Page 74 of Welcome Home, Cowboy
“What else do you have to do?”
Griffin yawned loudly into the phone. There was no way Lawson had woken him up. Griffin stayed up late and woke early. It was debatable if the man slept at all. “True. I’ll meet you there in an hour.”
Lawson hung up and sent another text to Julie.
Call me if he gets out of line.
She was probably driving and didn’t want to be distracted by her phone. He liked that about her. She was a good girl. Sweet, smart, and innocent everywhere except inside the bedroom. In the bedroom, she was everything he’d ever fantasized about: sexy and vulnerable, shy and demanding.
Pulling on a pair of jeans, he headed to the kitchen to grab an apple to eat on his way to the vet center. On his to-do list today was fixing the center’s porch railing. The porch led to a nice-sized outdoor area where the veterans enjoyed several barbecues each year. He’d never participated in the events here, even though he’d been invited. He considered the center to be more for retired Marines. Julie’s yoga class proved that assumption wrong, though. It’d proved a lot of assumptions wrong.
“Hey, Lawson,” someone said as he got out of his truck in the parking lot. He recognized the voice immediately and took his time turning to face her.
“Mel,” he said. She was already in front of him, invading his personal space and smiling like a sugar-crazed child on Halloween. Obviously she’d forgotten that she was mad at him. “How are you?” he asked, glancing around the lot and formulating his getaway strategy.
“Good.” She nodded, still staring at him awkwardly. “I was thinking we should get together soon and drink that wine I brought to your house.”
This almost made him smile. The wine she’d shoved at Julie and told her to drink? The wine that he and Julie had enjoyed prior to making love? “Oh. Well, it was nice of you to bring it over. I’m, uh, seeing someone these days, though, Mel.” The words stumbled from his mouth. It was the first time he’d said it out loud. He was seeing Julie Chandler. Dating her. They were getting serious whether he was ready or not.
Mel’s smile fell into a flat line. Her bright eyes suddenly darkened. “Is it that woman who’s been at your place a lot lately?”
Lawson took a tiny step backward, not retreating from her, but personal space would be nice. And how the heck did she know that Julie frequented his place? “Mel, you’re bordering on stalking,” he said slowly.
“Stalking?” she scoffed. “You lead me on and then you accuse me of being a stalker?”
He nodded, looking at the entrance of the Veterans’ Center again. “Let me ask you. What are you doing here right now?”
“What do you mean?” Her voice rose a nervous notch that made him take another tiny step backward.
“I mean, you’re not in the military and never have been as far as I know. Why are you at the Veterans’ Center?”
“Well, I saw your truck and followed you in,” she said, giggling at the end of her words.
“Exactly.” He started to walk past her. Being a nice guy wasn’t getting him anywhere.
“You’re just going to walk away from our conversation?” she yelled at his back.
“Goodbye, Mel. Try finding a nice guy online. I’m sure the perfect guy is out there waiting for you.” He was not that guy, though. He was almost to the door when another voice grabbed his attention.
“Well, I have to say that was fun to watch.”
Lawson scowled at Griffin as he approached. “You were standing there listening and didn’t try to save me?”
“Why would I do that? I preferred to watch you squirm.”
Lawson shook his head, then laughed a little at himself. “When is she ever going to leave me alone?”
“I hear she followed Hines around like that for nearly a year,” Griffin said, patting his back.
Lawson pulled open the door to the center and slid him a look. “A year? Maybe I should get a restraining order on her. Think that would set things straight in her mind?”
“Lawson. Griffin.” Allison Carmichael looked up from the semicircular desk in the front of the room. “Are you here for the class?”
“Class?” Lawson shook his head. “What class?”
“I guess that’s a no. So you must be here to work on the porch railing like you promised last month?” She arched a brow.
“Yes, ma’am,” he drawled.
