Free Stay With Me by Sharla Lovelace Page B

microsecond. “My brother, Cole, ended up going that route and it kind of stole my thunder a little.”

    “He’s a pilot?”

    Duncan nodded. “In the air force.” His mouth curved on one side as he moved his food around his plate. “Honestly, by the time I got to that point, I was sick of hearing about it. I went another way.”

    “So, where is your brother now?”

    “In Germany, I think,” he said.

    I let the pause ride. “You think?”

    He glanced up from his plate, giving me an amused look. “Do you need a reference?”

    I let a laugh warm the chill and took that note as well. “I just know my sister wouldn’t go a week without talking to me in some way is all,” I said. “I could probably go two.” I winked at him. “Tops.”

    He smiled at me as if I were just the most entertaining thing he’d ever seen. I didn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted by that.

    “We aren’t that close,” he said. “He got divorced last year, she left, he went back on duty, and—” Duncan gestured behind him to where Ella lay gracefully on her pillow. “I got the dog.”

    “That was your brother’s dog?”

    “Carrie’s actually. His ex-wife,” he said, shaking his head. “Cole and I may not always see eye to eye on things, but she was a piece of work.”

    “And just left you her dog?” I realized I was obsessing, and probably not over the right things, but I couldn’t imagine just leaving your dog behind forever.

    “She left Ella with Cole. He left her with me.” Duncan shrugged. “What was I gonna do, leave her with the garbage man? No. She’s a sweetheart.”

    The good guy. Damn, this was the good guy. The one I never managed to find. Rescues dogs from broken homes. Feel that heart flutter, Savi? That’s the real deal.

    “So,” I said. “You cook like a chef, have a perfect home, a perfect dog. Please tell me you have a flaw.” Duncan started laughing and I continued. “Dirty shoes under the bed or something? Some kind of guilty pleasure?”

    Still chuckling, he said, “I assure you, when no one is coming over here, it’s not this pulled together. Drop by unexpected and you’ll see.”

    Was that an invitation? “Maybe I will one day.”

    Mischief pulled at his mouth and glinted in his eyes. “Could be scary.”

    Oh, fuck, he had no idea. “I’m a pretty tough girl,” I said, breathing through the flips my stomach was doing. “So no guilty pleasures you’ll admit to? No secret stash of gun and car magazines or Internet porn?”

    Duncan laughed again, leaning back in his chair. “Only computer is at work, so Internet porn is kind of out of the question.” He crossed his arms. “Not much on magazines, but I do love violent adventure movies.”

    “Ah, here we go,” I said. “Things that blow up?”

    “The louder the better.”

    I laughed. “And no computer here? Really?”

    He shook his head. “Not even a smart phone.” He held his up. “It texts but none of that other stuff.”

    I raised an eyebrow. “How do you survive?”

    He chuckled. “I email from work. Pay my bills, all that. Life is out here,” he said, gesturing around us. “I don’t want to waste it focusing on a little box in my hand.”

    I smiled. “Good point.” And I’d make sure I didn’t look at my phone. I took a long drink of water instead.

    “So, you ready to get dirty?” he said.

    I damn near choked on my water.

Chapter Seven

     

     

    “Sorry?” I said, trying to recover through the burn in my nose and the sputter I’d spewed into my hand.

    “Your boots?” he said. “Time to change. It’s a little muddy where we’re going.” His eyes danced a little as he laughed, however. It would have been sexy if I weren’t sucking air. “You’re adorable when you blush,” he said.

    I tried to redeem myself with a smile. “Water went down the wrong way.”

    “Mmm, so it seems,” he said, pushing his chair back with something slightly wicked in his amused