Free Within Striking Distance by Ingrid Weaver Page A

early.”
    “So I’ve heard.” She’d obviously been up there a while. Dust smeared her T-shirt and blue jeans. Her hair was covered with a bright pink kerchief, though a few strands hadpulled loose at her temples to dangle in front of her ears. Yet even dusty and disheveled, she managed to look beautiful.
    “What’s in the bag?”
    “Breakfast,” he said, holding it up. “I told you I’d bring it.”
    She shoved a stray lock of hair out of her eyes and glanced behind her. “I’m sorry. I thought I’d find the right box before you got here but they’re not labeled.”
    “Is there space for me up there?”
    “Plenty, but it gets hot once the sun gets over the trees.”
    “With any luck we’ll be done by then.” He laid his cane on the floor and assessed the staircase. It was steeper than it had appeared at first, more a ladder with wide rungs than a staircase. The wood was old and dried out. It seemed solid enough, but there were some nasty-looking splinters he’d need to avoid. He held the bag between his teeth and grasped the boards at the sides of the risers. Thanks to his workouts at the gym, he could lift a lot more than his body weight. Using mainly his arms, he hauled himself up a few steps until he could grip the edge of the loft and swing himself over it. He got to his feet with the help of a nearby crate, then offered the bag to Becky.
    She was staring at him, her cheeks flushed. He couldn’t tell whether it was because of heat—the air in the loft was noticeably warmer than down below—or because she was uncomfortable from having witnessed his awkward ascent. He seldom considered himself disabled, but he knew only too well how it could be an issue with some people. He hoped Becky wasn’t one of them.
    Her eyes lingered on his shoulders. It didn’t look like revulsion in her eyes. For a moment she seemed to sway toward him, and for an even crazier moment, Jake thought she was about to touch him.
    As it turned out, she was only reaching for the bag. “Thanks,” she said.
    “I hope you like doughnuts.”
    She opened the bag and looked inside. “This is your idea of breakfast?”
    “Hey, I got the kind with fruit. That’s nutritious.”
    “Fruit?”
    “I’m pretty sure the gooey red stuff on the inside of the powdered ones has raspberries in it.”
    “Um, thanks, Jake. That’s very thoughtful.”
    “Anything for another morning person. We’re a dying breed.”
    She wiped the dust from her hands on her jeans, then reached into the bag and drew out one of the covered cups. “I don’t suppose either of these is decaf?”
    “Sorry. Both are eye-wobbler specials.”
    “I thought you were a morning person.”
    “That coffee is why I am.”
    She pried the top off the cup and passed it to him, then set the bag on top of a nearby trunk. “I appreciate the trouble you went to, but I’m not that hungry.”
    “There’s a fruit plate under the box of doughnuts if you’d prefer that.”
    “I should have known you were teasing me,” she muttered. She grabbed the bag once more, this time taking everything out until she got to the cellophane-wrapped plastic plate. She smiled with pleasure, pulled up a corner of the wrap and popped a strawberry into her mouth. “Thanks, Jake.”
    “You’re welcome. I don’t recognize half of what’s on there but Lurleen assured me it’s edible.”
    “Who’s Lurleen? Your girlfriend?”
    “No, she works at my favorite diner. It’s been getting infiltrated by the rabbit food crowd lately so they’ve had to put some of that fruit and nut stuff on the menu.”
    She licked a drop of juice from the corner of her mouth. “How tragic.”
    “Downright insidious.” He blew on the coffee she’d handed to him and took a fast swallow. It burned his tongue. Which was good, because it helped him to stop thinking about how delicious the strawberry juice had looked on her tongue.
    She’d said he’d been teasing, but it had been more. He’d been flirting.