She sighed. She didn’t really understand what was going on, but could she go along with Kyle and do something just because he asked her to? Yes. She could do that. She owed him that much. So, she yanked her hand out of his hold.

Hannah took a deep breath, then let it out. It did no good to let this get her worked up. She was the one who’d hurt him. She could let him deal with this however he wanted to. And her neck couldn’t stand the tension that pent-up frustration caused.

She consciously worked to relax her neck and shoulders and took another breath as they started down the sidewalk that ran the short distance between the two immaculate lawns. Clearly the city had done some work here. The grass was lush and green, the smooth, white sidewalk had been newly paved, and the flowers lining the paths were a bright explosion of colors.

The house-turned-medical-clinic sat on Main Street but was off the square a couple of blocks, so the tree-lined street was quieter than the one that ran in front of the diner and other businesses. Not that that was a busy street by Seattle standards, but it was the one where she and Kyle would be noticed. For now, they were pretty much alone.

And, stupid as it was, it felt weird to be walking next to Kyle and not holding his hand.

They only had about fifty feet to go to get to the house next door to Kyle’s clinic. Okay, it was the Sapphire Falls Medical Clinic officially. The city owned it and it was overseen by a medical board, on which her grandmother sat. But it was Kyle’s clinic. It had been remodeled with him and Jason Gilmore in mind. Both were from Sapphire Falls and both had intended to return home to practice. Jason had, however, fallen in love and moved to California, leaving Kyle the sole physician in town. But Kyle was handling it. Because it was Kyle. And because he was willing to make house calls at all hours of the day. She had no doubt that he answered questions while picking up his mail and called in prescription refills while in the midst of eating a burger at the Come Again and checked vitals while digging new flower beds at the park.

He never stopped. He never had. And being needed by everyone for everything 24/7 was right up his alley.

He stopped at the end of the path that led up to the PT clinic and gestured for her to go ahead of him. She did, flouncing up the steps to the porch. She wasn’t even sure why she was flouncing, but he’d told her to stomp inside like she was pissed earlier at her grandmother’s, and now he’d told her to pull away from his hand-holding. She could only assume that flouncing was the right move.

But at the top of the steps, she realized Kyle hadn’t followed her up onto the porch. He disappeared around the side of the house. She went to the edge of the porch and leaned onto the railing, trying to see where he’d gone. “Kyle? Hey!”

“Hold on!”

She heard a door open and then shut, and a minute later, Kyle opened the front door from the inside.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“I don’t have a key for the front. But she doesn’t realize that the side door has the same lock it’s always had and that I got the key from Ted.”

Hannah didn’t understand any of that explanation. “What do you mean?”

“Come on in,” he said, not answering her question. He stepped back and let her get her first look at the clinic. “I’ll show you around.”

She took a deep breath and stepped across the threshold. The threshold to the very quiet, very empty house that was supposed to be a busy, noisy PT clinic.

The check-in desk was an actual desk, in a warm oak that looked completely at place in the wide foyer with the twelve-foot ceiling and huge window above the door that let in lots of sunshine. The hardwood floor in the entryway and down the main hallway glowed in the light, and the place smelled like the wood polish someone had obviously lovingly used on the old floors.

“You can work with Alice over here for her rehab,” he said, flipping on the overhead light in the foyer. “Might as well use the equipment. Sounds like Albert will sign up too.”

“I’m not licensed in Nebraska,” she said weakly. Of course, she left off the “or anywhere else in PT”.

“I’m not too worried about Alice suing you or you charging her insurance company,” Kyle said. He turned into what had been the living room of the old house.

“I was planning to work with her at home,” Hannah said. She’d pulled out her home health notes from school and dug into her memory from one of her internships that had included home health visits. “A lot can be done in her own environment and that makes it more functional, really. Learning to go up and down her own steps is more valuable than up and down steps in a clinic setting…”

But she trailed off as she stepped through the arched doorway into the living-room-turned-waiting-room. Because it really still felt like more of a home. It was exactly as she’d pictured it. And she loved it immediately. It was clearly meant to be the waiting room, but the couches and end tables and lamps were much more inviting than those in a typical clinic waiting room.

She turned and looked across the foyer into what would have been the dining room. But rather than a glass-fronted china cabinet and a huge table surrounded by high-backed chairs, the room held a treadmill, a recumbent bike, some weight equipment and a large, padded-mat table for exercising set up near the tall windows.

