“You’re late,” Kyle said, feeling the satisfaction of seeing Hannah crossing the grass toward him expand and inflate at the look on her face.

She looked ruffled.

That was a very good thing. Because no matter what else Hannah felt about being back in Sapphire Falls, back with her grandma, back around him, it was not going to be calm, cool and collected.

Fuck no. Hannah was going to be riled up, stirred up, worked up, if he had anything to say about it. And he thought that he just might. She’d certainly seemed off-kilter in the kitchen earlier.

He’d figured pretty quickly that she would expect him to be cold and angry toward her. She hadn’t been expecting a smile and a friendly greeting and a hug.

The hug had been completely spontaneous. He hadn’t even thought about touching her. Actually, he had, and had decided against it, knowing that would be a bad idea for him. And he’d been right. Having her in his arms again had sent a shock wave of emotion and longing through him that had nearly sent him to his knees.

But he’d powered through. Not let it show. Kept his cool. And it had been worth it. She’d been shaken by the whole exchange, and he loved that. Being back in her hometown, with her family, with her ex, with the life she’d given up, should shake her up, dammit.

“Late?” she asked, lifting her hand to shield the sun from her eyes.

“I’m almost done.” He gestured toward the car, though couldn’t help but notice the way her eyes seemed to reluctantly leave his chest to follow his hand. “Figured you might want to help me out. For old times’ sake.”

They’d washed plenty of cars together. In part because it had needed to be done. In part because it was a damn good time. He’d never really thought about it, but while his friends had been taking their girls out for pizza and to river parties and concerts, he and Hannah had been working, taking care of their families. They’d cleaned and cooked, done yard work, shopped. But it had never felt like work. It had always been a lot of fun.

And he intended to remind her of that. Along with other things.

As long as they had some rules in place. And a plan.

That was key.

But Alice and Ruby were watching from the kitchen, so now wasn’t the time to fill her in. Besides, he needed to know a few things before they really got started. Like just how difficult this would be. For her. Of course, for her.

He rounded the front of the car and she immediately backed up. Yep, that’s what he’d expected.

He looked her up and down. “You remember the old times, right, Hannah?”

She frowned and planted her hands on her hips. “What are you doing?”

He glanced up at the kitchen. Sure enough, their grandmothers were watching. And not even trying to be sneaky about it. “Alice won’t like it if we argue.”

Hannah bit her bottom lip but dropped her hands. Her back was to the window so Alice couldn’t see her watching him suspiciously. “What are you doing?” she repeated.

“What do you mean?”

“Seriously? The big, happy smile, the hug, the ‘let’s relive old times’?”

“What did you expect?”

Her eyes narrowed further. “You almost proposed to me. I didn’t show up. I didn’t come home for three years. And you’re happy to see me?”

Kyle felt emotions rock through him, and he fought to keep his expression neutral. “I wouldn’t say happy, no.”

She sighed, as if relieved. “Okay, that’s better. So what’s going on?”

He still held the hose, the water splashing softly onto the driveway. He looked her over. She looked…exactly the same. She wore a dress that hit just above her knees. It was white with tiny blue flowers. It had short sleeves and four tiny buttons up the front, cinched at the waist and hugged her breasts, but was completely modest and sweet looking. She was wearing blue sandals that, of course, matched the flowers on the dress perfectly. Her hair was straight and shiny. Her lips were also shiny, the pink gloss applied flawlessly. Her makeup was picture-perfect, looking so natural he could barely tell she had any on.

When they’d been together, he’d loved how put together she always looked.

Now he wanted her messy.

He wanted her dress wrinkled, her hair mussed, her lip gloss smudged. And he wanted to be responsible for all of it. He didn’t really understand what all of that meant. Except that neat and tidy were not words that accurately described anything he felt about all of this—her being here, all the feelings she stirred up, the complications she presented for Alice.

He moved the hose just slightly, the water splashing closer to her toes peeking out from her sandals.

She saw the motion, and probably felt a few cold drops. “Kyle.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re not going to get me wet.”

His eyes locked on hers. “No? You sure about that?”

She licked her lips and he felt a surge of satisfaction. He was affecting her. He shouldn’t like that so much. But he definitely did.

