Page 34 of Cowboy and the Convict

“Here.” Devon shifted, angling his body toward her in a move that brought her right against his side. The weight of his arm curled around her back, tugging her so close she was plastered against him. “How’s that?”

That was a really good question.

On one hand, the blanket was now wrapped around them both and she was once again toasty warm. On the other, she was enveloped in Devon’s heat and that mysterious scent she still couldn’t put her finger on, being held close by a man she disliked less and less every damn day.

It made her want to wonder what would happen if she hadn’t decided to swear off relationships. If she wasn’t sure they would all take the same path to destruction. If she let herself hope, for just a second, things might finally start to be different.

If she might finally start to be different.

14

Devon

"LAST ONE." JANIE passed up the final sparkling clean glass shade, watching as he went to work putting it back into place on the kitchen ceiling fan. "Don't screw it too tight. It might crack the glass."

He shot her a scathing look. "This is the five hundredth time I've done this today. I think I've got it figured out."

Janie matched his expression as she passed up the lightbulb. "Don’t get snippy. You offered to help, sir." She propped both hands on her hips. "And for the record, you only have four ceiling fans in your house."

He carefully twisted the final bulb into place, giving her a wink. "I'm pretty sure that math checks out."

"Speaking of math..."

He and Janie both turned to the doorway where Riley stood, a scowl on her face.

His oldest daughter held up her computer. "I have a question."

Devon stepped down from the ladder, taking a deep breath. "I'm not sure I'll be much help, but I'll give it my best shot."

Riley's brows pinched together. "I wasn't talking to you." She turned to the woman at his side. "I was talking to Janie. She's done this before."

Janie's eyes widened and she began to shake her head. "It's been over twenty years. I don't know that I remember any of it."

Riley's shoulders slumped. "Crap."

Janie groaned, dragging out one of the chairs. "Bring it over here. Let's take a look at it." She lifted one finger. "But no guarantees."

Riley perked up a little, giving Janie a smile. "Got it." She settled into the seat Janie pulled out and waited as Janie sat beside her. They both hunched over the laptop as Riley explained her question, taking all of Janie's attention.

And it was fine. He didn't mind at all.

Technically.

He understood why his daughters liked Janie so much. She was fun to talk to and hang out with. Plus she had a skill set that was turning out to be pretty damn useful. She'd been a cheerleader in high school just like Olivia. Considered being a hairdresser and knew all sorts of styles. She'd even put her culinary skills to good use by teaching his daughters a handful of simple recipes they could whip up on their own so dinner wasn’t all on him every night.

And, it would seem she had another skill set he hadn't yet learned about. One that involved math?

Leaving Janie and Riley at the table, he ventured out the back door. It was probably time to get a fire going.

Now that their house wasn’t an embarrassment, the girls had started inviting friends over, and tonight—since they had tomorrow off for some sort of teacher workday—he would be hosting a house full of teenagers. They'd requested a fire, and since the sun would soon be setting, now was a good time to make that happen.

It was yet another thing that wouldn’t have been possible without the woman inside. With Janie coming every Sunday to help with the house—and the not-so-subtle encouragement she'd given his girls to start pulling their own weight—he'd managed to eke out enough time to clean up the backyard a bit. The fire pit they hadn't used since before Maggie died was now freshened up and ready to go.

After setting up a few logs and sprinkling on some charcoal to even out the heat, he squirted on some lighter fluid and got a pretty decent blaze going. Once it was burning, he went to work setting up their collection of collapsible chairs. He’d picked up a few more in preparation for tonight, and tore away their tags, adding them to the fire. By the time he was finished, there were nearly a dozen single chairs and two loveseat versions surrounding the fire.

When he went back into the house, Riley and Janie were still at the table, his daughter looking half ready to throw her laptop across the room.

To be fair, so did Janie.

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