“Sam? Oh, my God. Sam Ward, is that you?”

“Great,” he muttered, “the crazy woman in my tree knows my name.”

Nicole pushed away from the trunk and started down with the use of the rope.

“I wouldn’t use that rope,” he said and moved closer.

“Why not? It got me up here.” Her skirt blew in the breeze and he caught a glimpse of her long legs.

“Because it might—”

Before he could finish the sentence, the rope snapped in two. He rushed forward and grabbed the woman around the waist to stop her from falling to the ground. Her back pressed into his front. Her hair smelled floral and like expensive perfume with rich undertones. It made him want to lean down and draw in more of the scent.

He set her down in front of him. She spun immediately and pressed the length of her body against him and hugged him around the neck, pulling him down to her height. She was at least a foot shorter than him. Even if she was crazy, his body responded to the soft curves pressed into his hardness.

“I can’t believe it’s you.”

His Small-Town Sweetheart
Amanda Berry

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Between walking her Jack Russell-beagle mix, petting her two cats and driving her two kids all over creation, AMANDA BERRY writes contemporary romance novels (thanks to a supportive husband). A Midwest girl stuck in the wetlands of South Carolina, she finds inspiration in her small-town upbringing. A list of her current releases and backlist can be found at amanda-berry.com.

To my Little Man and Lady Jane.

When your path is dark know that at the end of it there is light. You two are my light.

Contents

Cover

Excerpt

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

At least I’m on the right side of the grass. Better on top than below. Nicole Baxter stood in the last place she’d ever thought she’d end up—the front porch of a farm she hadn’t been to in seventeen years. The fields were lush from the months of spring rain they had received. Even the stifling heat of the Illinois summer hadn’t diminished the crops. With fall approaching, it wouldn’t be long before the fields were stripped of their bounty.

“You all settled in your room?” Her father, John Baxter, joined her on the porch.

“Yes.” She smiled up at him and shifted on her high heels. Probably the last time she’d wear them for a while. “Thanks again for letting me stay here. I swear I’ll only be here for a few weeks. A month, tops. Just until I get back on my feet again.”

“This is your home. You stay as long as you like.” His gaze followed the combine out in the western field. Her twin brothers, Ethan and Wes, were out there working.

“Thanks.” She could argue with him, insist that she wasn’t used to taking charity. That this hadn’t been her home in a long time. That this was only a temporary setback. A few weeks in the uncomplicated town of Tawnee Valley would help her heal from her breakup and find a new job that was ten times better than the one that had been eliminated.

“I think I’ll take a walk.” Nicole stretched her arms over her head and let the heat of the sun melt away her worries. It was only her first day back, and she couldn’t imagine spending it inside, searching the internet for a job. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have time on her hands.

“In those things?” Her father looked skeptically at her three-inch heels.

“I won’t go far. Besides, the ground isn’t that soft.” She flashed him a cheeky grin. “And they match my outfit.”

“You’re going to do what you are going to do, no matter what I say.” Her dad shook his head.

She kissed him on the cheek and stepped off the porch. As she reached the fence gate, she turned and waved at him. Her floral skirt swirled around her knees. While inside the house, her bag was a mess. She’d packed in a few hours, desperate to get out of the apartment she’d shared with Jeremy. Seven years down the toilet because they weren’t “connecting” anymore. Whatever that meant.

It was going to take her a few hours to unpack in her old bedroom. But she was through waiting for stuff. She’d waited for Jeremy’s proposal. She’d waited for a promotion. The only things waiting had gotten her were no boyfriend and no job. And not enough money to stay in LA.

As she walked far enough away that the house disappeared behind a hill, she took in a full breath and spun in a circle. Seventeen years and she still felt most at home here, where she’d played as a child. After her parents divorced when she was fourteen, her mother had taken her to LA, and the twins had stayed with Dad.

Even though this path was a little overgrown now, she followed it, just as she’d traveled it almost every day until she was fourteen.

Best days of her life. She wanted to recapture that time and forget all the crap that came after. Deep in the wooded part of their land, right where it abutted the Ward farm, was where she and her best friend would meet. She headed toward the tree, hoping their creation was still there.

When her heel sank into the ground slightly, she stopped and pulled off her shoes. Her toes curled into the damp grass. It felt wonderful, liberating. How long had it been since her feet had been in grass? As she approached the fence, she looked around. Didn’t her father say that Sam Ward was in charge of the farm now?

A little thrill went through her heart. She went to the post where it was easiest to climb the fence. It wasn’t as easy as when she was a kid, but she got over and wouldn’t be embarrassed if someone saw her do it with her skirt hitched up over her knees. Back then, she’d worn jeans or shorts and a T-shirt that might or might not have been washed since the last time she wore it. Her mother had put her hair into two braids to keep it from getting too tangled. She’d always come home wearing more mud than a hog trying to get cool in the summer heat. Band-Aids covered her knees. Her nails were broken and dirty. A happy little mess.

Now her nails were perfectly manicured. Her knees were smooth and clean with only a few scars from her childhood adventures. Her dark hair flowed over her shoulders, tangle-free with the right products and a straightening iron. Her skirt and blouse were feminine with flowers, the way Jeremy had always liked her to dress. Maybe she should go shopping...

As she rounded a bend, she saw it. After all these years, it was still there. The slab of wood they’d built up in the tree and called a tree house. She stopped in front of the tree and dropped her shoes to the ground. Glancing around and seeing no one, she smiled and grabbed the rope.

* * *

Sam Ward had never minded chores, but he was getting tired of finding damaged fencing along his property borders. John Baxter was usually good about it; if he found it first, he fixed it. But the new guy who’d bought the place to the south loved to drive his four-wheeler in his fields, but not actually keep up the fencing or anything else.

As Sam walked the fence bordering the Baxter property, Barnabus, his big, shaggy dog, trailed along behind him. Suddenly Barnabus lifted his head and gave a sharp bark before trotting into the woods.

Sam whistled, but the dog kept going. Probably a squirrel or something, but it could be a larger injured animal. He had sheep in the field at this time of year, but even a squirrel would be a welcome interruption into the monotony his life had become. Since his recovery from his valve surgery, he had been feeling ten times better than earlier this spring, prior to the operation. The tedium hadn’t bothered him before, but now he felt as if he’d been wasting his life out here all these years. Some days he wished he could just move away and start over. But this was his family’s farm, passed down to him by his parents.

A flash of white in a tree caught his attention. He quickened his pace down the old trail. If that new neighbor was littering on his land, he’d need to have a talk with him. But as he got closer, what Sam saw in the tree made no sense.

A slender young woman in a floral skirt and blouse stood on the platform that had once been his tree house. Her black hair lifted and floated on the wind. As he drew closer, he noticed the high heels at the base of the tree.

“You’re trespassing,” he called up to the clearly insane woman in his tree.

“No, I’m not. I built this place with my own two hands.” She turned and leaned forward against a thick offshoot of the trunk. She had the smile of a garden fairy, full of mischief. He couldn’t tell her eye color from so far away, but he could tell her eyes were light.

“I built that tree house almost twenty years ago.” He squinted as the sun moved to shine into his eyes.

“Sam?” Her voice sounded incredulous. “Oh, my God. Sam Ward, is that you?”

“Great,” he muttered, “the crazy woman in my tree knows my name.”

She pushed away from the trunk and started down with the use of the rope.

“I wouldn’t use that rope,” he said and moved closer.

“Why not? It got me up here.” Her skirt blew in the breeze and he caught a glimpse of her long legs and pink boy-short underwear before he could look away.

“Because it might—”

Before he could finish the sentence, the rope snapped in two. He rushed forward and grabbed the woman around the waist to stop her from falling to the ground. Her back pressed into his front. Her hair smelled floral and like expensive perfume with rich undertones, making him want to lean into her and draw in more of the scent.

He set her down in front of him. She spun immediately and pressed the length of her body against him and hugged him around the neck, pulling him down to her height. She was at least a half foot shorter than him. Even if she was crazy, his body responded to the soft curves pressed into his hardness.

