Free The McClane Apocalypse Book Five by Kate Morris Page B

of her face. The sprinkling of
freckles covers the bridge of her nose and crests of her cheeks.
The fiery light of her eyes comes through the shadows.
    “That’s a heck of a picture, Sam,” Cory says,
impressed.
    “I’m not showing it to brag, I’m showing it
so that you can see how magnificent she is, Cory,” Sam corrects him
with a chuckle.
    “You’d be better off drawing the horses
instead of wasting your time on this red-haired witch,” Cory
remarks with sarcasm, trying to deflect her praise of Paige.
    “Cory!” Sam shouts with a laugh. “You’re so
mean.”
    He’s saying this, but he has looked at
Simon’s sister and found something other than haggard looks and a beanpole body. She is tall,
admittedly so. But Paige is also supermodel good-looking as Sam had
described her. Her face is very different than any other woman’s . It’s odd and unusual, but
that’s what makes her beautiful. Her mouth is too full. Her
eyebrows are too fair . Her
cheekbones are too high. Plus, she has a set of long, lean gams on
her that could stop traffic. However, he’s not interested in her
because she’s also a mega-bitch and, more importantly, his best
friend’s sister. There are certain boundaries that even an
apocalypse can’t tear down. Bro’s before ho’s and all. He’s not interested in a serious
relationship with anyone, so he’d only be looking for a purely
non-platonic, solely sexual release with her which he’s not too
sure Simon would appreciate. He’s bigger than Simon, but his friend
is a pretty good shot so Cory
won’t go sniffing for trouble where he doesn’t need to. He does
like messing with her, though. She’s got a bad temper to match her
hair, so it’s a fun past-time pissing her off. She’s still got a
bug up her butt about his death threat in the woods. He’d like to
tell her to lighten up, but he’s not sure if her gun skills match
her brother’s .
    “Ready, kid?” he asks and pulls Sam to her
feet again. She’s wearing riding boots, but Cory doesn’t remember
seeing her out riding this morning. “Going riding later?”
    “Reagan and I were going to, but she ended up
having to work on canning with Sue and Hannah instead,” she
answers.
    “She ought to be in a good mood,” he jokes,
getting a chuckle from Sam.
    “I know, right?” she answers. “We can’t ride
today because I’m watching the little ones later after dinner.
Don’t forget. We’re supposed to be having a meeting tonight. Lots
to go over.”
    “There is always a lot to go over,” he
replies sarcastically as they leave the barn and walk toward the
house. “Catch ya’ later.”
    “Ok, Cory,” she says over her shoulder and
disappears into the kitchen.
    Cory pulls off his t-shirt and tries to
wipe most of the hay from his sticky, sweaty chest and stomach
while standing at the bottom of the porch stairs. He doesn’t want
to drag half the barn ’s hay in
onto Hannah’s clean floors. His arms come next. Removing the tiny,
annoying pieces of hay from his
body and mostly from his shirt will make it easier for the women to
do his laundry. The laundry usually gets done two days a week.
Everything is brought to the big house and whoever is available to
help Hannah and Sue pitches in. It’s a laborious job with so many
people living on the farm. Cory and Simon usually carry all of the
soiled and then laundered and folded baskets full of laundry back
to each person ’s room or cabin
for them. It’s easier for them to be the runners than to have the
women carry armloads and basketsful of clean laundry. The work they
do on the farm is exhausting enough without hiking out to the
cabins and up and down the four stories of the big house. Whichever
men are around the house always chip in and help. Most of the time,
however, they are out in the fields or working on equipment or
lately in town working on the wall. But the hauling job always goes
to them.
    Paige and Kelly come around the corner. She’s
toting a