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Marking Territory
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Collide Two Against One
On the way back to the farm with Dani at his side, Levi couldn’t control his curiosity. He knew it was a bad idea to go there but he couldn’t seem to help himself. “So, how long have you known this Zane?” He threw his arm across the back of Dani’s seat and tried to appear casual.She gave him a side eye and smirked. “Oh, I’ve known this Zane for about five years. Why?”Levi squirmed in his seat. “No reason. Just making conversation.” He let a few breaths pass then asked, “He must be a really good friend to run all the way from Dallas to check on Lu just because you called.”“He is,” she agreed, trying to gauge his expression, “and a brilliant neurological diagnostician. I don’t know how I would have gotten through Aunt Lu’s illness without him.”Levi ground his molars until the muscle popped in his jaw. He knew he was being unreasonable about her friendship with the doctor but couldn’t seem to help himself. “Were y’all ever a thing?”“A thing?” Dani didn’t know whether to be irritate
Collide My Heart Says Yes
After gorging on the airy sopapillas covered in chocolate sauce, Zane declared that he really had to be getting back to Dallas. He was on call at the hospital that evening. As they got to the door, Levi put his arm around Dani’s shoulders possessively and held his hand out to Zane. “Have a good trip,” he said as the other man shook his outstretched one. Dani tried to take a step away but he held tight.“Good to meet you, Levi. Look me up if you ever get back to Dallas to visit. Dani has my number,” Zane offered. Levi’s arm tightened around Dani a bit more when Zane mentioned her having his number, but with some effort, he maintained the easy smile on his face.Zane leaned down and kissed Dani on the cheek. “We’ll talk soon,” he whispered before straightening and shooting Levi a breezy grin. He couldn’t help poking the bear just a little.“Call me later, Mags,” Dani said, moving Levi out the door so Zane and Maggie could say their goodbyes with a little privacy.On the sidewalk, she p
Collide Maggie to the Rescue
That evening, Levi had just gotten back to the bunkhouse from repairing a pasture fence that one of the bulls had broken through when his phone rang. A smile lit his tired face when he saw the name on the caller ID, Dani. “Hey, darlin’, whatcha doin’?” he asked cheerily as he answered.“I’ve been fighting with contractors all afternoon. How about you?”“Fixin’ fences. Damn bulls broke down another length of fence. I’m gonna need to build brick walls around the pastures if they keep this up.”Dani chuckled and sounded like she was drinking something before she spoke again. “I was thinking…How about I make you dinner? You know, to repay you for teaching me spaghetti. They just finished the electrical in the kitchen today and the new plumbing’s all in.”“I’d like that a lot, but…I thought spaghetti was all you could make now?” Levi hated to question her, and he would never turn down the invitation, but figured he’d better find out if he should eat before he got there, just in case.“You
Collide Just a Kiss
Right on time. As she walked down the hall to let Levi in, she took in his image through the screen. He was striking in his black button down and black hat and was holding a pink box in his hand. “Hi there,” she said as she opened the door for him.Levi ducked down and kissed her cheek then presented the box to her. “These are for you. I figured you’d like them more than flowers.”“Uh, thanks,” she said, suddenly a bit nervous. She took the small box and pulled off the white ribbon. Opening it she found four perfect truffles sitting in branded tissue from Gaston’s Chocolates in Tyler. Her mouth watered just at the sight. She’d forgotten Gaston’s. She gave him a big grin.“I remembered how much you used to like them so I ran over earlier today. I hope you still like them,” Levi said when she didn’t immediately say anything.“I love them,” she assured him. “I can’t believe you remembered Gaston’s.”“I remember everything when it comes to you, Dani Lynn,” he said huskily.She cleared he
Collide A Night to Remember
Dani stared hungrily at Levi as he stripped away his shirt. She saw him watching her sprawled on the big feather bed like she was his prey, and she liked it. She could finally see all those muscles in his wide chest, the band of barbed wire snaking around one hulking bicep and, surprisingly, flames that licked across his right chest and trailed all the way down to the V cut of his abdominals. They seemed to flicker in the light and shadows of the bedroom. She knew there had to be a story to the art but at the moment all she wanted to do was touch it. She needed to touch it. To touch him. Her arms were slightly trembling when she raised them to him in supplication and request. As he saw her arms reach for him, he knew he was lost. In the blink of an eye, his hard body was settled between her thighs making the old iron bed creak in protest. He held himself up on his elbows and his lips quirked up slightly in a grin meeting her own amused expression with the sound but then he resumed his
Collide An Unwelcome Visitor
The next few weeks felt like a dream for Dani. The house was almost finished thanks to Maggie’s great design sense and Dani’s sticking to the contractors like glue. Nights and evenings were almost all spent with Levi. She felt like they were making up for the long years they had been apart. They talked and laughed and he even taught her how to make the best burger in Texas - so he said - and a passable chili. Every evening after dinner, they sat in the big swing on the porch rocking and watching the shadows over take the woods talking about their days and their dreams for the future. She couldn’t remember ever being as content or her heart being so free but, every once in a while, she still fought a little niggling thought in the back of her mind that it was all too good to be true. ***Maggie came out of The General with the lamp she had special ordered for Dani’s bedroom. She just knew she was going to love it and couldn’t wait to give it to her. On the way back to Common Grounds,
