FIVE

 

 

Reese hadn’t really addressed his new identity with all of his siblings yet, and dinner seemed to be the best time to do it. Their dad’s chair, the only chair with arms, remained empty, and their mom’s chair, the one with the red cushion, also sat empty at the round kitchen table. The family dogs, Clint and Duke, sat in their usual spots, Duke in front of Reese Sr.’s chair, and Clint next to Catherine’s. It seemed that neither of the dogs had accepted what was going on yet, and no one in the family was about to try to train them otherwise.

“This doesn’t change anything,” Reese began once everyone had filled his or her plates. Their mom usually cooked, but she’d been skipping family dinners and eating in her room most days, so Shiloh and Draven had taken over kitchen duty.

Everyone could tell they weren’t into it.

Tonight’s dinner consisted of burgers, a few condiments, bottled beer, and three different kinds of corn chips. Reese could do better in his sleep, but he refused to take on yet another responsibility.

“If you’re referring to our dinner,” his brother Chase said, “I think it changes everything. We really need to learn how to cook if we’re going to continue on like this. This is our fourth night in a row of burgers.”

“Well, my dear brother, kitchen duty is all yours,” Shiloh told him. “See if you can do any better.”

Shiloh had never really took to cooking and barely to ranching. She could ride a horse as good as any of her brothers, and knew how to clean out a stall, and had bucked plenty of hay, but other than that, she had fallen in love with making jewelry, big bold silver jewelry that she sold at fairs and online. She’d been doing it since she dropped out of regular college when she was twenty, and had instead gone to an art school in Florence, Italy, for two years. Paying for it had been a hardship for Reese and his parents, but Shiloh was their dad’s baby girl, and nothing was ever too good for her. And besides that, she had excelled there, and had really seemed different when she’d come home. Following her heart suited her, of course, and he envied her clear path. He’d missed having her around, he discovered soon enough, and, once a month, the whole time she was gone, he’d sent her a handwritten letter, and draw a winged heart at the end, sending all his love.

She’d told him that she’d kept every single letter.

When she returned home, not only could she speak fluent Italian, but she stopped caring about anything other than her art. She let her hair grow long, had dyed it various shades over the years, the latest being white blond with purple streaks on the bottom, and just last week had added a tattoo of a winged heart on the inside of her right wrist that mimicked the one he’d drawn on his letters. It was like a tribute, he thought, and something about that had really touched him.

He shook off the memories and focused on the task at hand. It was time he addressed reality, not a time for sentiment.

“Food is not what I’m talking about,” he began. “What I want to say is, I’m sure you all know by now what’s going on . . . that I’m Chuck Starr’s biological son.”

No one batted an eye. “We’ve been wondering when you would bring this up,” Chase said, in that low baritone voice of his, appearing as though the news didn’t faze him in the least. “Mom told us the day of the memorial, after you stormed out and we asked her what was going on with you.”

“Reese, are you sure you want to bring this up now?” Shiloh asked. “Without Mom in the room?”

“That’s exactly why I want to bring it up now,” Reese told her. He and his mom still had not come to terms, and until Reese could resolve it in his own mind, he’d thought it best to simply avoid his mom as much as possible so every conversation couldn’t boil over into an argument. Tamping down that anger seemed the only logical strategy right now. “I figured you all knew, but I wasn’t sure how you learned about it. I think it’s time we cleared the air.”

Draven pushed back from the table. “I don’t think Mom is handling this well. First she lost Dad, and now this whole thing with Chuck explodes in her face. I’m worried about her health.”

“She had a complete physical right after Dad passed and she’s fine, for the most part . . . certainly there’s nothing serious going on with her health, I can assure you of that,” Reese told him. “Truth is, she’s avoiding me and I’m avoiding her. It’s the Cooper way, and you all know that. She and Dad chose not to confront this thing head on and tell me the truth once I was old enough to hear it. Instead, they waited until Chuck forced the issue, once again giving him all the power. That’s the part that’s affecting me the most and why I’m carrying a pretty serious grudge against Mom about this.” Reese felt better just getting it off his chest even though it made him sound downright bitter . . . which he was. “I can’t help it. This is how I feel at the moment. I’m hoping you guys can understand.”