“I can’t believe it’s you,” she said. Her tone made it seem as if she was ecstatic to see him. No one was that happy to see him. She must be certifiable.

She finally pulled away. Maybe she’d finally noticed he wasn’t holding in return. “Sam, it’s me.”

He looked into the crazy lady’s light green eyes. Surrounded by her dark lashes, the green reminded him of spring and new growth.

“You don’t know who I am, do you?” She smiled, and her eyes sparkled. Her lips drew his attention.

Aware of how close they were standing, he took a step back. “Should I?”

“Are you scared I’ll give you cooties or something?” She laughed, and it tickled the air around his ears pleasantly. “I cross my heart and hope to die that I have not been infected.”

When she crossed her heart with her finger, his gaze took in her breasts and waist and hips. By the time he lifted his eyes to hers, she had her eyebrow raised and was watching him with such an intensity that a spark of awareness flowed through him.

“Oh, I think he might have it, folks,” she said in a game show–style voice. “Come on. You never were as fast as I was, but I thought since you grew up so damned tall... When did you get that tall?”

“Nikki?” He couldn’t keep the awe from his voice. The corners of his mouth twitched into a quick smile. This couldn’t be the same tomboy with hair falling out of her braids and dirty jeans. She’d been straight as a rail and proud of it.

She grinned. “I go by Nicole now. Mom thought it sounded more mature, and who was I to argue with her?”

“You left.”

“All right. Apparently it’s going to take you some time to catch up. Yes, my mom and I moved to California when I was fourteen after the divorce. I’m back now. Staying with Dad until I can get back on my feet.”

“Are you sick?” He took a partial step forward, searching for signs of sickness. His own brush with illness was still a fresh wound, though he was almost completely healed.

Her brow furrowed and she shrugged. “No, just having issues with life in general.”

He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. His brain was still trying to reconcile the beautiful woman in front of him with the rough-and-tumble tomboy best friend he used to know. “What were you doing in the tree?”

She swung around and looked up into the tree. “I wondered if I could still climb it.”

“In a dress?”

She looked at him over her shoulder and smiled. “It’s a skirt. I didn’t think anyone would be out in the field at this time of day. I just remember how many days we spent up there and wondered if I could feel that way again.”

“What way?” He squinted up at the old tree house. “Dirty with splinters in your feet?”

Her laughter made his gut tighten. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear it more, or not at all. It made him feel strange.

“Maybe,” she said before she turned back to him and closed the distance between them until her toes were only a few inches from his boots. She put a hand on top of her head and moved her hand toward his chest. “How did you get so tall? We were the same height when I left.”

“I grew.”

Her hand reached out and touched his arm lightly. He automatically flexed his muscles beneath her touch.

Her green eyes looked up at him with a twinkle in them. “You certainly did. Do you spend all your time bench-pressing cattle?”

The image struck him as funny, and a slight laugh, more like a release of air, escaped before he could stop it.

“Did you lose your funny bone, too?” She squeezed his elbow. “Nope, it feels like one is still in there.”

His lips tried to curve up again. She was something else. He didn’t know what to say, so, as usual, he remained silent, trying to figure out this situation.

She breathed in deeply and wrapped her arms around his waist again, resting her head against his chest. “It is so good to see you again. I was afraid you’d changed too much, or that, once I saw you, I wouldn’t recognize you, but here you are. Oh, my goodness, we always had so much fun together. Climbing trees, running through the fields, snowball fights.”

She squeezed him slightly. He held his breath, willing his body not to respond to the temptation of her pressed against him. It was only a friendly hug. It didn’t mean anything. Certainly not what the lower half of his body wanted it to mean. He shouldn’t be thinking about her that way at all. This was Nikki. His best friend who left when he was fourteen, barely a teenager.

“Maybe I should take up cow lifting.” She stayed cuddled against him. “I could definitely use some definition in my arms. But then that would be a lot of work and someone would have to spot me, because I can’t lift a cow on my own.”

As she leaned against him, he didn’t know what to do with his arms. The top of her head almost reached his chin.

She lifted her head and looked up at him. “Would you spot me?”

With her this close, he could lift her the few inches he needed to be able to kiss her pretty pink lips. Would she taste as rich and darkly seductive as she smelled? Or would she taste like the spring her eyes promised? Strawberries and mint.

“Sam?” Her smile kept his eyes glued to her lips. “Would you spot me?”

Her words made no sense. He shook himself and lifted his gaze to her smiling eyes. “What?”

“In cow lifting? You would definitely keep a cow from falling on me. Wouldn’t you?”

“What?” Apparently she’d lost a few marbles in California.

She released him, and the lack of her warmth hit him the wrong way. “I guess you’re right, cow lifting isn’t for me. I’m sure there are other things that could help me improve my figure while I’m here.”

She bent down and picked up her shoes.

“You don’t have to improve your figure.” The words slipped out.

“Thanks.” Her cheeks flushed pink. “You always were sweet. I can’t wait to see what you’ve done with the house and the farm. Did you keep those rocks we collected? The ones that had the crystal-like appearance?”

“From the creek? Yeah.”

She was like a whirlwind that he had no chance of escaping or keeping up with. A very unintentionally sexy whirlwind. When they were younger, there’d never been anything but friendship between them. More often than not, she’d beat him at racing. Now the only thing racing was his heart; if it weren’t for the attraction pulsing through his veins, he’d be worried that another fainting episode was about to happen.

“So what are you doing in the woods at this time of day? Searching for fairies and dragons? The twins are out in the field, joyriding.”

Her smile was a constant that he was beginning to appreciate. People didn’t smile at him this much. As soon as he opened his mouth and said something, they generally stopped smiling. He didn’t mind keeping his distance from folks. It made things easier.

“Checking the fence.” He put his hands in his pockets and looked back toward the fence.

“I’d offer to come with you, but—” she held up her shoes “—I haven’t quite reacclimated to farm life. Can you believe this is what I’ve been wearing since I left here?” She pulled her skirt out to the side. The sunlight made the thin material almost transparent.

He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat at the remembrance of what was under that skirt. “It’s nice.”

“Thanks, but it isn’t really right for strolling through the fields. I just couldn’t help myself. I didn’t want to wait to find the right clothes or shoes to come out here. It’s been too long.”

He stepped back to discourage her from hugging him again.

“We really need to get together. I left the house without even grabbing my phone.” She laughed. “It’s been ages since I’ve left it behind without worrying that I’d miss something from work. Do you know what I mean?”

He shrugged. His brothers had bought him a cell phone and made him promise to keep it on him because of his condition. It was in the bottom of a drawer somewhere. He wasn’t sure if it was even charged currently. “I have to get back to work.”

“Of course, but I’m holding you to going out with me for a beer, or maybe I’ll wander over with a six-pack, so we can catch up on the past seventeen years.”

He nodded and whistled for Barnabus, who had wandered off while they’d been talking.

She closed the distance between them again and wrapped herself around him for the third time. “I’m glad I ran into you.”

He awkwardly patted her back this time. His body felt charged with electricity everywhere she touched him. He stared down at her dark hair. She wasn’t like the women in town who tried to draw his attention. Most of those women were divorced or widowed. He didn’t have a problem with them, but he wasn’t sure he was the best choice for a long-term relationship, which is what at least some of those women had wanted. As long as he picked the right ones, things worked out just fine.

But Nicole had been his buddy. Her father, John, would kill him if he messed with her; besides, they’d never been like that. They’d gone frogging together back when she wore braids and T-shirts and walked like a boy.

There was nothing boy-like about her now, except those underwear that he shouldn’t be thinking about. He wouldn’t even know about the different styles of underwear if he hadn’t been forced to go back-to-school shopping with his sister-in-law and niece. The only reason they apparently had taken him was to get him out of the house more often.

Nicole would be better off if she didn’t get to know the guy he’d become and just remembered the boy she’d left behind.

