a-soft-place-to-fall by Rakhibul hasan (free e books to read .TXT) 📖

down the front. Her freckles were hidden behind some kind of light makeup as were the shadows beneath those dark blue eyes. As lovely as she looked right now, she had been infinitely more beautiful last night when she was naked in his arms.

"Dee Dee's donuts are legendary around here," she said, ushering him into the postage stamp-sized kitchen.

"A baker's dozen," he said. "I had to wait for the powdered sugars."

"You're off to a good start. First day here and you homed right in on the best bakery in town."

"Actually it's not my first day in Shelter Rock. I spent a few weeks here when I was seventeen. I probably put away a few hundred of her raspberry jellies."

"You're kidding!" She turned toward him, coffee filter waving between her fingers. "Aren't you?"

"Strange thing to kid about."

"This is such a tiny town. I'm surprised I don't remember you."

"Warren kept our noses to the grindstone. There wasn't much time to mingle with the townies."

"Still, if you hung around DeeDee's, I'm sure we must've crossed paths at least once." "You probably had so many boyfriends hanging around you wouldn't have noticed

the new guy in town."

"Just one," she said, "and I married him."

The poor bastard was dead and Sam still envied him. "Nancy told me," he said. "I'm sorry."

Her only acknowledgment was a slight nod of her head. "Stay here long enough and you'll know everything there is to know about everyone in town."

"All she told me was that you were a widow."

She faked a shudder. "I hate that word. I keep waiting for someone to call me the Widow Galloway and then I'll be forced to do something violent."

"I've been called a hell of a lot worse than the Widow Galloway."

She looked at him then burst into laughter. If possible, he found himself more charmed than before. Her laugh was rich and full and as real as she was.

"Ouch!" She winced and closed her eyes. "Cheap champagne should come with a warning label."

"Other than the head, is everything okay?" Do you feel it too, Annie Galloway, or am I the only one?

He watched, mesmerized, as color flooded her throat and cheeks.

"Mostly I feel embarrassed," she said. We spent the night together and I don't have the slightest idea what happened between us.

"No reason to be."

She lifted a brow. "I got drunk in my bathtub and set fire to my robe. Sounds like two pretty good reasons to me." I wish I could remember how it felt in your arms.

"You dodged a bullet. You should be happy." I can still smell your perfume on my skin.

"I wouldn't have dodged anything if you hadn't come along."

"I'd like to take the credit but Max was the one who sounded the alarm." .

"I don't think Max put out the fire." My hands are shaking. Can you believe that?I'm thirty-eight years old and my hands are trembling like a girl's. "You saved my life. I'm not sure I can ever thank you enough for that."

"You just did."

"I wasn't very nice to you this morning." "You weren't that bad."

"I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"At least you didn't hit me in the head with a lamp."

"I wish you'd stop making me laugh," she said. "My head might fall off."

Your laugh is as real as you are, Annie Galloway. I wish you'd never stop. "Coffee, aspirin, and donuts. World's best hangover remedy."

She glanced down at the filter in her hand. "Coffee! I knew I was forgetting something. Let me get a pot started for us before the donuts get cold."

He popped a piece of donut in his mouth, then broke off another piece. "Here you go."

She was juggling coffee filter and measuring spoon. "Just a sec," she said. "Let me

–"

"Open," he said. "Grab 'em while they're hot." "I'll just be a –"

He popped the sweet piece of donut into her open mouth and laughed at the way her eyes widened with surprise that was followed quickly by delight. A spot of powdered sugar stained her lower lip and he brushed it away with the tip of his index finger. Her eyes never left his. There was no guile in them, no pretense. Just curiosity and the same touch of wonder he felt growing inside his chest. The atmosphere between them was charged. He swore he could hear the pop and sizzle of neurons dancing in the air.

I want to kiss you, Annie Galloway. Don't turn me away.

He dipped his head toward her. She swayed closer.

Don't ask, she thought. Don't give me the chance to say no.

Their lips touched lightly then touched again. "You taste like sugar," he said.

"You taste like raspberry jam." Were donuts occasions of sin anywhere besides Shelter Rock Cove? She would have to ask Father Luedtke about that.

He reached into the bag and produced another donut. "This one's strawberry." The temptation to indulge was powerful but she stayed strong.

"I'd better not. Once I start I might not stop."

He earned full marks for letting the straight line slide by without the easy double entendre but somehow the temperature in the room still managed to rise another degree.

"You're not one of those lettuce-leaves-and-water types, are you?"

"With these hips? I was issued a weight watchers' warning yesterday and I'm thinking Ceil just might be right."

"This Ceil must have a problem with her eyesight." I know how you look beneath that red sweater, Annie Galloway. I know how you feel.

"Ceil works register one at Yankee Shopper and she doesn't exactly mince words with her customers. She's right. I have put on a few pounds."

He described Ceil down to the mole under her chin.

"That's terrible," she said. "You shouldn't mention things like moles and wattles when you describe a woman."

"Why not?" he asked. "It's not like she doesn't have both." "It's rude."

