Page 9 of Cowboy and the Convict

That was likely another reason Janie’s forthright temperament appealed to him. If he were to suddenly find time to bring a woman into his life, it would take someone like Janie to hold her own with his three hormonal teenagers.

And while his interest in the crabby, tightly wound woman snoring beside him was undeniable, so was his demanding schedule. Between the extra hours he picked up to pay for things like braces and extracurriculars, taking care of the horses, chauffeuring Olivia and Gwen around when Riley was at school or work, and all the other time sucks that came with being a single parent, this could never be more than it was.

It was nothing, and had to stay nothing.

So he kept his eyes on the road instead of where she sat beside him, even though the trip to Janie’s home was a path he knew by heart. He’d driven it countless times, and every turn took him both closer to their destination and back in time. To a part of his life he could only just now think of without feeling the stabbing pain of all he’d lost.

After pulling up to the trailer Janie called home, he sat for a few minutes, taking it in. The place looked exactly the same as it did the last time he was here. The pale blue exterior was spotless and the attached deck was swept clean. Even the narrow flower beds at the front were weed free and edged. It was almost like his mother-in-law had never left.

Janie started beside him, jolting upright with a sharp inhale. After a few hard blinks she seemed to notice where they were and reached for the door handle.

“Wait for me.” He automatically used his cop voice and it had her head whipping his way, eyes wide. And for once, she didn’t argue.

Maybe he should have brought that out earlier.

When he reached her door, Janie had a brow cocked at him and her eyes seemed a little clearer. Reaching one hand out, he waited as she stared at it, wondering if she would finally willingly accept the assistance he offered.

But in true Janie fashion, she lifted her chin, gripped the door frame and hoisted herself upright.

Almost.

She barely had her legs under her when the effects of her cocktail of meds and alcohol tipped her sideways, sending her falling right into his ready arms. Her lean, tall body hit his as she let out a little squeak before going totally still.

Devon froze along with her. It had been years since he'd had a woman's body pressed against his, and the impact was a bigger blow than he'd been prepared for. He expected Janie to immediately pull away, and readied for the uncoordinated retreat it would no doubt be.

But she didn’t budge. Her body stayed stiff against his for a few heartbeats before beginning to relax bit by bit. Slowly, her rigid stance softened. The feel of her arms wrapping around his back was shocking, but only for a second. In the next, he was pulling her closer, dropping his nose to the top of her head and breathing deep against the thick pile of her curly hair. His eyes fell closed as he took another deep breath, inhaling the faintly floral scent as he soaked up the contact.

It'd been so fucking long since he'd been touched like this. Held. Embraced. His daughters dished out grudging squeezes here and there, but each came with an eye roll. He knew they loved him, but also remembered his own teenage years. Navigating the path from child to adult and all the ways it changed not only you, but also how you interacted with the people around you.

But even if his girls still snuggled up to him the way they did when they were little, it still wouldn't be the same as the kind of touch he was receiving now. There was nothing sexual or romantic about it, but it was still different. Still something he'd been working hard to pretend he didn't desperately crave.

And it was over too soon.

Janie wiggled free, her movements jerky since she still wasn't completely steady on her feet. He released her as much as he dared, keeping one hand on her arm as they silently moved up the wooden stairs toward her front door.

She unhooked her keys from the small cross body bag strapped over her chest, blinking hard as she fumbled through the assortment until she got to the one for her home. But, while she was sober enough to be able to identify the correct key, she wasn't quite capable of getting it into the lock.

Devon gently took the keychain from her hand, slipping the key into the deadbolt and twisting the lock open before turning the knob. He braced, expecting the familiar smell of White Diamonds to hit him. Instead, his lungs filled with a rich hit of rose and plum. It was deep and a little dark. A little wild. Acutely feminine.

“Come on.” He used his hold on Janie’s arm to angle her through the opening. “Let’s get you in bed.”

Janie took one step inside, then planted her feet with a firmness that caught him off-guard. “Take your shoes off.” She pointed down at his feet. “What kind of heathen are you?”

Heathen? For not taking his shoes off at the door?

Devon glanced around the dimly lit space, taking it all in under the moody glow from a lamp centered on a small table just inside the door. The trailer was tiny, only two small bedrooms with an eat-in kitchen and a living room that barely held a full-size sofa and a TV stand, but Janie had made the most of it. An overstuffed couch was fitted along the only windowless wall and an upholstered ottoman sat between it and a dresser that had been repurposed as an entertainment center. A giant arrangement of partially used candles on a wooden tray dominated the center of the ottoman. He could almost imagine how cozy the place felt when they were all lit.

Cozy and clean. The place was immaculate. Possibly even cleaner than when his mother-in-law lived there.

His eyes dropped to the laminate flooring she put in before moving to Florida. There wasn’t a speck of dust or dirt anywhere to be seen. It was exactly the type of floor people were referring to when they used the line, ‘so clean you could eat off it’.

Crouching down, he reached for the laces of his work boots, but had to pause midway to catch Janie as she started to tip again. After propping her up against the wall so she could kick away her pull-on Converse sneakers, he worked off his own shoes, catching her yet again as she started to sway.

“Careful.” He kept his grip gentle as she wobbled her way toward the bigger of the two bedrooms, and he let out a sigh of relief that she’d chosen the room Mags’s parents had used instead of the one where he’d lost his virginity over two decades ago.

“I’m being careful.” Janie leaned more heavily on him as she reached her room, barely making it to the bed before collapsing face first onto the queen-sized mattress.

Like the main portion of the single-wide he’d been in countless times, this room was cozy and well-decorated. The bed took up a good amount of the square footage, but since it didn’t have a large frame, the area didn’t feel claustrophobic, even with a small dresser and a chair eating up more of the limited footprint. A thick comforter and mountainous pile of pillows added a softness the space didn’t have when his utilitarian mother-in-law had occupied it.

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