She released him, graced him with another smile and spun in a circle. “I feel better already. See you soon, Sam.”

As she sashayed away from him toward the fence, his eyes were drawn to the curve of her bottom. If she was enticing in a skirt, she’d be irresistible in a pair of jeans. Barnabus rushed out of the bushes and sat patiently at his feet. This summer had just gotten interesting.

Chapter Two

Nicole straightened her shirt, tucked her hair behind her ear and shifted the six-pack from one hand to the other. She stood in front of Sam’s screen door, which he could walk by any minute and see her standing out here in the dark like a ninny. This was Sam. Her friend, her confidant.

Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door. She could hear some shuffling from the other room, and then he was walking toward her. Holy crap, it hadn’t just been her imagination. He was tall, dark and handsome. Not at all the kid she’d left behind.

Earlier today, his blue eyes had been amazing close-up, sparkling in the sunlight with flecks of dark blue mingled with light blue and even hints of gold. Not that she’d been staring earlier. It had taken most of her willpower not to check him out the way he’d done to her. Farming had definitely been good for his development. His chest was broad. His arms were muscular, but not overly so. And she’d bet money that he was packing his own six-pack under that AC/DC T-shirt.

As he drew closer, he ran his hand through his thick, shaggy hair and she wanted to do the same, except, in her fantasy, when she wove her fingers in his hair, she would jerk his full lips down to hers. When he stopped at the door, she held up the six-pack and smiled.

She needed to stop thinking of Sam as eye candy. Their meeting today had caught her off guard. She hadn’t thought, just reacted. And it had felt good.

With everything that had happened in her life recently, she could really use a friend. Maybe Sam could use a friend, too. She’d kept his friendship close to her heart when she’d moved to California. Sam, who’d always known the right thing to do. She’d written him letters as she maneuvered through a new school and social situations she never would have experienced in Tawnee Valley. She’d never sent the letters that shared all her secrets and fears. Just a few when she’d first moved away. Right now, she needed a friend more than sex... At least, that’s what she reminded herself of when he stood on the other side of the door looking like sex on a stick.

He opened the screen door, and she slid through the opening under his arm, into the kitchen, before he could tell her not to.

“How’s it going? I brought beer.” She moved around him, catching hints of the crispness of his soap and that distinct, manly scent that was all Sam. Raw, powerful.

“You aren’t going to hug me again, are you?” He eyed her suspiciously.

She shrugged and set the beer on the table. “Probably.”

She pulled out two beers and handed him one. He took it from her, almost as if he were afraid to touch her. He hadn’t returned her hugs earlier. Of course, he hadn’t been touchy-feely when he was a fourteen-year-old, either.

Twisting off the cap to her beer, she glanced around the kitchen. It looked the same. Her dad had mentioned that Mr. and Mrs. Ward had died years ago. Other than that, her father hadn’t talked much about the Wards, except to say Sam was a hard worker.

“Cheers,” she said and clinked her bottle against his. They both took a swig and then stood there awkwardly with their beers. “So...does the rest of the house look the same? The kitchen definitely hasn’t changed.”

He shrugged. His gaze dipped down to her bare legs. She’d changed into shorts and had managed to find her one pair of sneakers that she didn’t use for running.

“This is ridiculous,” she said.

He lifted his gaze to hers and raised his eyebrow.

“We were once best friends, Sam. I used to sleep in your bed. We used to run around in bathing suits and sneakers. I showed you mine and you showed me yours...in a perfectly scientific discovery sense. We should be able to have a beer together and catch up like normal people.”

He shifted his weight on his feet, and the corner of his mouth twitched upward, about as much of a smile as he could make, apparently. “Sure. You want to see the house?”

“I’d love to.” That had been what she was angling for, after all.

Sam had a house, a job, a couple of dogs that had greeted her when she walked up, while she was adrift in life. She didn’t have a job and could end up anywhere in the United States with her search. She’d just left a long-term relationship and wasn’t in the right frame of mind to start anything. Even with her old best friend who was now hot but completely anchored to this town.

He led the way, and she noted how he filled out his carpenter jeans with a very nicely shaped butt. As he stopped abruptly, she ran into him. He looked over his shoulder at her with that disgruntled expression of his.

“Do you ever smile?” She returned his look before she stepped back and glanced around the dining room. “Nothing’s changed. How do you manage that? I’m constantly changing things. Moving furniture, painting walls, buying lamps. Jeremy used to complain that I couldn’t leave anything for longer than a minute.”

“Who’s Jeremy?” he said in that gruff voice of his. Definitely lower toned, it made her spine tingle in response. Could she get him to read her a book or even the dictionary? Maybe the ingredients off a cereal box? Whole grain oats, sugar, calcium carbonate...

“My ex-boyfriend.” She wished she could say “my dog” or maybe “my snake,” but he was her ex. “We lived together in LA. He got the apartment. I lost my job and came back here.”

“That sucks.” He led her into the living room. There was a nice flat-screen and a game console, along with a few recliners and a couch that had seen better days. He gestured to one of the chairs and sat in the one with the best view of the TV. His chair looked like the most lived-in one.

“It did suck, but it was probably for the best.” Jeremy had actually had the gall to blame her parents’ divorce as one of the reasons she wouldn’t connect with him. It was ridiculous. “I don’t want to think about it. I want to find out what you’ve been doing since I last saw you. You obviously didn’t complete our tree house.”

He shrugged. “Didn’t have time.”

Getting him to talk was like pulling teeth. They used to talk over each other. They’d had so much to say and share. “I heard about your mom and dad. I was sorry I couldn’t be here for you.”

He nodded and looked at the label on his beer. The way his shoulders hunched told her he wasn’t over the pain of losing them. She wanted to let him know that he could cry on her shoulder if he wanted. She wished she could have been there. As she’d been there for him when his dog died when they were eleven.

“You had to take care of Luke and Brady and the farm? That must have been tough. I couldn’t imagine being responsible for another person at eighteen. I was barely responsible for myself. We won’t discuss my poor goldfish burial ground. How did you date or go out?”

“I didn’t.”

She opened her mouth and snapped it shut. Someone as handsome as Sam didn’t stay single without effort. He was gorgeous and tall, and she really wanted to see the solid body she’d hugged earlier. “Didn’t you have a girlfriend in high school? I tried to date in high school, but the guys were always after one thing.”

She looked at him, expecting his answer to her question. He was still looking at his beer label, lost in his own world.

“What?” He finally raised his gaze to hers.

“High school girlfriend?”

“Yeah, I had a few of those.”

She took a drink of beer. “What about after high school? Anyone special?”

“No.”

She felt compelled to fill the empty space around them. “Jeremy and I met in college. I think that’s why we stayed together so long. I’m surprised you didn’t have anyone like that. I mean, I realize you were busy with your brothers and the farm, but it’s really hard to go for a long period without...well, you know. I mean, even in a relationship, you can have dry spells. We had been in a rut for a while. Maybe that was part of the problem. How long has it been for you?”

He lifted his eyebrows at her and she flushed with heat, realizing she’d just asked him how long it had been since he’d last had sex.

“Sorry. I tend to just say whatever’s on my mind. My mom tried to stop me, but I like being honest and open. I can’t stand when people keep secrets or don’t say what’s really on their minds. You were always honest with me. But I overstep boundaries all the time.” She took a drink to stop herself from talking.

“My family says I don’t talk enough.” He returned to his perusal of his beer bottle.

She smiled. This was easy ground to tread upon. “How are your brothers?”

“Brady’s married to Maggie Brown. They’ve got a kid, Amber. She’s cool. Luke and Penny Montgomery are together down in St. Louis.” He didn’t lift his gaze to hers. His tone was matter-of-fact, just reciting facts with no emotion connected to them.

“That’s exciting.” The names of the women sounded somewhat familiar, but that wasn’t what she was focused on. Had he really changed that much? The boy she used to know seemed to have turned into a crotchety old man at the age of thirty-one. Surely there was something exciting in his life. Maybe a hope or a dream or a wish for someone special to share his life with. She stood up and circled the room, looking at the pictures and knickknacks. They were all old with a coat of dust on them. Like his mother had placed them there and no one had moved them since. “You out here by yourself, then? No one special now?”

