LITMIR.BIZ

       Chapter One

      Alexa Benjamin had yet to see a bull rider who didn’t walk as if he owned the world, and the guy coming up the front walk of her best friend’s house? He looked as if he were in charge of the universe. Never in her twenty-eight years had she encountered anyone as sure of himself as Grady Owen. Nor anyone quite as irritating.

      Lex stepped back from the window, gave her shoulders a roll then started toward the front door to head off trouble. Grady had just hit the top step when she walked out onto the porch and took a stance. When he saw her, his expression shifted from good-natured to hard so quickly it would have been comical if she didn’t suspect that he was there to screw up her best friend’s life. Again.

      “Lex. What a pleasant surprise.” But there was no hint of friendliness in his gray eyes.

      “Same here,” she said, folding her arms over her chest as she studied the man who was not going to get into the house. Like all bull riders, Grady was one tightly packed unit: average height, lean and wiry. Lex knew if she reached out and ran a hand over his arm, or any part of his body for that matter, all she would feel would be sinew and muscle. Sometimes, in the past, she’d felt a subtle urge to do just that, to touch his fascinatingly hard body. But Grady had always had that effect on her. He drove her crazy with his self-absorbed attitude and cockiness, yet a small part of her found him interesting. She’d reminded herself on more than one occasion that some people found major disasters interesting, also.

      She raised her chin. “What can I do for you?”

      He tipped back his ball cap, giving her a glimpse of the faint scar that crossed his forehead just below his hairline. “I’m here to see Danielle.”

      Lex brushed back a few strands of dark hair that the breeze had blown across her face. The rest was still caught in the silver barrette her father had made her shortly before he died.

      “Danielle is busy. Up to her neck in wedding plans.” She felt a touch of mean satisfaction. Her friend was marrying a guy who put her first instead of his career. Grady had done the exact opposite.

      “So I hear.” He shifted his weight and crossed his arms, mirroring her pose as he eyed her up and down, his gaze challenging. Fine. Bring it on. Lex loved nothing more than a good challenge. “And you’re still her watchdog?”

      “I’m her friend.” Lex spoke lightly, but there was an edge of steel in her voice.

      “I just want to talk to her.”

      “But you don’t have to talk now.”

      “What’s wrong with now?”

      “Here’s what’s wrong with now,” she said, pointing a finger at him. “Her mom, her grandma and her great-grandma are in the kitchen with her, going over photos of their weddings. I am not going to have you, the former fiancé, busting in and upsetting any of them.” Danielle’s grandma, Lorraine Perry, was the closest thing Lex had ever had to a grandma of her own, and she would not see her upset. Or Danielle, or her mother, Mae. Great-granny...Great-granny could probably take care of Grady on her own, and if he persisted in hanging around, Lex might just call her out here.

      “I understand.” But he didn’t move. He had that stubborn bull rider expression on his face. That “the odds are against me but I will prevail” look. “If you give me her phone number, I’ll call her and set up a time.”

      Lex couldn’t help smirking at him. “I don’t think so.”

      Grady looked over her shoulder as if willing Danielle to come to the door and see what was going on. When he looked back at Lex, his expression was once again hard, his gray eyes deadly. “What happens between me and Danielle is none of your business. It isn’t now, and it wasn’t back then.”

      Lex merely tilted her head, unimpressed. “I know a train wreck when I see it coming. You have train wreck written all over you.”

      “And you have controlling...”

      “Bitch written all over me?” she asked smoothly, daring him to agree out loud.

      “Your words. Not mine.”

      “I bet.” He wasn’t all that close, but as the breeze wafted over them, his scent hit her nostrils—soap and guy and maybe some kind of aftershave—and it made her once again conscious of him in ways she’d rather not be. It was an unsettling feeling, this odd prickle of awareness that seemed to come out of nowhere. Especially when he was looking at her so coldly.

      “I’m going to see Danielle.”

      “I’m sure you are,” she said. “But it’s not going to be right now.”

      Grady’s mouth flattened even more as he cocked a speculative eyebrow at her. “Good talking to you, Lex.” He turned and marched down the bumpy walk to the gate, and Lex decided it was too much to hope that he tripped over one of the concrete edges pushed up by tree roots.

      Not a very charitable thought, but Grady Owen had turned Danielle’s life inside out only a few years before, and while Lex knew that her friend could fight her own fights, she saw no reason for her to do so. Not when she was there to do it for her.

      Grady’s classic Ford F-250 roared to life—literally roared, thanks to the straight exhaust pipes—and he wheeled the truck in a circle then pulled out of the driveway. Only then did Lex go back into the house.

      “Was that UPS?” Danielle called, poking her blond head out of the kitchen. Her normally serene expression was a bit frazzled, and Lex was glad she’d sent Grady on his way. Wedding plans were stressful enough without the former fiancé being involved.

      “Just a guy who was lost and needed some directions,” Lex said as she followed her friend into the cozy kitchen and took her place at the table strewn with wedding photos. She’d fess up to Danielle later, but right now she wanted to get back to the business of deciding whose wedding dress would best be altered to fit Danielle on her big day. In her opinion, none of the vintage dresses would work, but it was up to Danielle to either pick one or tell her mom and grandmother and great-grandmother no, thanks. It was Lex’s job to pour the wine after the task was done.

      * * *

      GRADY PULLED UP to his sister’s house and parked the truck behind the wind-damaged barn. He stepped over a few boards as he got out of the truck, thankful that Annie and the girls were still out grocery shopping. He’d yet to shake the black mood brought on by dealing with the she-devil. Who did Lex Benjamin think she was? He was pretty certain that Danielle wouldn’t have broken their engagement if it hadn’t been for Lex. They would have had troubles in the beginning, no doubt. All married couples did, but they would have worked them out. Thanks to Ms. Benjamin, they never had a chance. She’d been against their relationship from day one and had never been shy about saying so.

      He walked into the kitchen and hung his hat on one of the pegs by the door, only to have the peg fall off the wall. His hat hit the floor at his feet and the peg rolled across the worn tiles, stopping under his mom’s antique maple table.

      Even though his sister had a way with paint and bright accents, there was no getting around the fact that their childhood home was in deep need of a monetary infusion. The place had been run-down when Annie moved in, and even though she’d made it look cheery, nothing had been done

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