The girls did just as she’d expected them to, they’d all crowded into one bed. It would have been a pretty cute picture if she dared get her phone out. The two bigger girls were on the outside, and it looked like Grace had just wedged herself between them.

Cheyenne herself had been restless all night. The bed was fine and the room was fine. She just couldn’t settle.

Wonder if Sheridan has tea…

Before they’d gone to bed he’d reiterated to them several times that they were to help themselves to anything in the house and kitchen.

Cheyenne stuck her head out into the hallway, but it was quiet. Pulling her t-shirt down, she debated whether or not to go out. She’d forgotten her sleep pants. She couldn’t sleep in them because they restricted her movement in the bed, but she wore them a lot because they were so comfortable. They were a staple in her wardrobe. But somehow she’d walked out without packing a single pair in her bag.

There was no one out there to see her. Heck, even the dogs were outside.

Padding down the hallway, she tried to remember the layout of the living room. Someone had left a couple of small nightlights burning so she had enough light to make her way to the dark kitchen. She blinked, straining to see, but for some reason there was no nightlight in this room. Resting her hand on the marble island she began to circle toward the far entrance, where the light switches were. There was a rustling to her right and she let out a squeal of terror just before she bumped into a hard, warm, wall.

“Sheridan?” she hissed.

A light switch flipped and he was revealed, in all his mouthwatering glory. Oh, fudge, why did he have to look so good?

He’d forgone sleep pants as well, only wearing tight black boxer briefs and a soft blue t-shirt that molded to his upper chest. Cheyenne snatched her hand away from his chest and curled it against her breasts, then tugged her own t-shirt down as far as she could over her hips.

“I’m so sorry,” she gasped. “I didn’t think anyone was up.”

Sheridan’s broad jaw started working, and she realized that that had been what she’d heard a few seconds ago. Him chewing something hard. She looked at the island and the family size package of Oreos, the tray half empty, and felt a smile spread her lips. “Really? You’re raiding the cookies in the middle of the night?”

He shrugged his massive shoulders sheepishly, mouth still too full to speak.

Cheyenne laughed, loving that she’d caught the big, self-contained man in something so innocently naughty and childlike.

He held the tray out to her and offered her a cookie. Cheyenne generally didn’t like the too-sweet cookies, but she took one anyway. Then, twisting the two halves apart, she licked the white icing, just like she’d done since she was a kid.

Sheridan stilled, his gaze latching onto her tongue. A warm wash of heat rolled through her, suddenly reminding her of things better forgotten. That was awareness she could see in his expression. Awareness of male and female things that she’d tried to tamp down for the past several years.

He turned away abruptly, moving to the fridge to pour a tall glass of milk, then he moved around the corner of the island. He drank half the glass down, then grinned at her, his face polite. That awareness was gone and she wondered what had happened.

“You caught me. This is my dirty little secret.” He dragged the package closer and took a couple more cookies, shoving one into his mouth.

Cheyenne laughed lightly. “I guess you could have worse habits,” she told him softly. “Although it’s probably not healthy to do in the middle of the night. Do you do this every night?”

His shoulders moved in a shrug. “Maybe,” he garbled.

Cheyenne laughed and snagged herself a second cookie. “Better be careful,” she warned. “These are going to be bad for that manly figure of yours.”

Sheridan flexed his bicep for her, and Cheyenne almost drooled. Her heart thudded heavily against her chest as she looked at the massive, veined muscle. It was the size of her calf! Bigger!

“Okay,” she conceded. “You’re still strong. But these cookies will go to your belly.”

Sheridan gave her a long look, like he knew she wanted to see his stomach. Then, pulling up the hem of his t-shirt a couple of inches, he allowed her to see the cobbled landscape of his abdomen, and the thin like of brown hair in the center heading south. Cheyenne jerked her eyes away, her breath suddenly tight in her throat. But she tried to play it off.

“I don’t know,” she teased. “I think I see a bit of a paunch, there.”

Sheridan’s green eyes glittered in the light from the island pendant and he fought a smile. “Yeah, okay. If you say so.”

They both started laughing and he handed her another cookie. Cheyenne stuffed her mouth before she said anything more incriminating. It also gave her eyes something to focus on.

His abs had been perfection, and she wondered what he did to take care of himself. Obviously fighting with criminals all the time kept him strong.

Reality hit her hard then. The only reason she was in his house was because of another criminal, her ex. She had no business even considering anything more than taking care of her kids and getting their lives back in order.

“I better get back to bed,” she said softly.

“Okay. Sleep good, Cheyenne.”

