Outside The Lines by Kimberly Kincaid

Author:Kimberly Kincaid [Kincaid, Kimberly]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Curtis Brown Digital
Published: 2013-07-27T14:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

Blake cleared his throat in a nonverbal request for a moment of privacy, but his mother’s sharp expression served as a definite I-don’t-think-so, leaving him no choice but to chisel his way through the giant slab of awkward she’d just dropped into the room. He straightened his doctor’s coat over his scrubs, grateful for the singular mercy of the baggy clothes. Not that his hard-on hadn’t taken a lightning-fast hike at the sight of his mother standing in the doorway, but at least it gave him a second to think.

Nope. He’d been uncharacteristically impulsive, and the only way out of this was to face the music.

“Sorry. We were, ah. Just finishing up our meeting.” Blake flicked a glance over Jules, who had slipped quietly from the desk to re-order the buttons on her shirt but had yet to turn around. “You remember Julianna Shaw, don’t you? It turns out she’s the manager at Mac’s Diner. She wrote the catering proposal for the Carnival For A Cure.”

Both women flinched, but his mother recovered first, her eyes tapering over the weary shadows lining her cheekbones. “Well, this is a surprise. I can’t say I expected to see you again, Ms. Shaw.”

Blake’s brows shot upward. It wasn’t like his mother to tip her hand so openly, and it damn sure wasn’t like her to show emotion. Not outwardly, anyway. Then again, she was probably just as shocked as he had been when Jules told him the proposal was her handiwork. After all, his mother had no way of knowing Jules managed the diner since Serenity put in the bid, and owner-based proposals were standard fare for contracts like this.

“I can’t say I expected to be seen,” Jules said, earning both his and his mother’s attention as she turned around. “I didn’t know Blake was organizing the carnival for the hospital until after Mac’s won the bid.”

“Yes. Well, perhaps it would be best if we rectified that. We wouldn’t want any past discomforts getting in the way of planning a successful event.”

Understanding slung through Blake like a delayed reaction as his mother’s words rattled into place in his brain. “You can’t be serious.”

His mother’s arctic expression proved him dead wrong.

Blake scraped in a breath, scrambling for thought. Okay, so Jules had left him abruptly eight years ago, and yeah. Even though he’d tried to hide it, his mother had seen the emotional fallout. But even though her snap-judgment intentions might have a shred of honorability, Blake wasn’t about to let her pull the plug on this project, or his contact with Jules.

He needed to fix this. Fast.

“Let’s not get carried away.” Blake stepped out from behind the desk, gesturing to the papers that scattered the far end. “Look, I know Jules and I have…a past history together. But we’ve come up with some great plans for the carnival, and most of them have been her idea.”

“I see you’re clearly still compatible in some regards.” His mother’s tight smile loosened something territorial in Blake’s gut, and he opened his mouth to protest, but Jules beat him to it.

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