Finding Home Again - Brenda Jackson

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still smelled good a few hours later. While watching him put those boxes in the freezer she had admired his broad shoulders and the way his backside fit his jeans.

      Suddenly she heard a pop and her steering wheel began shaking. A flat tire. Damn. She pulled to the side of the road and tugged the cell phone from her purse to call for roadside service when an SUV pulled alongside of her.

      “Car trouble, miss?”

      She glanced over at the handsome man. She figured he was in his midthirties, possibly a little older. “I believe I have a flat and was about to call for roadside service.”

      “There’s no need to call anyone. I can change it for you.”

      It was a little after the lunch hour and a steady stream of vehicles was on the road. Catalina Cove was a pretty safe town. Sawyer made sure of that. “I hate for you to bother.”

      “No bother.”

      When he pulled off the road to park his SUV in front of her vehicle, she noticed his license plate was for a rental vehicle. Was he visiting someone in the cove?

      She watched him get out of his truck and walk back to her car. In addition to being good-looking, he was tall and well built, dressed in jeans and a Western shirt. When he reached her car, he said, “You don’t have to get out. If you’ll just release the trunk, I can get out your spare and everything else I need.”

      “All right.”

      “My name is Jeremy Skinner, by the way,” he said. He smiled and offered her his hand through the open window.

      “Hello, Jeremy. I’m Bryce Witherspoon.”

      “Hello, Bryce.”

      “Are you from around here, Jeremy?”

      He shook his head. “No, I’m from Shreveport. I love to fish and heard this is the best place for it and rented a cabin near the water for a few days.”

      It didn’t take the man but a few minutes to change the tire. “You have a leak and will need to get it repaired. I got the spare on for now.”

      “Thanks, Jeremy.”

      “You’re welcome.”

      “What do I owe you?”

      “Not a thing. It was my pleasure to help such a beautiful lady.”

      His flirty words made her smile, and since he didn’t have a ring on his finger, she figured she could do a little flirting, as well. “I really would like to show my thanks. Here’s my business card. If you ever return to the area, please give me a call. Maybe we can get together for coffee.”

      He glanced down at the business card and then back at her, and a huge smile curved his lips. “Thanks, Bryce. I’ll do that.”

       CHAPTER FIVE

      “MORNING, KAEGAN.”

      Kaegan turned when Ray walked into the office. “Morning, Ray. What are you doing here so early? I take it your in-laws are still in town.”

      “Yes, they’re still here.”

      He’d gotten a call from Ray last night offering to do the audit this morning. Claimed doing so kept his mind sharp. “When will they be leaving?”

      “Not soon enough. At least my father-in-law is handling his wife better than I remember. But she’s still a pain in the ass. She told us yesterday that she doesn’t like the names we’ve chosen for the twins. Like we give a royal damn.”

      Kaegan chuckled and then headed toward his office.

      “By the way, I heard Bryce left town today.”

      Kaegan paused and then turned around, wondering why Ray thought he would care. “Did she?”

      “Yes.”

      “And how do you know that?”

      “She wasn’t at the café this morning.”

      Kaegan didn’t say anything. He’d deliberately stayed away from the café this week as much as he could. At least until he could figure out why he was hell-bent on lusting after the woman who’d betrayed him. “And?”

      “And I asked Mrs. Witherspoon where she was, in case she was sick or something. She assured me Bryce was okay.”

      Kaegan nodded. “That’s nice.” And because he figured Ray would know, he asked, “So where did she go?”

      “To California to attend a wedding. Some guy she went to college with who also grew up in this town. I understand his parents used to own a pharmacy here.”

      Kaegan almost choked on his coffee.

      “Hey, man, you okay over there?” Ray asked with concern.

      “Yes, I’m okay.”

      He placed the coffee cup down, not believing what Ray had said. Samuel Abbott, the guy she’d betrayed him with, was getting married and she’d gone to the wedding? He’d heard the Abbotts had moved to California. Bryce and Samuel must have remained pretty good friends after they split. He was suddenly filled with anger at the mere thought. “When is she coming back?”

      Ray glanced over at him. He must have heard the anger in his voice. “Why do you want to know, Kaegan?”

      Kaegan met his gaze. “So now you want to get quiet on me?”

      Ray shook his head. “No, I want to know why you want to know when Bryce is coming back. Especially with the tone of your voice. And please choose your words carefully.”

      Kaegan rolled his eyes. “I guess the next thing you’ll be saying is that you intend to beat the crap out of me if I don’t.”

      Ray nodded. “That thought has crossed my mind a number of times, to do just that when I see how you handle Bryce, but Sawyer wouldn’t let me.”

      “Whatever.” Kaegan leaned against a desk. “So are you going to tell me or not?” This time he tried asking in a calmer voice.

      “I guess I will. She’s coming back Monday, sometime before noon.”

      Kaegan nodded as he took another sip of his coffee, satisfied he had the information he wanted. He intended to see Bryce for himself on Monday. There was one question he had to ask and then for him there would finally be closure with her. He’d always wondered why she and Samuel Abbott broke up all those years ago.

      “Bryce is a wonderful woman. Not sure what problems the two of you had to break up, but I hope they can get worked out,” Ray said, breaking into Kaegan’s thoughts.

      “Nothing can get worked out between me and Bryce. It would take a miracle,” Kaegan said. Then he tossed his empty coffee cup into the trash can.

      Ray shrugged. “Considering how close I came to death that time and what has happened in my life the four years since, I happen to believe in miracles, Kaegan. Maybe you should, too.”

      BRYCE SAW KAEGAN the minute he walked into her parents’ restaurant. Automatically, he zeroed in on the area where she stood and their gazes connected. Why today, of all days, did he have to come into the café for dinner? A late dinner at that. She had arrived back in town earlier that day and had told her parents she would pitch in this evening.

      The restaurant would be closing in an hour, and since things had gotten slow and she hadn’t expected many more customers, she had convinced her parents to go home and that she and her brothers would close the restaurant. Since her folks had been there since four that morning, they’d quickly taken her up on her offer. Her brothers were in the back, and since Kaegan was her only customer, that

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