* * *

Sheridan really tried not to watch her walk away, but it was a Herculean task. The t-shirt she wore barely reached the top of her thighs, and she’d kept tugging it down, tightening the fabric over her breasts. And now, as she slipped away from the ring of light, he glanced up for a last look.

Lean thighs led up to the swell of butt cheeks peeking from beneath the hem of the T. He could just see the edge of dark purple underwear before she slipped into darkness.

His mind tormented him with what he thought the rest of her looked like. Cheyenne was athletic, long-legged. He knew she’d had an active childhood helping out on the ranch, and he knew she still worked there occasionally. After Garrett had had his heart attack and broken his arm, he’d seen Cheyenne’s silver Jeep Grand Cherokee over at the Blue Star as much as anywhere else.

He’d also seen her at the little Pilates shop that had opened up at the edge of town. With three girls, he didn’t know how she found the time to do anything for herself, but he was glad she did. If Pilates made her happy and kept her in shape, he was all for it.

He wondered if she’d been dating anyone recently. Of course, if she had been, Marlene probably would have let him know the minute it had happened. For some reason Marlene thought he and Cheyenne needed to be together.

If he was honest with himself, though, he would admit that he thought so too. It was just … getting past their history and moving ahead. Tonight Cheyenne had been aware of him. That much had been obvious. He looked down at his dick, which had been at attention since she’d entered the kitchen. Hopefully she hadn’t even noticed how much she’d turned him on by licking that cookie. To make sure, he’d slipped around the edge of the island to shield himself from her gaze.

Swallowing the rest of the milk down, he set the glass in the dishwasher. He needed to get to bed, he had a lot of running around to do tomorrow.

Cupping himself in his hand, he wondered if he shouldn’t take care of this issue, but he decided against it. He would ignore it, and hope that when he and Cheyenne got together it would be worth it.

* * *

Cheyenne woke at five-thirty, just like she did every other morning, but she didn’t feel rested. As she looked at the bed she could see she hadn’t slept well. The mattress was fine, but she’d been haunted by sexy giants plying her with seductive looks. And cookies, surprisingly seductive cookies. She’d woken once and been cupping herself intimately. That wasn’t normal for her. For the past six… no, seven years she’d turned her libido completely off. That had been what had gotten her into trouble with Wade, and she wasn’t going to let it control her life any longer.

She’d stuck to that vow for a long time, but after a single night in Sheridan’s presence it was all going to hell. The man was sex personified and she had no idea how he’d been single for so long in Honeywell. Yes, people had obviously given him some time after his wife had died, but surely some of the women had approached him by now. There was no way a man could be celibate that long.

Her breasts tingled at the thought of him denying himself and she cursed. She had no business even thinking about him that way. He was helping her out in a difficult situation. That was all.

Cheyenne showered and dressed, and refused to acknowledge how sensitive her breasts felt today. She dressed in school appropriate clothing, even though they were a little laid back in summer school. There were only twenty-three kids attending the summer program this year, and she was responsible for seven of them. One more week and even they would be done, and she could do what she wanted with her summer.

The girls went with her and if they didn’t want to help her in the class they were allowed to go to the library. Savannah always chose the library, but Grace and Carolyn usually didn’t decide until they walked into the front door of the school. That was fine. As long as they were on the premises she was okay with them doing whatever they wanted.

Cheyenne headed out to the kitchen to find something to cook for breakfast. She had bacon sizzling on the stove and was beating eggs when Sheridan walked into the room, fully dressed in his tan uniform. The heavy black gun belt hung around his hips. The motion of her arm stuttered and a little egg splashed onto the counter.

Cheyenne turned away, forcing herself to take a deep breath. Two days ago she was completely fine with her single life. Why was she suddenly reacting this way?

“Smells really good,” Sheridan said, crossing to the coffee pot. Reaching a mug from the cupboard above him, he poured a cup of the black brew, then reached into the refrigerator and poured just as much creamer into the cup.

Cheyenne laughed lightly as she poured the eggs into the skillet. “You have a true sweet tooth, don’t you?”

She glanced up long enough to see him shrug sheepishly. “I guess so.”

Reaching a spatula from the utensil basket on the counter, she started scrambling the eggs. “I hope you don’t mind that I started breakfast.”

He snorted, leaning his hips back against the island. “Is part of that food for me?”

“Of course. If you’d like.”

“Then I don’t mind you cooking.”

She smiled slightly. “I just didn’t want you to feel like I was taking anything over. I think Olivia was a little upset when she came home last night and we were all eating dinner.”

