Engagement Rate (The Callaghan Green Series Book 1) by Annie Dyer

Author:Annie Dyer [Dyer, Annie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kingston Publishing Company
Published: 2018-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Chapter Fourteen

Jackson

"Look what the diseased rat's dragged in!" I was greeted as soon as I walked through the doors of the pub I chose to bring Vanessa to for lunch. It's busy, as it would be on a Saturday afternoon. A few tourists sat at the tables, while the bar was surrounded by locals, including Tommy Longden, my childhood friend and someone I didn't envisage introducing Vanessa to while I was still trying to ingrain a good impression. "Although your guest is a damn sight prettier."

Vanessa smiled. "I'm assuming you actually know each other," she said, looking at me for an introduction.

"Van, this is Tommy, my old friend from primary school. Tommy, this is Vanessa. Keep your hands off." I glared at him. He was well and truly married to his childhood sweetheart but had always thoroughly enjoyed flirting harmlessly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Vanessa. I was beginning to think that Jacks might have given women up for good." A tall, willowy woman walked up beside him and slapped his backside. "This is my wife, Addy. Of course, you can see she got the better end of the deal."

Vanessa laughed, thankfully and I placed a hand on the small of her back, marking my territory. In fact, I had the urge to pick her up and put her over my shoulder, taking her back to the house and spend the rest of the day buried inside her.

"It's nice to meet you," she said before two slightly mud-covered children ran over to us.

"Mama, James pushed me over. He was being mean again, and you said if he was being mean he had to spend the rest of the day in his room without his iPad," the girl, who I knew was Jemma, said.

"You're such a snitch," her brother said. "I barely touched you. You slipped. You're such a girl." At which point Jemma started to cry. Tommy bent down and picked her up. At the same time, James' bottom lip quivered.

"It's nice to meet you too," Addy said. "These are two of my badly-behaved children, Jemma and James and somewhere I have a four-year-old..." She looked behind her as a crash sounded. "That's likely to be her."

And then I was bombarded by a mass of red curls and sass. "Uncle Jacks!" I stooped down and picked her up, sticky fingers attacking my beard. "I thought I saw you! Mama, I knocked a glass over and I think I made a man cross."

"More than likely," Addy said. "You okay with her, Jacks? I'd better sort out her trail of destruction." James followed his mother across the bar and I turned towards Vanessa.

"This is Emmy," I said, as sticky hands stretched towards Vanessa. "Emmy, this is my friend Vanessa."

Emmy stretched out a hand to Van. "I like your hair. It's like a princess'."

Vanessa laughed. "I like yours, it's like it's made of gold and so pretty."

Emmy wriggled and then clung on, pulling the neck of my t-shirt. "My daddy says it's like my temper.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.