Read Online Man Of Few Words by Ursula Whistler - Free Book Online

were amazing once. Let’s try again.”
    She looked at him and then her feet. When she lifted her head, a new determination filled her eyes. “Okay, but there’s a test.”
    He’d do whatever it took to keep her in his life. As corny as it sounded to him when he said it to her earlier, he did consider this a gift. He had a chance to rectify a mistake. No test was too difficult for him to handle. “Bring it on. I can do it.”
    “Oh, Duff, I’m not so sure. I come with some heavy baggage.”
    He wouldn’t let her negative attitude deter him. No matter what Kirsten thought of him, he knew he could handle anything. Eleven years might have made her forget what made him special, but he’d show her. After that, she’d understand why he was worth a second chance.

Chapter Six
    Kirsten took a deep breath before she got out of Duff’s car that he’d pulled into the driveway of her house. He’d eagerly accepted her challenge without knowing exactly what she proposed. All she’d said was that it required hands-on work and construction skills. What she didn’t tell him was the other person who would be involved.
    Duff commented on the raised house her parents had bought five years before when her father decided to retire. “This is a nice house. All yours?”
    “Yeah. Dad left it to me in the will he wrote after my mom died. Of course, he also left directions on how to sell it so that I could move to wherever I needed. You know my dad, career specialist.” Sarcasm seeped out.
    “I guess he didn’t think you should stay here and be a professor.”
    “I’ve never seen my father so spitting angry when I showed up with all my luggage to help him with the cancer treatments. He yelled at me off and on for an entire day.”
    “Holy hell. Really?”
    She dug her keys out of her purse and went around the back of the house since she the front steps were in bad shape. Duff needed to know he’d be helping install a new staircase, but she didn’t interrupt the story. “No exaggeration. He calmed down when I told him that I had a part time job and wouldn’t be losing any skills or knowledge. He remained an ungrateful sonofabitch until the last month of his life.”
    “He didn’t like you seeing him weak.”
    “Probably not. We didn’t discuss it.” She took the last few steps and frowned. The blinds were lowered, which meant that none of the sunshine had warmed the house. Boomer wouldn’t like that. “You sure about helping out with construction today? I shouldn’t have called it a test. It’s not. It’s just that I have to get things done on the weekends with so much of my time during the week being dedicated to the job.”
    “Yeah. Did I mention that I work for food?”
    “No, but I do have that in the house.” Before she pushed open the door, she said, “Let me call out in case Suzy isn’t dressed. She rents a room from me.” With her head poked inside, she yelled. “No answer. We’re safe.” As soon as she was inside, she raised the blinds and thanked her parents for installing the kind that were sandwiched between panes of glass. “Welcome to my home.”
    “I’m embarrassed to live how I do. This is swanky.”
    She grinned. The place was filled with leather furniture and decorated with art and items from all the places her father had been in his years in the service. On one wall, a large sculpture of a helicopter hung—a retirement gift. She knew she’d never move it, along with her father’s sword and flight helmet. It was as close to a shrine as anyone could get. “I can’t take credit for it.”
    “Still. You didn’t dismantle it. Now, what did you need help doing?”
    “Um, building all new steps out front. My dad’s b…”
    Kirsten turned her head as a naked man backed into the room as he yelled down the hallway, “Just a quick snack, and I’ll be back to have more of you.” When he turned, she couldn’t keep her eyes from his aroused penis.
    Duff wasn’t going to have any of