“The other equipment is this way,” Kyle said, starting down the hall.

Hannah might have protested, but she couldn’t force any air for words past the tightness in her throat. She followed him wordlessly, displeased to find that she couldn’t keep her eyes off his ass in blue jeans.

Blue jeans. Doctors in Seattle didn’t wear blue jeans with their lab coats. But damn, on Kyle it worked. It didn’t do one thing to detract from his take-charge attitude or the feel that he was fully professional and brilliant. Of course, in high school, he’d always been take-charge and brilliant, and he’d worn blue jeans, shorts, and football and baseball pants. And all of those had definitely worked for her.

He stopped in the hallway in front of the open door to what had once been a bedroom and the one that was still a small powder room. The bedroom now held an examination table and an ultrasound machine as well as a large set of shelves and cupboards. This was where evaluations and private treatment sessions would be held.

“We turned the den into two more exam rooms,” Kyle said. “It was a great room, but we decided dividing it made more sense. Now one exam room has a fireplace though.”

Inexplicably, Hannah’s throat tightened to the point that she had to cough and simply nod. Kyle focused on her for the first time since he’d stepped into the house. For just a moment, something flickered in his eyes, but he quickly looked away.

He gestured down the hall. “The kitchen is still a kitchen. We can store icepacks and stuff in the freezer, and Kelsey thought it was the perfect setup for helping teach proper bending and lifting and compensatory strategies for people in their own homes.”

“Is Kelsey the PT?”

He frowned. “She’s a PT. She consulted with the medical board on ideas for the clinic.”

Ah. Hannah nodded. Mimicking real-life situations for patients learning to compensate either temporarily or permanently for injuries and disabilities was important and sometimes difficult in a clinic setting. The house here was…pretty much perfect.

“The laundry room is also still as is,” he went on. “With the exception of new appliances. Obviously, it would work for doing towels and sheets used in the clinic, but it’s also good for having patients work on balance and reaching and weight bearing and stuff.” He gave a little chuckle. “Or so I’ve been told.”

By Kelsey, no doubt. Hannah didn’t respond. The house was a wonderful combination of warm and homey and functional. It had been set up perfectly. Sapphire Falls needed a PT in town. She could not be jealous of whoever got to work here. Or, at least, she shouldn’t be.

“You and Alice are welcome to use it anytime.”

“So you oversee the PT clinic too?” she asked, focusing.

“No. The medical board does. But it just sits here, so there’s not much to oversee.”

She frowned. “No one’s practicing here?”

His eyes hardened slightly, then he seemed to visibly relax his shoulders. “No. Everyone’s driving to York.”

“Have you tried to hire someone?” she asked.

Kyle’s jaw definitely tightened with that. “Kind of a long story,” he finally said.

And his tone clearly indicated that it was none of her business.

Which was true.

But they could either talk this thing out or pretend she was just a random classmate back in town for a visit. Or more, a random patient’s random family member.

She wasn’t either of those things, and pretending she was would not make any of it different.

“Just because I’m not the one here, doesn’t mean I don’t care who is,” she said quietly.

Kyle’s head snapped up and he stared at her. His expression clearly said that he couldn’t believe she’d gone there. She met his gaze directly. Yes, she was to blame. She got it. But she kind of wanted to hear him say it.

“No one’s practicing here,” he said, “because your grandmother has convinced the city council to hold off letting anyone else in because you might come home.”

Hannah blinked at him, processing his words. Or trying to. Finally, she just said, “What?”

“Okay, more specifically, your grandmother has convinced Hailey and TJ,” he said, referring to Hailey Conner Bennett, who pretty much ran the town, and TJ Bennett, the current mayor.

“But…why would…” But it wasn’t really hard to believe that Alice would do that. She would never fully believe that Hannah wanted to be anywhere else for good. Because Hannah didn’t really want to be anywhere else for good. “Why would they listen to her?” she finally managed to ask.

“Because it’s Alice,” Kyle said with a sigh. “Your grandmother has more friends and favors stored up in this town than Kathy Bennett.”

Hannah couldn’t argue with that. Not only had she taught and volunteered for years, she was, flat-out, beloved. If Alice McIntire asked someone to do something, they would bend over backwards to do it.

