Page 134 of Boston
He saw the baseball bat first, actually, and he followed it down to a pair of tightly clenched hands with pretty pink fingernails. His eyes dodged up to the woman’s face, and she wore a fierce determination there that told Cash he better not make one wrong move or say one wrong word, or his teeth were going to meet that baseball bat.
“Who are you?” she demanded.
“Who areyou?”
“Why are you in my house?” she asked.
“This is where I’m staying,” he said, and maybe those cough medicine pills had gone straight to his head, because this conversation was not helping her to lower the bat.
Confusion furrowed her brow, and she paused long enough for Cash to notice and appreciate her beauty. She had hair the color of pine wood with different colors of brown, all shades of blonde and white and probably black, running through it. It fell in loose waves around her shoulders, and her hazel eyes sent sparks of gold at him.
He backed up a step, surprised at the attraction running through him.
“I’ve got a gun,” she said. “So don’t think that if you get far enough away, I can’t hurt you.”
Before he could answer, the yapping of a small dog filled the air. It, too, came from inside the house, which baffled Cash, as he had just been in the house and neither one of them had been there.
A tiny Yorkie flew past her legs, and the woman said, “Sweetie, leave him alone.”
Sweetie did not listen to her owner at all. She rushed at Cash, and with her four-pound body, jumped up and tried to touch his knees. He chuckled and crouched down to scrub the tiny creature along her ears. She rubbed her body into his palm, left and right, serpentining so that he could pet every part of her. The yapping had stopped, which meant Cash could clearly hear the irritated sigh of the woman.
He looked up, grateful that she had lowered the bat. “I’m Cash Young,” he said. “And I really am going to be staying here. I’m house-sitting for the McClellans.”
Was it possible that Jet hadn’t relayed the message to his mother and she had gotten a house-sitter too? Cash certainly wouldn’t be upset if he got to spend some up-close and personal time with this woman….
“Come on, Sweetie,” she said, and she turned around and went back in the house. Her little dog listened then and went with her.
He pretended like she’d called him sweetie, and he did too. “Who are you?” he asked. “A concerned neighbor? You can call Jet; he’ll vouch for me.”
The woman threw him a scathing look over her shoulder. “No, this is actually my house.”
“Funny,” he said sarcastically. “I thought Jet’s momma would be a lot older than you.”
She went around the island and put the bat in the kitchen sink so that the handle was poking up. “Mymommaisa lot older than me.”
Cash put the pieces together quickly, though he didn’t know Jet’s younger sister’s name. Another round of coughing came at the most inopportune time, and Cash held up one hand as if to tell herjust a minutewhile he hacked into his elbow. He turned his back on her, wishing God would simply take this illness from him right now.
Please.
“Hey, are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” he gasped out between coughs, but he wasn’t fine. The room spun, and the lack of air conditioning suddenly descended on him all at once, making his skin fiery hot. He took a step toward the couch, knowing he was going down and he better land somewhere soft. He made it and finally managed to catch his breath. He lay halfway down on the couch, panting, as the woman came closer.
“My name is Lark,” she said, her voice much kinder than before.
“Cash,” he said again.
“I really don’t think you’re okay,” she said. “Your skin is kind of gray.”
“I just took some medicine.” He couldn’t quite get a whole breath. “I have bronchitis, and I’m not supposed to operate heavy machinery.”
She gave a light laugh that sounded like his favorite music. “I think maybe I should get you into bed,” she said. “Where were you going to stay?”
“I don’t know,” Cash said, and he closed his eyes again, because the sun wassobright. “I hadn’t checked out all the rooms yet.”
“My momma and daddy’s bed is the nicest,” she said. “Biggest room too, with a bathroom attached. Come on.” She reached for him, and Cash wasn’t sure how, but he got to his feet.
“My bag,” he said, his voice a touch whiny.
