Page 19 of Whiskey Shivers

He chuckled and asked, “I do, do I?”

“Mm-hm.” I rested back against the bed and sighed, the tiredness rushing back in.

“You want me to lower this for you?” he asked softly.

“No, I’m okay like this. You only just got here – don’t you leave, too.”

His eyes met mine, so very serious when he said, “Wouldn’t dream of it, beautiful. I’m here as long as you want me to be.”

I closed my eyes and thought to myself,forever is a very long time to commit to…but I didn’t say it out loud. Instead, I simply put my hand over his where it rested by my hip and gave it a squeeze.

“Besides,” he said. “It’s sort of become our thing, watchingJeopardyin the evenings. I wouldn’t want to miss out.”

I smiled wanly and said, “Yeah, but it’s not the same anymore without Alex.” The longtime host of the program had died of pancreatic cancer and had been such an indelible mark that it reallywasn’tthe same.

“True that,” Hex agreed, and there was a quality in his deep brown eyes when I opened mine that sent the blood rushing through my veins and quickened my heartbeat. He stared at me carefully, and a little too intently.

I looked away, blushing, and made mention, “Jeopardydoesn’t come on for a few hours.”

He smiled at me and said, “So what do you feel like talking about? Or do you just want to rest?”

“Mm, how about a little of both?” I asked. He chuckled, and I said truthfully, “I have no idea what to talk about really.”

“How’s the book?” he prompted and I smiled.

That was a good and safe subject.

“It’s really good,” I said.

“Oh yeah? What they got going on?”

I didn’t think he was interested at first, at least not really, but he listened and asked questions. When I made mention he should read it, he just looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and said, “Why do I need to go and do that when I got you to tell me the story?”

I laughed then and it ended in a pained moan.

“Sorry,” he said and looked sheepish.

“Never be sorry for making me laugh,” I told him. “After all, laughter is supposed to be the best medicine, isn’t it?”

“In that case,” he said. “We’ll have you healed up and out of here in no time.”

“You’re sweet,” I told him.

“Yeah, well… you bring it out of me.”

Somehow, I highly doubted that. I think that was honestly just the way he was.

CHAPTERTEN

Hex…

I dropped onto the other end of the couch from La Croix, who was lounging back with a beer on his knee. He was grease stained and had put in a hard day’s work at the ol’ salvage yard by the looks of him.

“Where’s your girl at?” I asked.

He silently jerked his head in the direction of the apartments across the street.

I gave a nod, but I fully admit being lost in a lot of thought. They kept circling around a certain brunette with the prettiest blue eyes.

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