“No.”

She stopped in front of the TV and turned to face him. Raising an eyebrow, she asked, “No, you aren’t by yourself, or there’s no one special?”

He lifted his gaze to hers, and she caught her breath at the deep blue of his eyes. They seemed empty of that spark he’d had when they ran through the yards with pretend weapons.

“No one,” he said with all the emotion of a stone.

Even so, her heart fluttered in her chest. Nicole was hopelessly hopeful, as her mother would say. She crossed the room to stand in front of him. “So we’re in the same boat, then. Single and alone with no one to worry about but ourselves.”

“I guess so.” He took a drink.

She glanced out the window at the accumulating darkness. Did that mean he wasn’t interested in her? Or anyone? Did she want him to be interested in her? She might have had the teeny tiniest of small crushes on him in eighth grade, but nothing she ever would have acted on. They’d been best friends. Buds.

Gah. She needed to get out of her head. “I haven’t seen good stars in ages. With the city lights and air pollution in LA, I was lucky to see a few stars in the Big Dipper. Do you remember when we used to wait until dark and look at the stars?”

He nodded, and a corner of his lips quirked up a little. That was all the encouragement she needed.

“Why don’t we grab the rest of the beers and go see the stars? We can go down to the tree house and lie on our backs, look up at the stars, watch for falling stars.” She grabbed his free hand and tugged on him. “Come on, Sam. Live a little.”

His hand closed around hers. The feel of his firm grip shot through her and made her aware of his heat and how close she’d gotten to him. She was practically standing between his knees.

“Slow down, Nikki. Not everything has to be go, go, go.” This time, when the corner of his mouth went up, a small dimple flashed at her.

She stopped tugging. The warmth of his hand spread through her. Her heart thrummed a steady rhythm as she thought of all the places she wanted that hand. Her eyes focused on his lips. She forced herself to focus on renewing their friendship. Clearing her mind and her throat, she said, “We could see the stars and watch the moon play hide-and-seek in the leaves of the tree. It’ll be fun.”

For a moment, she was sure he was going to turn her down. Instead, he stood. She didn’t have time to back up. His heat surrounded her. It slipped through her clothes and wrapped itself tight around her lungs, making it hard to draw in a breath.

She ducked her head and stepped back until she could breathe again. She wanted only friendship from Sam. She was too screwed up to try anything else. Focusing on friendship should work. Just because she was attracted to him and maybe he thought she was attractive didn’t mean she wanted to ruin what could be a good friendship for some meaningless sex.

The whole reason for coming to Tawnee Valley was to uncomplicate her life and figure out her next move. Sam could be a huge complication if she let things go that way. She wanted his steady presence to help guide her in the right direction, as he had when they were kids. And, yes, they had been children at the time and were now adults with a lot more complications, but that didn’t have to stop them from being friends again. Guys and girls could be friends.

* * *

When Nicole wasn’t touching him, Sam could think straight. They grabbed a couple of flashlights and the beer and headed into the fields. Barnabus and Rebel, Barnabus’s puppy, who was almost a year old, followed them. Sam had promised himself that he was going to allow himself to live, even if he couldn’t leave his family’s farm.

Following Nicole wouldn’t hurt anything. He was curious what had happened to her after she left Tawnee Valley. In the early years after her departure, he’d started letters to her but never finished them. Time had been against him with school and chores. Then so much time had passed that it seemed strange to write to a girl who had once been his friend.

“With the rope gone, how are we going to get up?” Nicole spun to face him. She’d been quiet while they’d trekked deeper into the woods. Maybe because the woods themselves were so quiet. Their tree house loomed ahead of them in the huge oak tree.

“The same way we did as kids?” he said.

She contemplated the tree. “I’m not sure I can climb a tree these days. I think I was a lot more spindly back then. Don’t get me wrong. I exercise, but climbing trees hasn’t been a specialty. The trees out in California weren’t good for climbing.”

“I can give you a boost.” He closed the distance between them and pointed out the spot that would be easiest to climb. For the first time in a long time, his shoulders felt lighter, and his chest didn’t feel as tight. The responsibility of the farm seemed far away. “Remember this was your idea.”

“I haven’t exactly been known for my smart decisions lately.” She set the beer on the ground and positioned herself in front of the climbing route they’d zipped up as kids. “I’m counting on you not to let me land on my backside here.”

She glanced at him over her shoulder. The darkness obscured the color of her eyes, but the moonlight streaming through the tree leaves gave her a glow that made her look ethereal, unworldly. He’d never noticed before she left whether she was cute or pretty; they’d always just been buds. She used to punch him in the arm for flinching. They’d had belching competitions. There’d been nothing girlie about her then.

As she hoisted herself up, he grabbed hold of her waist to help support her. From her curves to her seductive scent, she was all woman now. A very attractive woman. When she moved beyond his reach, he let go of her waist and watched her.

Her foot slipped, and his hands automatically braced her nearest body part, which happened to be her bottom.

“Thanks.” Her voice was higher pitched than normal. She lifted herself up onto the platform and then brushed her hands over her bottom. “Hand me up the beer.”

He passed her the beer and studied the tree. One wrong move could pull at his chest muscles, which still bothered him from time to time. The small incision wound was healed, but the muscles still weren’t quite up to full power yet.

“Are you coming, cow lifter?” Her tone was teasing. “Don’t worry, I’ll give you a hand if you need it. But please don’t need it, because most likely we’ll both fall out of the tree and break something. They won’t find us for a few days. We’ll have to eat grass and the fallen leaves. It might be a great diet, but we’d soil ourselves and when they found us, there’d be all sorts of questions. Why did you think climbing a tree at ten at night would be a good—”

“Would you be quiet for a moment?”

“Why? Are you afraid I’ll be right?”

She was just a shadow in the tree, but he glared up at her anyway. He climbed carefully, feeling stupid the whole time. What thirty-one-year-old climbed trees besides Nicole? He’d been responsible for the farm and his brothers since he was eighteen. Even as he chastised himself for doing something so foolish, after staying inside the lines for so long, it felt good to do something just because he wanted to and not because it needed to be done.

When he reached the platform, he pulled himself up the rest of the way with only a slight protest from his chest muscles. When he straightened, she held out a beer to him.

“I knew you’d make it,” she said and lowered herself to the planks of wood. She patted the spot next to her.

“There was more space up here when we were kids.” When they were fourteen, they hadn’t needed much space. Now there was just enough room for them to sit side by side with their shoulders touching.

At one point they’d known each other’s secrets and fears, but now they were little more than strangers. All he knew about her life now was what she’d told him. It was more of an outline than the complete picture. How much would she expect him to share? How much was he willing to share?

“Did you find a new best friend after I left?” Nicole took a drink of her beer and stared up into the canopy of leaves. The stars twinkled beyond the leaves. The moon didn’t overpower the stars, the way streetlights did.

“No.” There was no secret in that, just a fact. “I had a group of friends in high school but never got close to any of them.” Not as he’d been close to her. Because he lived out on the farm, it made it hard to connect with his friends, and with his chores, he didn’t always have time.

“Do you still see any of them?” Her voice was soft in the darkness, not quite a whisper, as if they were sharing secrets and not just talking about what happened between then and now.

“Every once in a while, someone comes to town to visit their folks or something.” The truth was, everyone moved away after graduation. It was rare to find anyone in Tawnee Valley between the ages of twenty and thirty who wasn’t married with kids.

“I tried my hardest to fit in at my new school,” Nicole said. “Mom insisted I start dressing like a girl since I wasn’t living on a farm anymore. I made a few friends, but I couldn’t tell them any secrets without someone spreading it around school. I certainly couldn’t make blood pacts or belch in front of them.” Nicole bumped his shoulder with hers.

