Read Online Close Enough to Touch by Victoria Dahl - Free Book Online

satisfaction.
    * * *
    “W ELL , NOW ,” S HANE drawled when he stepped up to join Cole at the bar. “Somebody
likes playing with fire.”
    Cole took a swig from his waiting beer and shot a look at the
saloon door that had just closed behind Grace. “I’m not playing with
anything.”
    “Oh, but you’d like to. By the way, you’ve got a little drool
on your chin. Might want to wipe that off.”
    Cole rolled his eyes.
    “You really like that girl? She looks kind of tough.”
    “She is tough,” he said, smiling at the memory of her kicking
the shit out of her own bag.
    “She looks like she could cut my balls off without
flinching.”
    “As long as it’s your balls she’s cutting and not mine, she can
amuse herself any way she likes.”
    Shane shook his head. “To each his own, brother. I’m just
saying there are plenty of nice girls around here who you don’t have to wear a
cup around. That woman looks like trouble.”
    Hell, yeah, she looked like trouble. Cole’s eyes skimmed over
the room, taking in only vague impressions of the women at the tables. They all
looked so dull. Nice, yes. And normal. Blondes and brunettes and the occasional
redhead. Not a strand of purple among them. No smoky-black eyeliner that made
them look dangerous and vulnerable all at the same time. No black and gray and
blue outfits that covered everything but somehow looked sexy as hell.
    Yeah, Grace looked tough. Which had made it that much sweeter
when her black-brown eyes had softened for a moment. When she’d looked up at him
and swayed the tiniest bit closer. Her lips had parted as if she’d needed more
room to draw a breath.
    Cole cleared his throat and shifted on the barstool, wondering
if he really did have drool on his chin, because his mouth was sure as hell
watering. He downed his beer and signaled for another. Jenny winked and grabbed
another mug.
    “What do you hear about Grace?” he asked when she brought his
second beer.
    “Cole Rawlins, are you fishing for information about another
woman from your ex-girlfriend? Don’t you think
that’s a little rude?”
    He smiled at her mock outrage. “We dated for all of two
minutes. Now, spill it.”
    “Grace, huh?” Her eyes sparkled. “She doesn’t exactly seem like
your type, Cole.”
    “No?” He didn’t bother correcting her. He wasn’t sure he had a
type, but girls like Grace just pushed his buttons. Or they’d pushed the hell
out of his buttons thirteen years ago. As often as he’d been able to talk them
into it.
    “She just got into town yesterday, but you know that already,
right?”
    “Yeah.”
    “She’s Rayleen’s niece from L.A. A makeup artist.”
    That got his attention. Maybe she was part of the film industry
after all. Shit. “A makeup artist? Like special effects and stuff? In the
movies?”
    Jenny frowned. “No, I think the kind that make women beautiful.
Maybe she worked with models? She just got a job with Eve Hill, and I don’t
think Eve would have any demand for zombie makeup.”
    Cole felt a warm wash of relief. She wasn’t with a film crew.
She wasn’t part of that world.
    And no wonder she’d been so embarrassed about her smeared
makeup that morning. He’d have to tease her about it now. See if he could get a
rise out of her.
    He chuckled at the thought. Not if he could get a rise out of her, but just how pissed off he could make her.
    “Cole?” Jenny said softly. “You’re smiling to yourself. You
really like this girl?”
    “Hardly know her,” he responded.
    “Yeah,” she huffed. “And that usually deters men, right? How’s
your leg?”
    He pressed his hand to his thigh automatically, then realized
he hadn’t thought about it once since the moment he’d seen Grace sitting at the
bar. He hadn’t even thought about it when he’d taken a seat, and usually he had
to concentrate on not wincing. “Great,” he answered, telling the lie he always
told.
    “Back to normal?”
    “Just about.”
    “Well, you look