Read Online Finding Home (Montana Born Homecoming Book 2) by Roxanne Snopek - Free Book Online

chance to breathe, but it meant the same thing.
    Logan’s hand rested lightly at the small of her back, a touch she felt all the way to her toes.
    It was just a casual pub meal. They wouldn’t be here long. And it did smell fantastic.
    “My stomach’s growling,” she confessed.
    “Good.” Logan gave her the private smile she remembered, the one that made her feel like she was the only one that mattered. “I can’t wait to feed you.”
    Heads turned as they entered and several calls of “Hey, Staff,” drifted toward them. A small group of men were watching football on the big screen mounted in the corner, feet propped on chairs, arms loose, comfortable.
    Logan’s expression changed from the smile he gave her to his everyone-else smile, but he tightened his arm around her.
    A couple of women sitting at the bar preened, their hungry eyes traveling up and down. When he ignored them, they took momentary measure of her before turning back to their drinks.
    She’d seen that desire aimed at him before. Logan was the cutest boy in high school. The intervening years had added height and bulk, a touch of silver in his hair, a few lines around that easy grin, until that cute boy had turned into the full-grown, hard-bodied, breathtaking male who was standing in front of her, holding out a chair.
    And he was with her.
    “Don’t worry about those two. They’re buckle-bunnies, on the hunt for cowboys.”
    “I’m not worried,” she said, quickly taking her seat.
    Besides the football fans and the cougars at the bar, the place was full of couples.
    “You probably don’t remember Skye Wolcott.” He gestured discreetly. “She was a year behind us. She’s the secretary at Marietta High. But I’m sure you recognize Chase Goodwin, the guy she’s with. Every girl in school was after him.”
    “I wasn’t. I don’t recall him at all.”
    There were no other guys in school, where she was concerned.
    “Well, don’t you just know the right thing to say?” The private smile was back. “Goodwin played pro ball until, oh, not long ago, I guess. Baseball, though, not football. His kid brother, Flynn, plays for the Marietta Grizzlies. Flynn’s also working on your house. You met him earlier.”
    The bell over the door tinkled and a woman came in, headed straight for the bar where she grabbed the man behind it and planted a big kiss on him.
    “Hey, Lorelai,” called Logan. “Let the man work.”
    Lorelai Grey, he explained, and the bar owner, Reese Kendrick.
    “He owns the place, inherited it from her father. Long story.”
    With an obviously happy ending, thought Samara.
    Logan pointed out other Marietta residents.
    So many couples.
    Some new hopefuls, their faces shining with anticipation, holding hands across the table, heat smoldering between them. Others obviously established, deep in conversation, comfortable enough to spear tastes from the other’s plate.
    One couple in a booth cast only tight-lipped, careful glances at each other. He had two empty beer glasses in front of him.
    “Who are those two?”
    “Noelle Winslow, from a big spread north of town. Her father passed away recently. That’s Matthew Locke, who managed the place. She never much liked him, but she’s going to need him now.”
    Sam wondered if there was more tension between them than a simple like or dislike relationship would warrant. They looked deeply connected but deeply conflicted about it.
    Or maybe she was imagining things.
    Loneliness struck hard and fast, as if she hadn’t had years to adjust. She missed it, all of it. The heady excitement, the comfortable togetherness, even those horrible times of feeling so far away from each other you don’t know how, or even if, you can find your way back.
    Practically, she missed having someone at her back, knowing that it didn’t all fall on her, every hour, every day, every month, every task.
    But it was the everyday intimacy that left a gaping hole. The teasing