Page 22 of Rocky Mountain Devil

“I kissed you this afternoon,” he grumbled.

“Didn’t count,” she said primly, walking down the steps to her apartment.

“It didn’t count? What the hell’re you talking about?”

She unlocked the door then smiled up at him. “We weren’t dating then.”

Troublemaker. He let her have this one.

“Call me,” he ordered. He watched until she closed the door and locked it, then wandered back to his truck whistling happily.

Yeah, there were all sorts of things they needed to figure out, and tonight they’d pretty much ignored anything big that needed to be discussed. But it still seemed as if it’d been the right thing to do.

They’d needed a dose ofthem. A time to remember they liked each other as people. As friends.

Yup, it had been a fine evening, and a good start to the next stage of their relationship. Rafe ignored all the things that needed to be done back at the ranch. Instead he headed back to his apartment and crawled into bed feeling pretty damn satisfied.

Full steam ahead. That was the plan.

Nowhere in the fucking plan was someone supposed to knock on his fucking door at six a.m.

Rafe stumbled out of bed, cursing lightly. Odds were it was his father, because Gabe didn’t expect him to be up. It had to be Ben, and Rafe grumbled his disapproval. Pissed off and angry wasnotthe way he wanted to resume interaction with the man.

Except, waking up someone who thought they got to sleep in was kind of the perfect way to get thepissed off and angryresults.

Rafe didn’t bother to pull on any clothes. Just stomped his way to the front entrance in his boxers and yanked the door open, ready to offer his opinion on the bullshit situation in no uncertain terms.

“What the f—?”

He nearly swallowed his tongue to stop before he said more, because it wasn’t Ben standing on the steps.

It was Jeff Lawson, Laurel’s mystery man.

Chapter Five

Jeff held forward a familiar red Tim Hortons cup, extra large. “Coffee?”

Rafe stood there, not quite believing his eyes.

“I brought cream and sugar. And doughnuts.” Jeff lifted his other hand, a paper bag in his grip.

Confusion set in harder. Rafe was a little iffy on whether he was awake or dreaming. “Did I know you were coming over?”

“No. I thought it would be a good idea to get to know some of the people in the community.”

“And you decided to start with me.”

Jeff nodded, seemingly not one bit concerned at having shown up unexpected and uninvited. He waited patiently as if him being there was the most logical thing in the world, which meant he was either the stupidest man on earth, or the smartest son of a bitch.

Rafe shrugged, then turned his back and retreated into his apartment. “Come on in.”

He ignored his guest and headed to his bedroom, grabbing jeans off the back of the chair where he’d tossed them the previous night. It only took a second to haul a dark T-shirt over his head before dragging a hand through his hair and returning to the living room.

Jeff had made himself at home. Well, as much as he could considering everything Rafe owned was in boxes except for two wooden chairs and an old wooden table that were so decrepit he hadn’t bothered to take them with him in the first place.

Still the man was happily setting out the food as if on fancy china. “I brought a bunch of breakfast sandwiches, as well. Figured you probably hadn’t eaten yet.”

“Not yet.” Rafe didn’t see much reason to be polite. “By this time most days I’d already be in the fields, but since you caught me on my morning off, appreciate it. I guess.”