“Okay, why would you do that? I come out here to talk and you want to have a water fight?”

“Maybe.”

“Really?”

“Or maybe I just want your grandmother to see us having a water fight.”

She looked confused. That was okay, since her back was to the house—where Alice and Ruby were still blatantly watching from the kitchen window.

“Why would you want that?” Hannah asked.

“Because it will make her happy to see us getting along and being like we used to be.”

Hannah swallowed hard. “That’s…dangerous.”

“Oh? How so?” Would she find it tempting?

“I don’t want to get her hopes up.”

Okay, maybe not tempting. Or at least she wasn’t admitting that. But they were, actually, on the same page, even if she didn’t know it yet.

“Yeah, remember that,” he said.

“Remember what?”

“That you don’t want to get her hopes up.” Then he moved the hose, splashing water over Hannah’s feet.

She shrieked and danced from one foot to the other, trying to avoid the water stream. “Kyle!”

Yep, he wanted her messy. And wet. In so many ways. But he shut that thought down. Then started it up again. Wet. In many ways. Yeah, he wanted that. He wanted her affected. He wanted this, being here, with him, to do something to her. He followed as she started around the car, trying to get the vehicle between her and the water stream.

“Oh, come on, you always ended up wet when we did this in the past,” he said. And he absolutely meant the double entendre. It was an easy one, of course, but no way was he going to pass it up.

“Kyle!” she gasped, and he knew it wasn’t from the cold water that he managed to splash on the backs of her calves. She was surprised he’d said that.

And he could understand. It wasn’t like he’d never said anything dirty to her, but it was usually in the heat of the moment. And even then, it had been rare. Hannah just wasn’t the type of girl you talked about sex with in her grandmother’s driveway.

“This is going to happen, Hannah,” he said. “I’ve got the hose.”

She whipped around when he thought she was going to continue around the car. The water stream hit her right in the stomach, drenching her from the waist down. She gasped at the cold and he quickly diverted the water. He hadn’t been intending to spray her like that.

But before he could say so, she planted her hands on her hips. “You’ve got the hose? I always got wet? What are you, twelve? What are you doing?”

He couldn’t help it—he grinned. She was clearly pissed off and she looked…adorable. Half of her wet and messy, half still perfectly styled and put together.

“I didn’t mean the hose comment like that,” he said honestly.

“That doesn’t answer my question. What’s going on?”

“This isn’t the place to talk about it.”

She looked around. “Why not?”

“Because one of us is going to end up yelling. Maybe even both of us. And that will upset your grandma.”

Hannah’s eyes flickered to the house over his shoulder. “They’re watching.”

“Exactly.”

“And you want them to think that we’re getting along.”

“Yes.”

“So that Grandma isn’t upset about us not getting along.”

“Right.”

She sighed and dropped her hands. “But we’re not going to be getting along?”

“I didn’t say that.”

She frowned. “I’m not following.”

Yeah, he knew that. He was still formulating the plan, but he knew how it needed to go. And this little water fight—and her irritation about it—had given him a solid idea.

“Just play along for now,” he said. “I’ll fill you in later when we have a minute alone.”

Her eyebrows rose. “We’re going to have a minute alone?”

He raked a hand through his hair, annoyance rising in his chest. “Jesus, Hannah, don’t you think we need at least a minute or two?”

She swallowed. “I’d kind of…hoped…we wouldn’t,” she finally finished weakly.

And that pissed him off. He shifted so his back was fully to the kitchen window. “Really? You thought you’d be here for six weeks and we wouldn’t talk?”

For fuck’s sake. This was the first time they’d seen each other in three years.

She gave a little shrug. “I was planning on laying low, sticking around here, not really stirring anything up.”

Now it was his turn to lift his eyebrows. “Not stirring anything up? Seriously?” Hell, the thought of her being back in town had had him stirred up for almost a month now.

“I know we would have talked about Grandma and her surgery and stuff, but yeah, I guess I was thinking maybe it wouldn’t have to…get personal.”

A hot knife of disbelief, anger, and oh fuck that went through Kyle so fast that he had to suck in a quick breath. She didn’t want to get personal? Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. Everything about this felt personal. And he was going to make sure she felt the same damned way.

