Josh and Marti stopped to get popcorn and soft drinks for the show before heading into the dark theater. They were already showing the previews, and though Marti knew a lot of people lived for previews of movies, she was not one of them.

When he led her to the back row, she frowned at him. “I’m not making out with you in the back row,” she whispered before realizing they were the only people in the entire theater.

“I’m not asking you to make out. The theater is small, and those are the best seats. Trust me.”

“I’m not sure you’re someone I can trust. I’ve barely met you.”

“Yes, but you trust your sister and her husband . . . and then you have to trust me, because I’m his brother. We’re practically family.”

Marti laughed. “Then no kisses for you at all. I can’t kiss my . . . would that make you my brother?”

“Okay, forget the family connections. I’ll just be your date for the night. I guess the middle, but you’re going to feel like the people onscreen are trying to eat your face.”

She turned to the screen and realized he was right. The back row did have the best seats in the house. “Fine, I’ll sit in back with you, but you can keep your groping hands to yourself.”

He grinned. “I’ll do my very best.”

As the movie started, Marti settled back in her chair with her hand in the popcorn tub. They kept bumping hands, and when they reached the bottom of the tub, he put it on the floor and slipped his arm around her. “Okay?” he whispered.

“Sure.” She wasn’t really certain if she wanted his arm around her, but for the moment, it felt good, and that’s all she was asking for. Snuggling close to him was her idea of a fun Saturday afternoon, whether she was going to admit that to her parents or not.

She didn’t really notice the movie, instead concentrating on his breathing and feeling him against her. Why did it feel so right with him when every other boy who had put his arm around her had made her want to shrug it off? He was special. There was no doubt about that.

After the movie—during which he hadn’t tried to kiss her once—they walked back out to his truck. “Did you like the movie?”

“Was there a movie?” she asked, a grin on her face.

Josh wasn’t sure how to take that question, so he changed the subject. “Let’s head to the diner. I hope you like the food there.”

“Will we run into your old girlfriend? The girl you took to prom?” She knew how small towns were, and she looked forward to meeting people who had always known him. How they reacted to him would tell her a lot about his personality.

“There’s a good chance of it. Small town life and all that.” He pulled up in front of the diner, and they went inside, finding a table. When the waitress brought their menus, she looked between the two of them.

“Introduce me to your girl, Josh!”

Josh smiled. “Tell her I didn’t take you to prom!” he insisted.

The waitress looked a little confused, but she shrugged. “His brother Amos took me to prom.”

Marti laughed. “I knew it!” She smiled at the waitress. “I’m Marti. I don’t know if you’ve met my sister, Heather . . .”

“Oh yeah! Heather’s a local celebrity. She started a dance school here, and then she put the town on the map by having quadruplets! Who has quadruplets?”

“Heather.” Marti leaned back and smiled. “I’m going to nanny for her and Michael for a while. Four babies are too much for any six women to handle.”

The waitress laughed. “I’m Susie. What are you drinking?”

“Coke,” Marti said automatically.

“Sprite,” Josh responded.

When Susie had left them alone, Marti grinned at Josh. “Your brother took her to the prom instead of you. Did you ask first?”

He smiled and nodded. “Here’s the deal. Amos and I are eleven months apart. All through school, he wanted whatever I wanted, and I wanted whatever he wanted. I took his girl to homecoming. He took my girl to prom. We terrorized one another every chance we got.”

Marti shook her head. “My sisters and I had what we called the ‘sister code.’ If one of us had a crush on a boy, then he was off limits to all the others. I think you and your brother should adopt our code.”

“But we couldn’t call it the sister code!” He grinned, picking up her hand and squeezing it. “Besides, I don’t think I’ll be dating anyone new ever again. It’s just you forever.”

She made a face at him. “You’re moving just a little bit too fast for me. Today we’re concentrating on dinner and a movie. Tomorrow it’s movies and snacks. Next week we’ll talk about forever.”

