Larissa nodded. “You’re right. It’s one thing to rescue butterflies, but dangerous or venomous animals are different. I don’t have the training.” Tears filled her eyes. “It’s just when they called, they made the situation sound desperate.”

“They always do,” Taryn grumbled.

Jack shot her a look, then rubbed Larissa’s back. “You were trying to help. It’s your thing.”

“She didn’t help Angel,” Taryn snapped. “And it’s not the first time. Remember those fighting dogs she kept at your place? You had to move to a hotel. This is more of the same.”

Jack started to speak, but Larissa shook her head. “She’s right. I put Angel in the hospital. If we’d been farther away from a doctor, he might have died and it’s my fault.” She swallowed again, then straightened. “I have to look at what I’m doing and be more responsible. I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” Taryn said, not wanting to torture her friend. “Please tell me you get it.”

“I do. I promise. I can’t say I’ll stop helping, but I’ll be more careful in the future.”

Jack shot Taryn a warning glance, as if to say they’d gone far enough. Taryn nodded.

“That’s what I needed to hear,” she said, then stood. “I’m not mad.”

“You were,” Larissa told her, rising to her feet.

“Just a little.”

The two women hugged.

“I really am sorry,” Larissa told her.

“I know.”

Jack led Larissa from the room.

Taryn crossed to the window in her office and stared out. She was pretty sure she looked normal on the outside, but she was still shaking on the inside. Being mad at Larissa had helped her keep her worries at bay, but now she didn’t have a distraction. She’d been reveling in the afterglow of her unexpected morning encounter with Angel when she’d gotten the call that he was in the hospital, suffering from a snakebite. Talk about a random event.

She hadn’t liked knowing he was in danger and she’d been shocked by the intensity of her concern. Her relationship with Angel was supposed to be fun. A couple of adults having a good time together. No strings, no promises. She didn’t want it to be different. There was no win there. Because neither of them wanted a happily ever after. He’d already had his and there was no way she was trusting anyone with her heart.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

TARYN’S ASSISTANT WALKED into her office. Taryn glanced up and saw the worry on the other woman’s face.

“What?” she asked, instantly coming to her feet. “What happened?”

She knew Angel was okay. He’d been released from the hospital a good three days ago and was better every time she saw him. He’d been cleared to resume normal activities and had planned to go to work today. Which left the boys. Knowing them, there was no way to guess what disaster one of them had gotten into.

“You have a visitor,” Jude said. “She doesn’t have an appointment.” She gave a little shrug. “To be honest, I’m a little nervous about telling her she has to make one.”

Taryn relaxed. “I have to see who has flapped the usually unflappable you.”

She followed her assistant out into the waiting area and saw Consuelo pacing there. The petite brunette wore her usual tank top and cargo pants. She looked like a caged animal waiting to pounce.

Taryn grinned. “Don’t worry. I can handle this. Come on, Consuelo. You’re frightening the staff.”

Consuelo walked with her to her office, then stood in front of Taryn’s desk. She crossed her arms over her chest and stuck out her chin.

“You have to make it stop,” she announced.

“Okay.” Taryn sat down and motioned for Consuelo to do the same. The other woman remained standing. “Make what stop?”

“The people. The food. Do you know that we have over twelve casseroles in the refrigerator right now? And even more in the freezer. Women and children stop by without phoning. They want to know that Angel’s okay, and then they want to talk to me.”

Taryn didn’t bother to hide her amusement. “How horrible. They’re all bitches.”

Consuelo’s eyes narrowed. “Are you mocking me? Do you think that’s safe?”

“I’m feeling brave and tough.”

“Then you’re a fool.”

“Very possibly.” Taryn crossed her legs. “What do you want me to do about it? Angel is a member of the community. People care about him.” She decided the moment was too good to pass up. “You do realize they would do the same for you, if you were sick or injured, right?”

Consuelo took a step back and glanced around, as if expecting the walls of a trap to close in on her. “Shit. You’re right. That would be awful. They’re so nice and normal.”

“Disgusting,” Taryn agreed.

Consuelo’s angry stare returned. “You are clear that I could kill you where you sit, right?”

“Or pretty much anywhere else. But you won’t. Enjoy the food. I’m sure it all tastes good.”

“There is that,” she admitted grudgingly. “But they’re in my house.”

“Stay with Kent for the next couple of days.”

Consuelo’s eyebrows rose. “At his place? He has a child.”

“He has a teenage son who has probably guessed the two of you have had sex at least once.”

“Oh my God. You didn’t just say that.”

Taryn loved that the normally taciturn and tough Consuelo was living so close to the emotional edge. Oddly, it made her feel closer to her.

Taryn leaned forward and lowered her voice. “We’ve all guessed.”

Consuelo sank into one of the chairs and groaned. “I hate it here.”

“No, you don’t.”

“I don’t,” she admitted with a sigh. “It’s just hard, you know. To fit in.”

Something Taryn could relate to. “The niceness can be grinding.”

“Right? Having to say hi to everyone. Asking about family members. And they’re all breeding. Everyone is pregnant or getting pregnant or has just had a baby. Kent and I aren’t having kids.”

“I didn’t know you’d decided that.”

“We haven’t talked about it, but there’s no way.” Consuelo’s mouth twisted and her tone became wistful. “Unless he would like us to have a baby.”

“You’d be a great mother. You wouldn’t take crap and you’d love fiercely. That’s nice.”

Consuelo’s gaze snapped back to her. “Do not say that word when you’re talking about me.”

Taryn wasn’t sure if she meant mother or nice, but either way, she was willing to comply. “Yes, ma’am.”