Thing was, Reese knew exactly why his youngest brother would defend their mom, but he didn’t like it. What she did, what they all did was wrong on so many levels. But Draven had always been the quintessential “mama’s boy” and was doted on from the time he was born. Because he was the youngest, and more than likely the oops child, their mom had always indulged him. Reese had hoped Draven being in the military would have resolved some of that, toughened him up, made him more of a man, but he wasn’t sure it had. He was tougher physically, and could withstand anything the trail could throw at him, but when it came to his mom, he was a bowl of mush. Still, Reese understood, and part of him envied the relationship Draven had with their mom.

“You sound a little hostile, bro’,” Draven said. “You know Mom doesn’t need you to be confrontational right now. She has enough on her plate without her oldest son giving her a rash. It’s not right. You need to make peace with her.”

“Not right? I just learned that my parents have been lying to me my entire life. I think that entitles me to be a little hostile.”

“Maybe they had a good reason for not telling you . . . or us,” Shiloh said. “Have you asked Mom why they didn’t tell you?”

“She told me some of it, but her reasoning didn’t make much sense to me. Besides, it doesn’t really matter now. It’s done.” Though he had to be honest with himself, that, hell yeah, it mattered.

“Have you talked to Chuck yet?” Chase asked.

Chase wasn’t much for getting involved in family drama, as a rule, and Reese knew this was way over the top for him and making him uncomfortable. Chase, with his clean-cut look and his slicked-back black hair, liked to keep his head down, do whatever was asked of him, and stay out of the fray. He’d had a bad motorcycle accident when he turned twenty-five and nearly died. Someone hit him from behind, and kept right on going, leaving him broken and bloody. If it hadn’t been for two teen boys coming across him on their bicycles, he might have died. As it was, he walked with a slight limp, and had a scar on his right arm that started at his wrist and went up to his shoulder. He never liked to show it, and wore a long-sleeved shirt even in the dead heat of summer.

“No. Tried to last night, but was talked out of it by his lawyer.”

“I’m surprised Norm Bentley wanted to get into this mess. He’s more of the corporate type, dealing in land, and exchanging big money,” Hunter said, right before he took a big bite of his messy burger, ketchup and mustard dripping off the sides, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and jalapeños stacked so high he could barely get the thing into his mouth. Nothing stopped Hunter from chowing down when he was hungry . . . which seemed to be constantly. Hunter could out-eat all of his siblings, but he never gained an ounce.

“It wasn’t Norm. It’s his new lawyer, or at least the attorney he hired to handle this . . . whatever this might be. Avery Templeton, the woman you met today at the auction. She’s staying out at his place,” Reese told Hunter, amazed at his unabashed gluttony.

Hunter looked up from his meal, still holding his burger. “That’s his lawyer? The woman you kissed?”

“You kissed Chuck’s live-in attorney?” Draven asked, as he loaded his plate with various kinds of chips. “That’s convenient as hell, don’t you think? Maybe if you get her into bed . . . oh, wait . . . is she living with Chuck or just visiting? Because if she’s living with him, he may not want to share, even if you are his only son.”

“It’s nothing like that. You’re jumping to conclusions,” Reese said, suddenly feeling defensive of Avery even though he suspected Draven was just teasing. Still, she didn’t deserve the implication Draven was suggesting. “She’s not sleeping with Chuck,” he added.

“Yeah, don’t bad-mouth her,” Shiloh offered in defense. “I talked to Avery this morning, and she told me her dad has been friends with Chuck ever since she was a little girl. I think their relationship is purely platonic. Besides, she already set up a meeting between Chuck and our big brother here, who will attend, even if I have to drag him there myself.”

“I’ve already agreed to go,” Reese said. “Not that anything will come of it. I’m a Cooper, and according to Mom, Dad adopted me, so Chuck Starr has no claim on me or anything else that has to do with this family.”

“Except maybe some of our cattle,” Hunter said. “He bought all of our feeder calves today at auction. Paid more for them than what they were worth. Is this just the beginning? Maybe he’ll start giving you his millions—after all, you’re his only son—at least that we know about.”

“Or maybe he’ll buy us out one of these days when we can’t pay back our loans,” Draven countered.

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Chase said, in a steady no-nonsense voice. “That’s the one place I draw the line. That prick will never own Cooper Ranch as long as I’m still breathing.”

“Might not be your decision, Chase,” Shiloh said. “Let’s face the facts. Mom and Reese get to make that decision. That’s the way it is, and the way it should be. Reese does most of the work. Besides, we all know this ranch is a losing enterprise.”

