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plans fell through.”

Vin watched the love of his life as she began clearing the table.

When she laughed, it lit up her whole face and made his stomach

tingly. She’d managed to find a solution to a huge problem without

even breaking a sweat, and she looked fucking hot doing it, too.

“Earth to Vin? Where’d you go?” Roman snapped his fingers in

front of Vin’s face to get his attention.

“Sorry, I was daydreaming I guess.”

The wry grin on Roman’s face irritated him. “I can just imagine

who you’re daydreaming about.”

Once they were alone in the dining room, Roman winked at him

and said, “Lauren’s looking damn fine all grown up, huh?”

Fighting back a snarl, he tipped his head in acknowledgement.

“She’s always been beautiful. Since the first moment we met her.”

“Yeah, but she really grew into her curves, and damn, she has a

hell of a great ass now.”

“Can it, Roman. You’ve got a woman,” Vin snapped.

“Yeah, I do, and it’s about damn time you did, too. I remember

how tight the two of you were when I first came to the ranch, and I

see the way you still look at her when she’s not looking.”

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Vin shrugged, “It’s nothing, really. She’s not interested. That

bridge burned long ago.” Standing, he collected the last couple of

dishes from the table. “You’d better go find the address book, and a

copy of Lacy’s guest list. We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”

He turned away too fast for Roman to respond, but he could have

sworn he heard his younger brother laughing at him as he headed into

the kitchen. Clearly he wasn’t very good at hiding his feelings if

Roman picked up on them that easily.

Lauren was wiping down the countertop while Marilyn loaded

the dishwasher when Vin stepped into the kitchen. A sense of deja vu

swept over him. How many times had he helped clear the table from

a meal while other family members helped with cleanup? Lauren

might be a couple of decades older now, but that didn’t dim her

beauty in his eyes.

Her shoulder-length blonde hair was pulled up on top with a

barrette in the shape of a dragonfly, leaving just a few wispy pieces

dancing over the nape of her neck. His lips ached to taste her there,

and see if she still shivered with anticipation under his touch.

Years ago, she’d offered herself to him without hesitation, but

now she could barely stand to be in the same room with him. The old

saying, “hindsight’s 20/20”, popped into his brain, and guilt made

him queasy. If he could only jump back in time to the day in the barn

when he sent her away, he’d change everything.

“Hey Vinnie, can I have the dish now? The leftover biscuits are

plenty cold with you waving them around in the breeze like that,”

Lauren teased. Her full lips were curled up in a sassy smile, and her

hand was planted on her hip as she waited for him to come back to

reality.

“I can put them away,” he protested, reaching for the bag she

held in her hand. “You cooked; I can help clean up.”

“Thanks.”

They were both silent while they worked, but Vin was dying to

get her alone and question her about her life since he’d seen her.

They’d missed out on so much time together, and now that she’d

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agreed to a truce, he was determined to rebuild their friendship if not

their relationship.

The dishwasher clicked closed, and Marilyn turned it on before

heaving a big sigh. “I think I’m going to lie down for a bit before I

help you make those phone calls. I seem to have less and less energy

lately.”

Vin looked at her curiously, “Is everything okay? Maybe we

should get you in to see the doc, or better yet, Mark can look at you

when he comes out to check up on Destiny.”

Waving him off, Marilyn tsked, “I’m just fine. Nothing a little

rest can’t take care of. My bones aren’t as young as they used to be.”

“And yet you’re still pretty as an angel,” Roman called out

stepping into the kitchen. Marilyn laughed and shook her head at his

compliment.

“Only if the devil suddenly began handing out fiery halos,” she

joked back. Patting Vin and then Lauren, she thanked them for

finishing the clean-up and then disappeared in the direction of her

apartment.

Roman took a seat at the island on a bar stool in front of them.

“So, I found the guest list, and the address book, but I’m having

second thoughts. Lacy invited a bunch of people from Chicago, what

if they were planning on coming?”

“That’s why we need to get on the ball and start making calls.

They need time to cancel their plans. Did any of them RSVP?”

Lauren asked.

“I don’t know. The list doesn’t say anything about RSVP,”

Roman answered looking confused.

“Maybe we should talk to Drannon before we cancel…” Vin’s

words drifted off as they all considered the problem. If they weren’t

able to get ahold of the guests, they’d be showing up for a wedding

with no bride and groom. And what if Lacy didn’t take to the idea of

an elopement like they hoped.

“Okay, I’ll go find Drannon and tell him our plan. If it’s a go,

we’ll get started on phone calls. You two can finish cleaning the

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kitchen,” Lauren said, tossing a towel to Roman on her way out the

door.

Cursing, Roman joined him at the sink. “I knew I should have

stayed in the study for a while. I hate doing dishes.”

“Afraid you’ll get dishpan hands?” Vin teased.

“More like I’m afraid someone will remember I know how to do

it, and suddenly, there will be a chore chart on the fridge again like

when we were kids.”

“Remember that time that Nolan blacked out his name with a

marker so that he could say he didn’t have any chores on the list?”

Roman laughed. “Oh yeah! Abe gave him a week of mucking

stalls by himself as punishment. Have you heard from him?”

Vin shook his head. “Not since Abe died. His girl was a

expecting their first baby, so they couldn’t fly in for the funeral. I

don’t even know if they had a boy or girl.”

