24
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The following morning, Lynx woke at his normal time.
Normal being whenever his eyes opened.
Just so happened that he was always awake in time to meet Wolfe at the diner. That was a tradition engrained in him, something he wasn’t willing to let go of.
So, after dropping Copenhagen at the store, he headed over to meet his cousin.
“Where’s Amy?” he asked when he joined Wolfe at the table.
“She stayed with Rhys this mornin’,” he said, a smirk on his face.
“She takin’ the day off?” Not that Lynx cared what Amy did, but it hadn’t been the norm thus far. Then again, his entire life was far from normal, despite his daily breakfast.
“Nah. Said she wanted to spend some time with him and she’d be in after breakfast.”
“Rhys finally moved in?”
Wolfe grinned. “Mostly, yeah. But baby steps.”
Lynx waved his hand behind him. “Seems everyone’s takin’ it well.”
He hadn’t heard anything negative regarding Wolfe’s relationship with Amy and Rhys. Then again, he’d been wrapped up in his own shit these days.
“Most,” Wolfe said, his eyes dropping to the table.
“Who the fuck has a problem with it?” Lynx growled, his automatic instinct to protect his family kicking in, his body coiling tight, gearing up for a fight.
Wolfe rolled his eyes. “Not everyone gets it, Lynx. No big deal.”
Leaning back, Lynx rested one hand on the table and fiddled with his spoon. “That what Rhys’s worried about? People not likin’ that the sheriff’s in a relationship?”
Wolfe chuckled, but there wasn’t much humor in it. “A relationship with a man and a woman, Lynx. That’s not natural.”
Lynx frowned. “For who? And who gives a fuck? It’s natural for you or you wouldn’t be in it, am I right?”
Wolfe simply stared at him.
“I’m so fuckin’ tired of everyone bein’ up in everyone else’s business,” Lynx grumbled. “If it doesn’t affect them, they should keep their fuckin’ noses out of it.”
Wolfe grinned. “Always the protective one, aren’t ya?”
It was the way he was. Lynx couldn’t change that about himself and he wouldn’t anyway. He liked who he was. And he honestly did not give a single fuck who liked it or not.
“Here you boys go,” Donna said, delivering their food. “Oh, and in case you haven’t heard, Jimmy Don’s wife went into labor this mornin’.”
“Hot damn,” Lynx said with a grin. “Gonna have to go grab us some cigars.”
Donna smiled, then shook her head and walked away.
“What’s goin’ on with Reagan’s? Couple people stopped by yesterday after you left. They wanna help out.”
“She didn’t hit me when I showed her the sketch,” he admitted, reaching for his fork and leaning closer to his plate.
“Well, that’s a damn good sign.”
Yeah, it was. With Reagan, her reaction was anyone’s guess. She was stubborn and hardheaded, and truth be told, he loved that about her. She was spunky and sassy and so fucking hot, just thinking about her made his mouth water.
“I was thinkin’ that maybe I could design and build the new bar for the place,” Wolfe noted.
“Yeah?”
“If she’d be cool with that.”
“Prob’ly have to ask her, but shit, I’d say go for it. The girl can use all the help she can get right now.”
Even if she didn’t necessarily want it.
Taking a bite of eggs, Lynx chewed as he pointed his fork at Wolfe. “She’ll be over at the shop in a bit. Ed’s stoppin’ by to see what’s what. And DJ … you know, Darrell Jameson.” He chewed some more.
“The general contractor?”
Lynx nodded. “Yep. He’s gonna take a look at the plans, help out in that regard. Work on permits.”
“And Reagan’s cool with this?”
Lynx shrugged. “Until she tells me to stop, I ain’t gonna. She needs that bar open. It’s her livelihood, but you know Reagan. She ain’t gonna ask for help.”
Thinking back to their argument last night, Lynx smiled to himself. The woman was nothing if not independent, and she made sure everyone knew it. One day, she’d learn that some people weren’t looking for something in return. They simply do for others because they could.
“Nope. She won’t.” Wolfe grinned. “Good thing she’s got you.”
Lynx couldn’t help but smirk at that.
She did have him.
Even if she wasn’t quite ready for all that he wanted from her.
She’d get there.
He had faith.
Reagan had tossed and turned all night long. She wasn’t sure if it was due to the long nap she’d taken with Lynx yesterday or simply because she hated that she’d been in her bed alone. When she finally did doze off, she’d thought she’d heard a sound outside the bedroom window, and she’d ended up pacing the floor for half an hour, shotgun in hand.
Now, as she drove to the shop to meet Lynx, her exhaustion was replaced with an anxious flutter in her belly.
Truth was, she missed seeing Lynx.
Not that she wanted to get addicted to him or anything, but she still wished she could spend more time with him. Sure, it was her own damn fault. That stubborn streak was hard to beat back, and sometimes it didn’t do her any favors. Okay, more often than not it didn’t do her any favors. Hell, her own family gave her a hard time about it.
According to her mother, stubborn was her middle name. She always said that it was probably the reason Reagan would be with Billy forever.
“I showed you, Mom,” she muttered to herself.