“I think Dad knew it as well, and that’s why he wanted to find out if we own the mineral rights on our land. I think he even had some geological studies run to see just what’s under our land,” Draven said, then guzzled down a good portion of a beer.

“What kind of studies?” Reese asked, perking up and wondering why in hell he didn’t know about any of this. Over time he had realized his dad wasn’t always forthcoming with what he was doing or planning. It had driven Reese crazy when he tried to balance the books, especially in the last six months. Money seemed to be draining out and Reese couldn’t understand from where. Now it made sense. Perfect sense. Geological studies came with a hefty price tag.

“I don’t know all the details, but I assume he wanted to make sure we own our mineral rights, and if we do, just what are they? Copper. Natural gas. Oil. Coal. Who knows? Not sure about which ones he checked on, but I know he’d been doing some research,” Chase told Reese in a matter of fact kind of way. He’d already eaten his burger, and reached for a second one from the stack in the middle of the table.

“Did you all know about this? Why in the hell didn’t someone tell me?” Reese asked, feeling even more in the dark.

“You’re always too busy working to actually talk to any of us about the business of ranching or to ask questions,” Shiloh said. “Even I heard something about Dad’s surveys and studies. I didn’t understand what it was all about, but he sure seemed serious about it.”

“If it makes you feel any better,” Hunter said, “this is the first I’m hearing about it.”

Reese sat back in his chair, his appetite now completely gone.

Reese knew his sister was right about his not taking the time to ask questions. He’d grown a little resentful of all the work that had been placed on his shoulders, he had to admit, and instead of spreading some of it around, he just kept working harder and harder, hoping that if he kept doing what he always did, one day, when he looked up, everything would be okay. The ranch would be making money again, and he could take a long break.

Now he had to face the truth that it had never happened—and probably never would have—and now that his dad was gone, the work on the ranch had increased and his siblings seemed to be doing less. Something had to give, and soon.

Hell, they couldn’t even put a proper dinner on the table.

Fine. He’d start today, right now. He’d begin by enlisting all three of his brothers to help deliver the cattle to Chuck Starr. Then he’d stop in at the County Recorder’s Office in town to see exactly what his dad had been up to.

It was time to start filling in the blanks and solving some mysteries.

 

 

AVERY ENJOYED TAKING her favorite horse on the Circle Starr Ranch, English Rose, a blue-eyed, Classic Gypsy Vanner mare, out for a ride early in the morning when the world was quiet and she had time to herself. The stunning horse’s hooves were completely feathered in white hair, her white mane was kept extra long, her brown and white coloring was perfect for her breed, and English Rose was perhaps the smartest, and sweetest mount Avery had ever ridden. She’d fallen in love with her, and looked forward to spending the mornings in her company.

If and when Avery was able to get her old job back, she knew more than anything else she would miss the solitude of her morning rides on English Rose. She had such fond memories of her very first ride on the Circle Starr as well, of course. That first horse had been a Mini Gypsy Vanner named Priscilla’s Pick. She’d been as gentle as a kitten and Avery was sure she’d fallen head over heels with riding because of how sweet and smart Priscilla had been.

Her mom was feeling well that summer, at least well enough to begin to teach her how to ride a horse.

“In honor of your tenth birthday,” her mom had said, “it’s time you learned how to ride a horse. This is one of those life-changing moments, Avery. From this day forward, you will always know how to ride a horse. These are the kinds of things you need to do to celebrate a zero birthday. Learn something or do something that changes your life forever.”

“But I’m scared, Mama,” Avery remembered saying. “What if I fall off and hurt myself, bad. What if I break a leg, or do something even worse?”

“You might,” her mom had said. “But what if you learn to ride like the wind? What if you and the horse become one and riding is something you can’t wait to do? And what if you become so good at it that you can help Chuck on one of his roundups and save stray calves from getting lost? What if you save a calf that would have gotten hurt or worse out there on its own if you hadn’t shown up? The possibilities are endless. You might even decide to raise horses when you grow up, and be known for raising the best and most beautiful horses in the entire world. All you have to do in order to have any of those things is get up on that horse.”

“That’s it?”

“The first step is always the hardest.” Her mom had smiled at her then, a sweet gentle smile that pressed her lips up against her teeth, causing her mom to look even more beautiful. Avery’s stomach suddenly stopped hurting; her mom had that kind of power over her.