“You were the one who wanted to do the blood thing.” He took a swig of beer. It had been a while since he’d drunk alcohol, probably since Brady’s wedding.

“Only because I saw it in a movie.” They sat quietly for a moment. “Do you think we would have stayed friends if I hadn’t moved?”

Sam took a deep breath and followed a shooting star across the sky. “Honestly? I don’t know. It wasn’t too long after you left that I started looking at girls differently.”

“Like they grew horns and tails?”

He smiled slightly. “You know what I mean.”

“Of course, but it’s much more fun to tease you.” She leaned her head on his shoulder. “Who knows what might have happened between us if I’d stayed?”

Would he have noticed her? As more than his friend? Would it have felt as awkward as it did now, or would they have fallen into it naturally?

She took his hand in hers and held it. “I wish I knew what to do now. I wish my future was laid out before me like yours always was.”

“Don’t wish that,” he said harshly. No one wished for his life. Not even him.

“You have the farm. I’m sure you’ll find someone who will make you an excellent farm wife, and you’ll have a passel of children to help raise your livestock.” She sighed. “I have an accounting degree but barely any work experience in forensic accounting. Finding another job is going to be confined to large cities. Once I start working, I won’t have the time to date. I’ll probably die alone, but independently wealthy because I didn’t have any time to spend any of my money. Maybe I’ll leave all my money to my cat. If I had a cat...”

“At least you have options.” He couldn’t give up his birthright, and unless he wanted to date the few eighteen-year-olds in town, he didn’t have options on the dating front. There was no way he could relate to someone over a decade younger than him with her future burning bright before her, confine her to the land that had been in his family for generations. His parents had trusted him to keep the tradition going. He couldn’t let them down, so he was bound to the land and cursed to be alone.

“Ugh, when did this become so serious?” She snuggled closer to him and pointed up through the branches. “What constellation is that?”

“What makes you think I know?” He tensed with her touch, but it felt nice to have someone trust him and not want to rehash the bad stuff. Someone he hadn’t let down. He relaxed and drank some beer, breathing in the cool night air.

“Please.” She snorted derisively. “You know everything.”

He didn’t know anything. All he could do was follow the path his parents laid out for him. Whether he wanted to or not. But right now, he could forget about his responsibilities for an hour and point out the stars to someone who could be his friend before she left him again.

Chapter Three

Nicole swiped at her brow with a rag. The past few days had been beyond hot. She would have loved to go hide in the air-conditioned rooms of the house, but her family was all outside working. This afternoon they planned to go over and help Sam with his fields. She figured if she tagged along with them then and didn’t put in any work now, her brothers would tease her or leave her behind.

Since she left Tawnee Valley, she’d been set on a course clearly laid out before her. Get good grades to get into a good school. Meet a nice guy so she could settle down and have kids. Find a good job that would provide for the life she wanted. Live happily ever after. She’d followed the plan, and it’d backfired in her face.

Now she was back in Tawnee Valley with the guy she’d thought of so often since she’d moved away. She’d enjoyed talking with Sam. He didn’t have any expectations of her. With the exception of her little attraction to him, he was the perfect friend. He barely talked, but she’d always been told she talked enough for at least two people. She didn’t feel as if she needed to censor herself around him. To be honest, though, she didn’t know what she wanted from Sam.

Friendship, definitely. He’d been her rock, even though he hadn’t actually been there. In her mind, he’d become her diary, her confessional in the letters she’d never sent him.

She yanked a weed out of the ground and tossed it into the middle of the row.

More than friendship? That was the question. She really wasn’t in a good place, but she couldn’t sink much lower. She was at a crossroads in life. Jeremy dumping her hadn’t been as painful as it should have been. She’d spent seven years waiting for him. It was almost a relief when he broke it off. At least she finally knew how he felt.

Losing her job had hurt more. She’d never been let go before. She’d done a good job, shown up to work on time. Never questioned her boss or the extra work. Always tried to be a team player. How was she supposed to know that the company would downsize?

When she found a new job, wherever it ended up being, she would move there. It wasn’t as if Tawnee Valley or the surrounding community had a job opening for a forensic accountant. The big-city accounting firms and possibly the FBI were her best bets. In the past couple of days, she’d started her search and sent out résumés to every posting she could find.

After being cooped up and staring at the screen all day, being outside, even in the blistering heat, felt great.

“Nikki’s slacking again, Dad,” Ethan shouted.

She spun around to give Ethan a dirty look. “I can’t believe you are tattling on me. You’re twenty-five years old.”

“Maybe if you’d get your butt in gear, I wouldn’t have to tell on you.” Ethan winked before he disappeared down one of the lines of corn.

“You don’t have to be out here, Nik.” Her father walked over and stood beside her.

“Please call me Nicole.” The old nicknames shouldn’t bother her, but she hadn’t been called any of them for the past couple of decades. They just sounded weird. Besides, why wouldn’t she want to be out here? “I like helping out.”

Her dad looked down the rows of corn. It was as tall as they were and would be harvested in the next few weeks. “It’s a lot of hard work, but at least it’s honest work.”

She put her arm around his waist and leaned against his side for only a second. After all, they were hot and sweaty, but that didn’t mean a side hug wasn’t nice. “You’re a good man, Dad.”

“Wish your mom had thought so.” He took his hat off and hit it across his thigh. “Sun’s a bear today.”

That was about as emotional as her father got, whereas her mother was emotional all the time. “Yup, it’s pretty hot out.”

“Make sure to get that weed over there and check for bugs.” Her father disappeared behind another row.

They’d been out all morning, since 6:00 a.m. She was looking forward to a nice, long shower before running into Sam. Not that she was going to get pretty just to muck about in the muddy pen to drive the hogs into the trailer. But she could at least get rid of a layer of sweat before he saw her.

Maybe she’d sneak away now to get that shower. She glanced around to see if her father or brothers were nearby. Smiling, she spun toward the house and slammed straight into someone.

Strong hands grabbed her shoulders, and when she drew in a breath filled with a manly scent, she knew immediately whose chest she’d almost broken her nose on.

She grinned up at him while rubbing her nose. “Hey, Sam. What are you doing in our field?”

“Working.” He set her back slightly.

She must be disgusting. Even her hair felt sticky. She didn’t even bother to run a hand through her hair or try to primp at all. It couldn’t be helped.

“I thought I wouldn’t see you until we came over to help with the hogs.” She rubbed her gloved hands over her backside, trying to brush off some of the dirt that had surely accumulated there when she’d pulled the last dozen or so weeds. “So what are you doing over here? Did they tell you I wasn’t pulling my weight? Because I can pull a mean weed. Wait, I know! It’s because I don’t know all the bug names, isn’t it?”

“If I help over here, it’ll go quicker.” Sam shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He had on jeans and a long-sleeved shirt as she did. While it kept the plants from cutting up her arms, it didn’t help with the heat. However, he looked as if he’d just stepped out of the shower. His dark hair was slicked back under a cap. The sun made his blue eyes seem even deeper as it drew out the darker shades. She pulled her gaze from those eyes before she lost herself in them or said something stupid.

“That’s great,” she said. “Maybe you can tell me what some of these bugs are called. I think Dad and the brats avoid me because they know I’ll talk their ear off if they come near. But you don’t mind if I talk, do you?” She watched his face carefully.

He shrugged but looked distinctly uncomfortable, as if he really would like her to just remain quiet but didn’t want to upset her. If he wasn’t going to protest, she’d talk his ear off because she liked chatting with him. Even if he was just being polite, she couldn’t help her smile.

“I knew I could count on you.”

When she moved to grab her bucket, he held up a hand. “No hugs.”

She laughed. “Oh, trust me, I’m not hugging anyone smelling like I do. I don’t believe in sharing sweat when hugging. Don’t worry, though...I’ll just hug you more next time.”

When he grimaced, she laughed again.

“You’ll get used to it. I swear.” She bent down to pull another weed.

He walked beside her silently, pulling weeds as he went. Investigating the leaves and corncobs. Occasionally he’d point out an insect and let her know whether it was beneficial or needed to be gotten rid of.

