Sultry with a Twist by Macy Beckett Read Free Book Online

bedroom window and pee off the roof started a charity?”
    “Technically, it’s a nonprofit, not a charity. We need fund-raising and donations to pay for supplies, licenses, and Trey’s salary.” His gaze shifted beyond her to focus on Bruiser. “Jesus, that thing’s older than sin. And twice as ugly.”
    “Well, it’s paid for and cheap to insure, which I think is beautiful.”
    “Your cooling fan’s been running too long. God only knows what’s going on under the hood. I’ll come by Pru’s tomorrow morning and check it out.”
    “You don’t have to do that.”
    As if on cue, the fan sputtered, rattled, and clunked to a stop. Luke shook his head and pulled his cap back on. “This isn’t Austin. You break down, it might take half a day before someone else drives along and finds you. I’ll be there at seven.” He turned and walked toward the backyard. “Come on, I’ll get you started. You already met Karl. He’s a criminal like you.”
    “I’m not a criminal.”
    “That’s what they all say.”
    “Hey.” June grabbed his rounded bicep and the corded muscle bunched beneath her fingers. Off limits! “That reminds me.”
    Luke stopped and his eyes darted from hers down to her hand, which still gripped his warm, damp skin. “Of what?” An emotion she couldn’t quite place crossed his face, and she pulled her hand back.
    “Did the prosecutor charge you for what happened that day? At the pond?”
    “Nope.” He picked up a hammer from the dusty ground and continued walking.
    “Why not?”
    “Your conduct must’ve been lewder and more indecent than mine.”
    Not the way she remembered it. Not at all. Luke had done things to her that afternoon she’d never known existed. Things she couldn’t think about without feeling heat rise from her chest into her face. The heat spread to other places too.
    “Trey’s on the roof,” Luke said. “I’m sure you remember him.” June thought she heard a faint sneer of jealousy in his voice. Probably just her imagination. He pointed the hammer to a middle-aged balding man wearing protective goggles and cutting two-by-fours with a motorized saw, then to a group of five men standing nearby who sanded and applied wood stain to the freshly cut boards. “That’s Pauly. He’s okay, but stay away from the rest of the halfway house guys. They’re fresh out of prison, and not because they got busted skinny-dipping. You hear me?”
    June nodded.
    “Just watch out for yourself. Trey keeps a close eye on the workers, but he can’t see everything.”
    “You don’t get paid for this?” June regarded the man she’d known nearly all her life, yet didn’t know at all. “Why do you do it?”
    The bill of Luke’s baseball cap cast a shadow over his eyes, but intensity still simmered there, like he had something unpleasant to say, but didn’t know how much to reveal. “Everyone deserves a second chance. Most of these guys need the experience. They’re not fit for anything else.” He watched the men in silence for a moment, then admitted, “Five years ago someone gave me a second chance. I’m just giving it back.”
    Did he mean Grammy? June wanted to ask Luke to spill everything—explain what ended his military career and his marriage—but after the way she’d avoided him the last nine years, she didn’t have the right to ask what he ate for breakfast.
    ***
    The Holy Baptism by Hellfire Church was looking better with each passing minute. June had never been a violent woman, but she couldn’t stop fantasizing about breaking Karl’s nose again, this time on purpose. There were so many ways to do it. Her favorite option involved the use of a discarded toilet seat protruding from the temporary Dumpster out back.
    “Hoo!” Karl said in a nasally voice. “It’s hotter’n the devil’s bunghole out here.”
    He’d been treated and released from the hospital and had returned two hours ago with his nose packed with gauze. Either he’d toked up again, or he