Keep It Together by Lissa Matthews Read Free Book Online Page B

“I dated a guy in college whose family owned a trophy shop. While we were together, I worked part-time for them during their busiest seasons. My mother flipped. It was my first job, and I loved working, earning my own way. I loved the work itself too. They taught me how to use the tools, and as it turns out I was kind of a natural at it.”
    “Uh-huh. Let me get this straight. You shoot and hunt. You make sun tea and can make blankets out of yarn. You come from money but choose to work. And you’re an artist?”
    “I’m not an artist.”
    “You can engrave designs and names on things, right?”
    “Yes.”
    “You’re an artist.”
    Chrissie shrugged. “My mother thinks I’m a boy. She blames my father completely.”
    “Is he sorry?”
    With a sparkle in her eyes, she shook her head. “Not a bit.”
    “Good. Show me?”
    “N-now?”
    “Yep. Show me or…take me wherever it is that you do it.”
    “Colt, I…” Whatever protest she was prepared to mount, when he crossed his arms over his chest and appeared unwilling to budge otherwise, she relented. “Come on,” she said after a huge, fake-irritated sigh. “You can bring your tea if you want.”
    Chrissie set her own glass down, then moved by him. She tried not to notice the tingles and the way her pulse spiked when she was within inches of touching his body, but they were things she couldn’t ignore. She might not be all that feminine on the outside, but on the inside? She was a giddy little schoolgirl with her first crush.
    “I turned the second bedroom into a small workshop,” she offered into the silence. She was keenly aware that he was following close behind, that his footfalls on the steps were solid and near. She never expected him to be in her house like this, or at all. When the wedding fell through and he’d come to check on her, that had been sweet and above and beyond his responsibility.
    Only it seemed there were ulterior motives, and she felt wowed and, in a strange way, romanced. Desired too. Completely desired.
    Of course, to most people, their visit would have appeared innocent and nothing more than one friend visiting another friend, minus the kiss in the kitchen. To her, it was much more and, in her head, not at all innocent.
    He wore a cologne she couldn’t place, though she didn’t have much experience with men’s colognes. Russ had worn one scent, something by Calvin Klein, but that was the extent of her knowledge. She was more familiar with pipe and cigar smoke, chewing tobacco, gunpowder, and the ever popular been-out-in-the-woods-for several-days pine and body odor combination.
    Their steps echoed along the small, empty hallway, at the end of which was a room she walked into. Two work tables lined the long solid walls, and a drafting table sat in front of the window, which overlooked the forest behind the house. Like the rest of the house, it was bright and open.
    Metal plates of different sizes and shapes, scrolls and alphanumeric templates, and transfer mediums cluttered one table. On the other table was an assortment of special orders and weapons she needed to finish work on. She had an air compressor and several types of engraving tools and bits in the corner beside her table at the window.
    “Wow.”
    She turned to look at Colt, who was still in the doorway. He was looking around the room, and it seemed his eyes missed nothing. It was almost like he was cataloging everything in his head as his gaze passed over the tables and workspaces. “I guess I like to keep busy.” He wasn’t saying anything. The silence was one that she wasn’t wholly comfortable with. It made her feel as though she needed to justify herself in some way.
    “I guess you do. Did my brother know about this?”
    “No. I didn’t pick this up again until after him. I don’t think he’d have understood.”
    He slanted her a quizzical look. “Did he know you at all?”
    She shook her head. “No. But that’s not his fault. I had my head in the