West Coast Happily-Ever-After Series: Books 1-3 (Her Forever Cowboy, Never Say Never, Caleb's Christmas Wish) by Debra Salonen

Author:Debra Salonen [Salonen, Debra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781944300371
Publisher: Loner Llama Press
Published: 2018-06-08T18:30:00+00:00

Four hours later, Joe was filthy, tired and his shoulders felt like someone had driven over them. For the past two hours, he’d done nothing but ferry boxes from the attic to the storage room behind the bar.

“Isn’t it beer time, yet?”

Lisa, who looked just as grimy as Joe felt, laughed. “Sure, why not? I think you earned it.”

She walked to the hole where the ladder stood.

“Wait,” Joe said. “Let me go first so I can hold the ladder for you.”

She paused for half a second then shook her head and disappeared backward down the opening. Just as she had a dozen or more times that day. He chuckled under his breath.

Lisa was safely on the ground looking up. “Thanks for the offer, but you know me—the independent type.” She’d taken off the cotton scarf she’d tied around her head and was using it to wipe some of the grime off her face.

Joe heard a muffled voice, then a second later she looked up at him and said, “Brandon wants to practice filming an action shot, okay?”

The college students had left several hours earlier and Joe had put Brandon in charge of keeping the log. A boring job, but an important one. “Sure. Tell Martin to starting pouring that cold one. Here I come.”

He kicked the square hatch that fit into the frame closer to the opening, then lowered his feet to the second rung of the ladder—not the top, recalling Lisa’s stern chastisement to the interns earlier.

Once he had his balance, he tugged the hatch in place and paused to catch his breath.

“There,” he said. “Good as…”

He had no sense of falling until he hit the floor with his shoulder and cheek. His neck made a horrible sound—or was that cracking noise from the ladder that fell on him?

All he truly was aware of was Lisa’s frightened cry, “Joe. Oh, God, no. Joe…” Then, her hands were touching his face. He liked her touch. He liked her. Why hadn’t he told her that?

The hubbub that ensued included arguing over who would ride in the ambulance with him. Joe settled that by not letting go of Lisa’s hand—even when the paramedics told him he had to. Joe pretended to be unconscious.

He was pretty sure he was going to live, but the horrible throbbing in his shoulder could mean something was broken. And his head was ringing, too. He wasn’t looking forward to the pain he’d feel after the shock wore off, but, at least, Lisa was by his side.

“Joe,” she said in a soft voice, her lips nearly brushing his ear. “Can you hear me, sweetheart?”

Sweetheart? Had she ever called him that before? No, he didn’t think so. God, maybe he was worse off than he thought.

Her grip on his hand tightened. “Listen. I know you’re going to be just fine, but when something like this happens it makes a person realize that anything could happen and what you planned to do or say somewhere down the line might not get done or said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.