Connell (Carolina Reapers 3)

He released me, winked, and then fished out his cell, fingers flying.

Once inside the safety of my room, I debated taking an ice-cold shower before getting dressed. Because sweet mercy Connell was doing everything in his power to set every inch of me on fire.

And I’d never felt a burn so sweet.

7

Connell

I ran a towel over my hair then threw it into the laundry basket on my way downstairs. As a Thursday night in the offseason went, it was all pretty normal. Workout done. Shower done. All there was left to do was make myself something to eat and relax.

But it wasn’t really a typical Thursday, seeing that I’d finished my community service hours today. With the Saturday I’d put in about four weeks back, I’d completed all six weeks, and now I was...what? Free? It was the weirdest feeling, as though I’d adjusted to a normal life and a normal job in the short six weeks it had taken me to work off the ire of Sweet Water.

Well, that and the eleven thousand dollar check it had taken to repair the pedestal and carve the names of the first race winners back into it.

Last week, I would have been showering for a whole other reason. I would have been on my way to Annabelle’s to ask her out for real. But she’d avoided me at all costs this week, going so far as leaving me a list of tasks to work on every day and then making herself scarce. She was either embarrassed over what had happened in her kitchen or pissed for the same reason. But that didn’t add up to the small smiles she’d give me when we ran into each other at the reserve, so I was at a complete loss.

It wasn’t like I had a lot of experience pursuing a woman.

The hardwood was cool but not cold on my bare feet as I came down the stairs and headed for the kitchen. Nothing was cold in August down here.

The doorbell rang, and I changed mid-course, turning to answer it. I was fully prepared to tell Logan that I didn’t want to hang out with him and his social media savvy girlfriend as I opened the heavy door, but it wasn’t Logan.

It was Annabelle, holding a frosted cake on a crystal cake stand.

Her hair fell in a riot of dark curls down her shoulders, and she wore a white sundress that showed off just how much her skin loved the sun. Her lips were glossed pink, and her eyes were locked on mine with almost an air of...panic?

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing? Why?” She tilted her head in question.

“Because ye look like you did after Arnie chased you across your yard. Like you’re not quite over the scare.” Not that I would have been too. That wee beastie took us three hours to get him out of her yard so we could transport him to the reserve.

“Oh, really? Sorry. And you know Arnie didn’t mean to scare me. He was just having fun.” A corner of her mouth lifted.

“Right. Ye should have named him Lucifer. I have that video if ye need to be reminded of his lack of manners.”

Pink crept up her cheeks. “Sweet merciful heavens, no. I never want to see that video! Delete it already!”

That was never going to happen. Mostly because she’d had an incredible smile before Arnie had decided to chase her out. “So then what has you flustered, lass?”

“Well, to start with, this cake is kind of heavy.” She nodded toward the confection.

“Och, sorry. My manners are as bad as Arnie’s. Give that over and get in here.” I took the cake from her and stepped back so she could come in.

“Thank you,” she muttered as she stepped through the threshold, already glancing about my house.

“I’m the one to say thank ye. Ye brought me a cake?” I walked past her, taking the bit of sugar to the kitchen.

“I made it,” she answered, her eyes darting this way and that as she looked over the pictures that lined my walls.

“Ye made it?” I looked at it with a whole new appreciation as I set it carefully on the gray granite counter.

“Yep. It’s lemon and raspberry. Nothing big, just something I whipped up after work.” She leaned forward, examining a picture.

“Lass, it’s only eight o’clock. You made that in three hours?” What other hidden talents did the woman have?

“It only took about two,” she said with a shrug. “Is this your mom?”

I joined her at the wall that ran the length of the hall from the entry to the family room and took a closer look at which picture she’d taken an interest in.

“Aye,” I answered with a smile. “That’s the summer before I graduated college.” The summer we’d taken a few weeks in the highlands so I could get to know my new siblings.