Second Chance (Cold Springs Series Book 1) by Nancy Henderson Read Free Book Online Page B

She motioned toward the counter where she put it this morning in case he came by.
    “I also wanted to see if the door was all right.  That and Burt called me. He said you had a broken stove.  Do you want me to take a look at it?”
    Burt.  He was trying to save her money again.  He wouldn’t put her in harm’s way if he knew Ian was any sort of threat.   Of course not.
    She looked up at Ian who towered like a giant in the middle of her small kitchen.  How had he killed someone?  What had he used?  A gun? Knife? His bare hands? 
    He didn’t look dangerous.  Tight jeans, work boots, five o’clock shadow, and hair tousled as if he had just climbed out of bed with some hot twenty-year-old.
    Sweet mother! She shouldn’t feel attraction to him.  She should feel wary of him.  Ian Woods wasn’t the innocent, cocky jock from high school.  He was now an ex-convict and could very well be dangerous. She should be worried about being alone with him.
    But…something. Maybe just crazy senseless desperation to make it here.  She needed her stove working if she was going to reopen the diner.
    Sam cleared her throat.  “Do you have the time to take a look at it?”
    One side of his mouth turned up in a half-grin. 
    Sam tried to get out of his way.  She hadn’t realized that she’d stepped in the grease pool until it was too late.  Once she started sliding, there was no stopping.  Worse than the fact she was already covered with grease or that she was falling was she was taking Ian with her. She didn’t know who had grabbed whom first.  Suddenly she was clinging to his shoulders and he had his hands around her waist as they both hit the floor.
    Sam landed hard directly on top of Ian.  She stared down at his stunned expression, her face less than an inch from his.
    Man…those eyes. Blue, like a sexy Caribbean pool, just like Sam remembered.
    “Oh!” She scrambled to get up.  Ian’s hand was still on her waist. “Are you okay?”
    “Yeah.” He released her.
    Sam quickly rolled off him.  “I’m sorry.”
    He stood, offered his hand to help her up.
    Sam accepted it.  It was warm and strong and immediately set her heart pounding. She stood, started to slip, but he caught her around the waist.
    “Um…” Step away, stupid! What was wrong with her?  He was going to think she still had a thing for him.
    But how could he not think it? Furthermore, how could she not fall for him all over again? He still possessed that thing, that something about him that attracted her to him in the first place.
    He paid his dues.  Burt’s words rang in her head.
    She stepped away.  “I’m sorry.  I made quite the mess.”  Gingerly, she stepped around him and got a rag and bucket of bleach water.  “I’ll get this cleaned up.”
    “I’ll get my tools.”  He went outside and reappeared with a toolbox in hand.  “Your orifice is probably plugged.”
    “Excuse me?” 
    “The pilot orifice.”
    “Oh.  Right.  Of course.”  Oh, Lord! Sam felt her cheeks flush.  Of course, he was talking about the stove!  As he leaned over, she couldn’t help but stare. 
    “Hey, I wanted to tell you I’m sorry.”
    “For what?”
    “For high school…everything. I was a bum kid.  I didn’t—I heard later how upset you were that I never showed up that night.”
    “No.” She shrugged it off, suddenly feeling foolish for talking about a time so long ago.  “It’s fine.  I went anyway.”
    “I didn’t see you there,” he blurted then looked down.  “Yeah, I was a jerk.”
    “Who’d you go with?”
    “Jane Benton,” he answered.
    Figured.  Prettiest cheerleader in upstate New York.
    “If it matters, I had a lousy time.  Jane left with Frank Hanes.”
    “Mom said they married a few years ago.”  Sam crossed her arms and smiled.  “Maybe you were their matchmaker.”
    “Maybe.  So how did the contract look?”
    Right.  The contract.  “For the most part, I think it’s a good contract.