Hannah felt her chest tighten. This was even worse than she’d thought. Not only had the town put money into the clinic that wasn’t being used, they were now keeping it open as an option for Hannah. “I didn’t know she’d done that.”

Kyle gave a single nod. “Now you do.” He brushed past her and started for the front of the house again.

She hurried to keep up with him. “I never asked her to. I’ve never given her any indication that I was planning to come back.”

Kyle swung around in the middle of the foyer. His expression was tight. He didn’t reply immediately and when he did, all he said was, “I know.”

Hannah swallowed. She was never going to get used to that look from him. Kyle had always only looked at her with affection and respect and passion and love.

She hated this cool, hard stuff. She sighed. “I’m sorry. I’ll talk to her.”

“If talking worked, we wouldn’t be here,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been telling her for three years that you’re not coming home.”

Hannah flinched slightly. There was a bite to his tone, but more, it was the words. The way he seemed absolutely certain of them. And was pissed by the truth.

She nodded. “She’s stubborn.”

“Especially if you’ve never actually said that you’re not coming back,” Kyle said.

“I just…” She hadn’t been able to say those words. As unfair as that might have been to her grandmother.

“You just led her on because that was easier on you,” Kyle filled in.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to hurt her,” Hannah said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“But you did. By making her hope for something that was never going to happen.”

Hannah was sure she was imagining things when she thought for an instant that maybe Kyle wasn’t talking about Alice being the one that was hoping. She shook her head. “Whether or not you believe it, for a long time, I kept hoping too.”

His eyes narrowed. “Hoping for what?”

“To come home.”

His eyes widened, then narrowed again as his jaw tightened. “But you didn’t.”

She shook her head. “I couldn’t.”

“Right.” He paused, as if he was going to say something. Then he turned. “We should head to the diner.”

“Hang on.” She reached out quickly, without thinking, and grabbed his arm. He stopped but didn’t turn back. She felt his muscles tensing under her hand, but she held on. As if she could keep him there if he didn’t want to stay. Still, he waited. “You can say whatever you want to say to me.”

She didn’t want to hear it, of course. But she knew he had a right to be angry with her.

“You don’t really want that.”

Her mouth suddenly felt dry. She nodded. “I do. You said at Grandma’s that you were done with being chivalrous and polite to me. And I think that’s good.”

“Do you?”

She’d been shocked by his words, and actions, in her grandmother’s driveway. But in retrospect, she wanted more emotion from him than pleasant and polite. Because seeing him again, being around him, having him touching and kissing her, was very, very emotional for her. And she wanted to know that it was stirring him too. She was a mess. She’d fallen from perfectly put together to barely holding it all together, and she resented the fact that he was still as perfect as ever. “Why would you be nice and friendly to me? After everything that happened?”

She instantly realized that she’d said the wrong thing.

Or maybe it was the right thing.

Kyle advanced on her and Hannah quickly backed up. But he kept coming. She bumped into the wall behind her, and Kyle didn’t stop until he had his hands braced on the wall on either side of her head. He leaned in, his nose centimeters away, his dark eyes boring into hers. “You’re over the nice-guy thing? Got your fill? Did you discover that you have a thing for not-nice in Seattle or something?”

She wet her lips. He had her backed up against the wall and he definitely looked angry now. But she wasn’t scared. She wasn’t intimidated. She didn’t regret it. Her heart pounded and her whole body felt tingly.

His gaze dropped to her mouth, and Hannah didn’t know what possessed her—clearly a big shot of crazy—because she said, “Yeah, maybe I am over the nice-guy thing.”

She wasn’t. What woman got over a guy being nice to her?

But then Kyle muttered, “Damn you.” And took total possession of her mouth.

And yeah, if this was not nice, she’d take a double, thank you very much.

His mouth was hot and demanding as he kissed her, pressing then letting up, pressing and letting up. He licked, he stroked, he even nipped her bottom lip, and Hannah felt every nerve ending in her body burn.

That went on for at least a full two minutes. Then he slid one hand from the wall to the back of her head, tangling in her hair. The other slipped to her lower back and he pressed her forward, into him. And the hot, hard length of his thighs and his fly.

Hannah sighed, and he tugged on her hair, urging her head back. She instantly stiffened, expecting a jolt of pain from the angle. It didn’t hurt, but her sudden rigidity alerted Kyle to the change in her demeanor. He lifted his head. His eyes were dark and he looked a little dazed.

