1001 Dark Nights Read Online Free PDF Page A

here?”
    “Late yesterday afternoon.” She unlocked the camper door. “After you.”
    Sutton hadn’t known what to expect when he’d stepped inside, so the vibrant color scheme filled in the blanks about what kind of person London was in the hours off the dirt.
    Crafting stuff covered every inch of surface area across the small table. “I function in creative chaos and don’t normally have visitors.”
    “What’d the smashed coffee pot on the ground outside do to get tossed out?”
    “Quit working.”
    “Ah.” He leaned against the wall while she packed things away. “You’re lucky you’ve got this much space. Bad thing about bein’ on the road is there’s never enough room in the living quarters of a horse trailer.”
    “That’s why my mom insisted I get this. She has no problem hauling horses, but she insists on sleeping in a hotel.”
    “Smart lady.”
    “So, Sutton, what do you do during the day at home since you aren’t training or on the road?”
    “Physical therapy some days,” he lied. Those days were behind him. “Other days, I’m a great gate opener when my dad and brothers need extra help on the ranch.”
    London looked up sharply. “You don’t ranch?”
    He shook his head. “Growing up a rancher’s kid, I never saw the appeal, just all the damn work.”
    “I hear ya there. I didn’t date ranchers’ kids because I never wanted to be a rancher’s wife.” She sorted beads and strips of twine into a plastic catch-all container with dozens of different compartments. “Does this feel awkward to you?” she asked without meeting his gaze.
    “What? Me bein’ in your camper?”
    “That, and the fact that we’ll be spending a lot of time together over the next few weeks. An hour ago, we were strangers who’d spoken just one time and now we’ve played a pretty intense round of tonsil hockey, and here we are alone.”
    He laughed. “If I think too hard on it, yeah, it’d seem weird. But I approached you, London. I figured that my offer would catch you off guard.”
    “As I’m sure my counter offer did you.”
    “Yeah. Well, I ain’t exactly sure how that’ll work.”
    London’s shoulders stiffened.
    “That came out wrong. What I meant is we’re acting like a couple only on the weekends?”
    “Saturdays are my workshops, so I’d like you to be around after my sessions end.”
    “Not before?”
    “I don’t expect world champion steer wrestler Sutton Grant to stand around holding my clipboard and collecting payments.”
    “You’d be surprised at what I’d do to get a sense of purpose these days,” he said dryly.
    She smiled and kept packing stuff away. “If the rodeo finals are held on Sunday, there’s usually a dance Saturday night. I’d like to put in an appearance because that’d be normal for me. And since we’re together...” She glanced up at him. “Speaking of, what will we tell those nosy people who ask how we ended up falling in lurve so suddenly?”
    Sutton scratched his chin. He really needed to shave. And make sure he didn’t dress like a bum. No daily schedule meant he’d gotten lax on dressing the cowboy way, as he’d done for years. “How about the truth? I was havin’ behavioral issues with Dial. I knew you’d trained him so I asked you for help. We spent a lot of time together and that’s our lurve story.”
    “Perfect.” She snapped the locks on her huge plastic tote. “Done.”
    “What is all that anyway?”
    “Like I said, creative chaos. I’m the super high-energy type, which means I always need to be doing something. Making jewelry forces me to focus and slow down. It’s a hobby, but since I’m so task oriented, I’m very prolific.”
    He could see that. “How many pieces you finish in a night?”
    London shrugged. “At least two. Some nights as many as ten.”
    “Sweet Christ, woman. What do you do with them?”
    “They’re in plastic tubs in the bedroom. Hell, I think there might even be some tubs on the bed. Not like