Page 6 of One Kind Soul

Here he was now, months later, and he was no closer to finding a potential girlfriend, never mind someone with actual wife potential.

And . . . now he was back to wallowing. Jesus.

Christian settled deeper in the driver’s seat and forced his thoughts to dwell on the renovations he had going on at the farmhouse instead. The house was old, but she had good bones and Christian was handy enough to do most of the work himself. He’d gotten his buddy, Noah Williams, who worked at Brenton Sawmill and did carpentry projects and his other pal, Dakota Brenton, who ran Birch Peak Adventures but also knew his way around a toolbox, to help him. Between the three of them and Landon and Donovan, the farmhouse was looking better than she had under Old Man Shepherd’s ownership. The guy had let a lot of things go, but with a new roof and white vinyl siding that resembled cedar shakes, the house was regaining her charm. Christian couldn’t wait to move in from the barn apartment and he was nearly ready to do so. He’d wanted to get the big projects done first so he wasn’t living in the midst of a construction zone.

Not that he minded the barn apartment that much. Sure, he could smell the horses living below him, but he enjoyed that scent. For as long as he could remember, Christian had wanted horses. His parents had let him take riding lessons when he was in elementary school and that had been it for him. He’d been ready to sign up to be an official cowboy after that, but it had taken him until after age thirty to become one.

At thirty-two now, could he technically call himself a cowboy if the farm didn’t have any cows? Perhaps it was time to invest in one. Just in case.

Christian added get a cow to his to-do list and moved on to thinking about renovations he had planned for the wraparound porch on the farmhouse. Before he knew it, hours had passed and the signs for Logan Airport caught his attention. He’d made a number of decisions on the drive and was feeling better about . . . well, about everything. Nothing like a little construction noodling to get a guy’s vibe back.

He let his navigation system lead him to McCormick’s then parked on the street. God, he hated the city and parking on streets. Give him the country roads of Maplehaven any day of the week over this Boston hustle and bustle.

The pub looked nice enough from the outside, however, and he pulled the door open. Irish music greeted him and his gaze immediately went to a crowded corner of the place where people were gathered around a table and generally appeared as if they were having a great time.

Great times were something Christian always sought, so he headed in that direction.

“What’s going on over here?” he asked a guy who was craning his head to see over the people in front of him.

“Epic checker player!” the guy shouted over the din of the conversations around them. “She’s beaten nearly everyone in here. She’s incredible.”

Christian didn’t see what was so incredible about beating someone in checkers. Hell, he’d pummeled Jackson in checkers plenty of times. Not recently of course because checkers was for kids.

Still, he was curious to get a glimpse of this epic checker player before finding Nicole, but the crowd around the game was tight and he couldn’t see the players at all. Christian took a few steps back to a nearby table and grabbed a chair. After dragging it over to the excitement, he stood on it and caught a peek at two heads bent over a red-and-black checkerboard.

One head was covered with short red hair and attached to broad shoulders that suggested it was a man. The other head, however, rocked some long black hair that shined even in the dim lighting of the pub.

That player was definitely female. A quick scan of the pub told Christian that player was also Nicole Travers. He pulled out his phone and snapped a photo. He texted it to Tessa with the question Epic checker player?

A moment later his phone vibrated with a reply text from Tessa. That’s my girl!

Apparently she’s crushing the competition at McCormick’s. He guessed playing checkers was a good way to kill nearly four hours waiting for a ride.

She can beat people in record time. They don’t know what hit them.

The crowd roared and Christian looked over in time to see the red-headed guy stand and walk away in shame.

“Who’s next?” Nicole asked, resetting the board.

“I think you’ve beaten everyone here,” a waitress said as she cleared a nearby table.

Nicole stood and stretched her arms above her head. That was when Christian got a good look at her. She wore a yellow shirt that he could barely see because of the gray sweater she had wrapped around her torso. The sweater covered most of her, but when she pulled it tight, enough of her shape showed to get his antenna up. Her dark hair hung straight around her face and to just above her breasts. It looked so silky.

Touch it, his fingers commanded.

Shut up, he told them.

“Really? I played everyone already?” Nicole’s lips turned out in a pout as her brown gaze surveyed the people gathered around her. Her eyes were rimmed in black with long lashes, making them dominate her pretty face, and Christian nearly let his fingers take charge.

He had a better idea instead.

“You didn’t play me yet!” he called over the crowd.

Without looking his way, Nicole rolled up the sleeves of her sweater. “Come on over then.”

The crowd went wild but parted to let him through. Several people clapped him on the back and offered him luck.

When he finally took the seat across from Nicole and she looked at him, Christian feared he might actually need some luck.