His Firefly Cowgirl Read Online Free

they hadn’t broken up.
    She found him in the back where the desk that had been his father’s sat. It was covered with haphazard piles of paper, a half-eaten sandwich on a paper plate, a broken helmet and a chair with cracks across the leather like a road atlas.
    Dax’s foot was propped up on an open drawer. A large folder sat on top of the corner of the desk. “This is all the receipts and such. Hannah put them all together by date. There’s a flash drive with pictures of the layout and equipment with serial numbers. She’s more organized than I am.”
    His sister Hannah had been Sophie’s best friend growing up. When the big breakup happened, Hannah sided with Dax and hadn’t spoken with Sophie since. It was another hole in her life that had yet to be filled.
    Sophie straightened her shoulders, unwilling to let herself slide into self-pity. She had a good life in Houston, which included friends, occasional dates, and swimming in the pool of her condo complex. Nothing to make a movie about, but it provided her with stability and contentment.
    Now there was a greeting card statement that wouldn’t make a single sale.
    Sophie told herself to stop acting like an idiot and get on with it. Coming back to Tanger had brought up memories she had buried deep within the vault in her heart. Ones she wished she could burn as easily as all the mementos from her time with Dax.
    “Sophie?” He was standing in front of her with the file folder, a puzzled expression on his face. “You okay?”
    She managed a weak smile. “Yeah, just hot. Thanks.” She took the folder, noting it was at least an inch thick. “I need to scan all of these.”
    He raised his brow. “I don’t have a scanner.”
    “I’ve got an app on my tablet I can use. I just need space to do it.” She tucked the folder into her bag.
    “Here’s the flash drive with the pictures.” He held a flash drive in the shape of a red chili pepper.
    “She still likes her spicy food, hmm?” Sophie’s grin was more natural this time.
    “Like she was eating buttered toast.” He shook his head “I swear that girl has a stomach made of cast iron.”
    She remembered where she was and whom she was with. Her smile faded. “I need to find a hotel. Let me check Google maps.” When she discovered she had two bars of extended service, she knew using any app that required a connection would be impossible. She glanced around. “Yellow pages?” When in Rome and all that.
    “There is no hotel, Soph.” He leaned against the wall covered with curling bits of paper and posters.
    “Taxi?”
    “Nope.”
    “Bus?”
    “Nope.”
    “Shit.” She sat down in the chair. “Then I’d better use my time wisely and get all these scanned.”
    The silence in the room was only broken by the turning of paper and the snap of the app as she worked. Dax left the room and she was once again alone. She didn’t know how much time had passed but her stomach howled. She’d scarfed down a protein bar in the car on the way to Tanger. Her mouth was also dry as cotton.
    She finished the last paper and returned everything to the folder. One more thing to do. She pulled her laptop from the messenger bag and plugged the flash drive into the USB port. After a few keystrokes the photos were copying to her hard drive. She plugged the tablet into the other USB port and started downloading the scanned documents. It would take a while so she sat back in the creaky leather and folded her arms.
    What she’d do tonight for food and a place to lay her head was a mystery. Her options were limited, even though she grew up in Tanger. The truth was she had no one to call and nowhere to go.
    “I have an idea.” Dax reappeared in the office doorway. “Why don’t you come home to the Triple B with me for tonight?”
    Oh, bad, bad, bad idea. So very bad.
    Then why was she considering it?

 
    Chapter Three
     
    Dax didn’t stop to consider what came out of his mouth. That was not unusual sometimes, but this