It couldn’t be Grady, couldit?
The front door opened. By reflex, Linx caught Cedar by the collar. Her heart threatened to jump to her throat, but settled down at the familiar voice hailing through thedoorway.
Tami bustled into the cabin like a thunderstorm without the rain. Her platform heels clip-clopped over the heart-pine floor and her large and lethal purse knocked down a plastic vase, spilling a bouquet of dried flowers onto the coffeetable.
“Looks like I missed Todd. Passed by him on the way over here.” Tami’s eyelashes fluttered as she propped her hand on her hip. “Next time you sic him on Grady, make sure to clue mein.”
“It wasn’t intentional,” Linx explained, hoping her lips weren’t tell-tale swollen from beardburn.
“Good thing, too, or he would have been clued in about Cedar.” Tami took out a compact and checked her lipstick. “You livedangerously.”
“That man is dangerous, not me,” Linx grumbled as she put the nipple of the bottle into Ginger’s mouth. “Did he come up here just to stick it tome?”
“He can stick it my way anytime,” Tami said, slapping a stack of file folders onto her desk. “Got several people looking at commercial property andoffices.”
“Oh, really? Who?” Linx paced around the desk, still bottle feeding thepuppy.
“Your man’s sister, Cait Wonder, called. She’s looking for a central retail location for her weddingstore.”
“A wedding store?Here?”
“Seeing that the town’s full of singles,” Tami primped her hair, “it would make a lot of sense. Maybe she should run a dating service,too.”
Linx had made friends with Cait and her husband, Brian, last Christmas when the couple found two lost chow chow dogs. Their family owned a cabin in a remote area up the mountain, and Linx had taken the dogs in when Cait and Brian had to return to SanFrancisco.
“Right, a dating service.” Linx’s mind wasn’t on dating—not with her dismal track record. She and men were like oil and water—full of piss and vinegar with a dollop of gunpowder. Explosive chemistry with no safetyvalve.
“And then there’s your man, Grady Hart.” Tami glanced at her to see if she’d get areaction.
“He’s not my man,” Linx grumbled, still boiling inside with unspent lust andanger.
Grady Hart had more on his mind than simply getting a dog or two from her. Judging from the way his cock had prodded her, she could easily suss out his secrets—like why, of all places, was he looking for office space here, and more to the point, why wasn’t he out fightingfires?
“If I’m a betting woman, and I am,” Tami said, “I’m thinking he has unfinished business withyou.”
“Well, duh.” Linx glanced at Cedar who was busily inhaling every bit of Grady’s scent at the doorway where they had so violently groped eachother.
“You poor darling,” Tami teased Cedar. “Bet you still remember him, don’tyou?”
“He doesn’t rememberher,” Linx retorted. “Abandoned her like he abandons anything female andinconvenient.”
“What do you think he’ll do if he finds out you kept hisdog?”
“Finders keepers, losers weepers. Although I don’t think that man’s wept for anyone.” Linx kissed the top of little Ginger’s head. “I don’t want anycomplications.”
“Then you shouldn’t invite him over here.” Tami turned on her computer. “Keep him at arm’slength.”
“What about the office space he’s looking for? You should tell him there’s nothing available in the entiretown.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep him away from you,” Tami said, wiggling her eyebrows. “Somewhere far off, remote, andprivate.”
Linx burned inside, knowing Tami found Grady attractive. But what could she say? Grady was fair game for all the single women of theworld.
His type never lacked women willing to throw themselves at him, as if he were a lottery jackpot. Ironic, wasn’t it, that the biggest assholes and the most commitment-phobic men were the most highlyprized.
“You do whatever you want,” Linx said. “I don’t care. I have to feed the rest of thedogs.”
She set Ginger’s empty bottle on the table and put the puppy over her shoulder. Pacing around the small room, she rubbed the puppy’s back. Instead of a burp, wetness seeped and dripped down the front of herblouse.
