Tempting Love (Cowboys & Angels 3)

“Corina, I think that’s a great idea!”

She clapped her hands and did a little dance in her seat. “I do too! I mean, she loves Chicago, but I know she would love Oak Springs. My brother isn’t planning on kids anytime soon, and if we told Mom we were going to have a baby and we had a job she’d be excited about, I kind of think she’d be game for it.”

“I think she would love that. I mean, even if you got pregnant today, you’d still be finishing out the school year, right?”

“Yes, and we still have to make the changes to the house so that we could do the B and B. Get it all set up with the permits and all that fun stuff. It would be awhile before it’s actually open and ready to take people in. That would be plenty of time for Mom to come down to Texas, check it out, and let us know if she wanted to do it or not. Otherwise, we can hire someone to help run it.”

I couldn’t help the goofy-ass smile on my face. “Holy shit. Are we really making all these grown-up decisions right now? Marriage. Baby. Job changes. New business. Who are we?”

Corina laughed. “I say we get daring and order a bottle of champagne and celebrate all our news!”

Holding up my hand, I motioned for the waiter. “We’ll take a bottle of champagne.”

“Yes, sir. We have a Dom Perignon that is a hundred and seventy-five dollars a bottle.”

Before I had a chance to answer, I saw Kristi walk into the restaurant. I turned to the waiter. “May we have that delivered to our cabin? I think my fiancée and I would rather enjoy the view from our room while we celebrated.”

“Of course, sir. Would you like me to send up anything else, as well?”

“Yes. A cheese and fruit platter would be nice. If you could put the rest of this on my bill, we’re going to be leaving now.”

Corina looked down at her soup then back at me with a confused look. I simply winked.

“Was your meal okay, Mr. Parker?”

“Oh yes, it was delicious. We’ve just decided we want a bit more privacy.”

The kid smiled and nodded. “I’ll have some soup delivered to your room, as well. Let me get the bill.”

When he walked away, Corina gave me a questioning look. “Why are we leaving?”

“Good afternoon, Mitch and Corina,” Kristi said. “How are you enjoying this weather?”

Corina snarled before plastering on a fake smile. “Hello there, Kristi. The weather is amazing. Magical, if you will.”

Kristi let out a halfhearted chuckle. “If you say so. May I join you for lunch?”

The waiter had perfect timing. I quickly wrote out the tip and total and signed the bill. Standing, I reached for Corina’s hand.

“I’m sorry, Kristi. We’ve decided to head back to the cabin. We have a bit of celebrating to do.”

She lifted her brow as she looked between Corina and me. “Really? What type of celebrating?”

“The type that has Corina wearing my engagement ring on her finger. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we were leaving.”

I gently pulled Corina toward me and led her out of the dining room. I didn’t need to look back to know that Kristi was staring at us with piercing eyes. I could practically feel darts in my back.

“Well, if that didn’t leave her with a clear message, I don’t know what will!” Corina said with a giggle.

I brought her to my side, and we walked toward our cabin. “Come on. I want to make love to my future wife.”

“Sounds like an amazing idea to me!”

“Aunt Corina! What are you dressing up as?” Chloe asked, her eyes wide with anticipation.

“I think a school teacher.”

Chloe’s smile faded. “You can’t dress up as something you already are! That’s cheating!”

Laughing, I bent down. “I’m going as a witch.”

“Me too!” Chloe shouted.

Paxton told us Chloe had been secretly hoping we were all dressing like witches. “The Parker witches,” she wanted to call us. Even though I wasn’t an official Parker yet, Chloe had already deemed me so.

“You are?” I asked, pretending not to know.

Jumping, Chloe said, “Now we will have six witches at the party.”

I frowned. “Six?”

Paxton sighed. “Oh, you haven’t heard yet? Patches will be joining the birthday party dressed as a witch.”

“Well, he’s actually a warlock, Mommy. You know, ’cause he is a boy and all.”

With a lift of her brow, Paxton replied, “That’s right. How silly of me.” When she looked at me and rolled her eyes, I couldn’t help but giggle.

Chloe climbed onto the stool and rested her chin on her hands, watching me decorate pumpkin cookies. “You know, Aunt Corina, you’re gonna have to paint your face green.”

“Green!” I gasped. “Why?”

“Um, hello, you’re a witch, and they have green faces.”

“Are you painting your face green?” I asked.