Read Online Lone Star Baby (McCabe Multiples Book 5) by CATHY GILLEN THACKER - Free Book Online Page B

conversation to more neutral territory. When they finished eating, she thanked him again for dinner as they cleared away the mess. Adding facetiously, “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to get on my good side.”
    Gavin carried the trash outside to the cans. “That would imply you have a bad side.”
    Violet lingered in the doorway, admiring the silhouette he cast. Broad shoulders, trim waist, cute butt, long muscular legs beneath the jeans. What was not to like?
    “You don’t.” He removed the tarp from the back of his truck.
    Violet had been put in the Angel category once. Not again. “Sure I do,” she vowed, matter-of-fact.
    Together they carried in the boxes, then went back for more.
    He slanted her a skeptical glance. “You have flaws?”
    With a pensive sigh, she stacked shelving poles in the corner, out of the way. “Plenty of them.”
    He followed suit, dusted off his hands. “List ’em.”
    Trying not to notice how he towered over her whenever they stood side by side, she led the way up the steps to the Conestoga wagon. Throwing back the flap, she pointed to the stacks of clothes on her bed. “I’m hopelessly messy.”
    He shrugged. “I’ve heard of worse things.”
    Deciding she might as well carry some of the discarded clothing down to the sofa, she grabbed an armload. Looking not the least bit put off, Gavin followed suit.
    “I really can’t cook all that well,” Violet continued affably. And that was something she intended to remedy now that she had a few months off ahead of her.
    Another shrug. “Join the club.”
    She picked up two suitcases and brought those down the stairs, too. “I’m hopelessly idealistic.”
    Eyes narrowing, Gavin continued giving her a hand. “Yeah. I can see where that would be a problem,” he allowed, more seriously now.
    “Because you’re cynical to a fault.”
    He followed her back up to her bedroom, looking casually at home once again. “Practical,” he corrected, “and it’s a virtue.”
    Violet plucked several pairs of shoes from the floor and tossed them through the opening onto the floor below. “Not if you never even
hope
for anything to work out exactly the way you wish.”
    He was so tall he had to bend his head to keep from hitting the canvas wagon top. Folding his arms in front of him, he theorized. “Maybe I’ve just learned to settle for whatever I can get and be happy with that.”
    “How come?” she asked, suddenly feeling self-conscious.
    “Part of it probably goes back to my parents dying in that accident when I was about to start medical school.”
    That tragedy had reverberated throughout Laramie County and she studied the lingering sadness in his expression. “And the rest?”
    “No one gets it all, Violet,” he said, his tone low and rough.
    “My parents have. They have a love that’s endured. Six daughters. Four sons-in-law and grandchildren. Extended family. Thriving careers. A nice home.” She sighed wistfully. “Four of my sisters are pretty happy now, too. And Poppy will be, once she and Trace get the family they want.”
    Gavin caught her hand in his, held her when she would have run. “Whereas you...?”
    Tipping her head back, she took a deep breath. “Lost—”
and let down
“—the only man I ever loved.”
    He was silent, considering.
    Gently, he stroked his thumb across the back of the hand he held. His eyes probed hers. “So you don’t think you could ever love again?”
    Could? It was more a question of
would
. Violet bit her lip. Not sure she wanted to risk that kind of heartache. Not sure she could go on indefinitely without romantic love, either. And still have any kind of real happiness, anyway. “I’m not sure I
want
to love again,” she said finally.
    Clearly not the answer the man in front of her was looking for. Leveraging his grip on her hand, Gavin pulled her against him. “Then how about just having an affair?” he asked huskily.
    * * *
    A N AFFAIR WAS NOT what Gavin