I couldn’t imagine a world where a woman like Melissa would ever want a washed-up ex-con.Sure, I was reformed.I had done my bid.I had started a business.I had made a comfortable life for myself.In most circles, I would even be considered respectable.
But I wasn’t a surgeon.I wasn’t an educator with a master’s degree.I had barely finished high school.I had never done anything impressive.I for damn sure had never done anything to deserve the attention of a school librarian.
The front door opened, and Melissa stepped out onto her front porch with a coffee mug in hand.She waved at me, smiling warmly, and my heart jumped into my throat, thumping wildly and making it hard to swallow.My decision was made for me.There was no escaping now.
I stepped out of the truck and reached back in for my phone and metal tumbler of coffee from the center console.I strode down the sidewalk and let my appreciative gaze run from the messy bun atop her head to the bare toes pressed against the steps that desperately needed a good sanding and paint job.She had on a pair of loose black shorts that skimmed mid-thigh and an oversized tee emblazoned with her school’s mascot.
She looked so damn good.I didn’t know how I was going to get my to-do list punched with the distraction of those curvy brown legs on display.
“Morning,” she greeted brightly.
“Mornin’.”I stood at the bottom of her front steps and stared up at her in wonder.She hadn’t bothered with any makeup this morning, but I didn’t care.It was one less thing to mess up when I finally got her back under me again.
“You want some breakfast?”
“I already ate.”I should have known she’d offer to feed me.
“I’m waiting for my English muffins to pop out of the toaster.”She eyed my truck and read the logo on the door.“Heathcote’s Carpentry.”Her forehead scrunched together as if she was remembering something.“I think you did the work on my dad’s shop renovation a few years ago.”
“What shop?”
“Barajas Tire and Auto.”
Oh, fuck.Fuck.
“Your dad is Eddie Barajas?”
“Yes?”she answered uncertainly, as if afraid of what I might say next.“Is that a problem?”
“No,” I said quickly, too quickly.“I mean...”I winced and rubbed the back of his neck.“Maybe?”
“Why?”
“Your dad knows me.He knows all about my history.”
“So?”She shrugged.“He hired you to put in all that cabinetry and workspace in his new shop.”
“There’s a difference in hiring a felon to design and build cabinets and work benches and letting that same felon touch your daughter,” I pointed out rather bluntly.
She rolled her eyes.“Shane, I’m almost forty years old.My dad hasn’t had an opinion on the men I date since I was twenty.”
“Well, he might have one now,” I warned, thinking of how loud her father could get when he wasn’t happy about something.Eddie wasn’t a man I wanted to get on the wrong side of, that’s for damn sure.
He was a great guy, a real stand-up man who ran a successful business and had ties all through the community.He rode bikes with his church club, a bunch of Catholic dads and grandpas on Road Kings, trikes and cruisers.We mixed socially, usually at the Lone Star Rally every November and the smaller fundraisers around town.
If he didn’t like me messing around with Melissa, he could make my life a living hell.Maybe even ruin my business.
But it was a risk I was ready to take.
“You let me worry about that.”She glanced back at her open front door.“I think I heard my toaster.I’m going to get my breakfast.You want to come inside?”
I glanced at the mess in her front yard.“I should get started on this.It’ll take a while for the concrete to set up once I get that post in the hole.”
“Concrete?”She seemed taken aback.“I didn’t use concrete when I put the library in the first time.”
“Which is exactly why those assholes were able to take it down so easy,” I replied matter-of-factly.I didn’t mention the black powder coated metal post I had pulled from my stockpile of random supplies.“When I’m done with my repairs, it will take an Abram’s tank to get it out of the ground.”
She looked worried.“That sounds like something that might need a permit.”