Sheridan grimaced, taking a sip of his coffee. “Possibly. She’s so hard to read sometimes. That table was one of Nora’s favorite pieces of furniture. We brought it with us when we moved here. That may have been what upset her.”

Hm. Yes, that probably would make the girl mad. “Well, maybe we can be sure to invite her sooner.”

Sheridan gave her a single nod. “Yes, we can try.”

He set his coffee cup on the island. “I wanted to talk to you before the girls got up. I talked to Marlene last night and she had a couple of pieces of information.” He related the details. “So, I’m going to go check out leads this morning. I want you to stay inside the entire time you’re at school. Do you understand?”

She nodded, reaching for a dishcloth to wipe her hands on. “I know.”

“Are the girls going with you?”

She gave him a narrow-eyes look. “Where else would they go?”

He shrugged. “Well, Olivia is home, so I wouldn’t worry about them staying here today.”

Cheyenne frowned. “I’m not sure Olivia is really on board with us right now. Maybe in a few days when she’s more used to us being around. That’s kind of a lot to dump on her.”

Sheridan tipped his head. “If that’s what you think.”

“I think my girls would burn her out in the first day,” Cheyenne laughed.

“Honestly, I think Grace might burn her out in the first day.”

They laughed quietly together and it struck Cheyenne as almost joyous, having someone who understood the parts of your life and could still laugh about them.

As soon as the eggs were done Cheyenne dished out a plate for Sheridan, then went to wake the girls. When they heard she had breakfast waiting on them they rushed to get dressed. Grace needed help deciding between which pair of holey blue jeans to wear, but otherwise it went pretty smoothly. When they trooped down the stairs Cheyenne was surprised and happy to see Olivia sitting at the table, scooping out a spoonful of eggs.

“Olivia, you remember my girls Grace, Savannah and Carolyn.”

Olivia gave a little wave, then went back to the eggs. Her girls didn’t seem to mind the unenthusiastic welcome, they just said hello and dug into breakfast. While they did that, she headed back upstairs to finish with her hair and makeup.

Cheyenne looked into the mirror and for the five-millionth time wondered about changing her hair. The deep auburn color was very distinctive, she knew that. Wade had told her many times that it had been what had caught his attention all those years ago, blazing down the arena on the back of her horse, her hair flying. She’d been barrel racing then, and Wade had been on the bulls. Though her mama had told her over and over again that rodeo men were trouble, when Wade asked her out, she’d said yes immediately.

And for the most part, it had been good. Well, when he’d been winning, at least. As soon as he’d been injured, everything had gone downhill.

Fisting her hands in her hair she bunched it on top of her head. That would be really short. She’d had long hair all her life. Cutting it off might be more traumatic than any other part of this situation, she thought with a laugh.

Frustrated, she pulled it back into a French braid and let it hang down her back. She would worry about it later.

Sheridan drove them into town in his big department truck. As they drove past the feed store, she looked for any hint of her ex, but she didn’t see anything. It was only seven-forty-five. The store didn’t even open till eight.

Sheridan parked in the turnaround loop in front of the school and stood guard, basically, as she and the girls trooped inside. Cheyenne paused, hitching her bag over her shoulder.

“Thank you for doing all this, Sheridan. You’re going above and beyond what any man should.”

He blinked at her and frowned, then turned to look out the glass doors. “No, I’m doing what I should have done years ago when I saw you trying to hide the bruises under your glasses at that gas station. If I had stepped up then, this would all be different.”

The wind whooshed out of her as he reminded her of that day. It had been a traumatic day for everyone. Cheyenne could tell that it haunted him, though. There were shadows in his green eyes she’d never seen before. She shook her head and rested a hand on his arm.

“I don’t want you to carry that around. We all make decisions we regret. I regret not taking you up on your offer then, too, but it can’t be changed now. It all happens for a reason.”

He looked at her, shoving his hands into his pockets as he faced her. For some reason his demeanor struck her as defeated. She was struck with the need to comfort him. Cheyenne reached up and hugged him.

Sheridan didn’t move, as if he knew how hard this was for her to do. After a moment his arms went around her in a light squeeze, then let her go. When she released him, his eyes were wary as they watched her.

If Cheyenne had freaked out, he would have felt even more like crap, so she forced herself to ease back calmly and give him a smile. Her heart was racing and she couldn’t tell if it was from fear or just being that close to him. Sheridan Lane was one hell of a man.

“Can you call me if you find anything out?”

“I will,” he promised. “If I don’t learn anything I’ll be here in front at three.”

She gave him a quick smile. “Okay, thank you.”

Cheyenne turned and headed into the building, very conscious of the man behind her, watching her walk away.