Under Threat by B.J. Daniels (reading the story of the .TXT) 📕

Still, she let him finish picking up the picnic supplies. He smiled at her. “Ready?”

Just about, she thought.

Lucy had been shocked when Chase had stopped by Mary’s and the two had left together. She’d thought Mary was angry with him. Clearly, not enough.

Where had they been? Not far away because he’d brought her back so soon. But something was different. She could sense it, see it in the way they were with each other as he walked her to her door. They seemed closer. She tried to breathe. Her hands ached from being balled up into fists.

Watching from the window of the coffee shop, she saw Mary touch his hand. Chase immediately took hers in his large, sun-browned one. The two looked at each other as if... As if they shared a secret. Surely they weren’t lovers again already. Then Chase kissed her.

Lucy brought her fist down on the counter. Cups rattled and Amy, who’d been cashing out for the day, looked over at her. “Sorry. I was trying to kill a pesky fly.”

Amy didn’t look convinced, but she did go back to what she was doing, leaving Lucy alone to stare out the window at the couple across the street. Chase had stepped closer. His hands were now on her shoulders. Lucy remembered his scent, his touch. He was hers. Not Mary’s.

Chase leaned in and kissed her again before turning back to his pickup. It wasn’t a lover’s kiss. It was too quick for that. But there was no doubt that Mary was no longer angry with him. Something had changed.

She watched him drive away, telling herself to bide her time. She couldn’t go off half-cocked like she had that night at the river. Timing was everything.

A customer came in. She unfisted her hands as she began to make the woman’s coffee order and breathe. But she kept seeing the way Chase had kissed his cowgirl and how Mary had responded. It ate at her heart like acid, and she thought she might retch.

But she held it together as the coffee shop filled with a busload of tourists. Soon Mary would come over for her afternoon caffeine fix. Lucy touched the small white package of powder in her apron pocket. She was ready for her.

Mary tried to concentrate on her work. She had to get this report done. But her mind kept going back to Chase and the picnic and the kisses.

She touched the tip of her tongue to her lower lip and couldn’t help but smile. Some things didn’t change. Being in Chase’s arms again, feeling his lips on hers. The short kiss was a prelude to what could come.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” she said out loud. “You’re only helping him look for his father.” But even as she said it, she knew today they’d crossed one of the barriers she’d erected between them.

She shook her head and went back to work, losing herself in the report until she heard her front door open. Looking up, she saw Lucy holding a cup of coffee from Lone Peak Perk.

“I hope I’m not disturbing you,” she said. “When it got late, I realized you might need this.” She held out the cup.

“What time is it?”

“Five thirty. I’m sorry. You probably don’t want it today.” She started to back out.

“No, it’s just what I need if I hope to get this finished today,” Mary said, rising from her desk. “I lost track of time and I had a big lunch. It’s a wonder I haven’t already dozed off.”

Lucy smiled as she handed her the coffee. “I saw your cowboy come by and pick you up. Fun lunch?”

Mary nodded, grinning in spite of herself. “Very fun.” She reached for her purse.

“I put it on your account.”

She smiled. “Thank you.” She took a sip. “I probably won’t be able to sleep tonight from all this sugar and caffeine this late in the day, but at least I should be able to get this report done now. Thank you again. What would I do without you?”

Chapter 13

Mary thought she was going to die. She’d retched until there was nothing more inside her, and yet her stomach continued to roil.

When it had first hit, she’d rushed to the restroom at the back of her office. She’d thought it might have been the potato salad, but Chased had ice packs around everything in the basket.

Still, she couldn’t imagine what else it could have been. Flu? It seemed early in the season, but it was possible.

After retching a few times, she thought it had passed. The report was almost finished. She wasn’t feeling great. Maybe she should go upstairs to her apartment and lie down for a while.

But it had hit again and again. Now she sat on the cool floor of the office bathroom, wet paper towels held to her forehead, as she waited for another stomach spasm. She couldn’t remember ever feeling this sick, and it scared her. She felt so weak that she didn’t have the strength to get up off this floor, let alone make it up to her third-floor apartment.

She closed her eyes, debating if she could reach her desk where she’d left her cell phone. If she could call her mother...

“Mary? Mary, are you here?”

Relieved and afraid Lucy would leave before she could call her, Mary crawled over to the door to the hallway and, reaching up, her arm trembling, opened it. “Lucy.” Her throat hurt. When her voice came out, the words were barely audible. “Lucy!” she called again, straining to be heard since she knew she couldn’t get to her feet as weak as she was.

For a moment it seemed that Lucy hadn’t heard her. Tears burned her eyes, and she had to fight breaking down and sobbing.

“Mary?”

She heard footfalls and a moment later Lucy was standing over her, looking down at her with an expression of shock.

“I’m sick.”

“I can see that.” Lucy leaned down. “Do you want me to call you an ambulance?”

“No, if