“The last time I saw you, you were soapy and wet in my shower. I went down on you, made you come in my mouth, then turned you around and fucked you from behind before I had to get to the hospital. Then you went back to Seattle and broke things off with almost no explanation. And now, three fucking years later, you think you’re just going to stay here for six weeks and things won’t get personal?”

He couldn’t believe how difficult it was to hold himself still and keep his body language casual for any onlookers. He wanted to shout, he wanted to shake her, he wanted to punch a fist into Alice’s car hood. And Kyle never got worked up like this. He felt like his whole body was vibrating.

Hannah was also holding herself tightly, her arms crossed, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes wide.

Kyle was also having trouble fighting against the visual memories of everything he’d just reminded Hannah of. He could picture the way the soap bubbles had clung to her breasts, he could taste the intoxicating combination of soap and Hannah on his tongue, he could smell the shampoo and the sweet scent of her arousal mingling. His body was reacting to it all too. His blood was pumping from anger and red-hot desire.

“I can’t believe you just said that,” she finally managed.

“Yeah, well, there’s more where that came from.” There were years of memories like that. And not just the naked ones. Memories of them on the porch swing talking about the future, family dinners where it had felt like their families were already meshed into one unit, even simple things like him learning to braid her hair. Intimate, sweet moments. Blow-his-mind hot moments. Moments full of laughter and family and love.

Dammit, she’d loved him. He would put everything he had on that. It had been real. There was no way in hell he was going to let her stick around here for six weeks and not think about all of those things.

Alice wanted to remind Hannah of all these things in an attempt to keep her around. Kyle knew that wasn’t going to happen. But he wanted to remind Hannah of all of these things because it was wrong for her to have forgotten or to pretend they hadn’t happened. And he wanted leaving here this time to be the hardest thing she’d ever done.

“So this is what this visit is going to be like?” Hannah asked. She was breathing faster than she was before.

He nodded as more of his plan came together in his mind. “Yeah, this is what this visit is going to be like.” Definitely.

“Then I’ll absolutely be avoiding you,” she decided. She started to move around him.

Kyle stepped in front of her. He didn’t touch her, but he wasn’t letting her go that easily. “Good luck with that,” he said. “This is Sapphire Falls.”

“You’re going to harass me?”

He lifted a shoulder. “I wouldn’t call it that.”

“What would you call it?”

He gave her a slow smile. “I’d call it a seduction, Hannah.”

* * *

Her entire body went hot.

Holy crap. She wasn’t sure she’d ever heard Kyle Ames use the word “seduction” before. Because she was really sure she would have remembered it.

She was squeezing her hands so tightly into fists that she felt her nails digging into her palms. “Wha—what do you mean?”

“Seduction. Temptation. Enticement. Pursuit.”

“Stop just giving me synonyms,” she interrupted.

“But we haven’t even gotten to my favorite yet,” he said.

She did not want to hear it. He wasn’t even touching her, in fact there was about a foot between them, but she felt her nerve endings jumping and snapping like she was covered in the candy that popped in your mouth. Yeah, he was shirtless and that wasn’t helping anything, but how could she feel this hot and bothered? It had been a while since she’d had sex. In fact, the last time had been that time Kyle had described in his shower. That had to be it. It had to just be her body and hormones remembering him.

Or something.

“Don’t you want to hear my favorite synonym for seduction, Hannah?” he asked.

Had he ever said her name with that rough, husky edge to his voice? Good Lord, she would have never kept her panties on around him if he had. And yes, they’d spent a lot of time naked together over the years. But she didn’t remember feeling this…stirred up. Dammit.

That was exactly what she did not want to be.

“Hannah,” he said softly, his eyes locked on hers. “Ask me what my favorite synonym for seduction is.”

He really needed to stop saying seduction. She shook her head.

But he gave her a slow, sexy smile. “Conquest.”

He said it anyway.

And damn…that one sucked the air right out of her lungs.

Conquest. Conquest? Kyle Ames had just used a very dominant, very alpha, very unlike-him word with her.

And…yeah, damn.

“I don’t understand why you would do this,” she said.

“You could just walk way,” he said.

For some reason, that hadn’t even occurred to her. Which was a huge problem.

“Yeah, I guess I could.” But she didn’t move.