She talked about nonsense the entire time. He didn’t respond, but it didn’t bother her. She was glad for the company. She got only that partial smile, though. Not even a flash of dimple. What would it take to make Sam Ward smile? When her mind started turning over certain ways to make a man like Sam smile, she bent down to tie her shoe to hide her suddenly red face. When they made it to the end of her row, her father was there.

“John,” Sam acknowledged.

“You ready for us?” Dad put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his brow.

“The trailer is at the gate, ready for loading.”

“Good, good.” Her father turned to her as if noticing her for the first time. “You coming with, kid?”

She hated it when he called her “kid.” Even “Nik” was better than “kid.” “Yeah. I was hoping to take a quick shower first, though.”

“No need,” her father said. “Just going to get muddy anyway. Come on.”

They followed him down the hill, where Ethan and Wes waited next to their dad’s truck.

“Why don’t you ride with Sam?” Dad said and left them to join the boys.

“Well, that’s not at all awkward.” Nicole smiled up at Sam. “Do you have room for me?”

He nodded and led the way over to his truck. He pulled open the passenger door, and she climbed into the truck.

She slid off her gloves and put them in her lap, suddenly very conscious of the small space and her current lack of personal hygiene. Her deodorant had given up at least a half hour ago, and while she would have loved to believe her sweat didn’t stink...she was fairly certain she didn’t smell like a bed of roses right now, but more like the fertilizer. “Sorry for the smell. Normally I bathe before getting into enclosed spaces with other people.”

“It doesn’t bother me.” He started the truck and drove up the driveway.

“I suppose when you work with cows, pigs and sheep all day, one stinky human isn’t overwhelming.” She turned to watch his expression.

“You don’t stink.” His tone didn’t imply anything negative or even positive, but the simple comment made her heart sing a little.

“Thanks, but you don’t have to be nice. After all, I’m about to climb into your hog pen and get all muddy. I’m sure the hogs won’t mind the smell.” She glanced out the window as they passed the field where their tree house was. Friends didn’t care if other friends liked the way they smelled. She didn’t know how to act around him. So she did what she did best—talk. “I don’t think I’ve carried my cell phone around with me at all. It’s odd because I always checked it in LA. But the reception is so iffy at Dad’s that I just don’t bother. The funny thing is, I don’t really feel like I’m missing anything.”

“Don’t you have friends who call?” Sam asked.

“Funny thing, that.” She twisted in her seat to face him. “Jeremy got our friends. Turns out they were mostly his to start. The friends I had in college all went their separate ways, but we email once in a while.”

The lack of people to hang out with had made her decision to head back to her dad’s that much easier. She could just imagine what Jeremy was saying about her now that she was gone. For all she knew, he’d already hooked up with someone new. She could name at least two girls in their group of friends who had always wanted him. That gave her pause. Nicole must still be in the numb phase of the breakup, because that didn’t hurt as much as it would have a few months ago. Or would it have hurt then?

Sam turned down his driveway and pulled up next to the barn. She snapped out of her thoughts.

“How many hogs are we loading?” She wished she could find a way to make him talk for longer than a minute and finally see his smile. If he was gorgeous sullen, would he be stunningly handsome full-on smiling?

“A dozen.” He opened his door and got out. Before he could reach her side, she opened her door and hopped down in front of him.

“A baker’s or literal?” Maybe if she were funnier, he would smile. She never was good at jokes or funny stories. Her jokes tended to meander too much, and she always screwed up the punch line.

“Literal.” Not even a crack of a smile. Though she swore she saw a little merriment in his eyes.

“Awesome.” She followed him down to the pen. Her father and brothers joined them.

“Spread out around the outside and then we’ll slowly work them forward,” Sam said and handed her a square board about three feet by three feet and less than an inch thick. It had cutouts for her hands. “If they get past you, don’t worry, but try to keep them in the circle we create.”

He could read the directions to build an IKEA chair and his deep voice would hold her enthralled. Maybe that was the way to get him to talk: read instructions. He raised his eyebrow at her when she didn’t respond. She nodded.

“Don’t slip up.” Wes winked as he passed her.

She wished she’d never taught those two brats to wink. The way they did it was obnoxious, as if they knew exactly what she was thinking about. Ideally Sam didn’t. He didn’t need to know that she had the equivalent of a schoolgirl crush on him. It wasn’t as if she was drawing hearts with their initials in her notebook or anything like that. All he needed to know was that she wanted them to be friends again.

They all moved into the pen, and Sam showed her where to stand before going to his place near the gate. The poor pigs sensed something was up and moved away from them.

When Sam nodded, they all started working the hogs. Moving them out of their comfortable home and into a trailer seemed cruel, but she wasn’t about to become a vegetarian over it. She liked her bacon too much to give it up.

The majority of the hogs were blocked in, and her brothers helped Sam get them into the smaller run that would lead them to the trailer. Of course, the ornery one had to be near her. She pushed it with the tip of the board, but it merely rolled on its side in the mud. The chaos in the rest of the pen hadn’t reached this one’s brain yet. Or it just didn’t care. Maybe it didn’t have a brain. One too many dunks in the mud pit, perhaps.

“You’re making me look bad,” she muttered to the pig. It snorted in response. Maybe a different tactic was in order. “What if I promised you some good slop tonight? The very best carrots and potatoes? What if I dump my whole plate in your slop bin? You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

The pig finally got up and meandered toward the gate.

“Good pig. Who’s going to get a big apple with dinner tonight?” She followed behind with her board positioned between the pig and her. “The biggest pig in here, that’s who.”

Proud of herself and her pig, she couldn’t help beaming at Sam as the animal kept heading his way. His gaze followed the hog, but then those blue eyes focused on her and she stopped in her tracks. His lips curved into a smile so genuine that her grip loosened on the board and her heart beat a little harder.

As if sensing her resolve slipping away, the pig turned. It happened so quickly she didn’t have time to brace herself before the hog plowed into the side of her board and around her. She tried to turn, but the ground beneath her feet was wet for the pigs to wallow in, and the ground slipped out from under her. She set the board into the mud to try to keep herself from falling.

Ethan and Wes would never let her live it down if she fell into the pig muck.

* * *

Sam couldn’t do anything but watch as Nicole’s feet went out from beneath her. The twins were already after the last hog. Sam rushed over to where she fell and knelt in the muck next to her. His pulse raced with fear. She could be hurt. The mud squished beneath the knees of his jeans. The wetness reached his skin. The board lay across her chest. She’d landed faceup in pigpen mud. It covered her back from head to toe.

“If he thinks he’s getting an apple now,” she muttered angrily, “he has another think coming. I can’t wait to have bacon when I get up. And maybe some ham.”

Sam couldn’t help the smile that touched his lips or the relief that flooded through him when he realized she was okay. Even down, she kept talking. He pulled the board off her and tossed it to the side. When he turned back to Nicole, she looked at him as if he were an alien.

“What?”

“Oh, don’t stop. Darn it. I finally get a full smile and it’s over before I can fully appreciate it.” She pushed up on her elbows. The mud sucked at her back and hair. Her face scrunched up. “Oh, that’s so gross.”

“I smile.” He pulled off his brown work glove and brushed some mud off her cheek with his thumb. The touch hadn’t been anything other than an attempt to clean off her cheek before the dirt got in her mouth, but electricity sizzled through his blood. He almost missed her slight intake of breath and widened eyes, as if she felt it, too.

“I’m not sure I can get out of this...mud.” Her smile was softer than the normal grins she gave him. “Would you mind giving me a lift, please?”

He nodded and stood, leaning over and offering his hand. She grabbed his wrist, and he yanked her up. He hadn’t been thinking. The motion pulled something in his chest near his scar. It was enough to take his breath away for a moment.

“Sam? Are you okay?” Her bare hands touched his cheeks, and she lifted his head until she was looking into his eyes. At some point, she must have taken off her filthy gloves. Her forehead was wrinkled with concern.

