“That,” she said. Blue then leaned in and kissed his cheek.
He turned, and their lips met and clung.
Damn.
“So I’ll see you around, Blue Jay McAllister.”
She managed a nod and let herself out of his room. Blue then climbed into the elevator and wondered what the hell she was supposed to do with her life now.
Chapter 4
Three months later
“There is absolutelyno chance you can get that from here.”
Jay looked from his best friend to the water and then back at Dan Duke again.
They’d met in elementary school, when Jay was confused and angry and had no idea what to do with those emotions at the age of eight. He’d been told by Mrs. Grayson, his teacher, to sit next to Dan on his first day in class.
The rest was history. Dan and Jay had surprisingly hit it off, and for a boy who didn’t make friends or connections because he never knew where he’d end up next, it was a revelation.
“You know better than that. I’m far more accurate than you at most things, Deputy Dog.”
Dan was a Deputy Sheriff in Lyntacky, where his uncle was the Sheriff. Respected and loved, he’d had his challenges, but with the support of a large, loving family, he’d prospered. He was now also engaged to the love of his life, Leah Reynolds. They were guardians to her nephew Hudson, who, at present, andwith the other children in the family, was being rowed around the lake by the eldest of the Duke offspring, Ally. By the squeals coming from the small craft, everyone was happy.
Dan had changed. Jay wouldn’t say mellowed, but he had a happiness about him that he had realized was missing from his life.
Would Dan look at Jay one day and say the same thing? Did Jay, too, want a life partner? This had been something he’d been thinking about way too much lately, and he blamed Blue McAllister for that.
“Who says you’re more accurate?” Dan said, closing an eye and glaring at him.
They were seated down beside the river at the eldest Duke, Sawyer’s place. It was a family cookout, and as Jay was family, he was here. The day was one of those warm ones, but not uncomfortably so.
Family.Even many years later, the word still gave him a jolt. People who loved him, and wanted him in their lives.
“Says me,” Jay said, leaning back on his chair.
“Incoming!” The roar came from behind them.
Glancing over his shoulder, he watched another Duke, Brody, second in line from the top, lob a tennis ball into the water. Seconds later, two dogs plunged into the water behind it.
Jay needled his friend some more. “Accuracy, bud. Your siblings have it.”
“The hell you say.” Dan crushed the can he’d finished drinking and lobbed it at the plastic container that was for empties. It missed and hit the front of it, falling to the floor.
“My case is made,” Jay added.
Looking out over the water, his mind went to Blue Jay McAllister again, as it had constantly since that night they’d shared.
The woman who had rocked his world for a night and then walked out of it. He’d been back in Lyntacky for three months and seen or heard no sign of her.
Had she gone back to her job?
Not that he’d asked about her as he should have. Something like,“Hey, how are your siblings, Birdie?”She was Sawyer’s wife, so he’d seen her a lot. But he hadn’t asked.
“If they take their clothes off and do that sky-clad shit while swimming or dancing in the water, I’m going to have a problem,” Ryder Duke said, wandering up to where they sat, a small boy wrapped around him like a monkey.
“Hey, they’re family, bro. We have to let them now,” Dan said. “But I’m with you on that. No one wants to see the dangling bits of your in-laws.”
