Page 28 of Starting Our Chance

15 Duke

When I had woken upthis morning, I’d had a pretty good outlook on the week. For one thing, Lore was not only back in my life, but was finally in my arms, and she wanted to see what staying in them would be like. The other thing was that my old friend was back, and I’d missed him.

When we were all lads, many of my friends had gone off to the military to serve. I, too, had wanted to serve. However, due to my physical drawbacks—even though I could hold my own most days—there was always the risk that my lungs could cause trouble, and the battlefield was not the place to have a health emergency. Even now, years later, it wasn’t a subject I talked about. But when an old friend who had been recruited into the CIA needed my help, you bet your ass I was there for him. Which was why Ty was hiding out on my hobby farm for the week. I put him to work instead of bringing hands from my larger farm over to help me do the few chores that needed doing on my homestead.

Yes, it was supposed to be a good week.

Until Lore showed up, and I’d had to chase her off for Ty’s safety. Flipping my phone out, I noticed that I still hadn’t heard from her . . . and I had been watching her house since Felicity brought her home around seven thirty. It was now dark, and the glow from my phone bothered me.

I should text Pete to come in the morning to finish the hay. But I pocketed my phone instead. I had counted all my chickens before the eggs hatched. At midday, a frantic Nikki had shown up. And while I blustered, Ty gave up his hiding spot. I had backed out pretty quickly after his revelation. Taking a horse, I rode off. But from the little of the turbulent reunion I had caught from the corner of my eye, I wouldn’t be hearing from either of them anytime soon. Nikki is either going to kill him, or they’ll hole up somewhere remote and never see a lick of clothing.

And I was happy for them. Truly. But Ty had reached out to me, dammit. I was the one helping him, concealing him from his enemies, because he had enlisted me to sort out his problem. He had been adamant that Nikki must not find out that he was back, and although he wouldn’t talk about their break up, I knew that they were both nursing broken hearts.

The bourbon I was sipping on my dark porch was getting low. Why didn’t I bring the whole damn bottle out here? Yeah, it was one of those nights, and I wasn’t ashamed.

The silky cat who had been sticking around the barn was curled up on my porch swing and I didn’t have the heart to disturb her. “If you’re going to stick around here, I guess we’ll have to give you a name.” I had been telling her that for the last two years.

A low laugh came from the other side of the porch, and the one person who was consuming my thoughts said, “My name is Lore, but if you want to rename me, go right ahead.”

The words were a little slurred, and I watched her slink up the steps. She’s drunk?

“I was talking about the cat,” I said, pointing behind me. I took in the full view of Lore’s long, tanned legs. They seemed to go for miles before disappearing under that green cotton dress she was wearing with a sweater to keep off the evening chill. “But if you want me to give you a name, I can think of a few.”

Loretta set something down on the small bistro table and proceeded to go to the cat. In a matter of moments, she had the critter wrapped in her arms and had taken a seat on the porch swing. Only then did she lift those gray eyes to consider me. “Do tell.”

“Ah-uh, nope.” I grinned and leaned against a support column. “I don’t want to jinx things.”

“You have to tell me.”

I ignored her question and went to the dish she had set down on the table. It was a covered pie tin. “What’d you bring me, Salty?”

“Salty?” Her incredulous laugh was a beautiful thing to hear. “That’s the best you can do?”

I shrugged. “It fits. You’ve been radio silent all day. I’d call that being salty.”

“It does not fit! Jackass!” Loretta had jumped off the porch swing, cat still in her arms. She came over and shoved her palm against my shoulder, but I couldn’t help noticing the little wobble in her step. “You shooed me off this morning without so much as a smile. And I know you didn’t, because I was watching for it!”

There was a little sway in her stance, but not from seductive intention. “How much did you drink?”

That stopped her. Her lip curled, and the look of disgust was clear on her face. “None of your business.”

“I don’t want to fight you.” I reached out, but she stepped away from me. The action shot a bolt of sorrow straight through my chest. “Lore, no.” It was all I could say.

“You didn’t even smile at me. Are you that embarrassed by me that you won’t introduce me to your employee?” Lore shook her head, brushing past me, her shoulder colliding with mine as she muttered something under her breath.

Like white lightning, I snatched her around the waist before she disappeared. “No. It was never like that.” I bent her over, the cat all but crushed between us, and stole a kiss from her soft lips. Her body soon relaxed, and I pressed for her to open up to me. She did, and then my tongue was in her mouth, exploring and tasting her.

Definitely not salty, but sweet, intoxicating . . .

The kiss lasted but a moment before she pressed a palm against my chest, pushing me away and forcing me to come up for air. “You didn’t smile,” she accused again.

I narrowed my eyes. I couldn’t say for certain if I was a smiley guy or not. Generally, I was too consumed with the task at hand or some other form of business to pay any attention to idle chatter, let alone make small talk with folks. But I knew that Loretta Jane made me happy, and I supposed that given her revelation, I must also smile around her. Clearly, I had missed one today. “I’m sorry.”

It was all I could think of to say. And I meant those two little words. Lore blinked up at me and seemed to be testing my resolve.

“I’m so sorry, Lore,” I repeated, keeping her in my embrace, only shifting to accommodate the cat who was not pleased by my interruption. “I never meant to hurt you this morning. You mean a lot to me, and if I was short, it wasn’t intentional. There is some stuff you don’t know about. It’s to do with my farmhand, and you were in danger by just being near him.” Lore inhaled sharply, but I pressed forward, eager to explain. “I had to get you away from him. So, if I was surly or ornery, it had nothing to do with you, Gorgeous, you have to believe me.”

“Ornery.” Lore tasted the word for a moment. “Yeah, that about sums it up.”

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