Wherever She Goes (Psychic Seasons, ReGina Welling [novels to improve english TXT] 📗

deceived. To his mind, the old man had betrayed him. It didn’t matter whether Bert had no legal standing to force Thornton’s hand. He had let Logan go without a fight.

Before that year was out, Thornton had trained his son, by liberal use of the flat of his hand, to be the perfect shill. First with easy things like selling religious booklets to farmer’s wives, then, moving up to selling higher ticket items to farmer’s themselves. Their most lucrative con had been taking half the down payment on a new tractor then disappearing with the money.

Logan knew what he was doing was wrong, that Burt would not approve—and whatever had twisted in his mind made Burt’s displeasure into his biggest motivation to succeed. Logan never understood that his biggest con was when he deluded himself into thinking he was making Burt pay for abandoning him to this life.

_,.-'~'-.,_

Zack saw the sorrow in her eyes but without the visual replay of history, he only knew the details from the outside. To him, this man who had hurt his sister and tried to hurt Kat was not worth her tears. Her compassion for the slimeball got under his skin.

So what if Ellis had a rough childhood. He wasn’t the only one. Plenty of kids survived abuse to grow up productive citizens. If Ellis was one of the exceptions, it was through his own choices.

Bleeding hearts never wanted criminals punished for their crimes and while Zack knew that everyone had the potential for rehabilitation, it never came without some type of a wakeup call followed by a personal decision. He doubted Logan Ellis had the guts for that kind of change

Chapter 13

When Zack offered to drive Kat home, Amethyst who was standing out of his line of sight shot her an exaggerated eyebrow waggle that was returned by a glare that if looks really could kill would have leveled a city block. Kat never even got chance to weigh in before Amethyst suddenly remembered a pressing errand that would take her in the opposite direction and be so incredibly boring that Kat would be much better off accepting Zack’s kind offer. The next thing she knew, it was a done deal.

“Subtle,” Kat observed dryly as she watched her friend walk away so quickly you’d think her shoes were on fire. Then she grinned up at Zack, “You up for a visit with Kane and Molly? My treat as a thank you for the ride.”

“I keep telling Molly there must be something illegal in that meatloaf because it’s habit-forming. If you’re feeling adventurous, you could opt for the Guinea pig special.”

“Tell me it’s not really Guinea pig.” Kat shuddered at the thought.

“What? No, it’s whatever dish they’re experimenting with that day but you’re not allowed to ask what’s in it before you order.”

“Sounds like a crapshoot, what’s their track record like?”

“Pretty good. There was lobster aspic that went way wrong once. Ended up looking like Jabba the Hutt and tasted like feet, but mostly Kane does okay. He’s the one who comes up with the recipes and then Molly handles the day to day menus, runs the kitchen. They make a good team.”

“Jabba the Hutt, a visual reference I can actually remember.”

“Star Wars fan?”

“I was a sci-fi geek before I lost my sight. Some movies you can listen to and get a good idea of what’s happening but a good space epic is so visual, I limited my exposure to reading only.” No self-pity, just the bare facts.

“Favorite book?”

“Ender’s Game. No question.”

“You know they made it into a movie, right?”

“I’d heard and it’s on my list of ones I’m sad not to have seen at the cinema. It won’t be the same on my teeny tiny television set.”

“What if I told you I have a copy of the movie with extra features and a 70 inch flat screen?”

“I guess I’d say ‘beam me up’.”

“Wrong franchise. And speaking of—you’ll need to watch the new Star Treks and then the Marvel movies and then there’s…I’ll make you a list.” He felt the faintest flutter of nerves as he asked, “So we’ll have Molly cook us up some food and then hit my place for the movie?”

For a second he was afraid she might say yes to the food, no to the movie. It surprised him how much he was already looking forward to sharing the experience with her, at how he could feel so comfortable around her while there was still that heart-pumping, stomach-jumping feeling of attraction running deeper than any he’d known before.

The woman had guts, no question. He admired that about her. She also had skin that looked soft as the petals on a daisy and those eyes—every time they turned his way, it was like falling off a cliff.

On the other side of the car, Kat’s thoughts were running along similar lines. Zack was the perfect combination of safe and dangerous. Every accidental touch sent waves of delicious electricity tingling through her. It was that same feeling she’d had on her first roller coaster ride in the days before her life had turned into one.

Sitting next to her cousin, Sue and screaming with both laughter and fear, they had learned dread during the long climb, then plunged down that first hill and gotten a taste of how it felt to have adrenaline coursing through their veins. Heady stuff, not unlike sitting next Zack in a car small enough to have his arm brushing against hers at every turn.

Her face flamed red as she let herself think about what the full ride with him might be like. Maybe tonight she would finally let herself find out. Virginity at her age was more of an embarrassment than a virtue. At this point, she was torn between waiting for the right man, even for marriage and just getting it over with.

Zack looked like the type of guy who could help her out on that score. But what if he didn’t think of her that way?