The man nodded sagely. “Heard about Laura’s donut shop. Damn shame. Hope they catch the kids who done it.”
Preacher handed him his credit card. “Have you ever had that kind of trouble here?”
The man swiped his card and handed it back to him. “No. This is a quiet town. Hardly ever any trouble. Once a bunch of kids lit a bonfire that burned down a barn, but they weren’t being malicious.”
“Can you think of anyone who might hold a grudge against Miz Pinchot?”
“Course not. She makes damn fine donuts, and she’s a big Wild Horse supporter.”
“Wild Horse?”
He nodded. “Our high school football team. She gives to the boosters and caters some of their practices for free.” He pushed his glasses up his nose. “I was on varsity back in the day.”
“Oh?” Preacher couldn’t imagine the man playing football. He looked as though a stiff breeze would blow him down. “What position did you play?”
“Tight end. I was fast.” He wrinkled his nose. “Truthfully, I spent most of my time on the bench.”
Preacher nodded. That sounded about right.
“You play?” the man said, eyeing his shoulders.
Preacher nodded. “I was on defense.”
“Name’s Bob Updike,” he said, then raised his fist.
Preacher stared at it for a second then gave the man a fist bump. “Preacher. Everyone calls me Preacher.”
“Well, it was nice meeting you. Tell Laura I’m sorry for her troubles.”
“Will do.” Preacher left, feeling a little bemused and thinking he’d somehow made an unlikely friend.
Back at Laura’s shop, he made quick work of nailing the plywood sheet over the broken window. When he was finished, he stepped inside.
Laura was walking from appliance to appliance, turning off lights and flipping switches on heating lamps.
“Closing early?”
She gave him a tight smile. “I generally close early—you know, I’m here well before dawn. After lunchtime traffic, it’s dead anyway.”
“Did you get hold of your insurance guy?”
“I did,” she said, nodding. “He said he’ll need a copy of the sheriff’s report. I’m almost tempted not to file. My deductible’s nearly as much as replacing the window will cost.”
“If you want to save installation, I can put it in for you.”
She shook her head. “I can’t ask you to do that. You’ve already done so much.”
“You didn’t ask. I’m offering,” he said, quietly.
Her gaze fell away, and her lips pressed together.
“If I’m crowding you, just tell me.”
Her gaze swept back to his. “I don’t mind being…crowded.”
God, did everything she say have to have a sexy connotation? He wasn’t sure his dick could take the strain.
He cleared his throat. “I hope you don’t mind, but I called a friend who knows how to install security systems. She said she can be here in the morning. I told her what you needed, and she scraped up some extra bits of tech we had left over from our installation. She can hook you up with an alarm system and cameras.”
Her eyes widened. “She’d do that?”
Preacher smiled. “We’re still trying to get on the good side of town folk here. It’s the neighborly thing to do.”
She chuckled. “Neighborly, huh?” She drew a deep breath. “I’ll want to pay her for her time.”
“She won’t accept it. Told me on the phone she’d take the occasional coffee and donut if you wanted to compensate her for her time. Her name’s Fig, by the way.”
“That’s unusual.”
“Fredericka, actually, but her last name is Newton…”
Laura laughed. “Are you…and she…”
Preacher gave her a mock scowl. “Do you think I would’ve asked you out if she and I had a thing?”
“Guess not,” she said and dropped her gaze. “Well, I should get home. I have a dinner to whip up.”
Preacher wanted that dinner, but he worried maybe that she was taking on too much. “If tonight’s not good, we can do this another night.”
Her mouth tilted down at the corners. “You don’t want to come?”
Dang, she’d said it that way again. Deliberately, it seemed, by the sparkle in her eyes. He cleared his throat. “I do. But after today…” he said, waving toward the window, “I’d understand if you were too tired.”
“I didn’t do anything. You did it all,” she said, a smile kicking up one side of her mouth.
“Well, I guess I’ll need that card,” Preacher said, feeling his dick predictably begin to stiffen. The thought of spending time alone with her, in her home, even if a table stood between them was enough to get him hard.
She slid her hand into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out a card. “Come whenever. I’ll have everything done around six, but you could hang out with me while I cook. I won’t mind.”
He took the card and slid it into his own back pocket. “I have a couple of skips to track down, but I should be finished early.” And then he stood there a moment too long, not wanting to be the first to turn away.
She took a step toward him, and he started to turn to the side to let her pass, but she stepped in front of him, reached for both sides of his collar, and went up on her tiptoes. The kiss she planted on his lips wasn’t hesitant or shy. She opened her mouth and scooped at his lips. Before he could raise his arms to hold her closer, she settled down on her heels, flashed him a smile, and sailed out the door. “Lock it behind you,” she said with wave over her shoulder.
Preacher’s mouth stretched into a grin as he watched her soft, lush ass twitch while she walked away.
Chapter 4
Laura spoke again to her insurance agent, telling him she’d handle replacing the glass. Then she stopped by the hardware store to have Bob Updike and the woman who worked in his little warehouse, Edna Posick, order her the size window she needed, using the measurements Preacher had taken earlier.
“Sorry to hear about your troubles,” Bob said as he rang her up.
“Thank you, Bob.” She gave him a smile.
“Will you be at the boosters’ club meeting on Thursday?”
“I wouldn’t dream of missing it,” she said, although she might—if a certain someone asked her to change her plans.
“See you then,” he called after her.
“I’ll ring you when your window comes in,” Edna shouted from her counter in the back, and then gave her a wave.
She waved back at the woman and Bob, but her mind was already on the list of items she needed to purchase at the grocery store. She wondered what sort of alcohol Preacher liked to drink and decided she’d let Rhonda at Dem Bones Package Store choose a beer that might appeal to a well-traveled man, along with a red wine and some sort of whiskey—just to cover all the bases. Not to get him drunk. No, she wanted to be sure that, if he made any moves on her, he had all his faculties in working order.
The fact she was already considering sleeping with the man should’ve shocked her to her toes. She’d always been cautious with men, wanting to ascertain their character and intentions before making herself vulnerable in the most profound way. However, men like Dylan Priestley didn’t come along every day, and she was pushing thirty, so it was now or never. In a few more years, her boobs would be droopy, her ass wider, and she might not get another shot like this.