"Rude? That woman knew more about me than the IRS does." "Ceil does keep a finger on the pulse of Shelter Rock."

"You mean she keeps her eye to the keyhole." "Ceil is a little nosy."

"I'm surprised she didn't ask who I'm sleeping with."

"Good thing I'm not sleeping with anyone or --" Ohmigod, Annie, what have you done?

"Good thing," he said, not missing a beat, "because I'm not either."

Her entire body registered his words in one giant rush of almost ridiculous pleasure. Their eyes met and held above the bag of DeeDee's Donuts. If she didn't know better, she would swear she heard music somewhere in the distance.

"Good thing," she repeated. A very good thing.

Chapter Five

Claudia was beside herself by the time Hall walked into Annie's Flowers and asked if Annie was around. He had seen her in various states of emotional anxiety before but this one was off the chart.

"I haven't seen or heard from her all morning and it's almost ten o'clock," Claudia said, tugging the leaves off a perfectly good yellow rose. "She should have been in here by eight forty-five the latest."

"She didn't call?" he asked, wondering where Claudia's diastolic pressure was right about now.

"Not a word!" Her voice trembled. "And she doesn't even have phone service turned on yet in that ridiculous new house of hers. I told her she should keep the cellular service but she wouldn't listen to me."

She can't afford it, Claudia. She's lucky she has a roof over her head.

"I don't know what on earth Warren was thinking, selling her that miserable little place. I intend to give him a piece of my mind next time he shows his face around here."

"Warren cut her a terrific deal," Hall said, editing much of what he really wanted to say. It was, after all, none of his business. "She seems happy to me."

"She's made a terrible mistake," Claudia said in a tone heavy with foreboding. "She'll never be happy in that place." She ripped another leaf from the rose. "Never!"

He was well acquainted with Claudia's occasion outbursts. He remembered them from his high school days when she could clear the basement of Susan's friends with one lift of her left eyebrow. Just the hint of an outburst was enough to send everyone running. She didn't unnerve him anymore. Mostly he felt sorry for her. She had lost her identity when John died. Everything she was had been tied up in being a wife and mother. She was at loose ends with half of her job description no longer valid and that often manifested itself in close scrutiny of her grown children's behavior. Needless to say, she considered Annie one of her own and watched over her with hawk-like intensity that had only increased since Kevin's death.

Hall wasn't much in the mood for hawk-like intensity that morning.

"Why don't I drive over and see if everything's all right?" he suggested, eager for an easy exit line. He still had a few free hours before he was due at the hospital, a rare occurrence for him, even on a Saturday.

"Would you?" Claudia's face lit up with gratitude and he felt like a louse. Ulterior motives could do that to a man. "I would do it myself but somebody has to watch the store. We're expecting a huge shipment for the Sorenson-Machado wedding tomorrow and I'd better stay here and make sure everything's there."

"My pleasure," he said, meaning every word. "She probably started unpacking and lost track of time."

"I'm sure that's it," Claudia agreed. "Anne is extremely punctual" A beat pause. "Most of the time. I'm sure there's a good reason."

He turned to leave but a hand on his forearm stopped him.

"You went to DeeDee's for us!" Claudia exclaimed, laying claim to the bag of still warm donuts. "Aren't you the sweetest thing?"

#

Since Annie didn't have a kitchen table or chairs yet, she and Sam carried their coffee and donuts out to the front porch where they could enjoy the morning sunshine. The ever-vigilant Max began dancing for donuts and Sam, obviously a pushover, rewarded him with a chunk torn from a glazed whole-wheat.

"That will go well with the pizza I gave him for breakfast," Annie observed. "I don't know how you're going to reintroduce him to plain old dog food."

"I already told him not to get used to pizza and donuts but I don't think he believed me."

She sipped her coffee, savoring the sweet warmth against her tongue. Had there ever been a more perfect morning? Sam Butler was right. All she had needed to vanquish her champagne hangover was caffeine, sugar, and two thousand calories' worth of DeeDee's donuts.

Max finished his whole- wheat then eyed her strawberry jelly with mournful desire. "Don't even think about it," she warned him. "You're as bad as George and Gracie." Sam glanced at her over his mug of black coffee. "George and Gracie?"

"My cats. You must have seen them last night."

He grimaced and gestured toward his right shin. "See them? I still have the scars." "They scratched you?"

"Nothing serious," he said. "I don't think they appreciated sharing the bed with me." "They're a tad territorial."

"Territorial." There was that great smile again. "And Max is just high-spirited." "Let me see."

"It's just a scratch."

"Cat scratches can be nasty. You should put some antiseptic on it." "Don't worry. I'm fine."

"I have some Neosporin in the medicine cabinet. It'll only take a second."

He put his coffee mug on the railing then lifted his right pants leg above the ankle. "See? No big deal." Nothing but a faint red line above his snowy white sock.

"I'd still put something on it if I were you." Max sidled up to Annie and settled down with his head in her lap. "For a while there I thought you'd left Max behind as a housewarming present."

"I tried to take him with me but he refused to leave. I think he's in love with you." I wanted to grab Max and get the hell out of here before