“Don’t think I’ll forget you said that!” He took a sip of the Sprite that had magically appeared before him. “I’m glad you decided to stay on as a nanny for the babies. It’s going to be good having you around.”

“I’m looking forward to it. I wasn’t really planning on coming here, but something told me I had to, so I dropped everything and packed my things.” She shrugged. “I really thought I’d have a management job by now.”

“And instead you’re going to be doing laundry and changing diapers. Do you have any idea how many diapers four babies are going to go through?” He shook his head. “I don’t even want to think about it.”

“Neither do I!” Marti sighed. “I’ve never thought of myself as a baby person, but maybe this is what I need right now.”

“When the babies are old enough for you to stop being a full-time nanny, I really do need some managerial help with the ranch. There are a few things that always slip away from me.”

“I think that after the first few months of absolute exhaustion, I’ll have some time to help you with your ranch. Just let me get settled in first.”

“Works for me,” he said, before turning his attention to Susie, who was back, and they placed their order.

“This menu really is all about the potato. I figured other states just made fun of Idaho for potatoes, but no . . . you guys embrace it!”

“Of course we do. How could we not? Texas embraces its reputation for being the oil state, right?’

“I don’t think of Texas as the oil state.”

“Okay, as the Lone-star state.”

“Well, sure. Why wouldn’t we?’

“So why wouldn’t we embrace being the potato state?” he asked, frowning at her.

“No idea. Moving on.”

After dinner, he drove her up into the mountains as far as he could. “Once you have winter gear, I’m taking you snowmobiling.”

“Don’t I have to go with Amos because he asked me first?” she asked with a grin.

“You don’t ever have to do anything with Amos unless you really want to. Do you want to?”

“Not necessarily. But he did seem to be the one who asked me first.”

“Just to get my goat. He got it, and now we’re on a date, and you never even have to think of him as anything but a brother again.”

She laughed softly. “Is that so?”

He pulled the truck over to the side of the road and shut off the engine. “All I’ve thought about all night is kissing you. May I?”

Marti felt her heartrate speed up. “I’ve never had a guy ask for permission to kiss me. Well, except you the night we met.”

“And? May I?”

She nodded, unbuckling her seat belt and sliding toward the center of the seat. “Yeah.”

He cupped her face in his hands and lowered his mouth to hers, barely touching her lips with the first kiss. He pulled away and looked into her eyes. “You’re really special, Marti.”

She moved her hands up to his shoulders and pulled him down toward her. She needed a real kiss, not a little touch of the lips. There was something special about him, too. Something that made her heart beat faster and her breath come quickly. Maybe that was the altitude, but it didn’t feel like it. She was sure it was him.

When their lips met again, all she could think about was getting closer to him. She wanted to be inside his coat, snuggled up against him. She could see herself sitting in his arms in front of a fire, a book in her hands. And that’s when she realized it was a vision. She pulled away. She was having visions about this man all the time. Was she relying too heavily on her gifts?

“Mom’s going to be worried about me.”

He sighed. “I’d better get you home then.” He didn’t want to let her go, but he didn’t have to say that. He was sure it was written all over his face. Starting the truck, he turned it around and headed back down the mountain. “When are you going to shop for cold weather clothes?”

She shrugged. “No idea. It’s supposed to snow tonight, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, we’re supposed to get four or five inches.”

Her eyes grew wide. “Four or five inches? How can you say that so casually?”

He shrugged. “We get that much several times a year.”

“If we got that much in Texas, a state of emergency would be declared!”

He laughed. “Well, we Idahoans are made of sturdier stuff than that. We’ll manage a little storm like that with no problem.”

“Are we still watching movies tomorrow?” she asked.

“I thought you could come to my place. I’ll start a soup in the Crock-Pot, and we’ll eat whenever we get hungry. We’ll watch movies all day, and maybe talk . . . kiss a little.”

“It’s the kissing I’m worried about!”

“Why would you be worried about kissing? Do you think I’ll take advantage of you or something?”

