Free Stone Temptation [Texas Stallions 3] by Morgan Fox

brightness that made him wonder if her past life had been nothing more than a dream. “You have, too.”
    She nodded her head sharply. “Yes, I have.” She swallowed hard. “I’ve grown up and gotten out. I just hope my brothers don’t come looking for me.”
    He preferred that her good-for-nothing brothers stayed away from Temptation as well. Call him selfish, but he just couldn’t stand the thought of seeing Adam ever again.
    “Why’s that?” What he wouldn’t give to be the one to arrest her brother for drug possession. That would truly be the icing on his satisfying cake. The prick deserved it, and he wasn’t about to feel bad for the way he felt.
    “For the same reason you must already be thinking. My brothers are trouble. All four of them,” she said. “They don’t care about me except when the rent’s due.”
    He looked down at his food as a sudden ease lifted from his chest. He didn’t have to be so cold to her after all. Being honest with himself, he hadn’t really wanted to anyway.
    He thought back to his childhood, and every time he’d caught a glimpse of her, she’d always been kind to him, even smiled with regret and sincerity. Gracie didn’t have much, but she did have pride and self-respect. He found it strange to find someone with her past who still possessed those qualities.
    “I think you might enjoy the meatloaf,” he told her. “It’s sort of my favorite.”
    Her face lightly pinked as she smiled. “Then I’ll have to try it.”
    Madeline returned with her iced tea as well as a refill for him. “Thanks, Madeline.”
    “No problem, honey.” She turned her gaze to Gracie, “Can I get you anything, sweetheart?”
    Gracie smiled and said, “Yes, please. I’d like what he’s having.”
    Madeline took a quick glance over at James’s plate. “The meatloaf platter it is.”
    Once Madeline had walked away, Gracie told him, “Please don’t think I’m a stalker or anything, but I’ve been waiting here for about an hour hoping you’d show up. After you did, it took me a good twenty minutes just to work up the nerves to approach you.” She blew out a soft breath of air. “I know you must hate me for what my brother did to you, but I wish you didn’t.”
    He sighed. He didn’t hate her. Well, maybe he had, but only through association, and also because he’d been tripping on his wounded pride. “Gracie, what your brother did to me almost destroyed everything in my life. Even my parents suffered for what he did. That kind of shit is hard to forgive.”
    She hung her head. “I know.” She popped her gaze up once more. A soulful longing filled her eyes. “I hope you can find a way to at least give me a chance to prove I’m nothing like them. I might have been raised in a rat-infested shithole, had the worst parents on the planet, and be a little rough around the edges, but I’m not a bad person.” She smiled. “My moral compass is set to good.”
    Taking a deep breath, he figured he had no reason to be angry with Gracie. She wasn’t the one he was pissed at, and she wasn’t the one he should be directing his anger at. Looking at her sweet face, it was hard to keep his emotions in check. As much as he tried to be cold and unapproachable, he simply couldn’t, at least not with her.
    She may have been rough around the edges, but that didn’t stop him from thinking about how beautiful she was. Guilt-stricken, he had to stop thinking that he’d been the only one hurt by regrettable circumstances. Gracie personally lived within the circle of violence and crime and had for more than twenty years. Her life had been hard, but here she sat smiling at him, trying to get her life on the right path. How she was able to look so wonderful and be so pleasant with the life she’d endured boggled his mind.
    Taking her family out of the equation, he still found her to be breathtakingly gorgeous. Why did his thoughts always travel back to her beauty and sweetness? Not to mention how