“And after that?”

Her mom’s face lit up with a big warm smile, and at once Avery felt as though she could do anything as long as her mom believed in her. “The world is yours, baby.”

“The whole world, Mama?”

“The whole world, my darling.”

Avery closed her eyes and tried to remember exactly how it felt to get up on that horse the very first time. She remembered the horse was smaller than her mom’s, and the color of a moonless sky. Just looking at that inky black horse, with its full mane, and big nostrils, had scared Avery down to her toes. Her throat had tightened and she’d felt sick to her stomach, and almost hurled her breakfast right there in the horse barn, the barn she stood in now, albeit it had been much, much more shabby back then.

Now it was state of the art beautiful, and had been added onto to hold several more horses. Still, this side of the barn had retained the same metal gates, and had a feeling of familiarity. Best of all, it still had that earthy smell she found herself missing whenever she’d been stuck in an office for days on end.

Chuck’s hired hands busied themselves all around her with the care and grooming of the first class steeds, and their stalls. Avery had learned that a few of the horses were past Derby winners, and one of them, Charlie’s Rose, a regal looking gray-colored Arabian mare, had won twice in a row.

Avery hated that she’d been put on leave from the law firm for something she didn’t do, but during moments like this, when her thoughts drifted back to a clear memory of her mom, she felt grateful. Grateful for this time, grateful to be back where she had made some lovely memories.

Truth was, she hadn’t really ever dealt with the loss of her mom. She’d been too young when it happened to understand what death meant, and as the years passed, she’d built a wall around herself to shield the hurt she might feel whenever there was an event at school that included both parents. There had been plenty of times when she was a teen when she longed for her mother’s advice or to be held in her arms, but she always steeled those thoughts away telling herself she’d think about them some other time.

Then, by the time she was in college, nothing else mattered except getting her degree, then passing her boards, and getting her first job. At some point, she’d secretly admitted that she wasn’t sure if she’d truly wanted to be an attorney. More times than not, it felt as though it was something she’d done to please her dad . . . to get him to love her without limitations.

Over time she found she’d grown to like her career choice, and even enjoyed some of the aspects and perks of the job. But ever since she’d come to stay at Circle Starr, this time without her dad right there to judge her, she realized how much she missed ranch life.

But most of all, for the first time in her life, while she rode the beautiful horse and spent time alone out in nature and enjoying the quiet, she was able to admit just how much she’d missed her mom while growing up. She’d worked hard to keep all those feelings hidden away, so hard that it had become a habit. For the first time in her entire life—and it shocked her to her core—she was ready to see her mom’s grave. She desperately wanted to officially say good-bye to the one person in her life who had loved her unconditionally.

Now, watching Reese deal with the loss of his dad, and being back on the ranch her mother had loved so much, she finally allowed herself to grieve over the genuine tragedy of losing her mom before she’d gotten the chance to really know her.

It was in the quiet moments since coming to the Circle Starr, especially when she was riding, when Avery began to understand the deep, unshakable pain she’d been carrying around since she was ten years old. Though it was an ache she knew would never go away entirely, it felt genuine to be feeling it and acknowledging it. She wondered if Reese would be able to get to this state of mind sooner—she hoped so.

On this exceptionally beautiful morning, once mounted, Avery headed down the same path she’d been taking every morning, but this time instead of staying on Circle Starr property, she decided to take a little detour to the Cooper Ranch that bordered it.

It was just that kind of morning.

 

 

AT FIRST, REESE didn’t believe his own eyes when he spotted Avery on the trail, cowgirl hat low on her head, riding hard off in the distance, herding his stray calves as if she’d moved more cattle than he had. The vision of her working his ranch left him truly awestruck. The combination of Avery’s beautiful red hair, and the long white mane of her horse as they worked the cattle made for a breathtaking sight.

“What’s she doing here? You invite her?” Hunter asked once he rode up next to Reese. “Wow. Look at her ride!”

“I have no idea why she’s here,” Reese answered, keeping his eyes trained on Avery. She certainly rode like a pro, handling her horse with expert ease as she guided a few stray calves back with the rest of the herd.

“You think Chuck sent her to make sure all his cattle gets on his property this morning?”

“Might be,” Reese said, but he wasn’t really focused on his brother’s words.