“No, but . . . I don’t know. I’m a little afraid things will get out of hand. I’ve never . . . well, I’ve never enjoyed kissing quite as much as I do with you.”

He grinned. “I’m afraid I like hearing that. I like kissing you, too.”

“Maybe we should have Amos there to play chaperone.”

“Maybe I should shove Amos into a lake.”

“It’s a little cold for that . . .”

He laughed. “Daisy will play chaperone. I’ll tell her to stick her nose between us anytime we kiss.”

“Who’s Daisy?”

“My Collie. She’ll do it, too. She’s very much an in-your-face kind of dog.”

Marti grinned. “I think I’m going to like Daisy.”

“I think you will, too.”

“Why did you name her that?” She didn’t really care too much, but she needed to get her mind off of her racing heart and onto something else.

“When I went to look over her litter, I picked her up, and she’d just had a bath. The little girl who was part of the family who had her said, ‘She’s fresh as a daisy!’ and the name just kind of stuck.”

“I like that! I can’t wait to meet her.”

“Just know, she’s going to be begging for any food you have, and you’re not allowed to give her any. She thinks she should be fed from the table, and it’s just not happening.” He pulled into the driveway of Michael’s ranch and turned to her. “I’m going to walk you to the door like a good date, but there’s probably someone who will be watching. I’m going to kiss you goodnight here. I was a good date, right? Well-behaved?”

“Yes, you were. A goodnight kiss is forthcoming.”

He pulled her to him and kissed her softly, his lips warm against hers. When he lifted his head, he sighed. “Same time tomorrow?”

She nodded. “That gave me enough time to sleep after being up all night with the babies.”

“Is it weird keeping those hours?”

She shook her head. “I’m a night owl at heart. Always have been.” With a quick kiss on the cheek, she got out of the truck and rushed toward the door. It was cold! When she got there, she saw him shaking his head at her from the truck. She hadn’t waited for him to walk her to do the door. How rude!

As she shut the door behind her, she breathed in deeply. How on earth was she going to be able to keep her heart intact with him around? Especially with all the visions she was seeing.

Heather was sitting in the kitchen watching her, and she blushed. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Marti said. “How are the babies?”

“They’re good. How’s my baby sister?” Heather was watching her closely.

“He’s the one, isn’t he? I keep having visions of myself with him. In front of a fire reading. Walking down the aisle. Slow dancing.”

Heather nodded. “He’s definitely the one. Are you ready for a serious relationship, though?”

“I have no idea. I thought I was coming here for a little while to help you with the babies. I had no idea I was going to stay on as a nanny or find the love of my life.” Marti collapsed into a kitchen chair. “I’m not sure this is the right thing for me to do right now.”

“Whether it is or isn’t, the ball is rolling. It’s up to you to slow it down if that’s what you feel the need to do. You’re seeing him again tomorrow, right?”

Marti nodded. “We’re watching movies at his place.”

“I would say that you need to think long and hard before then. If you want to slow things down, now is the right time. Tell him you feel something for him but you don’t feel ready for a committed relationship . . . or something like that. I don’t know! You seem awfully young to find the love of your life right now, though.”

“I know. I had no idea this would happen. I . . . I’ll think on it. Does Mom know?”

“That he’s the man you should spend your life with? Yeah. I told her. She expressed the same concerns I did. And what if you’re only attracted to him because of the visions? Are we letting our magic force us into decisions we’re not ready for?” Heather shook her head. “Not me. I was definitely ready to marry Michael. But you just finished college. You should have a year or two of living the crazy life before you marry and start having quadruplets!”

“I’m not having quadruplets. Ever. I’ve seen the work they involve!”

“I didn’t think I was having them either, and look at me.” Heather got to her feet. “I’ll make us each a mug of hot chocolate, and we’ll discuss. I’m sure I can tell you lots of deep dark secrets about Josh. Michael tells me everything.”

“Sounds good to me! I need to make an informed decision, and how could I do that without deep dark secrets? You’re the best!”