He focused on the mixture of green and gold within her eyes and took slow breaths, willing the pain away. The color was soothing, like a field of spring grass, soft and damp with morning dew. Her eyes searched his, as if she was looking for some reason why he was acting as if he were an old man trying to catch his breath.

“I’m okay.” He straightened away from her hands and took in a full breath. He rubbed at his chest. He’d felt like an old man before the surgery on his heart. The doctor assured him that he’d feel young again once he was done healing.

“Did I hurt you?” She covered his hand on his chest with her own. “I’m going to blame the mud, because surely I don’t weigh that much if you can bench-press a bull.”

He smiled. He couldn’t help it. Heck, he didn’t want to help it. She always said the oddest things. “I thought it was a cow.”

“If I weren’t covered in more mud and...ew, other stuff than you, I would so hug you right now, Sam Ward.”

“I’ll remember that next time you try to hug me.” He gave her a half smile, which seemed to please her to no end. He hoped she’d forgotten about his chest pain. He didn’t want to see that look of concern that always filled his brothers’ eyes when they looked at him. He’d had a bum valve. It was all fixed now and he should have no issues living his life. Except the odd strain on the healing scar.

“I don’t suppose you are going to let me into your truck looking like this.” Her eyes danced as she met his gaze.

“Brush the mud off and quit playing around, Nik.”

Nicole winced at her father’s voice. “I’m not playing, Dad. I’m fairly certain this is more than a brush-the-mud-off situation.”

“Oh, I can’t go on, either,” Wes yelled. His green eyes twinkled with mischief. “I have a little mud on my pants. I can’t help anymore. I think I’ll go inside and play Xbox for the rest of the day.”

“Shut it, Wes,” her dad said. His gaze went over Sam and her. “Looks like neither of you are up to going into the sale barn, Sam. The boys and I can take the hogs in for you. Hose her down and send her home if you don’t mind, Sam.”

Sam watched the emotions run through Nicole’s eyes. Pain, embarrassment, resignation.

“Yeah, I’ll make sure she gets home. Thanks, John,” Sam said.

Before the twins were born, Nicole had been John’s little helper. After the boys, though, no matter how much she acted like one, her father still preferred to spend his time with them. She could never find her way back into the favorite slot. These were just a few of the secrets shared between best friends in the tree house they’d built.

He couldn’t imagine the pain of having her folks split their family in half. What must that have felt like for her? Had she felt like the last one to get picked? If her mother hadn’t moved so far away, would Sam and Nicole have been split up?

“You ready to get hosed down?” he asked as the truck doors slammed behind them.

She lifted her eyebrow at him. “You aren’t serious.”

“How else are you going to get all the pig smell off you?” Sam flicked a chunk of mud from her shoulder. “I can’t exactly let you into the house looking like that.”

Her smile was downright wicked when she stepped close to him. “If I’m going to get hosed down, then you are, too.”

She put a handful of mud from her leg on the front of his shirt and smiled up at him. “Just so you know, if you hadn’t grown so big, I’d have just tackled you in the mud.”

The images she conjured in his mind were enough to make him welcome the cold hose water. The truck engine vanished into the distance, leaving him and Nicole alone. If she wanted to play with mud, he decided two could play at this game.

Chapter Four

Nicole took one look at the mischievous look in Sam’s eyes and knew she was in trouble. So when he bent over to scoop up some mud, she shoved him off balance.

“Hey!” He fell to the side and into the mud. She took the opportunity to turn to make her getaway.

If the mud hadn’t sucked down her boots, she might have made it, too.

As she tried to pull free of the mud, Sam said, “Not so fast, Nikki.”

His hand wrapped around her calf and yanked her backward. She lost her balance and fell backward on top of him. The air rushed out of her lungs, but at least he was more solid than the mud beneath his back.

“I hope your plan was for me to squish you more into the mud and get more on you,” Nicole said. She started to struggle to get up, but his hands on her hips stopped her.

“If you squirm any more, we are going to have more than just a mud problem,” he said through his teeth.

Heat rushed to her cheeks. She glanced over her shoulder. Sam half leaned out of the mud, but he was definitely more covered in it than she was. A spark of heat in his eyes made her aware of the intimacy of their position. The warmth of him against her backside surged through her. If it hadn’t stunk like crazy and the flies weren’t trying to bite every piece of mud from her body, she might have been tempted to...

She looked away. He was probably worried about an elbow to his crotch, and here she was getting all hot and bothered while covered in mud and...stuff. She took a deep breath and instantly regretted it. It was the other stuff that made her wrinkle her nose.

Needing to keep things easy, she glanced back again and flashed him a grin. “Afraid I’ll get more mud on you?”

“I don’t think that’s possible.” He pushed her up by her hips until she could regain her footing. “And here I thought you’d play fair.”

She turned to watch him peel himself out of the mud. “There’s nothing fair about your height or weight advantage. You just fall easy.”

He raised his eyebrow at her as he stood up. “Maybe unbalanced in a pigpen, I fall easy.”

She shook off what mud she could. This wasn’t exactly facial or soothing mud bath material. “It’s starting to itch.”

“That’s because it’s drying. We should go over to the hose.” He started to lead the way out of the pen.

“You aren’t serious about the hose?” When he didn’t respond, she added, “Seriously? When there is a perfectly good hot shower in the house?”

He stopped and faced her. “We’re not allowed to track mud through the house.”

“Isn’t it your house?” She crossed her arms. “If I’d known about the lack of warm water facilities, I would have fallen in the mud at my own house.”

“You’re welcome to walk home.” He gestured for her to go ahead.

There was a lot of land between the two houses, and going the road way wouldn’t be any better. Screw that. “Oh, no. You drove me here, and you’ll be driving me back.”

“I suppose you could ride in the truck bed, but only after I’ve had a chance to shower and change.”

She weighed her options. Cold and dripping wet followed by a nice warm shower or being eaten alive by flies and itching from the drying mud for some unknown amount of time? She could feel Sam watching her as she made her decision. “What will I change into?”

His eyes flared hot for a second before his cool demeanor slipped back into place. Probably just her imagination running wild. To Sam she’d always just been that annoying tomboy from next door, who happened to be his best friend.

“I’m sure I can find you a T-shirt and sweats,” he said.

“Somehow I don’t think we are the same size like we were way back when,” she grumbled. She’d always liked wearing her boyfriend’s shirts, but she needed to remember Sam was just a friend, even if wearing his clothes seemed intimate. “I suppose I’ll let you hose me down, but on one condition.” She held up her finger.

“What’s that?” The corner of his mouth twitched.

She narrowed her eyes and shook her finger at him. “As long as you don’t like it.”

A laugh burst from his lips. Her heart skipped a beat at the sound as she smiled up at him. It didn’t last long, but it soothed her to know that he still could laugh.

His mouth settled into a small smile that made her catch her breath. “I’ll try. But you better not have any fun hosing me down, either. This isn’t the water balloon fight of ’95.”

Shaking off the sudden feelings of giddiness bubbling under the surface, she said, “Okay, hug on it.”

He held out his hands. “No—”

As if that would stop her. She stepped into his arms and squeezed him around the waist. The mud on them made weird smacking noises. She laughed as she released him. “See, that wasn’t so bad.”

“Says you.” He continued toward the back of the house where the hose was. Hose water was hose water, and she’d never had a warm soak from a hose. The water out here was either from the well or the cistern. Either way, it would be frigid underground water, regardless of the warm weather.

“Don’t you have a pond that we can jump into?” She stopped a few feet away from him as he went to turn the hose on.

“Not unless you want to get eaten by mosquitoes.” He turned the handle, and the rush of water could be heard flooding through the line. He picked up the other end of the hose as the water cascaded to the ground. “Besides, it’s a runoff from the hog pens. You’d get cleaner from rolling in the pens.”

The spray created a rainbow. Of course, a rainbow would normally be a happy thing, but not when it was created by water from the Arctic.

