Fire in the Hole

  Brad returned her smile and shook with her, his friendly drawl back. “Nice to meet you, ma’am. Dr. Brad Jarred. Official Florida Cracker. Single dad. That’s my son, Mark.”

  She turned to shake with Mark, who gave her a bright smile. “Hi. Nice to meet you, ma’am.”

  “Nice to meet you, too, sweetie. I feel like I know you already from talking with Ev and Wylie.” Lara smirked at Everett. “Now I really owe you dinner,” she told him.

  “Why?”

  “Because you just saved me the cost of another and far messier divorce.” When she blew him a kiss, Everett blew her one back.

  Chapter Three

  For the next hour, Lara didn’t have to think about anything except what a great time she was having.

  The best time she’d had in months, quite frankly.

  She laughed more than she had in months, she enjoyed Brad’s company, and not once did she get Ev to snort salsa out his nose despite her best efforts to crack him up.

  And she did everything humanly possible not to think about Steve.

  Or the fact that she now had to find a place to live, and figure out how to move, in the next couple of days.

  Shit.

  When it came time to leave, Mark spoke up. “Dad, can I ride home with Ev and Wy, if it’s okay with them? I want to get started on my homework.”

  Brad looked briefly torn. Everett spoke up. “It’s okay with us. We were going to stop by Publix on the way home, though.”

  When Brad glanced at Lara, she knew that was her chance.

  “If Everett and Wylie trust you to drive me home, I’m fine being alone with you.”

  “Thank you, ma’am,” Brad said, smiling. Then he opened his wallet and handed Mark a credit card. “That’s the ranch card.” He pointed a finger at him. “One container of ice cream. And the rest of the groceries we need. I also want to see the receipt, so don’t go sneaking junk food, either. Do you have a copy of the list?”

  “On my phone.”

  “Okay.” He hugged his son, then shook with Wylie and Everett. “Thanks for taking him home.”

  “No worries,” Everett assured him. “Take your time.”

  Lara gave Wylie a quick hug, then Everett. She whispered in his ear. “I just did the right thing, didn’t I? Please tell me I did the right thing.”

  He kissed her cheek. “You’re going home with him, aren’t you? Text me later to let me know you’re home safe, or I’ll be calling you.”

  He released her, giving her a wink when she stepped back.

  As she followed Brad over to his truck, she loved that he opened and held the door for her.

  Something “sophisticated” Steve had never done.

  “Sorry it’s not very fancy, ma’am.”

  “Please, don’t apologize. I’m not a stuck-up snoot like Steve.”

  Still, Brad held out his hand to help her step up into his truck, waiting until she was settled to close the door.

  It figured that her first foray into a serious relationship post-Everett was doomed. She’d mistakenly thought maybe she needed to find someone…different from Ev. Someone…

  Snooty.

  And it wasn’t that she wanted a snooty guy, either. She loved Ev and always would. She’d always genuinely supported him and what he did for a living, had never felt ashamed of him. Not many people could take a piece of metal and turn it into a functional and beautiful work of art the way he could.

  Steve had appeared charming and sophisticated, at first. She’d felt seduced, chased.

  Desired.

  And he hadn’t been bad in bed, either. After years of being married to a man who turned out to be gay, the increasing issues in that department had been explained. Hadn’t been her fault.

  Having a guy who actively sought her out for sex had been…well, great. Reaffirming.

  A good boost to her ego, for sure.

  She wasn’t saying it was the best excuse. Nobody was perfect, least of all her. She knew that and had been willing to overlook certain…things about Steve’s personality that hadn’t exactly been ideal.

  Today was the last straw, however.

  Figures it took my gay ex-husband making me see the truth about my fiancé.

  After giving Brad directions, she settled in. “So you were born and raised in Florida?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Only child, though.”

  “Oh.” Now another wave of melancholy flowed through her as she waited for the inevitable.

  “You?”

  “I…had a brother.”

  He got points for being quick on the uptake. “Ah. I’m sorry.”

  “Thanks, but not your fault.” She swallowed back her emotions. Sometimes it was like this, hitting her hard even this many years later. “He killed himself. It’s part of the reason it took Everett so long to finally come out to me. He didn’t want to dump that on me on top of losing Cameron.”

  “Ev strikes me as a good and honorable man.”

  “He is.” She stared out the windshield. “Wylie seems to be a really nice guy. I’m glad they found each other.”

  “Mark’s partial to him. He’s enjoyed helping him out, poor guy.”

  “Poor guy?”

  Brad let out a chuckle. “Talk about a fish out of water. Before Wylie moved here, he’d never mowed grass, much less run a tractor. It’s been a pretty harsh learning curve for him. Bless his heart, he’s apparently working hard to learn everything.”

  She warily eyed him, wondering if she’d already screwed up in her evaluation of Brad. “‘Bless his heart’?”

  “Not the insult kind of meaning.” He glanced her way. “I don’t have a problem with him and Everett. They’re great guys. I’m glad they’re working on the place. It’s nice having someone across the road doing something with it and not turning it into a housing development.”

  “I was under the impression the previous owner’s will said it couldn’t be developed?”

