A Better Reason to Fall in Love by Marcia Lynn McClure Page B

back to her. She didn’t like the way the woman was so openly flirting with him. It made her ears feel hot—made the back of her neck sizzle. “I like good music…especially good blues and jazz. It’s kind of hard to find these days.”
    “It is,” he agreed with a slow nod.
    Tabby smiled. Everything Jagger Brodie did was uniquely cool—even the way he nodded.
    “But you’re assuming these will be good,” he said, flicking the bag with his fingers.
    “I know they’ll be good,” Tabby told him. “You’re good live, aren’t you? And in my experience, if a band or musician is good live, then they certainly record well.”
    Jagger’s nearly seductive smile broadened. “You think I’m good?”
    “I wouldn’t have dropped thirty dollars on you if I didn’t,” Tabby giggled. She was proud of herself for maintaining an air of confidence—for in truth she thought she might melt into a puddle of sizzling longing right there at his feet.
    “Aw…maybe you just felt bad for me,” he teased.
    “I don’t feel bad for you,” she said, playfully smacking him on the arm with the back of her hand. “Mr. VIP by day and rock star by night.”
    Jagger chuckled, and Tabby’s heart leapt with delight at the sound.
    “Rock star?” he asked. “Hardly.”
    “Well, you don’t dress like this for work,” Tabby teased him. She reached out, plucking at one of the buttons on his sexy mod-western shirt.
    “Well, neither do you,” he said, tipping his head to one side and studying her from head to toe. Tabby liked the way his strong brows arched in apparent admiration. She was glad she had worn her skinny jeans and black ankle-strap heels—the tiger print top too.
    “Jagger,” Delilah interrupted from behind the counter. “Do you have the other merchandise your Aunt Addie asked you to bring in?”
    Jagger nodded, though he did not look at the clerk. He only continued to study Tabby. “It’s in my car. I’ll bring it in before I leave,” he said.
    “But Miss Addie wants—” Delilah began.
    “Excuse me, Delilah,” Jagger said, nodding to the flirty clerk as he took hold of Tabby’s arm. “I’ll talk to you later.”
    Tabby was delighted by the way Jagger gently pushed her out of the gift shop ahead of him.
    “She drives me nuts,” he mumbled under his breath. Tabby giggled, for she could well imagine the way the love-struck store clerk fawned over the gorgeous blues singer.
    “The hazards of being a rock star, I suppose—groupies,” Tabby teased in a whisper.
    “She can’t be a groupie. She’s my cousin…I think…somehow,” he stammered as a perplexed frown puckered his brow. “That would be weird.”
    “Distant cousin…the way I understand it,” Tabby told him. He was leading her to a more secluded space near the indoor water feature and pond. “And she is beautiful.”
    “Yeah, but I’m more interested in how two of the office Foxy Four ended up at my Maw Maw’s restaurant tonight,” Jagger said, turning Tabby to face him now that they were out of the line of restaurant traffic.
    Tabby shrugged and answered, “My parents came in last week and loved it. Emmy and I thought we’d just try it out…so here we are.”
    “I thought I was imagining you sitting there when I first saw you,” he said, smiling. “When I realized you really were there…it made me all nervous.”
    “Oh, right,” Tabby giggled.
    “I’m serious,” he assured her. “It freaks me out when people I know are around when I’m, you know, playing and all.”
    Tabby’s heart was hammering like the engines in a cruise ship. She couldn’t believe she was standing in a dimly lit corner of a restaurant talking face-to-face with Jagger Brodie!
    “Oh, I see,” she said. “What? You’re an old-fashioned guy?” she asked. “You just dress up like a sexy blues singer to throw people off your boy-next-door persona.”
    His smile broadened, and she saw a spark of mischief leap into his deep green eyes.
    “So you