Page 72 of The Hometown Legend

“What are you doing?”

“Hanging the rope.”

He started working his way up the mostly branchless trunk.

“I thought you wereinjured.” She sounded worried. He didn’t hate that.

“Just in here,” he said, tapping the side of his head with the rope.

She smacked her hands down at her sides and made a literal squawking sound. “That’snot funny.”

“It’s funny to me.”

It was also not true, but scars on his skin didn’t limit his mobility.

She wrinkled her nose and shaded her eyes with her hand. “What exactly... What are the exact injuries?”

“I am a moody son of a bitch,” he said. “I didn’t used to be. They say traumatic brain injuries can change your personality. Which I think we can both agree it did.”

“Notthatmuch.”

He stopped. He looked down at her and saw her staring up at him. He noticed he could still see her freckles from this vantage point. The wind ruffled her red hair, and he was suddenly very aware of the way her T-shirt molded to her breasts.

They were small and perfect. Beautiful.

So was she.

He had no idea why he was thinking about her breasts in the middle of this conversation. That could be the head injury. Quite possibly.

“You don’t think so?”

He remembered keenly how it had felt to hold her in his arms as they danced last night.

He just hadn’t been able to muster up much enthusiasm for the women he’d been talking to.

That in and of itself didn’t surprise him. He’d been celibate for going on two years, and sex wasn’t more than a faint memory.

And he just hadn’t cared.

Hadn’t missed it. Hadn’t minded.

He had wondered if it was one of the things that had broken in him.

Chemical castration or something. Not that he was impotent; he just didn’t give a shit.

But when he looked at her...

Yeah. When he looked at her.

And he wasn’t exactly sure what it was. If she was this breath of fresh air from the past that made him feel more connected with a part of his life when he had been in control, or if it was her. Now.

Past Rory had nothing to do with sex.

Present Rory shouldn’t have anything to do with sex, either, and yet, when he looked at her, his body didn’t seem to get that memo.

She was appealing to him, but it was about more than looks. There were a lot of beautiful women out there.

But none of them were Rory. She was captivating.

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