Deserving Cora (The Refuge Book 4) by Susan Stoker

Author:Susan Stoker [Stoker, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stoker Aces Production, LLC
Published: 2023-11-13T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“I’m so sorry!” Alaska said mournfully when Cora walked into the lodge later that evening.

Cora frowned at the angst in the woman’s voice. She didn’t like it. Not at all.

She’d actually been able to relax with Pipe earlier. They’d done just what he’d suggested…gone back to his cabin and sat on the rooftop deck, eating sandwiches he’d made and talking about Lara. Eventually, that conversation had morphed into talking about herself. What she liked to do in her free time, her job at the preschool, the best dive restaurants in DC.

They’d sat in the comfortable chairs, but Pipe had moved the table that sat between them and pulled his chair right next to hers. After they’d eaten, he’d held her hand, and Cora swore she could still feel the weight of his thumb moving over the back of her hand even now. It wasn’t until they’d stood up to head back down the stairs that Pipe had taken her into his arms and kissed her. It had been a tender kiss, one that made Cora long for more.

By dinnertime, she’d been looking forward to heading up to the lodge for the taco bar Robert was putting together for the guests and staff. It was hard to believe how…nice everyone was. In her experience, she never really fit in with groups of people, and women rarely seemed interested in getting to know her.

But Alaska, Henley, Ryan, and Reese, along with the others she’d met so far, were the opposite. They seemed happy to get to know her. In some ways, Cora felt as if she was in an alternate dimension. Like any moment the bubble would burst and everyone would see the “real” Cora and turn up their noses at her.

As soon as she’d walked into the lodge, Alaska had made a beeline for her and immediately apologized.

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” Cora told her.

“I do! I shouldn’t have ignored your emails and your phone message.”

“It’s okay.”

“In my defense, we get several emails a week from people who want to hire the guys. And they don’t do that. I mean, they could, because they’re damn good at it. I should know. But I’ve never even thought about showing any of the emails to Drake because it wasn’t something the men were considering. I just skim them quickly and delete.” She looked miserable at that admission. “But if I’d taken the time to read your emails more carefully, maybe I would’ve mentioned it to Drake and the others.”

“I get it, I do,” Cora told her, hating that Alaska seemed so upset.

“I talked to Drake about it, and while it doesn’t help your situation, we agreed that I’d put any emails of that kind, from people wanting to hire the guys because of their backgrounds, in a separate folder, and Drake or someone else would review them and decide how to proceed.”

“Are you…Never mind,” Cora said, changing her mind about asking the question that was on the tip of her tongue.

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