She licked her lips and worked to take a deep breath. Finally, she said, “I don’t know. That was pretty nice.”

He pushed away from the wall, taking a huge step back. “That is a problem,” he said.

Okay, so it was unexpected and maybe a little complicated. But problem seemed like a stretch. “I’m not upset by it, if that’s what you’re worried about.” She pulled her fingers through her hair.

“Exactly,” he said. “That’s the problem.”

“That I’m not upset?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” And then she remembered how he’d wanted her to act pissed off and push him away at her grandma’s. How had she forgotten that? But then again, she’d felt off-kilter since stepping foot into his clinic. Overwhelmed by the reality of his dream come true…that had nothing to do with her. And then this clinic and the dream that she’d thought she’d let go of. That she clearly hadn’t. “What is going on?”

“I kissed you because Helen Cooper and Betty Canton were walking by.”

Hannah glanced out the window. No one was out there now, but she certainly hadn’t noticed anyone earlier. She’d been fully dialed into Kyle. “Why would that make you kiss me?”

“Same reason I kissed you at your grandmother’s.”

“You said that was because she was watching and it would make her happy.”

“Exactly.”

Hannah had gone inside after the car-washing incident and gone straight to her room to change clothes. Her grandmother hadn’t said anything about the water fight or the kiss and Hannah was grateful. She couldn’t explain it, or how she felt about it. And she appreciated that her grandmother’s only reaction was to smile. A lot.

“How did kissing me just now make my grandmother happy?” But he didn’t have to answer. She got it as soon as she said it out loud. “Helen and Betty are her friends and will tell her all about it.”

“They’ve probably already texted her,” Kyle said.

Hannah couldn’t deny the tiny stab of disappointment at realizing that the kiss had been motivated by something other than just wanting to kiss her.

“What’s going on?” she asked. “This is the second major kiss you’ve laid on me because of my grandmother.”

“And the second time you haven’t reacted the way I expected,” he said with a frown.

“How did you expect me to react?” Melting into a puddle of lust at his feet hadn’t been his intention?

“I expected you to push me away, to be shocked, or offended, or…something.”

“I was shocked.” Hannah thought about that as she said it though. She’d been surprised but maybe shocked was strong. She had expected there to still be some attraction between them. A lack of chemistry had, in no way, been a part of them breaking up. And after seeing him in the hallway at Ty’s, she wasn’t at all surprised that once his mouth was on her, she’d lost track of the fact that kissing him shouldn’t feel so natural.

“But you weren’t offended.”

“No.” That was the true.

He sighed. “Okay, so we need a plan.”

A plan. Of course they did. “A plan for what?”

“You realize that Alice is planning on launching a whole campaign to convince you to come home, right?”

Hannah felt her heart thump. “She is?”

“Yes. She thinks that all you need is to be reminded of everything you left here. That after six weeks, there’s no way you’re going to want to leave.”

Oh boy…

“So over the next six weeks, I’m going to try to win you back.”

Hannah froze at that. She stared at Kyle. “Back?”

“Yes.”

“You mean…romantically?”

“Yes.”

“You want me back?”

“No.”

Oh. Okay. Right. She blinked at him. That kind of hurt. But she was also completely confused. “I don’t get it.”

“Your grandmother wants you back. And she thinks I’m the key to getting you to come home.”

Hannah blew out a breath. Wow. That was…not as easy as it sounded, but not as off base as it should be. If Kyle could adjust his plans, imagine a different life, forgive her for messing everything up, and love her in spite of her no longer checking all of the boxes on his Ms. Perfect List then…

But no, that wouldn’t happen. One thing she had figured out while in Seattle and away from everything here was that she and Kyle had been drawn together more by practicality than by passion. Oh, things had been hot sexually between them. There was definite chemistry. But if she’d wanted to travel the world as a belly dancer or go into botany or open a winery, he would have never asked her out on that second date. Because yeah, they’d talked about their plans and aspirations on date one. That was how Kyle Ames rolled. He’d known what he was looking for, she’d answered all the questions correctly, so she’d gotten the job of girlfriend and future wife. Not that she’d ever doubted for one second that she wanted that job.

“I’ll talk to her,” Hannah promised. “I’ll convince her that I’m happy in Seattle.”

Kyle’s jaw ticked again at that, but he just said, “Talking to her isn’t enough. I’ve tried that. My grandma’s tried that. Your mom and dad have tried that.”