“I should kill Larissa. This is all her fault.”

“It is and she’s apologized to Angel more than once. She’s learned her lesson. Leave her alone.”

Consuelo studied her. “Defending one of your own?”

“Yes.” It was one thing for Taryn to snap at Larissa, but very different for someone outside the family.

“Fine.” Consuelo stood. “You know I hate this, right?”

Taryn wasn’t sure if she meant the invasion by the town, the “niceness” of it all or the expectations she wasn’t sure she could handle. Regardless, she nodded.

“I do know. And you’re going to get through it.”

“I hope so. Because if I don’t, I’m not going down alone.”

Taryn laughed. “That’s the spirit.”

* * *

A WEEK AFTER the snakebite, Angel was feeling back to normal. Larissa had apologized so many times he was officially avoiding her—which was tough. Fool’s Gold was a small town.

Now, as he crossed the street to head to a meeting, he looked both ways. Not for cars, but for a specific blonde who still blamed herself for the snakebite.

He managed to make it to the building he wanted without an encounter. Something he considered a win. He went inside and gave the receptionist his name. A couple of minutes later, he was shown back to Raoul Moreno’s office.

Raoul had moved to Fool’s Gold a few years before. He was a former football player who now spent much of his life helping disadvantaged inner-city kids with his summer camp—End Zone for Kids—along with scholarships. Most of the latter were funded through his Pro-Am golf tournaments.

When Raoul had scheduled the meeting, he’d refused to say what it was about. Angel had read up on him. His training had taught him that a thorough background investigation could make the difference in any situation. But he hadn’t found anything that would indicate why Raoul wanted a meeting. His company was too small to benefit from a corporate bonding experience at CDS. Even if that was his point, he would have contacted Ford, who was in charge of sales. If he was looking to connect with more of his kind, Angel thought with a grin, he should have gone to Score.

He walked into the building and found Raoul sitting alone in an open space. There were plenty of desks but no private offices. He could see a glassed-in conference area in the back.

Raoul rose from his desk and walked toward Angel. The other man was tall, with dark hair and eyes. He had the easy walk of a man comfortable with himself. Raoul was in decent shape and could probably handle himself on the streets, but in a real fight, he’d go down like the civilian he was.

“Thanks for coming,” Raoul said.

“You made it sound important.”

“It is.”

The two men shook hands. Raoul led the way to the conference room and motioned for Angel to take a seat. Raoul did the same and turned on a small laptop. A permanent screen was on the opposite wall.

Raoul leaned toward him, his forearms resting on the desk. “You know about my program? End Zone for Kids?”

Angel nodded. “Inner-city kids come here for a couple of weeks in the summer. They get to be away from the stress at home and live in nature. Kids from Fool’s Gold go to a day camp. They get to know each other, see life from others’ perspectives. They all sing ‘Kumbaya’ at the end.”

Raoul grinned. “Something like that. Without the singing. This is our fourth year. We’re expanding the program all the time. I had the idea that eventually we’d turn it into a year-round school. Maybe offer science classes or something. That plan was derailed when one of the local elementary schools burned down.”

Angel thought about his encounters with Mayor Marsha. “Let me guess. They took over the facility until the new school was rebuilt.”

“Yeah. So we focused on the summer camp. Now there’s a new school and I have my camp back. I’m still not sure what to do with it in the winter months. Kids today face a lot of problems we never did.”

Angel nodded. “Sure. When we went home, we could escape. With social media, that’s not possible. There’s constant contact. Nothing gets forgotten.”

“Bullying doesn’t end at three.” Raoul studied him. “That’s what I want to focus on first. An antibullying campaign. There are a lot of studies that talk about why kids become bullies. If we could break the cycle, even at one school, it would be a start.”

“Interesting idea.” Not that Angel knew what it had to do with him.

“I thought so.” Raoul leaned back. “I have a trained psychologist on my staff. Dakota has been studying this for nearly two years. She has some theories I want to put to the test. If we find a method that works, we can come up with a program. After we test that, we can take it out to schools around the country.”

“Ambitious.”

Raoul shrugged. “I’ve been blessed. I had a successful career that left me a wealthy man. Someone close to me taught me the importance of giving back. This is how I’ve chosen to do it.”

Angel knew that most people would think the summer camp itself was enough.

“I want you to sign on as one of my volunteers,” Raoul told him.

Angel wasn’t used to being surprised. “Why me?”

Raoul grinned. “I’ve heard good things.”

“The guys at Score speak football. I don’t.”

“They’re good men and I thought about them, but I think you have the skill set I’m looking for.” He chuckled. “For one thing, you’re going to scare the crap out of the average teenage boy. That means he’ll be listening.”

Angel lightly touched the scar on his neck. He knew he looked intimidating. Or at least he had. Between his time in Fool’s Gold and the way his Acorns swarmed around him, he was able to forget from time to time.

“It’s not a big-time commitment,” Raoul told him. “Two or three hours a week. We’ll be figuring it out as we go. Once we have some idea of what’s working and what isn’t, we’ll bring in other volunteers and expand the program.”

Angel thought about how he’d first planned on working with teenage boys. Because of Marcus. He hadn’t been there for his son—he hadn’t been able to keep him safe. Maybe giving back would lessen the gnawing sense of having failed at the one thing that mattered—protecting those he loved.

“Sure,” he said. “I’ll do it.”

“Great.” Raoul stood. “Let’s go.”

Angel rose. “Go where?”

“The high school. Several of the boys have a study period in about fifteen minutes. We can pull them out and talk to them.” He flashed another smile. “I cleared it with their counselor a couple of days ago.”