The Boss Lady's Man

{Chapter} 16

{Chapter 16}

The McBride home was gorgeous. The white clapboard two-story building boasted a large, welcoming porch, which Toni had come to expect out of a Georgian house, and flowers on the railing of it. A porch swing hung from one end and several whicker rockers sat here and there with little tables in between them. The door was a welcoming red, along with the shutters and the railing that ran along each side of the porch and the flight of steps. Several well-fed horses were let loose in the corral at the large but cozy barn to the left, so apparently a lot of family had come to visit for the occasion.

“You ready?” Erik took her hand in his.

Toni looked down at her dress, one she had hardly been able to ride in, and her dusty boots that barely peeked out from under it.

“I…uh, I don’t think so” she said.

Erik tugged her to face him head on. “Come on, out with it.”

Toni looked down, but his finger nudged her chin up.

“This isn’t like you, Toni. You’re the kind of person that can swagger into any place on the planet and not care one bit if people cared or not. You’re not yourself and I demand you tell me why” Erik said, leaning on his crutches.

Toni gaped at him. “You demand? You’re in no position to demand anything, bud” she poked his chest with her finger.

“Mm hmm” Erik smiled at her.

“And the reason I’m nervous is because these aren’t some strangers. These people are your family and they think I’m married to you. They’ll think I’m a sassy, back-talking, annoying woman who has you wrapped around my little finger.”

“I’ve got news for you, sweetheart. You are a sassy, back-talking, annoying woman” Erik leaned closer and fixed those devastating eyes completely on her. “And you worry me way to much.”

Toni felt her cheeks grow warm, not really sure why. Maybe it was just the heat. She determinedly set her jaw and glared at him.

“If I do worry you, it’s because I’m worth every second of it-” she leaned closer to him until their noses nearly touched “-and you know it.”

Erik smirked as his gaze flickered from her eyes to her lips, then back again.

“Keep tellin’ yourself that,” he whispered.

Toni couldn’t resist a smile. He always managed coax her into getting her dander up and was becoming mighty good at it, too.

“Now come on and meet my family before I have to haul you in there over my shoulder” Erik headed for the steps and motioned for her to follow.

Toni made an effort to calm her fluttering stomach and followed behind him as he made his way up the steps like an expert, even with crutches.

**********

“Erik!” his brown-headed, green-eyed sister came running into the foyer with her arms open wide.

Erik wrapped his arms around her, crutches and all.

“I knew you’d come! I’m planning on having so much fun this week with the three of us that…” Emily gasped. “What happened to you? You have crutches!”

“It’s nothing, Emily. Just a scratch from a knife thrown the wrong way” Erik said.

“You stabbed yourself in the foot? Hasn’t Tillie always told us that you’d stab yourself one day? She did, and she was right” Emily nodded, her short curls bobbing up and down.