Page 64 of The Texan's Secrets

Rafe whistled low, and thunder rumbled in the distance as if to punctuate the problem.

Nico sat glumly down as a bright flash of lightning reflected off the facets of his crystal glass.

“So then tell her who you are and take it from there.”

“Tell her I’m an ex-con who lied to her?” Nico could imagine exactly how that would go. “She has a thing about ethics and mistakes, and she’s not big on second chances.”

“It’s either plan A or plan B. There is no plan C where you stay with her and don’t tell her. But you know that.”

Nico did know that. But he wanted a plan C. He badly wanted an option where Emilia learned who he was without walking away. “There has to be a solution.”

Rafe counted on his fingers. “A, you tell her who you are. B, you don’t. The chips are going to fall where they fall.”

“I want the chips to fall where I want them to fall.”

“So, plan A, subsection one? That’s going to be dastardly hard to pull off.”

“But not impossible?” Nico asked hopefully.

“I don’t know, Nico. I get what you want here. But if you don’t want to hurt her, your best bet might be to walk away and leave it all as a happy memory.”

Nico hated that Rafe might be right.

Just then lightning lit up the sky, and a split second later thunder vibrated the room.

Both men looked to the window where the rain was pouring down.

“That looks serious,” Rafe said.

“I hope Aspen Street doesn’t flood again.”

“Are you driving your pickup?”

Nico nodded. It had been a toss-up between his sedan and the pickup truck this morning. Thankfully, he’d gone with the three-quarter ton. It had significantly more clearance if the storm drains overflowed.

The lights in the room dimmed, then went dark. Silence rose as the ventilation system powered down. A split second later, lightning lit everything up, and thunder vibrated above them.

Rafe turned on his flashlight app while Nico rose to peer out the window.

“See anything out there?” Rafe asked.

“Power’s out in every direction.” Nico couldn’t see so much as a distant light down the valley.

The office door opened, and JJ appeared carrying an industrial-size flashlight. “Everything okay in here?” he asked.

“We’re fine,” Rafe answered. “What’s happening in the dining room?”

“We’re adding extra candles to the tables. We’re comping drinks and offering any menu item we can grill over the gas.”

“Good.” Rafe came to his feet.

“Some parties are ready to leave,” JJ said. “Not many have cash.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Rafe said. “Until the power is back, send them home with a discounted bill and our accounting email address. If a few don’t pay up, we’ll live with it.”

“How can I help?” Nico asked.

“Can you escort people to their cars?” JJ asked Nico.

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