Ouch. Hannah didn’t know that her parents had been telling her grandma that there was no way Hannah was coming home. She wasn’t sure how she felt about them believing that. Especially since it was the truth. Or was supposed to be anyway.

“She thinks that she knows you best,” Kyle continued. “And that you actually want to come home, but something is keeping you in Seattle. She also thinks that if I forgive you and show you that you can have everything you left behind again, you’ll change your mind and move home.”

Hannah’s heart stuttered. “But you don’t want to give me everything I left behind.”

“No. You made your choice, and I understand that. I’m over it.”

She nodded. “Got it.”

“But I’m going to help Alice get over it too. She has this idea that we’re fated to be together, and that it’s only a matter of time before we’re back together. I’m going to help you show her that you don’t want Sapphire Falls, and that none of that is going to happen.”

Hannah knew that the painful thump in her chest at the idea that she and Kyle were not fated to be together was ridiculous. Her grandmother had always talked about fate, had loved fairy tales, and believed in soul mates. Hannah, on the other hand, knew that things happened and people made choices—and mistakes. Hannah crossed her arms. “How?”

“I’m going to do exactly what she wants me to do—give you a second chance.”

There’s more to it, don’t overreact, she told herself, but she still felt her heart flutter. Stupidly.

Kyle frowned. “And you’re going to turn it all down.”

See? More to it. “What does that look like exactly?” Hannah asked.

“I’m going to be the freaking ghost of Christmas past, present and future. Except that it’s not Christmas.”

She lifted an eyebrow.

“I’m going to remind you of your past here and show you what your future could look like.”

She cleared her throat. “How? Exactly?”

“We’re going to relive the good old days. And I’m going to romance you. And I’m going to seduce you.”

There was that word again.

Hannah felt her breath catch in her chest and she struggled not to show it. But it was futile. The man in front of her knew her better than anyone. He saw it all in her eyes.

“And you have to resist it all.”

Resist. Seduction. Kyle. Yeah, those three words didn’t really go together for her.

“And what does that look like?”

“I ask you out, you say no. I sit next to you at the Come Again, you scoot your chair over. I try to kiss you, you push me away.”

“Ah, the kissing thing.”

Something flickered in his eyes. “Yes. With the pushing-me-away thing.” He said it firmly as if to be sure she heard that part.

“Is that really the only way to do this?” she asked. Almost desperately. Because she was kind of feeling desperate. He was going to romance her—even seduce her—for six weeks? She wasn’t going to survive that.

“Yes,” he said resolutely. “This is what Alice wants.”

“She wants us together,” Hannah pointed out.

“But me pursuing you is the first step in that.”

“She’ll be disappointed when it doesn’t turn out the way she wants it to.”

“And that’s on you,” he said bluntly.

A long silence stretched. Hannah thought it all over, and she suddenly, completely, understood. “Why would you do this? Set yourself up for rejection and all of that?”

Those same eyes hardened almost instantly. “Because I’ve already been rejected. I have no delusions here. This is like the difference between telling your friend there’s no such thing as Big Foot, and going out camping with him to prove there’s no such thing as Big Foot. I know there’s no Big Foot, so I’m not worried about running into him while peeing in the trees.”

Hannah blinked at him. “This is like proving there’s no Big Foot?”

“You coming home is Alice’s Big Foot. It’s not real, it’s all in her head, but she needs proof.”

“You can’t just tell her that you don’t want me and don’t want that future anymore?”

Something flickered in his eyes again, but it was gone when he blinked. “I want to be on her good side. Which means not telling her how I really feel about her granddaughter. Alice wants you home. I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen for her.”

“While filling me in on the plan and telling me to resist it all?”

“If there was even the slightest chance that I thought you wanted to come home and these things were the key to that, I’d rethink the plan. But there is no Big Foot, is there, Hannah? There’s no homecoming in your future.”

Hannah tried to swallow but couldn’t quite make her throat work.

Kyle nodded as if she’d just confirmed everything. Which, she supposed she kind of had.

“So, I will do what Alice wants,” Kyle said. “I’ll stay on her good side, and also show her that she needs to let go of this hope and move on.”

“And all you get out of it is knowing that you helped my grandma?”

