Part 1: No Regrets(Divine Creek Ranch 2)(18)

“Trust me, Mom, his hair is perfect the way it is. Thank you for telling me that. It’ll be our little secret. The other half of his duplex is open, and I’m going to see about leasing it today.”

“That’s good. You know you’ll be safe with him nearby. If you need any furniture once you get settled, you can always come see what’s in the storage barn.”

After she ended the call, she placed a refill order on her pharmacy’s automated refill line. She’d just finished when Eli came out of the bathroom with a bath towel wrapped around his hips. The towel didn’t leave any doubt as to whether or not the shower had alleviated his arousal. It hadn’t.

“Sorry, baby. I forgot to take clothes in the bathroom with me.”

“And you’re used to walkin’ around nekkid, aren’t you?” She giggled.

He peered out of the closet at her, wry humor on his face and in his voice as he replied, “As a matter of fact, yes, I do walk around naked after a shower. Though I’m not usually in the condition I currently am when I do.”

“Which would be?” she asked, giggling some more.

Emerging from the closet with a fresh pair of jeans on, he answered,

“Hard, achy, and a little needy.” He sat on the edge of the bed, putting a pair of socks on and then his boots.

“I have a game plan,” she said as she propped herself up with pillows.

“Whatever it is, I’m at your disposal.”



Her Gentle Giant, Part 1: No Regrets

45

“I’ll get ready, and we can eat an early breakfast. I need to call Mr.

Gran and tell him what happened and take the day off. Then I need to run to the Wal-Mart on the Interstate. I need to get some clothing and other stuff.

We can come back to the pharmacy for my pills and the lubricant. We’ll call your landlord while we’re on the road, and Dad asked if you would call the fire department about the possibility of checking for things that might be salvageable. Once we’ve done all of that we’d have the day to ourselves.

Then maybe I could tend to your neediness.” She said the last part to him softly as she sat up in his bed and tucked the top sheet under her arms.

He smiled cautiously at her. “You know, there’s no hurry about you moving, Rachel. I’d let you stay here as long as you wanted.” He leveled his gray gaze at her. “Even let you stay permanently.” She crawled to him, bringing the sheet with her, and put her arms around his shoulders.

“That’s very sweet of you, Eli, but I won’t live with a man I’m not married to. I don’t want a live-in arrangement. What you and I have is so new. I wouldn’t want to rush into something like that, although under the circumstances, it is very tempting. My parents would take a dim view of it, and I don’t want to damage the good impression you’ve made on my dad.”

His eyebrows arched in surprise. “I made a good impression on your dad?”

“You sure did, but he thinks you need a haircut,” she said and chuckled.

He turned a mischievous grin on her. “What do you think?”

“I think your hair is perfect the way it is. I love it.” She nuzzled her nose in the damp strands.

He pulled her into his lap with the sheet all twisted around her. “You knew I would offer to let you move in, right?”

“Yeah, I figured you would. You knew I would have to turn you down, right?”

“Yeah, I did. So we’re okay?”

“Yes, and later we’ll have the afternoon to spend doing whatever you’d like.”

“I think we both know what that would be.” He smirked as he caressed her fingers on his chest.

“I think we’d both agree what that would be.”





46

Heather Rainier





Chapter Five


After breakfast, the first item on Rachel’s agenda was calling her boss.

Mr. Grogan was surprised and very sympathetic, offering her whatever time off she needed. She told him she would see him bright and early Monday morning. At the store, she found what she’d need to tide her over for a while as far as clothing and toiletries were concerned.

Eli called his landlord and arranged to meet with him at the duplex right after lunch and talked to the fire chief while she ran into the pharmacy and picked up her birth control pills and the lubricant. The fire chief told him the structure remained intact in the rear portion of the building. Only the front of the structure around the porch had collapsed, so they could probably get in through the rear door to check for any salvageable belongings once the investigation was over with.

The fire chief said the preliminary investigation indicated that faulty wiring was the cause of the fire, and asked Eli to wait until they were completely finished before attempting to get into her apartment. The chief also recommended that Eli not go alone or allow her to go in alone. Eli called Mike and Rogelio, who were more than willing to come help the next day.