Free Forever's Affection (Forever In Luck Series Book 3) by J. Darling Page A

least.
    “You
don’t believe me.”
    “No,
I don’t. What you meant to say was the sharpest, most interesting woman you’ve ever met.”
    “Wrong,
sharpest, most interesting person I’ve ever met. That you’re a woman is an
absolute bonus, and I’m glad to have met you. There aren’t many like you out
there.”
    “Thank
God for that, the world just sighed,” she responded sarcastically.
    He
shook his head. “Wrong again, Dani. You think all men want is some feminine,
needy, clingy, little woman, and because of all that’s happened, you distance yourself from men and your femininity as much as possible. Except
that there are men out there that find strong,
capable, independent women remarkably attractive and appealing. I’m one of
those men, and you’re absolutely one of those women.”
    “Ah, the allure of the amazon woman.”
    She
was beginning to piss him off with her self-deprecation. “Knock that shit off,”
he snapped, standing his ground. “I won’t have you mocking me or you in that
way. You want a fresh start, then lose the stereotypes and give things a
chance.”
    Turning
from him, she took a deep breath and let it out. “It’s not like a light switch, you can’t just turn it on or off. If you could, I
would’ve shut it off a long time ago.”
    “True,
but you don’t have to stand in the light alone. It’s just you and me, Dani, no
one else knows you here. It really is a fresh start.”
    “I
come with a hell of a lot of baggage.”
    She
sure the hell did, and she was going to require special handling. Closing the
gun cabinet, he answered her, “My dad, he has a little saying, it goes,
everything happens for a reason. I don’t know what all has happened in your
past, and maybe one day you’ll want to tell me, and if you do, I’ll listen. But
I can tell you this, of all the families in Wisconsin you could have met, you were brought to ours for a reason. My brother in
law, Nate, he’s a retired Army Ranger, and has PTSD from stuff he encountered
in Iraq and Afghanistan. When he returned, things were bad, and he and Linnie
needed to live with us so we could all help him through things while he
received therapy and treatment. Essentially, what I’m trying to tell you is
that I have some experience in dealing with people who’ve survived trauma. All
of us have, you’re safe with us.”
    “I…I…” Silence.
    “Let’s
not look too far into the future right now, okay?” he stated, trying to
alleviate some of her stress. “Let’s just take this one minute at a time.”
    Silence.
    She
was stuck. Trying to defuse the situation, he tried helping her. “Dani, turn
and take my hand. Let’s get those fish cleaned. Jules won’t touch them
otherwise.”
    Laughing
with start, she turned a little. “A real wimp is she?” Glancing at him, the
hurt and anguish just below the surface, she quickly looked away, running a
thumb and finger under her eyes.
    Reaching
his hand out to her, he said softly, “We’ll work through this. We will. Come,
let’s clean those fish, then let’s go to your house, where we’ll enjoy a couple
beers while we manage to make something edible, then we’ll relax. Out of
curiosity, do you like to watch movies?” He watched her make a fist, then straighten her fingers, before stretching and shaking
them out.
    With
a worried look and deep sigh, she took his hand, as she answered him quietly,
“Some, action adventures mostly.”
    Pulling
her a little closer, he looked into her eyes. “Indulge me, please, tell me how
tall is perfect?”
    She
shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, but I’m five-ten and half.”
    “Dani,
that is perfect.”

 
    *****

 
    The
next day, Kris pulled into the ranch yard at half past noon. Putting the truck
in park, he looked around wondering where Dani might be. Not wanting to scare
her like he had the day before, he sat waiting, hoping she’d make an appearance
and see him first. No luck. Getting out of the pickup, he