Instead, he kept falling back into a memory of a girl with red hair. Thing was, he couldn’t clearly remember any details, just that what he was watching right now he was sure he’d seen before, only she had been much younger.

But how could that be? Avery had never been on the Cooper Ranch before. His thoughts were all jumbled up this morning. The whole thing with Chuck was beginning to wear on his emotions and seeing Avery riding that perfect specimen of a magnificent animal just amplified the angst he’d woken up with. It was as though her beauty was mysteriously juxtaposed against his own pain.

After Avery brought the strays back in, she rode up to meet Reese. Hunter tipped his hat, grinned and quickly rode off to trail the back of the young herd.

“Where’d you learn to ride and herd like that? I thought you worked in an office all day?” Reese asked as she slowed up in front of him.

“I do, but I learned when I was a kid. My mom taught me initially, and after that, I took some lessons and over the years I picked up a few pointers from Chuck.”

“Seems like you picked up more than a few pointers. You ride like you’re part of that horse.”

A wide grin glowed on her face. “Been awhile since anyone’s told me that. Thanks. I’ve been riding every morning since I arrived. Seems like the more I ride, the better I get. Hope you didn’t mind my picking up your strays. It felt good to ride like that. Haven’t done that in a very long time.”

“Seems I saw you riding like this before. Did your mom or dad ever bring you over to this ranch?”

She didn’t answer right away, and instead he could see she was trying to remember if she had, as though she too was searching for a faded memory.

“Not that I can recall. I’m pretty sure we just stayed on the Circle Starr property. Chuck was adamant about that, but who knows. Kids don’t always listen to adults. Maybe I strayed, just like the strays in your herd.”

Reese felt even more certain he’d seen her riding before, herding calves exactly like she’d just done.

“I swear I saw you ride like this when you were a kid.”

“Maybe you dreamt it,” she said and a spark ran up Reese’s spine.

“Why would you say that?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know about you, but sometimes my dreams are so vivid that I later get them confused with reality.”

He had to know. “Did you ever dream about me?”

She laughed. “As exciting as you are, Reese Cooper, you haven’t entered my dreams . . . yet. But give it time. You may still get there.”

“You’re going to think this is crazy, but I saw you before. I saw you riding exactly the way you just rode . . . in a dream. At least I think it was a dream. Or maybe I saw you ride when you were a kid. I don’t know how it happened, but I swear I saw you ride before.”

“Before what?”

“Before today, before we met at my dad’s memorial. You rode on our land.”

She grinned. “Whether I did or I didn’t, I’m still the girl of your dreams, Reese Harrington Cooper. Only this time, I’m real.”

Then she took off on her horse in a thunder of heavy hooves pounding the ground, causing Reese’s horse to pull back and whinny his anger at the audacious woman from Reese’s dreams . . . or was she?

 

 

ONCE THE CATTLE were delivered and put to pasture on Chuck’s land, Reese took off on his own for the County Recorder’s Office in town. Wild Cross might be a small town, but because of its central location, it not only had a County Recorder’s Office and a County Clerk’s Office, but it also maintained a Bureau of Land Management Office in the same building. They were the three government agencies that benefited Chuck Starr’s ability to not only acquire everything on the surrounding ranches, but he had leased most of the mineral rights on public land as well.

Reese had a difficult time accepting the fact that his dad had taken the time to fill out all the paperwork, then registered the documents, and secretly paid for the expensive studies, exhausting their funds, but neglected to mention any of it to his namesake who struggled each and every day to run the family ranch. Did his mom know about any of this? And if she did, why had she never mentioned it?

The whole idea of it angered Reese to no end. He’d naively thought he knew everything about his family, thought he knew his parents better than anybody, but as it turned out, he didn’t know shit about anything.

Secrets. He hated secrets, and he hated lies even more.

As he parked his truck curbside, and got out to head up the sidewalk to the Clerk’s office, he passed The Morning Starr Hash House, one of the first businesses the Starr Corporation had opened years ago in town, taking over the space where Harmony’s Diner had once been. It was still a favorite of most folks, as apparent by the bustling lunch crowd outside the front glass doors still waiting to be seated.

It was where Chuck had given up his table to Reese and his mom when Reese was a kid. Now it made sense, but at the time, he remembered how fascinated he’d been by Chuck. How he’d envied his status in town, his wealth, his status and how he would sometimes match up his dad to Chuck, and his dad would fail miserably.

