Texas Heat (Stubborn Texas Siblings Book 2) Read Online Free

out of her
home instead of paying for the building in town, but he
wasn’t about to ask her about it. He’d already stuck his foot
in his mouth with her with the comment about the
mechanic and his assumption that it was a man. There was
no way he was going to do it again about her choice to
spend money to run her business somewhere other than her
house. It was her business and he was going to butt out.
“Why one story?” he asked instead of what he really
wanted to know. “Why not two or three?”
    “Before
my parents died, my Ma had bad knees and I was
told that it was a hereditary problem that tended to run in
females in our family. I didn’t want to take any chances
down the road, so I just figured I’d start out with no steps.
Less hassle fixing it later in life that way,” she answered,
shrugging her shoulders as if it really didn’t matter.
    “Do I want to know why with such a huge garage, you
parked in the driveway?” he asked, following her into the
darkened interior of the house.
    She let out a deep husky, sexier than Hell laugh and his
body hardened in response. “Honestly? The garage is full
of tools… a lawn mower, weed whacker, trimmer, hedge
clippers, shovels, rakes, engine puller, and all sorts of tools
that I eventually want to find a way to get out to my shop…
but I have to find room for them first. There’s a reason
they’re here and not there. It’s storage more than anything.
Someday, when I’ve made a little more money, I want to
move to a bigger shop. Someplace with enough room to set
up a full blown bay or two for complete rebuilds like I did
on my truck as well as my regular two bays for every day
fixes. I know I’d be able to muscle up more business if I
had the ability to do that sort of thing around here.”
“Wouldn’t you make more money in a bigger town?” he
asked, sitting down at the table while she went to the fridge
to see what she could come up with for dinner.
    “Probably, but in order to understand why I don’t move,
you’d have to know my brothers better. Unless I’m married
and my husband just happens to live out of state, they’re
never going to allow me to leave. Their need to protect me
is too strong. Besides… this is my home. When you grow
up in a small town, you know and love everyone and the
idea of leaving breaks your heart. Even if I didn’t have my
brothers and I wasn’t attached though, the townspeople
would never accept my up and leaving… even for my
eventual husband. They all believe that I need them as
much as they need me, and who knows… maybe I do.”
    “They must understand that you’d be better able to
support
yourself if you could make more money, which you’d
definitely be able to do in a little bit bigger town…” he
said, shaking his head, wondering how anyone could doubt
for a moment that she was able to take care of herself, no
matter what the situation was. He’d only known her for
about an hour now, and he knew she was stronger than she
looked.
    “One would think,” she agreed, nodding her head as she
pulled a bagged salad and a bottle of dressing out of the
fridge. “Sadly, my brothers and everyone else in this town
still see me as a little girl incapable of taking care of
herself.”
    Travis stood up and walked over to where she was pouring
the salad into a couple of bowls and bravely settled a hand
on the soft curve of her hip. “You’re definitely all woman,”
he said gruffly. “Any man who can look at you and see
anything less is a blind fool.”
    She stiffened in shock and turned her head towards him,
surprise evident in her eyes. “Most men can’t see past my
job… I’m so much of a tom boy, everyone around here just
sees me as one of the guys. That is, unless they’re drunk or
desperate… so… which are you?”
    His eyebrow lifted and he glided his hand upward and
brushed it against the side of her breast. “I’m not drunk or
desperate, and like I said before; anyone who can look at
you and