Free The Goodbye Girl by Angela Verdenius

Won’t be long.”
    “No worries.”  Harly smiled at him.
    He dropped a kiss on her forehead as he passed her, his hand sliding along her waist in a caress that was both loving and warm.
    Man, Harly was lucky.  Alex was hot.
    However, he didn’t unnerve her as much as the fair-haired man still perched on the edge of the table, his fingertips now tapping along the underside of the table as the heels of his hands continued to rest on the surface, his fingers curling under.  He was watching her with a faint quizzical expression as though he were trying to figure her out.
    That made two of them.  She couldn’t figure him out either , but she would, no doubt about it.
    “So, Nick,” she drawled, “ have you been back here long?”
    His gaze intensified, zeroing in one her face.  “I arrived last night.”
    “Ah.  From the Army base?”
    He nodded.
    “Staying long?”  She delved a bit deeper.  “Do you live here?”
    “No, I don’t live here.  But I’m considering it.”
    “Really?”  Huh .
    “And you?” he queried.  “Been here long?”
    “Long enough.”
    “Long enough for what?”
    “Long enough to know that I like the place.”
    “She’s thinking of buying a house here.”  Harly turned the oven off.  “It’s great.  She’s a wonderful hairdresser.”
    “You work in the hairdresser’s?” Nick asked.
    “No, the poodle parlour.”
    He blinked.
    “Don’t tease,” Harly admonished.  “Yes, she works at the local hairdresser.”
    “But I could work at a poodle parlour,” Bree said.  “There’s no dog groomer in this town.  I could corner the market.”
    “Seriously?” Harly stared at her.
    “Maybe.  Both kinds can bite.”  Laughing, Bree picked off another grape.
    Nick’s head angled slightly.  “You’ve been bitten by customers?”
    “Of the human variety?  I still carry the scars.”  She waved one hand in the air.
    Harly grabbed her wrist and bent down to study the scar at the base of her thumb.  “Really?  You were bitten by a customer?”
    “It’s a dangerous job, people just don’t realise it.”
    Nick’s eyebrow arched up.  “What happened?”
    “Rabid kid.  Screaming like a banshee and I had to cut his hair.  That kind of stopped when he succeeded in biting me and his mother fainted at the sight of blood.”  Bree shook her head.  “They don’t make mothers like they used to.”
    “Oh, you poor thing,” Harly commiserated.
    Nick laughed.
    “Nick!”
    “I’m sorry.  It just sounded…”  He wiped the grin off his face but his eyes still laughed.  “I apologise.”
    “ I can see it’s heartfelt.”  Bree winked at him.
    His eyes crinkled engagingly at the corners.
    The sound of rain on the tin roof suddenly got loud, making Bree glance upwards.  “It’s really setting in.”
    “Don’t worry, you can sleep over,” Harly said.
    “Are you kidding me?  And leave Sheba and Bast all alone?”
    “Did you leave food and water?  Clean litter tray?”
    “Of course.”  Bree plucked another grape off the bunch.
    “Then they’ll be fine.”
    “Harly, a bit of rain never hurt anyone.”
    “This isn’t just rain, it’s bucketing down.”
    “Pshaw.  This is nothing.”
    Harly levelled a look at her.
    Bree flipped the grape into the air, tipped her head back and caught it in her mouth.  Titling her head back down, she chewed and swallowed before saying airily, “Rain is good.  Don’t knock the rain.”
    “I’m not.  But you driving in it?  That I’m knocking.”
    “Sorry, sweetie, rain or not, I drive home.  Trust me, I’ve driven in much worse.”
    “ She drove in last night’s storm,” Nick stated from where he still perched on the edge of the table.
    Harly glared at Bree.  “You didn’t!”
    “Told you.”  She smiled.
    “If I have to hog-tie you, you’re not going out in that storm.”
    “You and what Army?”
    Harly pointed at Nick.  “Sergeant Nick Mason.”
    “Ohhh.”  Bree faked a