“Which would be perfect, actually,” he added.

“You want me to just walk away?”

“That would be awesome. And if you could work on looking a little pissed off, that would be great too.”

“You want me to try to look pissed off?”

“Are you pissed off?” he asked.

She thought about that. She should be pissed off. Maybe. Though she wasn’t sure why. He hadn’t really done anything except…tease her. Tempt her. And she should probably be more pissed off at herself for that. “I’m annoyed,” she finally answered.

“Well, that will work, but pissed would be better. So yeah, you’ll have to work on that.”

“You want me to be pissed off?”

“I want you to seem pissed off. At least.”

She took a deep breath, then blew it out slowly. “What are you talking about?”

“I’ll explain later. When we can talk it out. Alone.”

That talking alone thing again. She really didn’t think that was a good idea at all. Of course, he’d said at least one of them would be yelling. She’d definitely entertained the idea that airing things out, getting it all out in the open, letting Kyle have his say about what she’d done—and not done—could maybe be good.

But she didn’t want to hear it. She owed it to him. He deserved a chance to say all the things he wanted to say. But she didn’t want to hear it. She didn’t really want to hear all of this either. This tempting, crazy-hot, seductive stuff. Just not talking to him, seeing him, listening to him, watching him interact with her grandmother, would be so much easier.

But maybe she didn’t deserve easy.

And besides, as he’d said, there was no way she was going to be able to avoid him entirely while she was here. It was Sapphire Falls. And he was a part of her grandmother’s life. As her doctor and more.

Hannah finally nodded. “Fine. Explain later.”

“Now look pissed off and stomp around me and into the house and tell them how annoying and immature I am.”

She frowned. “Why?”

“Later.”

She huffed out a breath. “Well, I’m not pissed off. Don’t worry. I’ll just…go change and…find you later.”

“Yes, do that. But you need to be pissed off now.”

She didn’t understand this. “But I’m not.”

He sighed. “Okay. But you’re going to have to work on your acting after this.” Then he lifted the hose and doused her with water.

And not just a splash. Not just a spray of water over her legs and feet. This was a full blast of water that started at her hair and drenched her from head to toe.

And it was freaking freezing.

“Kyle!” She wiped the water from her eyes and glared at him. “What the hell?”

“Just like old times,” he said with a grin.

“This is not like old times!” She’d never worn a nice dress and sandals to wash the car. She would have had her hair pulled up. She would have been barefoot. And she would have been giving as good as she got and enjoying it. Because she would have known what he was thinking, and she would have been completely comfortable. Because the car washing—just like doing the dishes with him, and mowing the lawn, and folding laundry—had all been a sweet kind of…love. They’d been connected. They’d been a team. And every one of those activities had enforced that.

But comfortable was the last thing she felt right now. And she had no idea what he was thinking.

He just stood grinning at her. “There are definitely some advantages to this plan.” His eyes traveled over her and Hannah looked down.

The dress was white, of course, and was now clinging to her like a second skin.

She glared harder. “You have a plan?”

But of course he did. This was Kyle. She should have known. He’d probably calculated the exact amount of water he’d soaked her with.

“I do,” he said with a nod. “But you’re still not walking away.”

Dammit. She wasn’t. “This is all really…not like you.”

Something flashed in his eyes, and he dropped the grin and the playful demeanor. He tossed the hose onto the grass, took two big steps forward, and wrapped an arm around her waist, bringing her up against his body, soaking his jeans in the process. “No, it’s not,” he said. “I always treated you like a princess. I was polite and chivalrous and a fucking gentleman.”

Up against his hard, hot, half-naked, now-completely-wet body, Hannah’s thoughts seemed to scatter like a handful of confetti tossed into the air. “You…you were…” she mumbled. Kyle had always been sweet and thoughtful toward her. Even when he’d been sexy, even when they’d taken those hot, slippery showers and he’d done the things he’d reminded her of a few minutes ago, he’d been…sweet. As strange as that sounded. Until right now in her grandmother’s driveway, he’d never said anything like “I turned you around and fucked you from behind.”

She shivered with the memory of him saying that…and doing that.

“Well, that didn’t exactly work out for me, did it?” he asked, his eyes on her mouth.