“And the keys to the clinic.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your grandmother is holding this clinic hostage. She won’t let anyone else practice here. A PT from Lincoln wanted to put a clinic here, but Thomas Jenkins wouldn’t sell or rent him the office space he wanted, and the council denied his request to build.”

Hannah felt her eyes widen. “Are you kidding?”

“I wish,” he said flatly. “It sucks that your grandmother is the most beloved woman in this town. Everyone is willing to do her any favor she asks.”

“Yeah. Like you. Willing to kiss me and get pushed away over and over just to show her that I’m the bad guy and you’re the good guy.”

“Yep. Like me,” he said. “Though,” he went on, moving in a little closer and dropping his voice. “It’s not like I think any of this will be a hardship.”

Hannah swallowed hard. “No?”

“Kissing you? Always been one of my favorite things.”

“Getting rejected over and over? Not really something you’re all that familiar with.”

“Nope. Just you. And like I said, already went through it for real so my actual ego won’t suffer. As far as the town’s concerned, I predict that I’ll have plenty of cakes and cookies and…company…to comfort me after you leave.”

Oh, she was sure that was true. No doubt that company would be female, local, brunette, somewhere between the ages of twenty-six and thirty-six, and a Tim McGraw fan. And she hated the little surge of jealousy she felt at the thought. She blew out a breath. This was completely complicated by the fact that the idea of kissing Kyle was far, far too tempting. And the fact that she wasn’t sure she’d be able to push him away.

“The only problem would be if there is a chance this could work,” he added.

“To win me back and get me to come home?”

“Right.”

“You think you’re that good?” she asked with bravado she was sure he saw right through.

He frowned. “I’m counting on you having made the decision to stay in Seattle based on real, solid, important things. Things that were, and are, real and solid and important enough to make you upend your entire life, my entire life, your family’s entire lives, and leave this town hanging without the health care they’d been planning on.” He leaned in. “You better be fucking happier than you’ve ever been in Seattle, Hannah. I mean it.”

Whoa. Okay, so there was the bitterness and blame she’d been expecting. She pressed her lips together. He’d counted on her once before. To come home. Now he was asking if he could count on her to not turn his life upside down again. Finally, she nodded. “No worries. I’m definitely going back to Seattle.”

“Okay.” He took a deep breath. “Good.”

Right. It was good. Mostly good. Pretty good.

“So, this should be simple,” he said. “I’ll flirt, romance you, ask you out. All you have to do is say no.”

Simple. Sure. “Got it.”

He looked at her for a long moment. Then stepped close, cupped her face, and kissed her. This time was sweeter than before, but just as hot. The feel of his lips, his hands, the taste of his mouth, the scent that surrounded her when he was against her…it was all so familiar that Hannah felt tears sting her eyes, and her chest actually hurt with the ache.

She rose on tiptoe, threading her hands through his hair as well, arching close.

His mouth opened over hers and his tongue stroked along her lower lip. But as she parted her lips, he pulled back.

He still held her face, and he was breathing hard, but he was frowning down at her.

“You’re supposed to push me away.”

Crap. Right. Of course she was.

“That was a test?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting that.” She put her hands on his chest and pushed now.

He stepped back and dropped his hands. “You aren’t always going to expect it.”

“We can’t come up with a signal or something?” she asked with a scowl. This was probably the worst idea she’d ever heard and agreed to.

She was strong, dammit. She’d kicked her addiction, she was healthy and focused now. And one freaking kiss from a guy who didn’t even like her anymore, and she felt weak and vulnerable and…pissed off.

“A signal?” Kyle asked. He almost seemed amused. “Like I pull on my earlobe before I’m going to kiss you?”

“Yes. Or at least keep your damned tongue in your own mouth.” She wiped her thumb over her lower lip, her gaze fastened—in spite of herself—on his mouth. Where her lip gloss now was.

“It has to be believable,” he told her, seeming not only unfazed by her irritation, but by the kiss as well. “And I would never not tongue kiss you, Hannah.”

Yeah, long six weeks ahead. She was hot and bothered by one kiss. One kiss fueled mostly by revenge, no less.

“And I assumed that since all of this was a big show for Grandma, that this stuff would be happening when she was around,” Hannah said, wondering if there was an essential oil that would decrease libido. There were a few that could be used to increase it. But there were calming oils. Maybe she needed to carry around a bottle of lavender oil. Or bathe in it. Or something.

