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I remember hearing shouting and getting up to put on my jeans. I didn't want to face danger naked.
And that's the last thing I remember.
"Who are you?" I say to the hulk.
"This is Nicco. He's a friend of mine and he owes you an apology," Alex says, giving Nicco a hard look.
"Well, someone needs to explain a few things to me before I'll be giving any apologies."
Oh shit. Nicco. That's the name of Caleb's army buddy. The one who thinks the other Caleb has been checking on Alex.
I shift to try to sit up but stabbing pains move from behind my eyes and swirl around my skull, so I lay back down.
"Caleb Jenkins asked me to check on Alex. Actually, I offered to do it. I was out for a drive and stopped by his house. They have a new baby and Caleb was sort of overwhelmed with everything so I told him I'd check on the woman at the cabin. I had no idea it was Alex. In fact, he thought it was an old woman because she'd asked for hair dye."
Alex's hands move to her close cut hair.
"I noticed that," Nicco says to her. "I like it."
She gives him a small smile, but the air in the room is still pretty thick with tension.
"I was just doing a friend a favor," I say. "But then..."
"Then what?"
"Well, Caleb's baby got sick and they had to take him to Ponderosa Pass and he called me and asked me to check on her because she'd called him."
"I was stuck under the porch rescuing the kitten," Alex adds.
Nicco rolls his eyes. "I was wondering where the feline came from. This is all sounding too cute. Like one of those stupid Hallmark movies."
"And after that," I continue, I'm literally flat on my back and as vulnerable as I'll ever be. Might as well expose my heart too. "I just wanted to be with Alex. Get to know her. And stuff."
For the first time Nicco shows a bit of humor and the corner of his mouth turns up. "And stuff." He slants his eyes at Alex and shakes his head. She sticks her tongue out at him. The tongue that's run all over my body in many delicious ways.
"So," Nicco says, giving me a stern look, "who the hell are you, then?"
"Oh," I say, then look at Alex. "I'm Caleb Starr. Caleb Jenkins and I have been friends since grade school and we always joked about having the same name."
"And you used that to trick me!" Alex removes the cold cloth from my forehead. "Like a couple of eight-year-old boys." She does not look charmed by this bit of information.
"Wait a minute," Nicco says. "Starr? Did you say your last name was Starr? As in North Starr Ranch, the biggest property in the state?"
Alex gasps.
"Yes, that's my family. My brothers and sister and I run the place."
"You're rich?" Alex's voice comes out in a high pitched squeak. "Then why are you driving that beat up old truck?"
Nicco looks at her, incredulous. "That truck out in the driveway? That's a classic. I'm glad I got things straightened out before I took a baseball bat to it for you hurting my friend Alex."
* * *
ALEX
Caleb started feeling better and Nicco helped him up from the floor then he "conveniently" decided he needed something from his car and left Caleb and me alone in the room staring at each other.
So many different emotions fly around inside me. When Nicco had hit Caleb and I saw him go down, I screamed and ran to him. A part of me felt like it died a little bit seeing him injured like that. I had a sudden terror of going through life without knowing more about him. Without telling him the truth about me.
