Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lynx
The following morning, I woke at my normal time.
Normal being whenever my eyes opened.
Just so happened that I was always awake in time to meet Wolfe at the diner. That was a tradition ingrained in me, something I wasn’t willing to let go of.
So, after dropping off Copenhagen at the store, I headed over to meet my cousin.
“Where’s Amy?” I asked when I joined Wolfe at the table.
“She stayed with Rhys this mornin’,” he said, a smirk on his face.
“She takin’ the day off?” Not that I cared what Amy did, but it hadn’t been the norm thus far. Then again, my entire life was far from normal, despite my daily breakfast.
“Nah. Said she wanted to spend some time with him and she’d be in after breakfast.”
“Rhys finally moved in?”
Wolfe grinned. “Mostly, yeah. But baby steps.”
I waved my hand behind me. “Seems everyone’s takin’ it well.”
I hadn’t heard anything negative regarding Wolfe’s relationship with Amy and Rhys. Then again, I'd been wrapped up in my own shit these days.
“Most,” Wolfe said, his eyes dropping to the table.
“Who the fuck has a problem with it?” I growled, my automatic instinct to protect my family kicking in, my body coiling tight, gearing up for a fight.
Wolfe rolled his eyes. “Not everyone gets it, Lynx. No big deal.”
Leaning back, I rested one hand on the table and fiddled with my spoon. “That what Rhys’s worried about? People not likin’ that the sheriff’s in a relationship?”
Wolfe chuckled, but there wasn’t much humor in it. “A relationship with a man and a woman, Lynx. That’s not natural.”
I frowned. “For who? And who gives a fuck? It’s natural for you or you wouldn’t be in it, am I right?”
Wolfe simply stared at me.
“I’m so fuckin’ tired of everyone bein’ up in everyone else’s business,” I grumbled. “If it doesn’t affect them, they should keep their fuckin’ noses out of it.”
Wolfe grinned. “Always the protective one, aren’t ya?”
It was the way I was. I couldn’t change that about myself and I wouldn’t anyway. I liked who I was. And I honestly did not give a single fuck who liked it or not.
“Here you boys go,” Donna said, delivering our food. “Oh, and in case you haven’t heard, Jimmy Don’s wife went into labor this mornin’.”
“Hot damn,” I said with a grin. “Gonna have to go grab us some cigars.”
Donna smiled, then shook her head and walked away.
“What’s goin’ on with Reagan’s? Couple people stopped by yesterday after you left. They wanna help out.”
“She didn’t hit me when I showed her the sketch,” I admitted, reaching for my fork and leaning closer to my plate.
“Well, that’s a damn good sign.”
Yeah, it was. With Reagan, her reaction was anyone’s guess. She was stubborn and hardheaded, and truth be told, I loved that about her. She was spunky and sassy and so fucking hot, just thinking about her made my mouth water.
“I was thinkin’ that maybe I could design and build the new bar top for the place,” Wolfe noted.
“Yeah?”
“If she’d be cool with that.”
“Prob’ly have to ask her, but shit, I’d say go for it. The girl can use all the help she can get right now.”
Even if she didn’t necessarily want it.
Taking a bite of eggs, I chewed as I pointed my fork at Wolfe. “She’ll be over at the shop in a bit. Ed’s stoppin’ by to see what’s what. And DJ … you know, Darrell Jameson.” I chewed some more.
“The general contractor?”
I nodded. “Yep. He’s gonna take a look at the plans, help out in that regard. Work on permits.”
“And Reagan’s cool with this?”
I shrugged. “Until she tells me to stop, I ain’t gonna. She needs that bar open. It’s her livelihood, but you know Reagan. She ain’t gonna ask for help.”
Thinking back to our argument last night, I smiled to myself. The woman was nothing if not independent, and she made sure everyone knew it. One day, she’d learn that some people weren’t looking for something in return. They simply do for others because they can.
“Nope. She won’t.” Wolfe grinned. “Good thing she’s got you.”
I couldn’t help but smirk at that.
She did have me.
Even if she wasn’t quite ready for all that I wanted from her.
She’d get there.
I had faith.
Reagan
I had tossed and turned all night long. I wasn’t sure if it was due to the long nap I'd taken with Lynx yesterday or simply because I hated that I'd been in my bed alone.
When I finally did doze off, I thought I heard a sound outside the bedroom window, and I ended up pacing the floor for half an hour, shotgun in hand.
Now, as I drove to the shop to meet Lynx, my exhaustion was replaced with an anxious flutter in my belly.
Truth was, I missed seeing Lynx.
Not that I wanted to get addicted to him or anything, but I still wished I could spend more time with him.
Sure, it was my own damn fault. That stubborn streak was hard to beat back, and sometimes it didn’t do me any favors.
Okay, more often than not, it didn’t do me any favors.
Hell, my own family gave me a hard time about it.
According to my mother, stubborn was my middle name. She always said that it was probably the reason I would be with Billy forever.
“I showed you, Mom,” I muttered to myself.
