Free The Love Triangle (BWWM Romance) by Violet Jackson, Interracial Love Page B

again. Pretty lady like you doesn’t want to get stuck in the desert again.”
     
    “Thanks,” I said, and I wasn’t sure what I was thanking him for, fixing my tire, giving me advice or calling me pretty. Maybe all three.
     
    “Are you wanted anywhere, or can you come to the ranch for a drink?” he asked. The question was so forward I didn’t know what to say.
     
    “I’m not asking you out on a date or anything,” he said and I flushed again. “You just look like you’ve been here for a while, and I see you’ve gone through your fluids.” He nodded at the sad heap of plastic shreds, what was left of my coffee cup. “It’s just up the road, in that direction.”
     
    He pointed toward Fort Atkinson. I didn’t remember driving past a ranch, but I hadn’t really been paying attention.
     
    “Right,” I said. “That would be nice.”
     
    “You can follow me,” he said and pulled himself up the horse and onto its back. The horse was suddenly alert, ears forward. He clicked his tongue and the horse moved forward.
     
    I got into the car and started it, following the cowboy on the black horse. Two miles down the road, he turned into a dirt road that led underneath a wooden arch. The words “Somerset Dude Ranch” were painted across the top. I’d heard of dude ranches but I’d never been to one. I didn’t see the point of people going to get dirty and live without luxuries if they could book a hotel and go to the beach instead.
     
    The cowboy slid off the horse when I parked in front of the ranch house and handed the reins to younger boy that looked like that was his job.
     
    “I’m Justin, by the way,” he said, holding out his hand. It was covered in black dust, no doubt from changing the tire, and shiny with sweat.
     
    “Grace,” I said, just looking at his hand. “Davis.” I trailed my eyes over his upper body and back to his face. He smiled and wiped his hand on his jeans, not offended that I hadn’t shaken it at all.
     
    “Justin Lane,” he said, like it was necessary to add his surname just because I had. We walked into the house. The kitchen was huge with a long table that could seat twenty people in the middle. Justin gave me a glass of orange juice and took out a beer for himself.
     
    He smiled at me, a real smile that showed all his teeth and crinkled the skin around his eyes, and I liked him right away.
     

Chapter 10 - Elijah
    I padded down the passage. I heard voices even before I saw her door, and I was on my guard immediately. It was too early for the nurse to be up, she didn’t do night duty anymore. Grace was really okay, the doctor just wanted to be sure with the nurse.
     
    I was going to let her go soon, and then we could get back to our lives.
     
    I stood just outside the door and held my breath, listening.
     
    “I just don’t know what the hell is going on anymore,” I heard Grace’s voice. “I don’t know what to do. I remember what I feel for Elijah. I mean, up until the accident, I guess. But my heart is saying something else and I don’t know what it is.”
     
    “Honey, you need to ease up. You’re too hard on yourself,” I heard another woman’s voice say. Tension leaked out of me and I physically felt myself relax. It was Shonda. I don’t know who I’d expected to be here, but I was fine with Shonda.
     
    Every woman needed a good friend to take the edge off – women always needed to gossip about something – and I liked Shonda because she liked me. She put in a good word for me. That was enough for me, she could stay. Right now, Justin’s influence in her life was more than I was willing to accept. Grace seemed too vulnerable.
     
    I stepped into the doorway and the girls fell silent. Grace was wearing a pink pajama set, short shorts that showed off her long legs and a top that showed almost too much skin. She used to wear that around me all the time, but now she pulled the covers closer to her, almost like she’d started to cover up