Collide An Unexpected Turn
Dani sat in the dark on the porch unwilling to turn on the light and hear the moths flinging themselves at it in their suicidal dance. She swung herself on the big swing sipping a glass of Moscato as she waited for Levi. She wondered if he really was going to see his mom. She didn’t like doubting him but couldn’t get what Maggie had told her out of her head. She wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting there when she finally saw the lights of Levi’s pickup coming down the lane. She looked at her watch. It was much later than she had expected him. “Hey, baby, ” Levi said, coming up the porch steps seeing her swinging and waiting for him. “Moths at it again?”“Yep. Want a beer?” Before he could say yes or no, she was reaching into the small Yeti cooler at her feet and digging her hand into the ice for one.Levi dropped onto the swing beside her and took the beer from her cold hand. “Now that’s how you greet a man after a long day’s work.” He grinned at her, but she could see the fatig
Collide A Secret Divulged
Dani fought to see the road as tears ran down her face. She knew it had been too good to be true. She knew she shouldn’t have trusted him. Now she was paying for her naivete. She wiped at her face as she made it to town and parked in the back alley behind Common Grounds. She didn’t want anyone to see her like this, but she had to see Maggie. She banged on the back door hoping someone would hear her since it was in the middle of the lunch rush. As her fist reached up to bang again, the door was wrenched open and she almost fell into JT’s arms.“What’s going on, Dani?” JT asked, grabbing her arms to steady her. He saw the mascara running down her face and quickly dragged her inside. “What’s happened? Are you hurt?”“Just my pride. I need to see Maggie.” She tried to rein in her tears and drew in deep, ragged breaths.JT put his arm around her and led her to the office. He sat her in a chair and squatted down to his haunches in front of her. “I’ll get Maggie but can I get you anything?
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Collide Epilogue
Three months later, Maggie was back in Dani and Levi’s barn, standing under the million twinkle lights. This time, however, it was for her own wedding. It wasn’t the large Texas wedding she’d had in her little girl dreams with the fairy princess dress, a crystal tiara holding a chapel length train to her head that would billow for a mile behind her, the minimum six bridesmaids – all in blush pink, of course, the ride to the chapel in a horse drawn carriage, and the sit down dinner afterwards for at least 300, but it was so much more. Maggie’s dress was a simple, Empire waist gown à la Pride and Prejudice, with lace panels in front and back and a few sparkling crystals surrounding the low-scooped n
Collide Fight for Her
Maggie reclined on her chaise in her room looking out her window at the hummingbirds flying around their feeder, zooming in for quick sips and zooming back out, their tiny wings nothing but a blur. She felt like her life had been like that for the last week, blurry around the edges. She resented the headaches that were her constant companions and would not allow her to sleep through the pain in her heart. Per doctor’s orders, she had not been allowed to come into the cafe even for a little while this week. She’d tried to read but that made the pain in her head worse. There wasn’t one TV program she could find that held her interest. She didn’t know how she was going to live through another week of this enforced rest. A quiet knock came from her bedroom door. “Come in,” she replied. She hoped desperately someone needed her for something. With nothing to distract her, she was slowly losing her mind. Her attention had nowhere to go except back to Zane and the events of last weekend.“He
Collide The Sound of a Heart Breaking
Maggie came back to herself in pieces. She smelled bleach and some other antiseptic and wrinkled her nose. Sun was beating onto her closed eyelids and her head was throbbing. She moaned and reached a hand up to her head finding a bandage at her forehead. It slowly came back to her. She was in the hospital. Someone had attacked her at the Mama Tried. “Zane?” she asked without opening her eyes yet. “Can we shut the blinds? My head is pounding.”He didn’t answer her, but she felt a shadow fall over her face and the brightness dimmed. She carefully cracked open her eyes. She blinked a few times to bring everything into focus and saw Dani and Levi standing over her bed.“Hey, Mags, how’re you feeling? Do you need some water?” Dani said softly to her.She started to nod but then stopped abruptly when pain shot through her skull with the movement. She raised her hand to her head again. “Ow. Yes please.”Levi poured her water from a plastic pitcher next to her bed and handed a cup to Dani. S
Collide Testosterone Poisoning
