From This Moment On - By Debbi Rawlins Page 0,62
he wasn’t anxious to look too closely, either. Hell, he was only twenty-seven. Too young to be getting serious about a woman. Cole and Jesse had waited until they were in their thirties...
Screw it. He grabbed his phone off the dresser and hit speed dial. He had to try. Even if only to hear her voice. He’d lost track of the number of rings but was prepared to leave a message when she answered.
“Hey,” she said. “You should be asleep.”
“I was. I even set the alarm, then slept through it.”
“Good.”
“Thanks.” He smiled at her sigh, then used his free hand to stack the pillows against the headboard of his king bed.
“You know what I meant so stop it.”
“Sounds like you had a pleasant night at work.”
“It was okay. A few customers mentioned the funeral or apologized for not coming, but overall it wasn’t bad. I’m feeling icky about tomorrow night. I called Sheila, but she has plans and can’t cover for me. I even called Gretchen, totally forgetting that she’s pregnant. Can you believe that? I felt like an ass.”
“Yeah, I believe it.” Still in his boxers, he crawled into bed and lay back against the stacked pillows. “Today I almost branded Josh instead of a calf. He’ll be telling that story for a while.”
Nikki laughed. “I can’t wait for tomorrow. I wish you were here now.”
“Me, too. Want me to try climbing up to your bedroom window?”
“Um, you have experience doing that sort of thing?”
“No,” he drawled out the word. “Not me. I’d rather charm my way in.” His teasing was met with a long stretch of silence. “You know I’m joking, right?”
“Yes.” She tried to brush it off with a laugh, but he knew he’d hit a nerve.
Trace scrubbed at his face. She’d seen him casually flirting with the guests, or more like humoring them when they flirted because lately he hadn’t been into that whole thing. And God only knew what kind of stories she’d heard about him from Sam or any of the other guys who hung out at the Watering Hole. They could’ve said something jokingly not knowing it mattered. “You haven’t told me what Matt said about our late night. He seem cool with it?”
She let out an exasperated sigh, which oddly made her sound more relaxed. “He asked if I needed you to babysit me while he’s in Dallas.”
Trace chuckled, relieved Matt could joke about it. “I guess we can assume Rachel knows, too. Unless you asked him to keep it quiet.”
“I didn’t say anything.” She hesitated. “You could come over right now and spend the night and I wouldn’t care who saw you. Rachel does it all the time. The only reason I won’t let you is that you need your sleep.”
He swung his legs out of bed, glancing at the clock, knowing he could be there by 2:10 a.m., five minutes later if he shaved first. “I got lots of sleep. Almost six hours.”
“Not enough. I plan on totally wearing you out tomorrow night, or technically it’s tonight. Hey, what are you doing? Sounds like you’re—” Nikki’s soft laugh was pure disbelief. “You are not driving over here.”
“Come on now, you just said—”
“God, you can’t be that horny. I’m sure you can wait a few more hours.”
He entered the bathroom, his enthusiasm waning. Man, she really did think he was only in this for the sex. This was pretty messed up. He thought about how that boy Garrett had treated her and the strange Salina Gazette remark. Maybe it was time for him to man up, publicly claim her.
“Trace? You still there?”
“Yeah, sorry.”
“I figured you fell asleep on me.”
“Nah, just thinking.” He rubbed his chest. “You’re probably right, though. We should both get some rest. You said Matt’s going to be in Dallas only one night?”
“He has to be back in time for the reading of Wallace’s will,” she muttered.
“I take it you have to be present.”
“According to Matt, I do.”
Trace decided to drop the subject. No use getting her riled. “Are you in bed now?”
“Yes. You?”
“I’ll be crawling in between the sheets in two seconds.” He turned off the bathroom light, picturing how she’d look with her silky dark hair spread out over a pillow. “Just so you know...I wasn’t coming over for a booty call.” He hesitated. Oh, hell, it wouldn’t kill him to say the words. “I miss you, Nikki.”
* * *
CUSTOMERS KEPT POURING in to the Watering Hole, which made the night go by quickly. But no