The Hero's Redemption

“I could eat that every night for a week and not get tired of it.” Cole dried his hands on a paper towel and tossed it in the trash beneath the sink. Ask? Don’t ask? He hated this hesitancy, this…need that laid him bare. But he couldn’t go without knowing.

“Erin.”

At the exact same moment, she said, “If you’d like—” After she broke off, they looked at each other. Still seeming shy, she was wringing her hands.

“If I’d like what?” he asked quietly.

“To stay.” Color had blossomed in her cheeks, too, not subtle against her redhead’s skin. “I don’t know how we left it…”

Under a flood of relief, he had to lock his knees to keep from staggering. “There’s nothing I want more than to stay.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” His voice came out gritty. “Come here.” But she didn’t have to make a move, because he’d taken the few steps to reach her where she hovered by the refrigerator. He wrapped a hand around her nape beneath the braid. “I thought about you all day.”

Her eyes were such an unusual color, made even more vivid by the yearning that echoed his. “I…thought about you, too.”

“Good,” he said huskily. “Funny thing, but I’m ready for bed.”

“Me, too.” She’d flattened her hands on his chest, and now her fingers flexed, the bite of her nails sending a shudder of pleasure through him. “Shall we?”

“Oh, yeah.” Except he wasn’t about to wait until they got upstairs to kiss her.

She obviously felt the same, because her mouth eagerly met his.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“THIS WILL BE WONDERFUL.” Beaming, Lottie Price stood at the top of the new ramp that, like the one he’d built for the Zatlokas, extended from her back door. “Leaving the house has been such a struggle. The ramp will take me right to the garage!”

On his knees with an electric screwdriver in his hand, Cole had an alarming thought. “You don’t still drive, do you?”

“Oh, my, yes! I set my mind to staying in my own house until the day I die, and how could I manage if I couldn’t get to the grocery store?”

She brought to mind illustrations he distantly recalled, probably from a children’s picture book. A witch with a face like a withered apple, that was Lottie, except she seemed invariably good-humored.

He shuddered at the thought of her behind the wheel of a car, even if he did understand her need for independence. Damn. He’d have to take a peek in the garage to see what she drove. Tiny and crumpled as she was, how could she see out the windshield? Pile pillows on the seat? Then how would she reach the pedals?

“You can get groceries delivered these days,” he said mildly. “And I’m sure you have neighbors who’d be glad to shop for you, or take you along when they go to the store.”

Her mouth crimped. “But then I’d be indebted.”

Cole grinned at her. “Not if you repaid them in baked goods.”

She giggled, an astonishing sound coming from a woman so ancient.

He was close to finishing her ramp. The Zatlokas’ ramp had taken him over three weeks, Lottie’s two and a half. He had the design part down pat, and after all the practice he’d had, he was able to work faster.

He almost wished it hadn’t. In the past weeks, he’d been too happy to apply for jobs the way he’d intended, despite the fact that it was June now, but he’d also failed to ask around the neighborhood to find out if anyone else would be interested in hiring him. Apparently, Erin had kept her word and quit soliciting work for him, which left him… He didn’t know.

At the sound of a car engine, he swiveled on his heels, his caution automatic. The neighbor’s house blocked his sight line until the vehicle was almost in front of Lottie’s…and slowing to turn into her driveway.

A patrol car, black-and-white, rack of lights on top. City, not county.

Ice formed in his veins.

He heard the old lady say, “Oh, my! Why would a policeman come here?”

Cole set down the drill and rose to his feet. “I’ll go ask,” he told her, and walked toward the police car. A uniformed officer was just getting out. Over the roof, he looked hard at Cole. As he circled around the front, his hand rested on the butt of his holstered gun in a clear message.