  “I guess so. I admire Wylie for taking this on.”

  She actually felt a little inadequate next to Brad, now that she knew he was a doctor, as well as ran a ranch and was a single dad. “Is it hard to juggle running a ranch with what you do?”

  “No. I have Mark’s help, and I have a guy who works for me a few days a week. The cows are grazed in fenced pastures, so it’s not like I have to range ride. I don’t do gardening. I’ll get my produce from Publix, thanks.”

  “Too much work?”

  “Maybe if I was tackling homesteading the way Wylie is, I might want to. But the return on my investment of time and money isn’t worth it. I don’t want to lose spare time I could be spending with Mark. He’s my priority.”

  And there was another hurdle to feel her way around. “Must be hard being a single parent.”

  “Easier now that he’s older. He’s a responsible kid. And Breanna, his mom, she and I get along fine. She travels a lot for work, though.”

  “It’s good that you get along so well.”

  He shrugged, and while something about the gesture seemed easy, she sensed a slight tension in him. “Sometimes, people just aren’t compatible. With her job, she let Mark make the decision who he wanted to live with. We agreed we didn’t need to pay each other support, but we split his expenses when he needs stuff. She comes over for dinner sometimes, when she’s in town. I’m usually the one around anyway. We got married too young and probably shouldn’t have.”

  “I don’t have that excuse.” She had a thought. “How old are you?”

  “Forty-four.”

  “Oh.” A laugh escaped her. “Honestly, I wouldn’t have thought you were that old.”

  The corners of his mouth turned up in an adorable smirk. “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “You’re adorable.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “The ma’am and sir stuff.”

  Another shrug. “I was raised by Southern parents.”

  “So was I.”

  He smiled. “Fourth generation native Fl
oridians?”

  “Oh. Well, no.”

  “So how old are you?”

  This man was nearly Steve’s age, and yet had acted as if he was hers. “Thirty-two, same as Ev. Twelve years younger than you.”

  “Ooh. Younger woman. I guess I’ll have to step up my game.”

  She laughed.

  Something else Steve hadn’t been able to do a lot of, especially over the last few weeks.

  She didn’t want their evening to end yet, and they were less than a mile from her apartment complex. “Do you have time to come in and chat for a little while?”

  He turned to smile at her, his brown eyes looking darker in the dim light, something about his smile dampening her panties yet again. “I’d like that very much, ma’am.”

  * * * *

  Brad had felt a little uncomfortable at the restaurant, at first. He’d disliked Steve almost on sight.

  Couldn’t say he was surprised when Lara gave him the heave-ho. Especially after the way the guy ran his mouth.

  Brad had seen his fair share of those kinds of assholes over the years, and always loved the shock on their faces when he informed them that he was no poor, dumb, redneck hick, like they’d assumed.

  The truth was, he probably had more money in the bank, and a far more valuable retirement portfolio, than most of them.

  There was something about Lara that intrigued him. He liked the way she stood up for herself. He suspected there was far more to the story between her and Steve before he and Mark had arrived at the restaurant than he’d been privy to witnessing.

  Lucky for him.

  Because the way she’d told the man to go fuck himself had hardened Brad. Fortunately, everyone else had been too focused on the asshole’s departure to notice him adjusting himself.

  Her apartment complex was a nice one. Not the richest, but definitely not a slum. She directed him where to park.

  “Next to me. I’m the Cadi.”

  He hoped he stifled his disappointment. “Nice car.”

  “It was my treat to myself. It’s also a business expense, since I use it to drive clients around to look at properties. We deal mostly with high-end residential listings. That means I have to look the part. They don’t necessarily like to buy from someone with a Honda. Doesn’t exactly set the right image, you know.”

  He relaxed a little. “Ah. Well, that makes sense.”

  He walked around to the passenger side to help her out and offered her his arm for the walk up to her door.

  She let out a sigh. “And I’m going to have to figure out where the hell I’m moving next week.” She let go of him to dig her keys out of her purse.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I was supposed to move in with Steve. And that’s not happening now.”

  “Ah.” That she was probably better off for it was something he knew should remain unsaid.

  Unless she said it first.

  “Yeah.” She unlocked the door and he followed her inside. “The whole ‘go fuck yourself’ issue. And I’m not apologizing to him for it, either.”

  “No offense? Why were you with him?”

  “I’ve been asking myself that. I’ll probably be asking myself that for a while. Turns out it wasn’t the smartest decision I’ve ever made.”

  Her apartment wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t tiny, either. Neat, tidy, and with a homey feel that put him at ease. On one wall hung family pictures, including many of her and Everett. In one corner, a large stack of boxes, as well as bare shelves on bookcases and the entertainment center, spoke to her impending move.

  “Nice to see you and Everett are still friends,” he noted, nodding to the pictures.

  “I always have loved him. I always will. As a friend, but he’s a great guy. At first, when he admitted he was gay, it was a shock and I was angry. Eventually, I got past that.” She reached out and touched one of the pictures. “I’ll be packing these up on Saturday. I just… Can I get you something to drink?”

  He wasn’t an idiot and didn’t miss how she’d wanted to change the subject. “Soda or water’s fine, thank you, ma’am.”