It took her a second to realize he was talking about being sweet not working out, not the shower sex. Because that had definitely worked out for them both.

“I don’t…” She licked her lips that were suddenly dry in spite of the fact that the rest of her was dripping wet. From the hose. And from Kyle. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I mean, treating you romantically didn’t really work out for me,” he said. “So I think we’re going to try something new this time.”

And then he kissed her.

Except, it was nothing like the kisses she was used to. He didn’t just touch his lips to hers. He took her mouth. That was the best description. He took her chin between his thumb and fingers, tipping her head and then holding her still. He opened his lips over hers immediately, slicking his tongue along her bottom lip and then slipping inside to meet hers with firm, hot strokes. He held her tightly to his body, turning her and walking her backward until her butt was against the side of the hot, wet car.

Hot and wet seemed to be the theme here.

Because then he was pressing his body against hers so that she could feel every inch of him. Every. Single. Inch.

He kissed her until she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t think, she couldn’t do anything except let him. Let him do pretty much anything he wanted.

When he did finally lift his head and stare down at her, his first words were, “Dammit, Hannah.”

She felt her eyebrows rise. “What?”

“You weren’t supposed to let me do that.”

“I’m sorry, what? I let you do that? You just kind of did it.” But she’d totally let him. And she would likely do it again.

“Push me back.”

She frowned. “Wh—”

“Just fucking push me back,” he said, sounding like he was talking through gritted teeth.

She put her hands on his chest and pushed.

He moved back away from her. “Now frown at me.”

That was not a problem. “You’re crazy, you know that?”

“Very likely,” he agreed, shoving a hand through his hair. His gaze ran over her again, head to toe.

And her stupid nipples not only responded, but now with the wet, clinging dress, Kyle definitely noticed.

He lifted a brow, then met her eyes. But he didn’t say anything. At least not about the nipple thing.

“Now stomp inside like you’re pissed off.”

She pulled in a breath and pushed away from the car. “Well, this time I am.” She started for the door.

His chuckle floated after her. “Yeah, you’re definitely going to have to work on your acting.”

* * *

“Um, Dr. Ames?”

Kyle looked up from the file he was reviewing at his desk. He’d been having a hell of a time concentrating since getting into the office. He’d run home to shower and change clothes, but the shower had done nothing for his ability to push Hannah to the back of his mind. In fact, she’d been very much in the forefront of his thoughts—and actions—in that shower. Reminding her of the last time they’d been together had been stupid. Because it reminded him too.

“Yeah?” he asked his receptionist and lab tech, Bailey. In a small clinic like his, even with the whole on-call-constantly thing he had going on, he could only keep so many healthcare professionals busy, so Bailey, and his nurse, Lila, both took on extra jobs that kept the clinic running and, when put together, worked out to full-time hours. Bailey ran the lab, was going to school to be a radiology tech, and answered the phones. Lila helped with the insurance paperwork and filing, along with Donna, the part-time coding specialist who worked from home while she babysat her grandkids.

“Albert is here,” Bailey told him. “Early, as usual.”

“Okay, great.” Kyle pushed back from his desk, grateful for the older man’s tendency to show up thirty to forty-five minutes ahead of time for his appointments.

Bailey turned out the door. Kyle started around his desk as his phone buzzed in his pocket. He glanced at the screen and saw Alice was calling.

“Hey,” he greeted, just as Bailey stopped on the third step down.

“I forgot to tell you,” Bailey began. As Alice said, “I saw that kiss. Well done.”

He frowned, hating that he was getting Alice’s hopes up on purpose. It was going to be up to Hannah to be sure that those hopes did not stay up. And Hannah didn’t know that yet.

“Thank you,” he said to Alice. As Bailey continued, “Hannah McIntire is here.”

He grinned. That hadn’t taken long.

Then Alice said, “Well, she’s very happy to be home. So thank you.”

His grin died. He sincerely doubted that Hannah had told her grandmother that she was happy to be home because of Kyle or his kiss. But Hannah was here. Already. He’d told her to come and find him later. She’d taken about an hour and a half.