Stubborn and stupid were two very different things, I knew. And I'd proven my stupidity by staying with Billy for so long.
“Ugh.” I hated thinking about that asshole.
However, stubbornness was a trait I had been born with, something I had a hard time overcoming.
And now, I figured Lynx would eventually get tired of it, and I couldn’t very well blame him.
Problem was, I had no idea how to change that part of myself.
Or if I even wanted to. Yes, I could be the equivalent of a brick wall in an argument, but I was who I was.
And if people didn’t like it, they could shove it. That was my thought on it anyway.
Then again, when I thought about Lynx, I didn’t want to be the brick wall that stalled out this thing between us. It was intense. Insanely so. But he was right. I was the one to provoke it every time I tried to put some distance between us.
Not that I intended to spend too much time thinking about long term with Lynx Caine.
The guy was a sweet-talker through and through.
As much as my heart yearned to be important to someone, I wasn’t sure Lynx was the steady, long-term kind, no matter how many sweet words he whispered.
Sure, I wanted to believe. I just wasn’t sure I could.
When I pulled into the shop shortly after nine, I was surprised to see several additional trucks in the parking lot, besides Calvin’s and Lynx’s dad’s, which Lynx was currently driving. After squeezing the big F-250 into a vacant spot, I climbed out and headed toward the door.
“Damn straight,” someone bellowed, their laughter drifting out of the building. “That’s what we do ’round these parts. We help when we’re needed.”
I stepped inside and all the voices cut off almost instantly, leaving a deafening silence lingering.
“There’s my girl,” Lynx noted, a strange prideful tone to his voice.
He smiled as he moved toward me.
Of course, I blushed. How could I not? The man was already staking his claim on me in public. For whatever reason, I didn’t want to contradict him, so I returned the smile and hoped he didn’t see how red my cheeks probably were.
Certainly not a good look for me.
When Lynx leaned down and kissed me quickly, another flutter of unrestrained butterflies took hold of my stomach. I found myself staring up at him, slightly in shock. His response: a sexy, crooked smirk.
Of course.
“What’s goin’ on?” I asked, my voice sounding ridiculously like a croak.
“Well, it looks to me like your bar’s gonna be goin’ up in the very near future.”
I cocked an eyebrow and glanced around at all the faces. I was familiar with most of them. What got me was the fact that they were all smiling like this was something that made them happy.
“I … umm … really don’t know what to say.”
Last night I'd spent hours thinking about what Lynx had said. About how they wanted to help me because the bar meant something to them, too. I had tried to come up with a reasonable argument, but had failed each and every time I thought I was getting somewhere.
“It’s our pleasure,” Ed spoke up.
“We gotta get that bar up and runnin’, you know. It’s like not havin’ television at the house. It just ain’t right,” Doug Maxwell added with a wide grin.
“And the day the doors open,” Lynx added, his arm still comfortably around my shoulders, “the first round’s on me.”
“No,” I said quickly. “The first round’s on me.”
“All right, then,” Lynx conceded. “The second round’s on me.”
The grins seemed to widen at the mention of free beer.
“Anyone heard from Jimmy Don? How’s the baby doin’?” Ed asked, his eyes swinging to all faces, then over to Lynx.
“They had a little girl,” Lynx said. “She’s healthy as a horse, he said. Momma’s doin’ fine, too.”
“That’s great news.” Ed turned, glancing between Lynx and me. “Let us know when we’re good to go. We’re ready to pour concrete whenever the permits are taken care of and the plumbing’s inspected.”
Lynx nodded. “Will do.”
“I’ll check back in with you in a bit,” Calvin stated, calling Copenhagen to his side. “Mind if I take the boy with me?”
Lynx shook his head.
As the guys filtered out, they waved. I offered a smile although my head was spinning at everything that was going on around me. I still couldn’t believe that these people were coming together to help me rebuild.
Okay, so maybe I could believe it. Embers Ridge was that sort of town.
It was the very reason I'd never had any desire to leave. However, I knew I had put a rift between myself and most people due to my relationship with Billy all this time. Most of them, quite frankly, weren’t big fans of Billy.
Not that I could blame them. But then again, I had been the one to stick with him for so long, so they probably figured I had a few screws loose as well.
Which I probably did.
Once they all cleared out, I realized Lynx and I were the only two left.
“Where’s Wolfe?”
Lynx grinned. “He headed home for a bit after we had breakfast. Somethin’ about a phone call from Rhys regarding somethin’ Amy was doin’.” He shrugged. “No clue.”
“So what now?” I asked and as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew exactly what Lynx was thinking.
It was the same thing I was thinking.
When he stepped closer, I lifted the straw Stetson from his head.
“What’re you doin’?” he asked, his voice a low growl.
I slipped the hat on my own head.
“You know what it means when a girl wears a man’s hat?”
I nodded. I did know.
“You think I won’t?” he asked, his eyes boring into mine.
“I’m hopin’ you will,” I whispered back, my body warming from his nearness.
I also knew that I would not be able to tell the man no.
And I damn sure didn’t want to.