Zane sat for a long time, holding Maggie’s hand and watching her sleep. He wanted to memorize every detail of her, her beautiful rosy skin, those plush pink lips that drove him to distraction, the way her silky chestnut locks spread out across the pillow. Her eyes were closed but he could visualize the chocolate brown orbs that changed to dark expresso when she wanted him. The unfathomable look in them when she told him she loved him. And her hands, the wonderfully small hands that were so soft but competent and graceful. Those hands that had the power to drive all his worries away and make him feel whole. He wished he could see her smile at him one more time. His eyes shone with unshed tears. He wondered if you could truly die from a broken heart. When he was sure she was sleeping soundly, he let go of her hand carefully placing it under the starched white blanket on her bed. He leaned over and let his lips brush her cheek, careful not to wake her. He took a deep breath filling his
Collide Concussive Forces
"Get security!" he yelled, turning to the woman he had pushed past to get into the ladies' room. She started to argue with him but then took in the sight before her. "I'm on it," she said and quickly moved through the crowd. “Maggie!” he yelled, falling to his knees next to her. She was on her hands and knees on the floor near the sink. Blood was pouring down her face and her eyes weren’t focusing. He could tell she was trying to stand but couldn’t get her feet under her.“Don’t try to get up, baby,” Zane told her. He eased her back down to sit on the floor and took her face in his hands trying to see where all the blood was coming from. He knew logically that head wounds bled copiously even from a tiny cut but, his heart stuttered in his chest at the sight of her beautiful face and gentle hands covered in red.“Zane?” she asked in a confused whisper. “How did you get here? Are we in the ladies’ room?”She tried to raise her bloody hands to her head, but he caught them. “It’s ok, swe
Collide Mama Tried
Saturday came before she knew it and Maggie found herself rushing to pack for the weekend before she was late. Her thoughts were unusually scattered and she couldn't seem to get her things together. Her current dilemma included her boots taking up too much room in her weekender bag causing her to not be able to get the zipper closed. “Aren’t you coming back tomorrow night?” JT asked, leaning on the door frame to her bedroom and watching her attempt to get her bag closed with amusement.Maggie glared at him over her shoulder. “Yes, I am, but we’re going to Mama Tried to see Morgan Wallen and I have to get.these.boots.to.fit,” she said punctuating her last words with the effort to get the teeth of the zipper close enough to catch.JT chuckled and went to her side, pushing her away from the bag with a hip. “Here let me fix it.” He reached in the bag, removed the boots and easily zipped up the case. “There, fixed.”Maggie stared at him, hands fisted on her hips. “I could have done that,”
Collide The Hall Pass
The last few months had flown by in a happy haze for Maggie with the wedding planning, her business going great guns and her nightly marathon Facetime sessions with Zane between visits, but with only two weeks left until Dani and Levi’s wedding, she was exhausted. There seemed to be a never-ending list of things to do and not nearly enough hours in the day to get them all done. I’ll just lay my head down for a minute.Sofia started to knock on the door jamb but then stopped abruptly at the sight in front of her. Maggie was at her desk with her head pillowed on her arms, fast asleep. She was really burning the candle at both ends. Sofia was worried about her. She’d never caught her sleeping at her desk before. She rarely even took a coffee break during the day. Maggie could do more things in a day than most people did in a week but even she apparently had her limits.She saw JT coming down the hall and put a finger to her lips. “Shhhh,” she whispered, closing the door softly. “She’s as
Collide Small Town Moves
Zane sat in his club chair, Jameson in hand, staring at the city lights from his window. He had picked up a book to read but couldn’t focus. He'd hated to have to leave her after her weekend together. The Shawna situation made him want to wrap Maggie in bubble wrap and lock her in his apartment where nothing could get to her, but maybe she was right. He had always been the one Shawna followed and harassed. He'd casually dated a couple of other women after her and nothing had happened. Maybe all these new and intense feelings he had for Maggie were just making all his protective instincts go into overdrive. Hell, he hadn't even really been aware he had protective instincts before Maggie. He sipped the smooth scotch and tried to convince himself that Maggie was right. She would be fine. He had to make himself believe it. It was the only way he could get anything else done. He glanced at his watch and saw he had two hours before Maggie would be done with her catering event and he could
Collide Charmed X Two
JT was just finishing up cleaning up after his prep work in the Common Grounds' kitchen when Sofia popped her head in. “Hey, boss. I finally got the final numbers from Jim at the bank if you have a few minutes to go over the menu with me,” she said brightly.“Sure, give me five minutes,” JT said. Sofia shot him a grin and nodded. With a flip of her dark, shiny ponytail, she was gone.JT smiled and shook his head as he wiped down his workstation. He’d never seen Sofia in a bad mood. No matter how onery the customer or how crazy the day got, she always had a smile on her face and a bounce in her step. And she was good at everything she did. He’d never tell Maggie, but he thought Sofia could give her a run for her money in the organization and customer service departments. The best decision they’d ever made was recently promoting her to manager of the cafe and assistant event coordinator for Common Grounds Catering.When he met her at the table a few minutes later, he moved over some pa