  A picture of a much younger Lara, and a man and woman he assumed were her parents, along with another guy who looked younger than her, was hung in the center of the picture display.

  “That was Cameron,” she told him as she walked out with a glass of soda in hand and handed it to him. “He struggled with severe depression for years.” Her weighty sigh was nearly enough to make him tear up. “It finally won.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I kept track of Ev through Eve.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “His little sister. We’re friends. I worried about Ev. I didn’t want to lose him, too. Not like that.” She offered him a sad smile. “Can I be frank?”

  “I’d prefer it.”

  She stared at the picture. “I told Ev early on in our relationship that he was a little too ‘bossy.’ That was more about me than him, and I didn’t even know it at the time. It wasn’t fair to him. Bless his heart—in the good way—he twisted himself to be less bossy for me. Because he loved me. It wasn’t until recently that I understood why, and tonight sort of drove it all home for me.”

  She fascinated him. “How so?”

  “I’m not a woman who’s a pushover. I’m going to have to accept that I need a guy who doesn’t feel threatened by the real me. And he’s going to have to accept me the way I am. Steve had been pushing and pushing, and even though I’d been pushing back, I can look back and see now I was definitely not the kind of woman who should be with a guy like him.” Her cheeks suddenly went pink. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to come off like I was being…”

  “Pushy?”

  She laughed, and he knew he wanted to keep her laughing. The beautiful sound filled his soul and set something deep within him aflame.

  “I mean sounding like I’m hitting on you,” she said.

  “Maybe I like being hit on by you.”

  The pink in her cheeks deepened. “What kind of woman would that make me, then? Dumping her fiancé the day she gets divorced, and then going home with her ex-husband’s next door neighbor?”

  “Lucky?”

  Her laugh sounded a little easier. “Sorry. Normally I don’t come off sounding like this.”

  “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the way you’re sounding now.” Except he wished he could drop to his knees in front of her and worship her.

  “You’re very sweet.”

  “So about the whole moving issue. Can I make a suggestion?”

  “Sure.”

  He met her gaze. “I have a big house. It’s just me and Mark. And I don’t have a problem with bossy women. I’ll let you in on a little secret, ma’am.”

  “What’s that?”

  He knew this was a risk, but one he had to take. “One of the biggest reasons Breanna and I split up was that I wasn’t dominant enough for her. I wanted her to take charge more, and she…didn’t.”

  * * * *

  Lara wasn’t sure which of his statements had shocked her more. That he’d offered to let her move in with him, or that he basically was admitting to her that he was…what was the word? Submissive?

  Or maybe it shocked her more that she was already giving serious thought to taking him up on his offer. “Move in?”

  “In your own room. With your own bathroom. You can store your stuff in the garage that won’t fit. Even if it’s just for a little while, until you can find a new place. Mark and I will gladly help you move. I have a trailer.”

  She studied him. “Glad I’m not the only pushy one.”

  “Sorry.”

  “No. Don’t be.” She crooked a finger at him and headed for the couch. “Let’s talk.”

  Am I insane to be contemplating this?

  He followed. “We’ll draw up a lease, too. So it’s official. Obviously, you’re welcomed to come by and look at it first to see if you’d even be interested.” He frowned. “And I’d want to cle
ar it with Mark, of course.”

  She sat on one end of the couch. “I don’t know. I’d have to know more about you first.”

  “Ask away.”

  This would be telling, and something she should have known was a deal-breaker when Steve hadn’t known it.

  She stared at him. “‘She turned me into a newt.’”

  He smiled. “‘I got better.’” Even delivered with the right British accent.

  Lara leaned in. “‘We’re all stories in the end.’”

  He met her gaze and leaned in a little himself. “‘Just make it a good one.’”

  She shivered and forced herself not to climb him like a jungle gym. “What do you take to a party?”

  He grinned. “A banana. Why? What do you take?”

  “You’d damn well better not be gay.”

  “Not the last time I checked, no.”

  “What’s the answer to life, the universe, and everything?”

  “Forty-two.”

  She sucked in a sharp breath. “I really want to kiss you right now.”

  He set his glass down on a coaster on the coffee table. “I should warn you, I cry every time the Doctor and Rose say good-bye at Bad Wolf Bay. Don’t even get me started on River Song’s story arc. That guts me every time.”

  “And you’ve been living across the street from Ev all this time, huh?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Jumping his bones on our first technical date…baaaad.

  She leaned in closer. “Can we go out to dinner tomorrow night? Alone? No offense, not that I don’t want to spend time with Mark but—”

  “Yes, ma’am. If you’ll let me pick you up and pay for it.”

  She smiled. “I love pick-up trucks.”

  He let out a sigh, reaching out to brush a strand of hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear. “I’ve dated women who said they liked being in charge and got tired of it pretty fast.”

  “There will be times I want you to take charge in bed. But when it comes to our relationship? Honestly? I need to call the shots. Just ask Ev. He was married to me.”

  He met her gaze, heating her to her toes. “DC or Marvel?”

  “Yes,” she said with a grin. “Star Trek or Star Wars?”