Read Online Lost & Found Love by Laura Browning - Free Book Online
Authors: Laura Browning
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her back and closed his eyes, savoring the warm scent of her and praying she wouldn’t feel the effect she was having on him. After a minute, he felt her relax. He set her away from him, handed her coke back to her, and picked up his own. “Wanna tell me? Sometimes that helps.”
He guided her to the chairs on the veranda and thought it was a sign of how worn out she was that she made no protest.
“Well first, my car wouldn’t start, so I rode my bike to the elementary school. Then Mr. Underwood looked at me like I was naked when I walked inside in my cycling pants to ask if I could store my bike in my classroom.”
Joe groaned mentally. He had forgotten Dennis Underwood was the principal there and one of his more conservative church members. Remembering his own view of Tabby in her cycling pants, he could understand where Dennis might have overreacted.
“All of the teachers treated me like I smelled bad, even the new kindergarten teacher.”
Joe closed his eyes for an instant. Another one of his church members. She’d done her student teaching at the end of last school year and was one of those women ready to redecorate the parsonage if he winked at her wrong. Many of the other teachers were also members of his church. Bless their gossiping little hearts. Joe had a feeling the ladies’ worship committee was already hard at work. He had turned down no less than three invitations to supper for tonight. Now he knew what motivation lay behind the sudden spurt of invitations.
“The only teacher who was nice to me was Mr. Powers, the new P.E. teacher. After seeing me arrive this morning, he spent the entire lunch period staring at my butt. I had to sneak out a back door this afternoon because he was still hanging around the front door.”
Joe’s eyes narrowed to slits behind his sunglasses as an unaccustomed shaft of jealousy sliced through him. Staring at her butt? What kind of man would do that? Then he realized with chagrin he’d done the same thing the first time he watched her walk up the steps in those cycling pants. In fact, he’d done it a few minutes ago. It was a nice butt from his perspective. He could imagine…Lord! He better not think in those directions. He needed to stick with something practical he might be able to handle but thinking of her delicious derriere was not it.
“I work on my own car a lot. I could take a look at yours,” he offered. Cars. There. That was safe.
“Would you? I’ll get the keys, then if you don’t mind, I’ll leave you to it. I need a shower and a change of clothes.”
He smiled, and from behind the lenses of his dark glasses, he allowed himself the luxury of letting his eyes drift over her figure. She was certainly tall and slender, but the curves were in all the right places. As she walked past his chair, his eyes drifted down to the butt the P.E. teacher found so interesting, and Joe smothered a groan. It was definitely worth a second glance, even a third or a fourth. The door slammed behind her, and a discreet cough came from the direction of his porch.
Joe glanced over his shoulder to find Jake Allred standing there in uniform. Joe sprang to his feet, feeling suddenly awkward, even if Jake was one of his poker buddies.
“I see there is some grist to the rumor mill,” Jake remarked.
Joe shoved his glasses onto his tousled hair as he came down Tabby’s steps and popped the hood on her car. “Do I dare ask what the rumor mill is saying?”
Jake joined him, leaning casually against Tabby’s car as Joe methodically checked belts and hoses.
“If you’d get on Facebook, you’d know.”
Joe rolled his eyes. “We’ve had this conversation before. I refuse to encourage gossiping, and that’s all the town’s Facebook page has become.”
Jake snorted. “There’s a general consensus you’re succumbing to the wiles of your neighbor. While some describe her as young and free-spirited, the less charitable are already bandying the words ‘jezebel’
He guided her to the chairs on the veranda and thought it was a sign of how worn out she was that she made no protest.
“Well first, my car wouldn’t start, so I rode my bike to the elementary school. Then Mr. Underwood looked at me like I was naked when I walked inside in my cycling pants to ask if I could store my bike in my classroom.”
Joe groaned mentally. He had forgotten Dennis Underwood was the principal there and one of his more conservative church members. Remembering his own view of Tabby in her cycling pants, he could understand where Dennis might have overreacted.
“All of the teachers treated me like I smelled bad, even the new kindergarten teacher.”
Joe closed his eyes for an instant. Another one of his church members. She’d done her student teaching at the end of last school year and was one of those women ready to redecorate the parsonage if he winked at her wrong. Many of the other teachers were also members of his church. Bless their gossiping little hearts. Joe had a feeling the ladies’ worship committee was already hard at work. He had turned down no less than three invitations to supper for tonight. Now he knew what motivation lay behind the sudden spurt of invitations.
“The only teacher who was nice to me was Mr. Powers, the new P.E. teacher. After seeing me arrive this morning, he spent the entire lunch period staring at my butt. I had to sneak out a back door this afternoon because he was still hanging around the front door.”
Joe’s eyes narrowed to slits behind his sunglasses as an unaccustomed shaft of jealousy sliced through him. Staring at her butt? What kind of man would do that? Then he realized with chagrin he’d done the same thing the first time he watched her walk up the steps in those cycling pants. In fact, he’d done it a few minutes ago. It was a nice butt from his perspective. He could imagine…Lord! He better not think in those directions. He needed to stick with something practical he might be able to handle but thinking of her delicious derriere was not it.
“I work on my own car a lot. I could take a look at yours,” he offered. Cars. There. That was safe.
“Would you? I’ll get the keys, then if you don’t mind, I’ll leave you to it. I need a shower and a change of clothes.”
He smiled, and from behind the lenses of his dark glasses, he allowed himself the luxury of letting his eyes drift over her figure. She was certainly tall and slender, but the curves were in all the right places. As she walked past his chair, his eyes drifted down to the butt the P.E. teacher found so interesting, and Joe smothered a groan. It was definitely worth a second glance, even a third or a fourth. The door slammed behind her, and a discreet cough came from the direction of his porch.
Joe glanced over his shoulder to find Jake Allred standing there in uniform. Joe sprang to his feet, feeling suddenly awkward, even if Jake was one of his poker buddies.
“I see there is some grist to the rumor mill,” Jake remarked.
Joe shoved his glasses onto his tousled hair as he came down Tabby’s steps and popped the hood on her car. “Do I dare ask what the rumor mill is saying?”
Jake joined him, leaning casually against Tabby’s car as Joe methodically checked belts and hoses.
“If you’d get on Facebook, you’d know.”
Joe rolled his eyes. “We’ve had this conversation before. I refuse to encourage gossiping, and that’s all the town’s Facebook page has become.”
Jake snorted. “There’s a general consensus you’re succumbing to the wiles of your neighbor. While some describe her as young and free-spirited, the less charitable are already bandying the words ‘jezebel’
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