“Where are they living now?”

“Last I knew, they were in Phoenix. I’ll have to check the list

and see if he RSVP’d for the wedding.”

Vin said, “It would be nice to see him.”

“One of these days we’ll have to put together a Crawley Creek

family reunion,” Roman suggested, his eyes suddenly sparkling with

a new plan. “We can invite all of the foster kids that lived here at one

time or another, and they can bring their families out for a day of

reminiscing.”

Vin’s gut twisted. “Not everyone looks back on that time with

fond memories. Besides, how would we track them all down?”

“Records, internet searches, social media. You’d be surprised

how easy it is to find someone these days.”

“Well, put it on the back burner, because right now, we’ve got

enough on our plates. If the rain doesn’t stop, that back pasture will

flood. We need to think about bringing the herd in closer so they

don’t get cut off by high water.”

“We were already planning on rounding them up since we’re

leaving Sunday for that cattle auction.” Roman dropped his towel on

the counter after he dried the last pan. “We’ll just do it a little early.”

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“Let me know if you need help; otherwise, I’ll be in the study

with Lauren.”

Roman’s eyes narrowed, “I’ll be sure to knock before I come

in.”

“It’s not like that, Romeo.”

“Sure, and I’m a virgin,” Roman said with a snort.

Vin grimaced and shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. She ain’t

interested.”

“Only because you jerked her around before you left for boot

camp. Seriously, just put on your big girl panties and deal with your

issues man.”

“The world isn’t sunshine and rainbows, bro. I can’t just make it

happen like that.”

For just a moment, Roman’s expression grew serious. “I get it,

Vin. You lost her because you had to go in the Marines, and then you

lost a friend while you were over there, only to come back and lose

your freedom because of something stupid. Don’t lose the chance to

make it right with Lauren.” The unusually wise words caught Vin off

guard and he could only look on dumbly as Roman headed for the

door softly singing. “Vincent and Lauren sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-

N-G…”

Vin groaned as his brother’s lack of maturity shined forth. He

was going to have to hurry up and have a serious talk with Lauren

before she overheard the teasing. It would only upset her more, and

the last thing he needed was her avoiding him again. Roman was

absolutely right about one thing, it was time to face his issues.

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Lauren’s ears were actually burning from being on the phone for

so long. If she never picked up a phone again it would be too soon.

The tedium of making call after call and repeating the same sad

speech about the weather and the change of wedding plans was

making the day seem even more depressing. The one high point had

been when they found out the airport in Grand Forks was cancelling

all flights due to weather. No one was flying in or out, so that eased

their anxiety about upsetting travelers with the change in plans.

The best part of the whole project was sitting across from Vin

who somehow managed to look sexy as sin while talking into a cell

phone.

He’d been her first in so many ways. Her first kiss, her first love,

the first man to take her body, and even her first broken heart. Could

she ever really let that spark she felt for him die? Just sitting near him

had her body on high alert. The scent of motor oil clung to his clothes

because of the job he did, but it didn’t mask the musky scent that was

his alone.

The years had etched lines around his eyes and mouth, but

somehow the marks just made him look more like the bad boy of her

fantasies. She knew that his lips were as soft as silk, and his hands

were large and firm when they gripped a woman’s hips. His cock was

large, but not uncomfortably so, just right really. She’d never found a

vibrator that lived up to him, but she’d chalked it up to lack of

interest.

Now, sitting here with him, she realized that she was most

definitely still interested physically. It was her heart that resisted

Lori King

letting him in. It had taken too long to recover from the first time he

broke it to risk having him do it again. Besides, he was a big ranch

owner now, why would he still be interested?

“I reached or left voicemails for all but eleven of mine. How did

you do?” Vin said. She jumped at the sudden interruption in her

musings and felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment.

“Uh, I still have a dozen to call, but so far, there are only a

couple I couldn’t get voicemail for at least. I guess we’ll retry those

numbers again later tonight.” She put her notepad and cell phone

down on the coffee table between them and rubbed her hand over the

back of her neck. The muscles had grown tense in the last two hours.

Vin watched her, and she grew uncomfortable under his scrutiny.

“What?”

“Nothing, you just looked like you were in pain.”

“I’m fine.”

A frown darkened his face, and he slowly put his stuff down

before standing. “Don’t lie to me. I’ve always hated it when you lied

to me. Your shoulders are aching.”

He moved to stand behind her position on the chaise lounge, and

reached for her shoulders. Immediately, she balked. “What are you

doing?”

“Rubbing your shoulders,” he said firmly, pulling her back until

he could get a comfortable grip. His powerful hands began

massaging her ever so gently, and she fought to hold back a sigh of

relief.

“I’m really fine. I promise,” she murmured.

“You will be.” Vin stroked his thumb up and down the back of

her neck. She dropped her chin to her chest giving him better access,

and he obliged her by massaging the tight knots out of her muscles.

“I seem to recall doing this for you a lot after late night study

sessions.”

“Yeah, for some reason, Chemistry always made me tense.” She

finally let herself melt into the movements instead of fighting them.

Like nothing had changed, he was comforting her in the most

innocent way possible, but her body was starting to go haywire.

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When he bent and pressed a kiss to the back of her neck, she