“You’re not afraid he’ll steal her?” I teased.
“Hmm. We both like her, so we’ll see.”
I shook my head, my mind back on Ray, my thoughts still reeling from my discovery, and especially how she’d felt against me…the taste of her mouth, her tongue on mine. I wanted that again. I wanted the freedom of emotion she’d so briefly unraveled in me. But I didn’t fool myself. It wouldn’t be easy, not with my track record with women. Even though all that shit had been in my past, the problem was she knew about it.
Fuck.
I rubbed my jaw.
However, I realized, too, had I gone after Ray back then, and being such a fucking mess, I would have treated her like all the women who came after me.
She didn’t chase me. Hell, she didn’t even notice me.
To her, I was just another asshole with issues in her bar. A rough breath escaped me.
Frowning, I leaned back in the armchair near the bed as Pops chattered on about the new woman.
No, this wouldn’t be easy, stumbling blocks paved my way. Yeah, she was Max’s soon-to-be sister-in-law, and we’d promised to watch out for her, but something about her tugged at me. And I needed to find out what it was.
Hell, Ray would fight me all the way. But for the first time in forever, I didn’t feel the oppression constantly weighing me down. Since my brief moment with her, the chasm that usually took hold and left me wide awake…or so damn alone, eased a little.
4
Ray
Midday sunlight streamedthrough the windows, brightening the unadorned corridors of Sunset Seniors homes where I volunteered twice a week. Soft voices and the shuffle of slippers drifted to me, followed by a distant racking cough.
As I neared my favorite senior’s room, my cell beeped. Shifting the pile of novels I carried to my other arm, I retrieved my phone from my skirt pocket and read the message from Mrs. Watts, one of the organizers for the games and entertainment booths in the upcoming summer festival in Millbrae. Would I do the dunk tank again?
With this one being close to my heart, for the Stroke Foundation, absolutely.
As I typed my agreement, the wheezy voice I knew as Chuck’s drifted to me. “You think it’s wise interfering?”
“I regret not standing up for Grant the first time,” another, deeper voice said—one I knew as Chuck’s dear friend, Nigel. “I won’t let the same mistake repeat itself. Never again.”
Hmm. Whoever had pissed Nigel off should watch out. The icy tone of his voice alone would have had me on guard.
Tucking my cell back into my pocket, I breezed into the small room with a bright smile. “How’s my fave person—ah, my two favorite people,” I corrected.
Nigel’s pale blue eyes sparkled beneath iron-gray eyebrows. A smile lit his handsome face and faint lines mapped his brow. He could be in his early sixties, or maybe late—hard to say—but he was several years younger than Chuck. I’d met him a couple of weeks ago. According to Chuck, their friendship traversed decades when, as a sergeant, he’d saved the young recruit’s ass while in the army.
Nigel snorted. “No need to correct yourself, my dear. You probably mean me, and I’m fine now that I’ve seen you.”
“She’s got more taste than wanting a grumpy old fool like you,” Chuck muttered, slouching his thin frame on the cane chair and glaring out through the glass door leading outside.
No matter Chuck’s dour expression and snarky remarks, he was a sweetheart. He rubbed a hand over his shorn, receding white hair. His brown skin bore an ashy undertone of pain.
My concern grew, but I smiled and set the books I’d gotten from the library for him on his small bedside table. He glanced at his reading material, and the corner of his mouth tipped up. It was like seeing sunshine after a dreary day. The man had a thing for books. I only wished I could do more for him.
He slowly eased his arthritic body from the chair and groaned, putting a hand to his lower back. “Damn, I have pains shooting from my gluteus to my eyeballs.”
I rushed over to help him, but he waved me off and reached for his cane.
“Chuck, let me get Dr. Matthias to come and have a look at you,” Nigel said.
“Nah, these old bones will be fine in a minute or so. The resident quack here will tell you the same thing; I’m not to sit on my bony ass for too long.”
I bit back my laughter at his testy tone. “Tea first?” I asked both men.
