Part 1: No Regrets(Divine Creek Ranch 2)(3)

She nodded at the other man who had turned to see whom Thorne

was speaking to and made her way back down the hallway.

Eli stood near one of the front windows looking out but did not

appear focused on anything outside. Light from the windows shone in and illuminated his pale gray eyes. He was dressed in his leathers and a T-shirt and, as she approached, she could detect his clean, spicy scent. He looked good enough to eat with his shiny, long black hair streaming down his broad back. Underneath his T-shirt, every muscle stood out in relief, and the short sleeves lay snug around his bulging biceps. Her fingertips twitched with the desire to reach out and stroke him.

He must have finished early with his tower climbing job and

gotten cleaned up to go to work at The Dancing Pony. He worked

three or for days a week for the local electrical cooperative as a subcontractor doing some of their tower climbing work. To listen to



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Heather Rainier

him talk about it scared her. The thought of climbing three hundred feet or more in the area gave her the heebie-jeebies.

Eli looked up when he heard her heels click on the ceramic tile in the waiting area. Her heart flip-flopped when a broad, sexy smile spread over his face. His gaze warmed her as he looked appreciatively at her from head to toe. Her earlier humiliation at being seen in such an awkward position was salved by the admiration in his gaze now.

He was used to seeing her in western wear, but for work she dressed in skirts, blouses, and heels. Today, her long brown hair was pinned up in a clip.

She turned to Bernice, who was currently ogling Eli from behind

her reception counter. Bernice’s facial expression mirrored those of many other women Rachel had seen gazing raptly at Eli over the last two months. The receptionist was his senior by at least ten years, although she was still in great shape, but Bernice was happily married with two kids, so Rachel didn’t feel like gritting her teeth at her perusal quite so much.

“Good night, Bernice,” Rachel said as Eli moved to hold the glass door open for her.

“G’night, sweetie! Y’all have fun!” she called in her high-pitched, reedy twang.

The sun hit her full in the face as she walked through the door.

She held her fingers to shade her eyes and groaned at the excruciating pain in her head. A feeling of disappointment began to grow in her heart. She was definitely weakening under Eli’s charm because she knew she would have said yes to a supper date this evening if not for the pain in her head.

Eli moved to block the sun from her face and put the palm of his hand to the back of her head. “It’s pretty bad, huh?”

“Mmm-hmm. The brightness is killing me,” she murmured.

“Come on, angel. Let’s get you to your car.” He put his arm

around her shoulders and walked her to her vehicle, which was

thankfully parked under a tree in the shade. She glanced up and

noticed his big Dodge pickup was parked beside her car, dwarfing it.

She used her remote to unlock it, and Eli opened the door for her. She sighed in relief as she sat down in the driver’s seat. He put her laptop case on her back seat and then squatted down beside her as she sniffed her roses again.



Her Gentle Giant, Part 1: No Regrets

13

“These are beautiful Eli, but I—” Should she tell him she would

have gone out with him tonight? Should she encourage him?

At the sound of clicking heels, she looked up as another member

of Mr. Grogan’s staff walked down the sidewalk toward them. It was the big-busted blonde in her early twenties who worked in sales.

Rachel saw the moment the girl laid her eyes on Eli. A sexy smile spread across her bright red lips, and she immediately exaggerated her wiggling walk, twitching her skinny ass as she approached. When she was even on the sidewalk with Eli and in his full view, she dropped her car keys then made a big production of retrieving them from the sidewalk, giving him a generous and slow-moving view of her big-busted cleavage in the process. The girl never even looked at her as she smiled invitingly at Eli and proceeded around the corner to her car.

Bitch.

Rachel fumed at the interruption of their moment and the slutty

forwardness of her coworker. She glared at her then looked back at Eli, to find he was completely focused on her.

“You don’t feel well at all, do you?” he asked, his brows knitted together. Rachel hesitated for a second, and he continued, “Would you have said yes, otherwise?”

Rachel reached back and rubbed her neck as another wave of pain

brought on by the heat and brightness made her groan. The nausea from earlier returned as well. She looked at him and said, “I don’t know. Maybe?”

Her answer seemed to satisfy him, and he stood. “I know what