Lace & Lassos Read Online Free PDF Page A

into the house.
    It was dark inside. He flipped on the light and she looked around the room. “It’s beautiful,” she said as she looked at the polished wood floor, the casual, masculine oak furniture with cushions in shades of brown and cream.
    Western art decorated the walls and rested on some of the surfaces. A large-screen TV took up a good portion of the wall on the far right. He took off his western hat and plopped it on a coatrack to the right of the door. He took her jacket and hung it on the rack along with his own.
    “That must be great to watch the Diamondbacks and Cardinals on,” she said as she looked back at him. “You always did love your sports.”
    “That I do.” He took her hand and she loved the feel of his fingers holding hers tight. “Down that hall are my workout room and the guest bathroom.” He gestured straight ahead from the door. Then he jerked his thumb to the left. “Through here is the kitchen and the stairs to the second level.”
    He led her past a set of stairs and into a modern kitchen with a dining nook. The kitchen walls were a warm shade of taupe that was almost peach. The cabinets were oak and the appliances including the fridge, stove, and dishwasher, was stainless steel. Everything shone and there was no mess anywhere.
    “I love it all,” she said and gave him a quick grin. “I don’t remember you ever being this neat.”
    “Everything had to be kept spotless and perfect in the service,” he said. “That sort of stuck with me.”
    “You’d be handy to have around,” she said before she thought better of it. She covered it up by saying, “What do you charge by the hour for Wayne’s Cleaning Service?”
    He grinned down at her. “Depends on the client.” He kept a grip on her hand and led her further into the kitchen. On the right was a set of stairs leading down. “I’m still working on the basement,” he said. “I plan to finish it off and make it a game room, including a billiards table, foosball, and darts. Of course some nice comfy couches and a TV along with a fridge filled with junk food and sodas.”
    She laughed. “Sounds like fun.”
    “That’s where the laundry room is.” He gestured at the vents. “Installed central heating and air conditioning recently.”
    “Nice.” She looked around them. “Beautiful, homey, and all of the necessities.”
    “Do you want to take a look upstairs?” he said, his voice suddenly low and uncertain, like he was afraid to ask her.
    “What do you have there?” Her belly flipped as she asked the question. “Other than the master bedroom.”
    “My office and a guest room.”
    Warmth crept through her body. “I’d love to see everything.”
    He squeezed her hand and led her to the stairs. Steps creaked as they walked up and her heart beat faster as they neared the top of the stairs. He ignored the door to the left and instead led her through an open door on the right.
    Oak office furniture filled the room. An antique roll-top desk, a regular desk with a red leather chair behind it, three book cases and two oak filing cabinets. There was more cowboy art in here and she loved the old fashioned framed art of cowboys sitting around a fire in one, cowboys herding cattle in another, and a third with a cowboy and his horse drinking from a stream.
    On his desktop were a couple of pictures of the Cameron family posing together and an old black and white of his parents, taken several years before they’d died. “Once Zane and Jessie start having kids,” Wayne said, “I intend to have pictures of the nieces and nephews right here, too.”
    He led her out of the office and down to the end of the hall. To the right was the guest bathroom and to the left was the guestroom. He showed her the guestroom, which had simple furniture including a bed with a patchwork quilt, a footlocker at the foot of the bed, and a bureau up against the wall to the left of the bed.
    When they left the room, he took her back to the head of