Read Online House Of Payne: Scout by Stacy Gail - Free Book Online Page A

work project. Then, when we finally met face-to-face, I confess that I could not stop myself from staring at her. Aside from the violet she had in her hair, purple skirt and white blouse that made me think the term dangerous curves was created just for her, it was her gray eyes that captured my attention the most.”
    Scout nearly choked on her last bite of dinner. He was simply playing the role of her date, of course, so that wasn’t what had her on the verge of needing the Heimlich maneuver. The thing was…
    He remembered what she’d been wearing when they first met.
    She knew the skirt he was talking about. It hugged her ass in ways that should be illegal. But she didn’t remember wearing it on the day she’d first met him at the House.
    He did, though. And he’d been captured by her eyes…
    No, she thought, slamming down on that ballooning concept to make sure it popped. He was just playing a role, spoon-feeding her old foster parents what he thought they wanted to hear. It wasn’t the truth.
    It just sounded like it.
    Sergio “Bolo” Panuzzi, in his customary bolo tie worn with a yellow plaid shirt, tilted Ivar a wink from behind thick glasses. “That’s the way of it, isn’t it, son? Ask any woman, and they’ll say that the first thing a man notices is a knockout pair of legs or a nice rack. But that’s not always the case, am I right?”
    Mama Coco smacked his arm while Scout snorted. “ Bolo .”
    “What? I’m just saying the first thing I noticed about my Coco were her beautiful eyes. Then her smile. Then I noticed her rack. At that point, my heart was lost.”
    His wife looked like she didn’t know whether to brain him or kiss him. “Don’t pay any attention to him, Ivar, you’ll just make him worse. What do they call it on all those internets? Feeding the trolls? That’s my Bolo. Now,” she leaned in and looked like she was readying herself for a good, long gossip session, “tell me all about yourself, cutie.”
    Ivar’s usually blank eyes held a hint of alarm. “There is not much to tell, sad to say.”
    “Oh, pish. You’ve got such a honey of an accent, it could turn the head of any girl. Where’re you from?”
    “Montreal.”
    Mama Coco’s mouth made an O. “Not France? I was thinking France. Are you sure?”
    “Positive.” Then he glanced at Scout, and she was surprised at the genuine amusement in his expression. “Should I apologize?”
    “Just keep talking in that awesome accent and she’ll forgive anything.” And if he kept looking at her with such real emotion she might be in the same boat.
    “Oh, you.” Mama Coco batted a hand in Scout’s direction before leaning her way. “Now it’s your turn, Theresa honey. What did you first think when you met this oh, so beautiful man?”
    All at once everything was a lot less funny. She glanced at Ivar, only to discover his gaze was locked onto her like a magnet to steel. Crap . “I thought he was trouble.”
    “With that accent? That face of a fallen angel? Those amazing shoulders that fill up half the room?” Her former foster mother let out a bawdy cackle. “Oh honey, of course he’s trouble! He’s the kind of trouble any woman would want to get into. Obviously you take after your Mama Coco when it comes to your taste in men. Wait, don’t say anything. I’m having a proud moment over here.”
    “Unless,” Papa Bolo put in, touching his wife’s fragile, liver-spotted hand, “we’re talking about Theresa’s uncanny sixth sense when it comes to sniffing out trouble. That might be the kind of thing we’re talking about. Then we’ve got a problem, because our girl is never wrong about these things.”
    “If that were the case, she wouldn’t have brought him around for us to meet, Bolo.” Again Mama Coco made a batting-away gesture with her hand. “A mother knows her daughter. She likes this one, and I have to say I like the look of him, too.”
    Papa Bolo’s bushy gray brows went up over the frames of his