Long Time Coming by Bonnie Edwards Read Free Book Online Page B

anytime." He’d eat
her anytime.
      "I
may take you up on your offer. I don't cook much. Meals for one don't hold a
lot of appeal."
      "You're
single? Hard to believe." Down, boy.
      "Why?
There’s no evidence of a woman living here. If you're single, why shouldn't I
be?"
      "I've
been busy building a business,” he said, pleased she'd paid attention to his
living arrangement. “Until now relationships have taken a back seat."
      "Now?"
      "Now,
I'm ready to take care of other ambitions." He held the door to the deck
open for her and motioned her outside to take in the view. “Marion’s told me
for years it’s time to settle down, and I’m ready to give her that wish.”
      She
stepped by him to the deck while he leaned in for a whiff of her shampoo.
"When I lived here I never got to the private side of the lake,” she
murmured. “Only the public beaches." Her scent went to his head. Better
than wine. Much better. "This is spectacular." Her eyes showed
delight in his success. “Why have you waited so long to settle down?”
      “My
old man was decent enough, but he could never get himself off the ground. Never
got life right. I swore I’d be different if I had a family. I wanted to be
ready. Prepared.”
      “Not
broke.” A statement, not a question. “I swore I wouldn’t get pregnant at
fourteen.”
      “Which
may have happened, given the way you looked much older.”
      Her
smile went thoughtful. “But I had you running interference.”
      "Whether
you wanted it or not."
      She
slipped her hand to his cheek, her warmth a balm. He tilted into it. “Thank
you, Kurt. You were my champion, my guardian.”
      His
hand burned with the need to touch. To take. So he clasped the deck rail and
pretended to see the lake. He waved at his neighbors, out for their daily
paddle. The red canoe skimmed over the water, graceful and silent.
      "Sunset
is my favorite time of day," she said with a sigh. "I don't see it
often enough. Everything's pretty again." She tapped her temple. "My
mind races through the day." She settled next to him at the rail, her
shoulder grazing his.
      "I
like the long shadows, the deepening quiet as the birds settle and the lake
turns pink and gold."
      "Renewal,
rest and reflection." She turned toward him, her eyes scanning his face,
counting the years since they'd last seen each other. "You've changed
some, but I still see you, Kurt McCord. Like no other man, I see you."
      He
had a sick feeling that maybe she always had. "When we were kids– "
      "I'm
sorry I was such a pest." She laughed. A light tinkling sound he'd looked
for in every other woman he'd known.
      "You
weren't. I was a jerk."
      She
eyed him. "Only sometimes." Her grin set his mind at ease.
      She
still had no idea how sick he'd been. Still was. A brother wanting his sister.
Correction. Foster sister.
      Not
that it made any difference. Marion would be appalled. And Leigh would look at
him like a fly speck.
      Maybe
that would set him free. He'd stop comparing women to Leigh. He could move on
and work on those new ambitions. A wife. Family of his own.
      Just
as soon as he put this Leigh thing aside.
      And
then she looked at him; really looked and he looked back.
      Damn,
she was hot.
      She
nodded at the neighbors as they glided by.  "They're still together? They
were a couple back in high school."
      He
nodded. "Sometimes first loves are the only loves."
      She
took a sip of wine too fast. She coughed and he patted her back.
"Okay?"
      "Fine.
Thanks." After a moment of quiet reflection, she spoke again. She leaned
over the rail to look around the lake. "That time I walked up to your car
and you had some girl with you . . . ." Her voice trailed away into an
unspoken question.
      "Diane
Brown. I remember she was no girl." Older by at least eight years and
already divorced, Diane held his interest for all of three weeks. Long enough
to learn what he'd needed. "What about it?" But he knew what