“Wait.” She held up her hands to ward off the oncoming blast of cold water. “What if I just take off my clothes?”

“I don’t think—”

His words stopped the second she started unbuttoning her shirt. “It’s not like we’d be naked. I have on a bra and underwear, and I’m sure you are wearing some sort of underwear. The mud would mostly be our heads, which would be just fine walking through your house. Not that our heads walk, but—”

“Nicole.” Her name was gruff, almost strangled, on his lips.

“I’m just trying to make it easier on us.” She stopped unbuttoning her shirt and glanced up at him, uncertain of what she was going to see.

His eyes were glued to her hands as they hovered over the last button. She watched in fascination as he swallowed. Her skin prickled, and it had nothing to do with the heat or the drying mud. She had thought to avoid the chill of the hose water, but at the intensity of his gaze, she would almost have welcomed the cold.

Try as she might, she couldn’t deny the attraction in his eyes or the desire burning beneath her skin. Even covered in...stuff. Oh, she was in trouble. And she didn’t know how deep she wanted to dig herself. She could laugh this off and pretend she didn’t see or feel what was happening between them. Deny this intense longing to just go with her gut for the first time in a long time.

Her gut was saying go for it. What was the worst that could happen? It wasn’t as if she’d fall for the boy next door. What was sex between old friends? Would he be up for a roll in the hay with no obligations? Or was he looking for more at this point in his life?

It didn’t matter. If Sam had wanted to act on this attraction, he would have. The men she’d been with had always taken the initiative. If a man wanted to kiss you, he’d kiss you. Right? She needed to get it through her head that this wasn’t happening between them. They were just friends. Not even real friends. Friends from childhood.

“I think this is the quietest I’ve been in a long time.” She tried to laugh, but it came out stilted.

He lifted his gaze to hers, and she took an involuntary step back. The intensity of his eyes struck some primal need deep inside her. Whoa, who would have known that Sam Ward was the type of guy who could melt her into a puddle with just a look? If she felt this way from a look, what would happen if he actually touched her? Goose bumps rose on her exposed skin. That was a very dangerous idea. As much as she longed to finish taking off her shirt and let whatever happens happen, she wasn’t sure she could handle the intensity of Sam. Maybe being partially naked in front of him wasn’t a great idea, even if the alternative was freezing cold water.

She pulled her shirt together. The mud squished between her fingers.

“You know, the hose probably won’t be that bad.” Lord knew her flesh needed cooling down. She flinched but braced herself for the cold. “Go ahead. Spray me.”

* * *

Eighty-five. Eighty-six. Eighty-seven. If Sam kept counting, he could fight this urge to walk over and finish stripping Nicole naked. He started counting the second he caught sight of Nicole’s hot-pink bra under the dull flannel shirt. Its little bow seemed to beckon him with its innocent temptation. It’d been almost easy to think of her as one of the guys with her body completely covered. Almost. It had been a hell of a lot easier before seeing that flash of femininity.

As he’d counted in his head, she’d innocently revealed a bit more of her skin. She hadn’t even been aware of what she was doing to him. The low simmer of desire that pulsed through his veins every time she was close was now a full boil. He was barely managing to keep it from boiling over.

“Are you going to do it?” She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself. She’d covered herself, but the image was burned into his retinas. Satin pale skin that looked soft yet stretched over muscles that were clearly toned. His fingertips twitched with the need to feel if it really was as soft and lush as it looked.

Ninety-four. He looked up into the sky. Maybe a plane would fall on him. Just a few more numbers and surely he’d be able to focus again. Ninety-five.

Her voice had that what-are-you-doing tone to it when she said, “Sam.”

He sighed. Was it possible for Nicole to stay quiet for longer than a minute? At least give him long enough to calm the throbbing inside. Ninety-six.

“Am I going to have to hose myself down?”

When he looked at her, she had exactly the stance he imagined she’d have. One hand on her hip and one hand holding her shirt together. The only thing missing was a tapping foot. She still looked tempting as hell.

This was ridiculous. He took a deep breath and raced through the numbers until he reached a hundred. A grown man should be able to be near an attractive woman without thinking of her in a sexual way. Obviously he needed to work on growing up more. He held the hose out to her, not trusting himself to keep from making a fool out of himself. Besides, the cold water would do him good. “Maybe you should hose me down first.”

She buttoned her middle button, leaving way too much skin showing for his comfort, and then grabbed the hose from him. The water formed a muddy area in the grass. She screwed up her face, and he knew she was going to argue with him. Nothing was ever easy with Nicole. “Are you sure about this? I could turn around, and you could take off your clothes, and then I can—”

“Just do it, Nicole.” He bit out the words from between his clenched teeth.

She held the hose up and smiled a little too gleefully. “If you insist.”

She pressed her thumb over the spout and created a spray. The water was cool as it hit his chest and soaked through his shirt. It didn’t do much to cool the burning desire within him, but it was better than nothing.

“Turn around and I’ll get your back,” Nicole said loudly over the sound of splattering mud and water.

He turned, and the ice-cold water soaked the back of his shirt and denims. As the water started to weigh down his jeans, he realized he hadn’t thought this through. His jeans would be near impossible to get off wet, but it wasn’t as if he could throw them in the wash covered in mud. And he wasn’t about to take them off here with Nicole watching. She’d realize how much she affected him. Cold water or not.

“Take off your shirt.”

“What?” He turned and got a face full of water.

“Oops.” Laughing, she lowered the hose and held up her hands. “I swear I didn’t mean to do that.”

Her smile had that little hint of mischief in it. He wasn’t sure if she’d meant to spray him in the face or not.

“I’m not sure I believe that,” he mumbled as he swiped the water from his face. He wasn’t in any condition to get retribution without acting on the latent desire burning in his veins.

“Take off your shirt and I’ll get your head.” She tossed the hose between her hands like a gunslinger and kept that grin on her face.

“You already got me in the face.” He started unbuttoning his shirt. “Not sure what you need me to take off my soggy, dirty shirt for. It’s not like it could get much dirtier.”

“Your hair is filled with dried mud. It’d be a lot easier to get the back of it without your collar in the way.” That was way too reasonable for Nicole.

He narrowed his eyes at her. She was up to something. He just didn’t know what yet. Even though the water was cold, the air was still hot. Getting out of his shirt seemed like a good plan to cool down his body from the heat of the day and the heat of his desire for Nicole.

He turned his back to her as he shrugged out of his shirt and tossed it over to the porch. “Hit me.”

A second passed and then another, but no blast of cold hit him. Just when he was going to turn around to ask her about it, she cleared her throat.

“Sure.” Her voice was a little higher in pitch, but before he could turn around to figure out what she was thinking, a blast of cold water hit the back of his head.

Mud started to streak down his face. “Hold up!”

The water retreated. “What?”

He looked over his shoulder at her and raised his eyebrow, dislodging some mud in the process so that it ran down his cheek.

“What, you can’t handle a little mud in your eyes?”

“No, and I don’t care for it in my mouth, either.”

Giggling, she glanced around the yard.

“Okay, new plan.” Nicole walked toward him. She pointed over to a stump from the tree he had cut down last year. “Sit down. You really are too tall, you know. You should have stopped growing at least a foot ago. It would make you so much easier to deal with.”

“You mean you could get your way easier?” He wasn’t sure where that had come from. He wasn’t normally someone who teased people. But Nicole wasn’t some people. She talked whenever he stopped and ordered him around as if she had some right to. When they’d been kids, she’d always been the boss. Whether she was the king—because queen was too feminine for the tomboy Nicole had been—or the head cowboy, Nicole had been determined to have her way. Back then, he’d been more than happy to let her lead him around. Now...he wasn’t so sure.

He kept his back to her but glanced her way.

“Exactly. If you didn’t practice lifting cows every day and grow to an impractical height, it would be a lot easier to make you do my bidding.” She closed the distance between them and squinted up at him. “If I’d known you were going to get so tall, I would have kept growing.”

He smiled over his shoulder at her. “Like you had a choice in the matter.”

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