Stubborn and stupid were two very different things, she knew. And she’d proven her stupidity by staying with Billy for so long.
“Ugh.” She hated thinking about that asshole.
However, stubborn was a trait she had been born with, something she had a hard time overcoming.
And now, Reagan figured Lynx would eventually get tired of it, and she couldn’t very well blame him. Problem was, she had no idea how to change that part of herself. Or if she even wanted to. Yes, she could be the equivalent of a brick wall in an argument, but she was who she was. And if people didn’t like it, they could shove it. That was her thoughts on it anyway.
Then again, when she thought about Lynx, she didn’t want to be the brick wall that stalled out this thing between them. It was intense. Insanely so. But he was right. She was the one to provoke it every time she tried to put some distance between them.
Not that she intended to spend too much time thinking about long term with Lynx Caine. The guy was a sweet-talker through and through. As much as her heart yearned to be important to someone, she wasn’t sure Lynx was the steady, long-term kind, no matter how many sweet words he whispered. Sure, she wanted to believe. Reagan just wasn’t sure she could.
When she pulled into the shop shortly after nine, she was surprised to see several additional trucks in the parking lot, besides Calvin’s and Lynx’s dad’s, which Lynx was currently driving. After squeezing the big F-250 into a vacant spot, Reagan climbed out and headed toward the door.
“Damn straight,” someone bellowed, their laughter drifting out of the building. “That’s what we do ’round these parts. We help when we’re needed.”
Reagan stepped inside and all the voices cut off almost instantly, leaving a deafening silence lingering.
“There’s my girl,” Lynx noted, a strange prideful tone to his voice.
He smiled as he moved toward her.
Of course, she blushed. How could she not? The man was already staking his claim on her in public. For whatever reason, she didn’t want to contradict him, so she returned the smile and hoped he didn’t see how red her cheeks probably were.
Certainly not a good look for her.
When Lynx leaned down and kissed her quickly, another flutter of unrestrained butterflies took hold of her stomach. She found herself staring up at him, slightly in shock. His response: a sexy, crooked smirk.
Of course.
“What’s goin’ on?” she asked, her voice sounding ridiculously like a croak.
“Well, it looks to me like your bar’s gonna be goin’ up in the very near future.”
Reagan cocked an eyebrow and glanced around at all the faces. She was familiar with most of them. What got her was the fact that they were all smiling like this was something that made them happy.
“I … umm … really don’t know what to say.”
Last night she’d spent hours thinking about what Lynx had said. About how they wanted to help her because the bar meant something to them, too. She had tried to come up with a reasonable argument, but had failed each and every time she thought she was getting somewhere.
“It’s our pleasure,” Ed spoke up.
“We gotta get that bar up and runnin’, you know. It’s like not havin’ television at the house. It just ain’t right,” Doug Maxwell added with a wide grin.
“And the day the doors open,” Lynx added, his arm still comfortably around her shoulders, “the first round’s on me.”
“No,” Reagan said quickly. “The first round’s on me.”
“All right, then,” Lynx conceded. “The second round’s on me.”
The grins seemed to widen at the mention of free beer.
“Anyone heard from Jimmy Don? How’s the baby doin’?” Ed asked, his eyes swinging to all faces, then over to Lynx.
“They had a little girl,” Lynx said. “She’s healthy as a horse, he said. Momma’s doin’ fine, too.”
“That’s great news.” Ed turned, glancing between Reagan and Lynx. “Let us know when we’re good to go. We’re ready to pour concrete whenever the permits are taken care of and the plumbing’s inspected.”
Lynx nodded. “Will do.”
“I’ll check back in with you in a bit,” Calvin stated, calling Copenhagen to his side. “Mind if I take the boy with me?”
Lynx shook his head.
As the guys filtered out, they waved. Reagan offered a smile although her head was spinning at everything that was going on around her. She still couldn’t believe that these people were coming together to help her rebuild.
Okay, so maybe she could believe it. Embers Ridge was that sort of town. It was the very reason she’d never had any desire to leave. However, she knew she had put a rift between herself and most people due to her relationship with Billy all this time. Most of them, quite frankly, weren’t big fans of Billy. Not that she could blame them. But then again, she had been the one to stick with him for so long, so they probably figured she had a few screws loose as well.
Which she probably did.
Once they all cleared out, Reagan realized she and Lynx were the only two left.
“Where’s Wolfe?”
Lynx grinned. “He headed home for a bit after we had breakfast. Somethin’ about a phone call from Rhys regarding somethin’ Amy was doin’.” He shrugged. “No clue.”
“So what now?” she asked and as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she knew exactly what Lynx was thinking.
It was the same thing she was thinking.
When he stepped closer, Reagan lifted the straw Stetson from his head.
“What’re you doin’?” he asked, his voice a low growl.
Reagan slipped the hat on her own head.
“You know what it means when a girl wears a man’s hat?”
Reagan nodded. She did know.
“You think I won’t?” he asked, his eyes boring into hers.
“I’m hopin’ you will,” she whispered back, her body warming from his nearness.
She also knew that she would not be able to tell the man no.
And she damn sure didn’t want to.