More Than Cookies (The Maple Leaf Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Orion instead?
    “Oh… umm… I snooped in your wallet.” She looked away. “I always prefer to know the names of the men I rescue. Forgive me?” A smile flashed again.
    It was getting harder to not return the smile.
    “As long as you didn’t help yourself to the millions of dollars in that wallet, I’ll forgive you.” Now that sounded like flirting to him. Flirting coming out of his own mouth.
    Dammit.
    “I must have missed all that cash. I was far too concerned about your injuries, Mr. Finley.”
    “Mr. Finley is my father. I’m Orion.”
    She nodded once. Just a quick movement of her head. “Orion.”
    Yep. As he expected. His name on her lips sounded like something divine.
    “Like the constellation?” she asked as she passed her cell phone from one hand to the other. Back and forth. As if she wasn’t sure what else to do with her hands.
    I’ve got some ideas.
    Shit, no, he didn’t. No ideas. None.
    Shaking his head, he said, “My father was a fisherman in Rhode Island before he retired and moved to Vermont. He and my mother had spent a lot of time out on the water, stargazing, before I was born.”
    “And Orion had a better ring to it than Little Dipper?”
     He couldn’t stop the laugh that slipped out of his throat. Damn her.
    “So how does that feel anyway?” She gestured to his leg, still under the blankets.
    “I actually don’t feel it at all. What does that mean?”
    “It means that modern medicine has come up with fabulous ways of helping gunshot victims not feel any pain when a bullet had to be dug—yes, I said dug —out of your thigh.” She closed her eyes and shivered as if the thought of someone poking around inside his leg made her queasy.
    It didn’t make him feel all that great either.
    “You lost a great deal of blood, much of it on the couch in my new living room, and the fine doctors at St. Jamesbury Memorial Hospital were kind enough to replace that blood. Nothing vital was hit, but you’ll be off your feet for a bit while it mends. Got a few staples in you to keep it closed too. They want to keep you in the hospital for a few days to keep an eye on you.”
    He let that information turn around in his mind. Being off his feet for a while was going to suck royally, not to mention fuck up his timetable on the three bears he was supposed to be carving. Maybe he could get Adam to help him. Orion never let a customer down. He wasn’t about to start doing that now.
    Sage tapped her cell phone. “Should I call your father, Orion, or your… wife?”
    “My ex- wife will just be pissed she didn’t think of putting a bullet in me herself,” he said.
    “Oh, I see.” Her facial expression softened. A woman capable of compassion? Who was this Sage Stannard? An alien female, perhaps, clearly not poisoned by the methods of human women.
    Yet.
    “And how exactly did you end up with a bullet in your leg if it wasn’t your ex-wife?” Sage asked.
    “I’m guessing a hunter. I was in my woods selecting trees for my next carvings. I heard dogs and shots in the distance. Guess they were closer than I thought.” He shrugged and lifted the blankets to get a glimpse of his bandaged thigh. At least everything looked tidy and dry down there. He recalled the slickness of his own blood oozing out of him and his stomach churned at the memory.
    What would have happened if Sage hadn’t found me?
    He didn’t like where that scenario was headed. Thankfully, it hadn’t gotten to that point. Sage had found him. Found him and seen that he’d been taken care of properly.
    But now she must have been eager to pass him off to people who were supposed to care about him.
    “Can I borrow your phone?” he asked.
    “Sure.” Sage handed it to him. “You want me to give you some privacy?” She motioned to the door.
    He shook his head as he dialed. “Stay, please.” He definitely didn’t like how much he wanted her to stay.
    She sat on the chair again, her hands neatly folded in her lap. Surely she