Her Name Is Trouble: A small-town contemporary romance (The Daimsbury Chronicles Book 2) by Zee Monodee Read Free Book Online

said.
    He shrugged, one big shoulder rolling easily with the move. “Didn’t know what to get, and these seemed to scream your name when I saw them. Okay, not your name, but...they just seemed like flowers you might like.”
    So he’d be bumbling around her? How utterly precious! She grinned and let out a laugh—good to know she wasn’t the only one out of her depths. And if he appeared uncertain around her, that could mean... No, she wouldn’t think of that. Whatever happened that night would happen; she wouldn’t read anything into it.
    “Daisies are perfect,” she said to reassure him.
    The smile he bestowed onto her brightened her whole world, and for a moment—or even for that evening altogether—she’d get to have him in her life.
    She’d take that with everything she had.
    Missy stepped aside to let him enter, and she noticed the arm brace on which he leaned. Seemed to her he didn’t hobble anymore, but even put the sole of his left foot flat on the floor when he walked.
    “You’ve been to the doctor today,” she said with a gasp. Jenny had kept her abreast of the gossip buzz every day, and no one had yet mentioned that Luke had moved up from crutch to brace.
    He jostled the prop and pointed at his toes. “Liz cut me loose just an hour ago. Says the toe is healing but I still gotta take it easy.”
    She winced as she closed the door. To think this was all her fault... “Sorry for that.”
    He frowned. “For what?”
    “The foot.”
    “Nah, don’t worry.” A chuckle escaped him. “I got a legitimate excuse to stay back for a few more days, and the shoot’s been moved to here. So win-win everywhere.”
    She nodded. “Good, then. Let me go put these in water.”
    She felt more than heard him follow her into the kitchen. His presence in the cosy confines of the cottage should’ve looked like too much, because he filled the space with his all-male bulk, but strangely, that’s not what came to her mind. With him around, she experienced the wrap of comfort settling around her, that feeling of being at ease in a place like it were the most natural thing in the world.
    That’s how he’d made her feel on the night of the cocktail party. They’d done nothing but talk, but he’d made the world right for those few hours.
    “Hey,” he asked. “Everything okay?”
    That’s when she realized she stood with a spoon in her hand, halfway to the pot of grits. The creamy corn bubbled and hissed, a splatter landing on her sleeve. With quick fumbles, she turned off the gas and grabbed a dishtowel to place the pot on a cold burner.
    “Missy...” He drew close, stopping right behind her. “Are you all right?”
    Never better , she wanted to say, but she couldn’t. So she settled for a half-truth. “I was thinking of Texas.”
    He now stood an inch from her; his body heat permeated through her sweater to gently tickle her back.
    “I’m sorry. It’s because of me you’re thinking of home and—”
    She turned and found herself sandwiched between him and the Aga. Thank goodness she’d turned off the oven and stove, but she’d also say she ran more risk of combusting into flames from his proximity to her rather than from the heat the appliance might generate behind her.
    “It’s...” She peered up into his face, and the remembrance of the way he’d looked at her eight years earlier materialized in her mind. “They were good memories,” she finished.
    “You’re sure?”
    She nodded.
    He must have at least a foot’s height on her, what with her standing there in bare feet. Twice her size in breadth, too. That disparity in bulk and brute force never struck her as menacing or overwhelming, except maybe the latter but in a different sense. Luke, with his male presence, made her feel whole... A lump lodged itself into her throat and she gulped to clear it.
    “We should eat,” she said in a whisper.
    He stared at her for long seconds, then nodded. “How can I help?”
    “You just go sit down.