Page 2 of Deacon

Those words still stung. The last words Deke had said to her before she’d gotten in her car and pulled out on her way to college. I don’t waste my time with little girls. Even now she could hear them and feel the hurt and shame they’d made her feel. But no longer.

Now she was twenty-nine, not eighteen. She’d long since finished school. She’d had several jobs in her field and had been lobbying for the position here for two years. She’d finally landed it, with perfect timing, and would do nothing to jeopardize it. Because it brought her back here.

She had stayed in touch with some of the kids she’d grown up with, though none of them were kids anymore. A couple of them knew she’d long ago fallen head over heels for Deke and had kept her up to date on what was going on with him.

No, she hadn’t known about every piece of ass he’d hooked up with, and she didn’t want to know. Her informants had kept her up to date on when he was seen with the same woman repeatedly for several weeks, and when he tended to show up alone. She was also aware that he hadn’t gone with anyone for more than a couple of weeks for nearly three years.

There was no reason for her to think she might be the one who could put an end to his loneliness. Still, she thought there was a reason he’d never settled down. She knew for damned sure he was the reason she hadn’t.

Sure, she’d dated. But no one had measured up.

“Now that you’ve seen the place and done your best to piss me off, can you go back to whatever you were doing before you decided to dress up like a hooker and parade yourself around my club like this?” Cowboy spoke through clenched teeth.

Lisa glanced down at herself, extending one heeled foot out toward Deacon.

“I thought I looked nice. Not at all like a hooker. I mean I’m not even showing any cleavage.” She motioned to her crew necked top. “What do you think, Deke? Do I look like the women you usually hang around with?”

His eyes went wide, and he sputtered for a second before words finally came out. “You don’t look like a hooker. Though, I think it’s a bit much for the library.”

“Oh, good. He did tell you I’m back.” She tilted the top of her head toward the brother she was currently ignoring as he fumed on her other side.

“No. I only know you work at the library because he told me when I asked how long you’d been in town as you walked in.”

Lisa stuck out her lower lip in a faux pout before turning back to Cowboy. She ignored that he still fumed and gave him an unhappy look.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell your best friend that your sister is back in town.”

“Why would I tell him? I knew, Ava knew, our folks know. That’s all who needed to know.”

She waved one hand at him, dismissing his glower.

“Nonsense. I’m here to stay, you should be telling everyone. Aren’t you happy I’m back?”

“I’m happy you’re not living in a city where you could get mugged walking home from work. But you moving back to Dickenson only means more trouble for me.”

“I don’t know why you would say such a thing. I don’t cause trouble. I don’t get into trouble. I am merely here, and I have missed my favorite brother so much. You would think he’d be glad to have me home again.” She shot Deke a wink.

She didn’t miss Cowboy rolling his eyes. “Favorite brother. You only pull that out when you’re about to do something you know will make me yell at you. Why don’t you make things easy for me and tell me what it is before you do it, instead of making me find out afterwards.”

This time she did laugh.

“If I told you what I’m up to beforehand, you’d stop me. What fun would that be? Besides, I was taught to ask for favors in person.”

Cowboy sighed. “What do you need?”

“The movers delivered my furniture, but they just dumped it in the front room. I need help getting it where it belongs. Who better than my big brother and all his tough friends?” She tossed her head as if she were throwing her hair over one shoulder and looked around again. This place was kind of boring. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but a few tables with chairs scattered about one side of the room, a couple pool tables, TVs mounted in one corner wasn’t it. Heck, there were only a few people other than the three of them around.

Maybe she’d been reading too many romance novels to think there would be people here and all kinds of exciting things to see. But then, if there was, Cowboy would have herded her out of here as soon as he’d discovered her.

No, it was better that it wasn’t as exciting as she’d hoped, it might mean she got to spend a little more time here. And she planned to spend more time anywhere she could get Deke’s attention.

“Your idea of fun and mine are two different things. Have you eaten yet?”

Lisa shook her head.

Cowboy pushed his chair away from the table and stood.

“Come on. Let’s go get you some lunch, then I’ll see what you need help with.”

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