Page 7 of Hold Me Until Morning

But I loved it.

Loved the possibility.

Loved this brand-new chance.

I shoved down any thoughts of fear it triggered and started to lean down so I could open the boxes.

“Now who was that?” The question hit me from the side.

A gasp left me as my attention whipped that way, and I shook my head at myself when I realized it was Lolly. Only I would jump out of my skin at my grandmother’s voice, but I couldn’t help being on edge.

I still wasn’t sure if this was the most reckless decision I could make. If I was begging for trouble, coming here. Standing out in the open like a sitting duck. But I refused to spend my life hiding.

My grandmother stood at the window with the drapes peeled open so she could peek outside. Her wrinkled face was twisted in something that appeared a little too close to glee.

Awesome.

She’d witnessed whatever the hell that was with Cody.

“No one,” I muttered as I climbed down onto my knees to rip the tape free of one of the boxes.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure it was someone. No missing that hulk of a man. That one was pure muscle from his head all the way down to his boots. And those boots were big. Real big. Sex on a stick, that one. Like taking a good lick of candy.”

Exasperation had my eyes dragging closed and my head wagging back and forth. Like I needed the reminder of how hot the guy was.

That was somewhere I would not let my mind go.

But I wasn’t sure I could expect anything else when it came to my grandmother. I had a mind that her drooling all over my father’s employees was half the reason he’d wanted to put her into a nursing home.

“You probably shouldn’t be peeping out at the neighbors, Lolly. You’re going to catch a reputation.”

She chuckled without a trace of shame. “Oh, sweet girl, I’ve had a reputation my whole life.”

“Lolly,” I chastised, trying to suppress my grin. The woman did not need to be encouraged.

My grandmother had been married five times. Four divorces before she’d finally met the love of her life when she was sixty. She’d been devastated when he died last year, and I knew she was still suffering from it, even though she always seemed to find a way to smile.

Almost eighty years old and she was still looking to the good. I’d idolized her my entire life, sitting at her feet when I was a little girl, dreaming of being as wild and vibrant and free as she was long before I’d really understood what it meant.

Her laughter was wry. “Maybe you should earn one with that cowboy. Looked to me like he might want to take you for a ride.”

“The last thing I need in my life right now is to get mixed up with the likes of that.” I wasn’t about to admit that I knew him.

Besides, I knew Cody’s type of mixing. That guy reeked of player.

Always had.

Always would.

I went for light, playing the entire thing off. “Besides, have you seen me? I look like a drowned rat. I think he was looking to win some brownie points with his new neighbors.”

Some place to toss all that brawn.

Too bad it’d felt like he’d lit a fire when he’d looked at me with those gold-colored eyes. Flecked in reds and browns that licked and danced like flames.

Too bad my lungs had felt hollow, and my stomach had felt too tight as he’d towered at the end of the trailer with the last of the day illuminating him like some kind of tempting silhouette.

Too bad my thoughts were tossed right back to the way I’d felt when I’d first seen him all those years ago.

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