They pulled up in front of an older farmhouse, long on charm, short on paint. And window screens. But there were fun wooden scallops that ran the length of the porch and a gorgeous front door that Kylie was positive was original to the house, making it easy to overlook its few shortcomings.

“It needs some love and attention,” Adam began apologetically as Kylie hopped out of the truck and hurried up to the house. “I’ve had a lot on my plate lately and it’s been easy to—”

“No worries, I promise!” she broke in. A little peeling paint? Hell, she could live with that.

In fact, she could probably scrape and paint the place this summer. If she did the legwork, maybe Adam would provide the supplies. Her life was at critical levels of boredom – other than work at the clinic, she didn’t have much else going on. Fixing up the house would give her something to do in the evenings and weekends. Her only other hobby of late seemed to be reworking her budget, but she could only do that so many times before there was nothing left to tweak.

Money did not appear from thin air, no matter how many times she tried to make it happen.

He unlocked the front door, which swung open to reveal a small entryway that opened up into a living room with what appeared to be original hardwood floors. A beat-up couch paired with a beat-up wing chair graced the room, both of them looking like they’d seen better years. “The furniture comes along with,” Adam said as she looked around, oohing and aahing over the original wooden baseboards. “The former tenant is moving in with her boyfriend, so she didn’t need to take it with her. She said to leave it behind for…well, for you, I suppose.”

Kylie stopped trailing her hands over the nicked and scuffed woodwork to look back at him. He had that tight smile on his face that wasn’t even vaguely convincing, and this time, Kylie was absolutely sure that the previous tenant was more than just a tenant. Were they in love? Did she dump him for this boyfriend dude? Kylie felt a little anger and indignation well up inside of her on his behalf. Who would choose someone else over Adam? He was kind and thoughtful and giving and sweet and handsome as sin and…

She stopped herself right there. Granted, it was about ten thoughts too late, but at least she was trying to stop. She couldn’t let herself look at her boss that way. Especially not if he was going to be her boss and her landlord.

If she fell in love with him…oh Lordy, wouldn’t that just wreak some havoc. What would happen if it didn’t work out? He could fire her and evict her in one fell swoop.

Falling for Adam Whitaker would be one of the worst ideas of her short life, and truly, that was saying something.

She smiled at him, scolded herself when her heart went into overdrive as he sent her a heart-stopping smile in return, and then turned towards the kitchen. She walked past the scarred dining room table and into a country kitchen – not horrifically small, but definitely on the efficient side. She looked around, an honest grin spreading across her face; not forced, not required, not trying to hide anything, but rather a joyful grin as she took it all in.

“Oh, Adam!” she exclaimed as she began opening and closing cupboards and drawers, even peering into the fridge.

When she’d left Oregon, she’d been forced to leave most of her kitchen equipment behind, too. That night of frantic packing, trying to escape, there’d been a brief moment of levity when her roommate had held up a meat baster that Kylie was leaving behind in a kitchen drawer. “Kylie, what the hell am I supposed to do with this? It looks like a tranquilizer needle for a horse!”

Yeah, all of that specialized equipment was definitely lost on her former roommate, and no doubt, she’d already sold all of it on Craigslist and bought pizzas from Domino’s with the cash. But here was Kylie’s chance to rebuild all of that. For the first time in her life, she’d have her own home.

She spun in a circle and grinned up at Adam. He had a funny look on his face when he said slowly, “You called me Adam. That’s the first time you’ve ever called me that without me prompting you to.”

She shrugged, her eyes dropping to the ground. She probably shouldn’t have called him that, honestly, but she’d been caught up in the joy of the moment. It was much better to keep him at arm’s length. Formality was going to be the only way to get through with her heart still in one piece.

She knew all of that. And yet…

“Thank you for this…Adam,” she said softly, looking back up into his warm, brown eyes. “I cannot tell you how much it means to me. Truly. I will be in debt to you for the rest of my life.”

A flustered grin spread across his face. “You’re gonna be a big help to me, honestly,” he rushed to assure her. “After the former tenant moved out, it’s fallen on me to take care of this place and these animals again, and it’s slowly killing me. Either I find someone to take this over, or I sell it. I can’t keep spreading myself this thin. But…I’m not ready to sell it yet,” a shadow crossed his eyes at the admission, “so I’m thrilled to have you helping me out.”

She wondered again about the secrets this man in front of her held close to his chest. He was friendly and kind and thoughtful to everyone, but she wondered if that was a front somehow; a way of hiding the painful spots in his past.

If there was one thing Kylie understood, it was pain emanating out from the past to haunt a person. It was the kind of pain that a soul didn’t get over easily.

She rubbed her belly absentmindedly. It wasn’t a big house, but honestly, she didn’t need a big house. She just needed enough room for her and the baby, and this would do that and more.

“Can we check out the upstairs?” she asked. “I’m assuming the bedrooms are up there.”

His smile came back full force, happy and believable again. “Absolutely! There’s this antique brass bed up there that you’ll enjoy; from what I understand, the people who originally built this place ordered the bed out of a Sears catalog and had it delivered here on the train. You really can’t get much more historical than that.”

She followed him up the creaking wooden stairs, her eyes trained on the easy movement of his hips as they went.

She gulped.

She should definitely not be calling him Adam. Not if she wanted to keep her sanity.