Love Under Two Reluctant Heroes by Cara Covington (ebook reader screen TXT) 📗

where the fuck she was. All I know is she’s in a small town somewhere in this part of Texas.”

“Oh yeah?” Felix eyed him for a couple of minutes. “So, how bad do you want to find her? Is it worth a couple of Benji’s to you?”

Was it? Hell, one of the things he was dreaming of doing, just for shits and giggles, was buying himself one of those expensive cigars and lighting it with a hundred-dollar bill.

Just so he could say he’d done it.

If I can light one up when I get my share of that windfall, I can part with two to get it in motion. “Yeah, sure.”

“Okay. I know a guy. I’ll give him a call. When you come in tomorrow night, grab a booth.”

Buck had done exactly that. The two hundred was in his wallet. He’d had to hock his Uncle Doug’s pocket watch, because who the hell had a couple hundred on hand a full week before payday? But if Felix’s friend could somehow find out where Rachel was, hey, it fucking well would be worth it.

Buck didn’t know what the hell he was expecting, but a college boy with one of those small computers sure as hell wasn’t it.

This baby-faced geek sat down across from him and set his laptop on the table. Felix arrived within seconds, a fresh beer for each of them.

College-boy looked at him. “You got the two hundred?”

Buck pulled out the Benji’s and handed them over. College-boy jumped on them faster than a duck on a June bug. Then he opened his computer.

“What’s the name of the person you’re looking for?”

“Rachel Melissa Cosgrove.” At least he thought she was still using Cosgrove. Divorce or no divorce, it was her name.

“Date of birth?

“How the fuck should I know?” He was only married to the bitch for a few years.

College-boy looked at him. “Felix said you were looking for your ex-wife.”

“So?”

“So, I need a date of birth. This program is going to search through thousands of names. DOB will filter out most of them.”

Buck had to think hard. He knew she was four years younger than him. Then he remembered. “She was born March twenty-first, nineteen eighty-three.”

College-boy turned his attention to his computer and appeared to get busy.

Buck didn’t know squat about those things. As far as he was concerned, people were too much into their devices these days. Hell, just look around here. There were only a few people sitting together, talking, without their damn cell phones always in their hands.

He had a cell phone, but he kept it in his pocket. He didn’t need to be checking it twenty-four-seven.

The fact that damn few people had his number was entirely beside the point. There were damn few people he’d want to talk with in the first place, so it all worked out.

“Does she own a car?”

“I guess so. She spent some time in Memphis a couple years ago. Figured she’d driven there.”

He’d had to sell his own car a year ago, when he was late with the rent and was temporarily out of work. He found a job that was a fast bus ride away. He didn’t need the car, anyway. Just gas and insurance payments eating a hole in his wallet, that was all a car meant anymore.

He looked over at the kid sitting across from him. At least he keeps his yap shut. Nothing worse than someone filling the air with the sound of their voice. This guy barely looked up from his screen. He sipped his beer occasionally and worked the keys. Other than that, it almost seemed as if the geek had forgotten Buck was there.

Buck was just beginning to think he’d might as well have torched that two hundred when College-boy reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.

He wrote something on it and then passed it over to him.

Buck picked it up. “General Delivery, Lusty, Texas? What the hell is that?”

“Ms. Rachel M. Cosgrove’s mailing address. She has her mail sent there.”

“Where the hell is Lusty, Texas?” And wasn’t it just fucking weird she’d live in a place with that name. Coldest bitch he’d ever had in the sack, that had been Rachel.

“A very small town, about an hour west of here in Benedict County. It might be on a map at the library.”

College-boy closed his computer, finished his beer, got to his feet, and left. Buck looked down at the two-hundred-dollar scrap of paper. If this Lusty was a very small town, then he might even be able to see her as he cruised down Main Street—if they even had one. All he needed to do was borrow a car from someone.

General Delivery. Maybe she lives outside town? He couldn’t see Rachel living in the country. Hell, he couldn’t even see her in a small town, either.

He tucked the paper into his wallet. He’d head to the library tomorrow, see if he could find the place on a map.

And then he’d see about borrowing that car. He’d take a drive, about an hour west of Waco, and see what he could see.

 

Chapter Twelve

The bedroom door closed behind her, and the soft snick of the lock being shot echoed in the silence.

Rachel looked around the new and improved master suite at the guys’ house. They’d told her that they’d planned to visit the family’s warehouse at some point that day between working at the ranch and meeting her for supper at the restaurant. Several additions to the furnishings had taken place while she’d been at work.

The biggest change was that Libby now had a new bedroom setup for her, here. Brandon and Trace told her she was to call the one bedroom that had been used as a spare room her own. Rachel had been surprised to see it, moments ago, ready to move into. The room was large and not only had a queen sized bed—perfect for bff sleepovers—but also its own television and an additional bed, one suitable for