All the while Reese’s parents knew the truth but decided to hide it. Maybe Reese would have liked to have known the truth, would have liked to have spent some time with Chuck and gotten to know him. Gotten to know how he’d gotten so rich, while the Cooper family headed for poverty.

Maybe Avery was right. Maybe Chuck wasn’t such a bad guy after all. Maybe the hostility had grown over hiding the truth.

Reese attempted a smile as he greeted Mr. and Mrs. Lando, who passed him on the sidewalk. “Nice day,” Mrs. Lando said.

Age didn’t seem to register on the Landos. They stopped somewhere in their early sixties, and never seemed to change. They both wore their white hair short, wore the same type of square glasses, and the same yellow T-shirts and tan slacks. They were the Frick and Frack of the hardware business.

“Sure is,” Reese told her, tipping his hat. They’d lived in the town for as long as Reese could remember, and ran the hardware store at the end of the street. Every day at noon, they’d close the store for an hour to eat lunch together at Morning Starr’s. It was their way of staying connected and everyone in town simply adjusted to their schedule.

They’d been at the memorial, along with everyone else in town, with most everyone closing their shops that afternoon for his dad. Reese appreciated that kind of loyalty, that kind of friendship, and wondered if they’d all known the truth from the beginning.

Wild Cross was the typical small town where everyone seemed to know everyone else along with most of each other’s private business. A lot of the residents were related in some way or another. Even the Native Americans who had moved into town were related to each other or had some connection. Now as he passed people that he’d known all his life, he wondered if any of them had always known about Chuck Starr being his biological dad, but kept it to themselves. The townsfolk here were like that. They hated rumors, and only shared the truth. And even that was sometimes hard to come by.

He mentally tried on the Starr last name to see if it would fit: Reese Starr, Reese Harrington Starr, Reese Harrington Cooper Starr.

“No friggin’ way,” he said out loud as he pulled open the door to the County Clerk’s Office only to run into Avery Templeton who was on her way out.

To say that she looked like a cool drink of water was an understatement. Her gorgeous red hair flowed like silk down her shoulders, and her lovely face beamed with a fresh glow. She wore a white T-shirt that pulled across her full breasts and accentuated her small waist. Those tight jeans of hers showed off every curve and edge she owned, making him instantly crazy with desire for her. No matter when he saw her, or what mood he was in, she seemed to soothe his very soul without saying one word. He didn’t know if she was the girl of his dreams or if she was even someone he should get involved with. He only knew that every time he was anywhere near her, nothing else seemed to matter.

“They say once you start talking to yourself, the game is over,” she chided, a warm smile playing with that beautiful face of hers. A gentle breeze blew in through the door, and tossed a strand of her hair across her lips as she spoke. He reached up and pulled it away before he could stop himself. His fingers grazed her lips, causing a chain reaction inside his body that threatened to explode.

“Excuse me,” Jesse Smith, a seventy-something cowboy, said while standing behind her. They moved out of his way, breaking Reese’s sensual moment.

“Oh, sorry,” Avery said.

“Nice to see you out and about, Reese,” Jesse said, his voice like gravel from years of smoking cigarillos.

“Thanks. Nice to see you as well, Jesse,” Reese told him, nodding. “Hope you’re doing good.”

“Any day I can get out of bed is a good day,” Jesse quipped.

“That’s for sure,” Reese told him as Jesse walked out the front door, leaving Avery still standing inside in front of Reese.

Reese cleared his throat and answered Avery’s observation with a question. “And just who might they be?”

“The experts on any given subject,” she said, a sinfully cute tease to her voice.

“Have you met any of these so-called experts?”

“No, but their expertise precedes them.”

“So, it’s all over for me then? They have the last word on the subject.”

She leaned in closer. “Actually, they told me if you buy me a beer at the tavern I passed up the street, you might still have a chance.”

“I thought you didn’t drink?”

“I don’t,” she said with that sly little grin of hers that Reese now expected. He liked this mysterious woman . . . maybe a little too much.

“You’re my kind of woman.” He’d never meant anything more. She had an edge to her that captured his imagination. Each time he saw her, he longed to spend more time with her. She was getting under his skin, knowing he’d barely scratched the surface of what made Avery Templeton tick.

“You’re my kind of man.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

Reese’s urgency at the Recorder’s Office suddenly took a back seat. When Avery took his arm, he decided the studies could wait . . . at least for now.