Close Enough to Touch Read Online Free PDF

“Sorry,
Farrah.”
    “Please. You wouldn’t believe the things I hear from my
clients. Combinations of words that I shouldn’t even know.” She grabbed her bag.
“Take a hot shower. Loosen everything up. And you’re making progress.”
    “Sure,” he murmured as he gave her a farewell hug and let her
out the door.
    He was doing great. Of course he was. Despite what the experts
were saying, he was sure he’d be fine.
    As fine as could be expected for a cowboy who might never ride
again.
    Cole shook his head and ran a hand over his sore thigh. He’d be
okay. The doctors were hopeful. The shattered femur was healing and the pelvic
fracture would mend. Just in time for him to get back out there to round up the
stock for fall.
    It would be his last roundup for Easy. Oh, he loved Easy like a
father, but Cole was ready to own his own ranch. And Easy was ready to sell.
Next year, Cole would be rounding up his own cattle, and Easy would be sipping
piña coladas on a Mexican beach.
    Chuckling at the thought of Easy relaxing on a beach in his
Stetson, Cole headed for the shower.
    He made the water as hot as he could stand it, hoping no one
else in the building had put too much of a strain on the water heater. One of
these days he’d do his exercises, take a hot shower and suddenly feel good.
Great. Back to normal. He knew it. But for now, the ache hadn’t left. Sometimes
it faded to something bearable. Sometimes it swelled into a giant thumping heart
in his thigh. The pain was normal, his doctors said. Nothing to be concerned
about.
    Half an hour later, the ache beaten back to a dull roar, Cole
found himself sipping his morning coffee and staring at his door again, waiting
for some sign of life from the apartment across the hall.
    He hadn’t seen her since he’d watched her talk to Rayleen at
the saloon. Grace hadn’t even noticed him over in the alcove that housed the
pool tables. He’d been half irritated by that, and half thankful that he’d
gotten the chance to watch her openly.
    She was a small woman, with delicate bones, but she held her
body as though she was coiled to flee at any moment. Or pounce, maybe. He hoped
it was the latter.
    But as intriguing as she was, she seemed to have disappeared.
He hadn’t heard her even once, and they shared a common wall along the hall and
bathroom. Jackson was pretty quiet at night, and he’d often heard his previous
neighbor moving around, but Grace was silent as a mouse.
    Of course, the previous tenant was a drunken college dropout
whose number one hobby had been juggling three different girlfriends. At least
it had given Cole a soap opera to listen to on sleepless nights.
    But where was his new neighbor?
    Maybe the deal had fallen through. Maybe Old Rayleen had
somehow been under the impression that she was renting the place to a hot
nephew. Though… Cole shook his head at the wrongness of that thought.
    The old woman was harmless. Eccentric, but harmless. Even the
jokes in town meant nothing, which was why everyone thought they were funny.
Obviously nothing was going on between Rayleen and her young renters, but with
the house being part of the old Studd homestead, the jokes were too easy. Too
damn perfect.
    And she really never did seem to rent to women.
    Cole heard a car door close outside and cocked his head,
waiting to see if it was Grace returning from… Where? A boyfriend’s house? A
very, very late night with a new acquaintance? He found himself slightly
irritated at the thought, and couldn’t help but smile at his own stupidity. That
woman was all passion and attitude. If she wanted to sleep with a different guy
every night, she damn sure would, and there’d be no apologies either. He’d be a
fool to let it get to him.
    Raising his cup to his lips, he realized it was empty. He
wanted to have another one, but somehow one cup of coffee made his leg feel
better and two made it feel worse. And it was already primed for feeling sore as
hell today, between