“Oh, no,” Kyle said. “She’s going to be expecting to hear people talking about this—you and me back together will be big news. This is for the whole town.”

Hannah sighed. “I can’t believe I’m going along with this.”

Kyle’s expression grew immediately serious. “You are because you owe her. If you don’t do this, she’s going to be heartbroken when you leave again. If you don’t do this, she’ll be hanging on to a false hope that you will change your mind. I don’t know what you’ve said, or not said, to her over the past three years, but I’m not going to have her putting off any more surgeries or keeping other PTs out of this town or giving me a hard time about the women I date because she thinks you’re on your way home.”

“She gives you a hard time about the women you date?” Hannah asked. Stupidly. That wasn’t her business, and she certainly didn’t want to talk about the other women in Kyle’s life. No, scratch that…the women in Kyle’s life. There was no “other” about it. Hannah wasn’t in his life.

“She does.”

“Is that why you don’t have a serious girlfriend?” Was her grandmother that big of a meddler?

“She doesn’t give me a hard time until after I break up with them.”

“What does she say then?”

“Basically, ‘I told you so’.” He gave a small smile. “Though she uses more words than that.”

Of course she did. Alice didn’t really know the meaning of the word “concise”. “What about when they break up with you?” Hannah asked. She was proud of herself for not asking how many girlfriends there had been. That didn’t matter. Or, it shouldn’t matter.

Kyle drew himself straighter and said simply, “They don’t break up with me.”

They just looked at each other for a moment. Finally, she said, “I was the only one. You can say it. I was the only one who let you down and broke a promise.”

“How about you keep this promise, and we’ll call it even,” he said.

“This promise? You mean pretend that you’re trying to get me back and I’m resisting?”

“The promise to help Alice know that you’re leaving, and not coming back to stay, ever,” he said.

Oh, that one. She understood where he was coming from. She knew that her grandmother had never fully believed Hannah wasn’t coming home. Probably because Hannah had never fully believed it. In her mind, she knew it was the right choice. Her heart was a different matter. But she hadn’t known that her grandmother had been putting off her surgery for that long and keeping other PTs out of town. She had to help fix this. “Okay. I promise.” But her heart hurt saying it.

“And for the record, I’m pretending to try to get you back,” he said. “But you’re actually resisting.”

“Yeah, I got it.”

“I mean it, Hannah,” he said firmly. “You can’t let me or Sapphire Falls get to you.”

She lifted a brow. “Yeah, I got it.”

He studied her eyes for another moment, but finally gave a short nod. “Fine.” He turned toward the door. “Let’s walk. It’s a beautiful morning.”

“Walk?”

“The diner. We’re having hash browns, remember?”

She sighed. “I came down to find out what you wanted to talk to me about. Maybe I should just head back to Grandma’s.”

“Oh, no.” He pulled the door open. “Albert and Bailey both heard me invite you to breakfast and you accept. Albert’s already told the entire diner. We have to show up.”

“But I’m supposed to be resisting you,” she pointed out. This might be okay. If she resisted being around him, she wouldn’t have to worry about those kisses that were already messing with her head.

“Yes you are. In public. In front of people. Which means that occasionally we have to be in the same place at the same time.”

This was going to suck.

“And we can stroll through the square. I bet you’ve missed that too,” he said.

Stroll? When had go-go-go Kyle Ames ever strolled anywhere? They certainly hadn’t ever strolled together. They had been a power couple even at age sixteen. The clubs she was president of, Kyle was vice-president. The organizations he was president of, she was his VP. It had become a joke that they were a set and you couldn’t have one without the other. Not that anyone really minded. They got stuff done.

But if Kyle wanted to stroll as part of his plan to make her grandmother happy, then she couldn’t fight it. She hated the idea that Alice would be heartbroken when she left. And Kyle’s plan might seem extreme, but it had merit. Alice could be stubborn. And, as much as Hannah hated to admit it, there was a good chance that Kyle knew her grandmother better than Hannah did now.

So this would be, well, pretty much torture. But she owed them.

“Okay, fine,” she finally agreed.

Kyle gestured for her to move past him out the door. Then he turned the lock and followed her out, pulling it shut behind him.

At the bottom of the stairs, he took her hand. Hannah hesitated for just a moment, still amazed by how good that felt. Then she pulled her hand away.

“Good girl,” he told her.

She gave him a tight smile. Pulling away from him should have been easier. But it made her sad.