thing going for her.”

Sienna didn’t know why, but the thought of Ryan finding Mrs. Duvall attractive irritated her. Ryan had bugged her her entire life by either trying to steal kisses or asking her to school dances. Lately he wasn’t, and she actually missed it.

“Wait, they’re getting up.” Sienna watched as the couple moved toward the front of the house. She and Ryan crawled quietly along the hedgerow to follow them, then stopped and stretched up to look into the living room window.

Grace was in love. This man was smokin’ hot. He listened. His smile sent her heart jumping from her chest. When he placed his hand at the small of her back, she thought she might just rip her clothes off right then and beg him to take her. She was so hot. Why was it so hot in here? Grace fanned her flushed face and took a seat on the couch.

Nabi sat next to her, and their legs pressed against each other. Tearing off her clothes was
so
going to happen. She looked at his smile and then let her eyes drop lower. She would do a once-over real quick-like. He wouldn’t even know she was checking him out.

Nabi held down the laugh trying to break free. Grace’s mouth was slightly open as her eyes traveled down his chest and stopped at his lap. But when she licked her lips as she continued to stare, he felt himself respond instantly. He shouldn’t have let her continue drinking. Now there was no hope of sleeping with her tonight. But he had to find out if she was still mourning her late husband. So, he’d plied her with the drink and interrogated her.

What he found out was that she was kind, loving, and had been walked on by her husband. She no longer mourned him. Instead of grieving him, she had decided to become her own person. Now she longed to love and to be loved. Just like him. He had listened to her repeat the feelings he had every day.

When he had determined her mind and her heart were ready to date again, he’d turned the questions to getting to know her better. Of course, he knew a lot of it from the background check he’d run on her, but it was fun to listen to her life story. They had a lot in common—fathers in the military, love of the outdoors and horses, the desire to have a family. After all this time, hope was finally blooming . . . along with something else. She really had to stop looking at his erection and licking her lips.

“What is she staring at?” Sienna whispered.

“If you don’t know, then you’re the kid here,” Ryan shot back.

“What?”

“You don’t even realize you’re doing it, do you? No, you’re the oldest and all high and mighty,” Ryan said bitterly.

“That’s not fair. I am the oldest, but I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

Ryan clenched his jaw. “Now you don’t care about age.” He was pissed. He was still fuming at Sienna saying she saw him as a kid. Her brother, Carter, had been right. He was pathetic, and he was done with the obsession.

“What’s gotten into you, Ryan?” Sienna hissed. “Oh, look! He’s going to kiss her.”

Ryan looked through the window and saw Nabi staring at Grace’s mouth. By the way she was licking her lips, Ryan was looking at her mouth, too. Suddenly, fourteen years didn’t seem like much of a gap. If Nabi backed out, then he needed someone to make him forget about the woman kneeling next to him.

He could see Nabi flex his hands into fists over and over again as if he were trying to stop himself from doing what both he and Sienna knew he was going to do. Ryan saw the moment Nabi gave in. He reached for Grace, putting one finger under her chin and raising her eyes to his. He leaned forward and they were lost in each other.

Sienna held her breath. She shouldn’t be watching this. She felt her cheeks flush and was suddenly very aware of Ryan next to her. They were thigh-to-thigh and shoulder-to-shoulder as they peeked into the window. Her breathing quickened and she tried to hide it, but Ryan shot her a quick look.

Oh goodness. Those hazel eyes, that dark hair she wanted to run her hands through . . . and when did those jeans start fitting him like that?

“Damn it,” Ryan cursed. He grabbed her then and crushed his mouth on hers. She felt her breasts press against his hard chest, and her hands went to his hair. She had thought the kiss would be bruising, but it wasn’t. It was demanding, but Ryan seemed to caress her everywhere. Her head spun from it, and then she was set aside. She felt empty. She felt as if her world had been turned upside down and she’d die if he didn’t touch her again.

“Ryan?” Sienna blinked her eyes open to find him staring down at her.

“Sorry, Sienna. But I think I’ve finally outgrown you.” And then he was gone.