Hmmm. Maybe she was happy about that kiss. It had been an especially good one. He’d lost his mind for a little bit there, in fact. He’d actually expected her to push him away immediately. Or at least after a couple of seconds. He hadn’t expected her to let the kiss go on and on. And on. And he definitely hadn’t been prepared for her to melt in his arms, open her mouth, and make that little moaning sound she’d made.

He cleared his throat as his body responded to that memory.

“You shouldn’t thank me for that,” he finally said to Alice.

“Should I tell her to wait or leave or what?” Bailey asked.

“How’s my day?” he asked Bailey. Just as Alice said, “I knew that I could count on you to help, but I didn’t think you would jump right in like that.”

Right. He hadn’t meant to jump right in. He hadn’t meant to kiss her, and he definitely hadn’t intended to push her up against the side of her grandmother’s car. That had not been the plan. And that was a huge red flag. More than ever, he needed to stick with the plan where Hannah was concerned. Not that he’d been the one to fuck it up before…

“She’ll never be able to resist you,” Alice said in his ear. As Bailey confirmed, “You’re pretty busy today.”

Kyle pulled in a breath. Okay, the plan. The plan to make Alice happy while getting a little revenge on his ex while getting to kiss her again while not getting his heart broken. It was a solid plan. It was an important plan. It would work. If he just kept his focus. And didn’t mind being a vengeful asshole for a few weeks.

And he didn’t think he did, as a matter of fact.

He’d worry about what that said about his character after Hannah left again.

He looked at Bailey and said, “I’ll be right down.” And then he put his plan into motion when he said to Alice, “It’s up to Hannah how this all goes. Don’t forget that.”

Bailey nodded and descended the stairs in front of him.

Kyle started after her.

“Well, just be yourself, honey,” Alice said. “Follow your gut—”

“Follow your heart,” he heard in the background from his own grandmother.

“Yes,” Alice agreed, “just follow your heart.”

“Girls, that is not—” Kyle started, but just then he stepped off the bottom step and looked into the waiting room. Hannah’s eyes were the first ones he met, and his ankle wobbled.

She was lying on her back on the floor, her feet on the wall beside the tall potted plant that occupied the corner by the window, with Albert and Bailey looking on.

And he realized a very important fact: He was screwed.

“Following your heart is not what?” Alice asked in his ear.

Kyle took a deep breath. “Not going to be a problem.”

Totally. Screwed.

* * *

Hannah couldn’t, for the life of her, remember what she’d been telling Albert in the first few seconds after Kyle walked into the room. She was instructing him on something having to do with the back pain he was coming in to see Kyle about. And it had occurred to her that one of the things she’d learned in her last continuing education class might help. So she’d explained it. And he hadn’t understood. So she’d gotten on the floor to show him.

Okay, whew. That’s what she was doing.

“Morning, Albert,” Kyle said, coming into the room.

“Mornin’, Doc.”

But Kyle hadn’t taken his eyes off of Hannah as he crossed to where she still lay on the floor. He stopped and looked down at her with a small smile. He didn’t greet her specifically, but he held out his hand.

She wasn’t sure touching him was a good idea, but she didn’t really see any reasonable way around it. At least not with an audience. And as she slipped her hand into his, she thought, for just a second, that maybe that was part of Kyle’s plan. To only touch her when there were people watching so that she couldn’t avoid it or pull away.

As he hauled her to her feet, she also realized that didn’t make complete sense either, though. In her grandma’s driveway, he’d told her to push him away and act pissed off.

What was going on?

Kyle gave her hand a little tug, and she took the step that brought her nearly up against him. Hannah sucked in her breath, then pressed her lips together. But Kyle heard it. She knew because his gaze dropped to her lips. And Hannah was interested to find that Kyle looking at her lips could also make her nipples tingle. They stood staring at each other for a very long moment that was full of…expectation. Or memories. Or something.

Dammit.

Then it got worse.

“Hey, Albert?” Kyle asked, still looking at Hannah. “You think we could reschedule? I think this pretty lady needs some of Dottie’s hash browns. It’s been three years, you know.”

“Oh, yeah, I can definitely come back later,” Albert said quickly.

Hannah managed to look away from Kyle and over at the older man. He was watching them with wide eyes.

Oh, crap.

Hannah stepped back quickly. What was Kyle thinking? Looking at her like that? Saying they were going to breakfast together? Rescheduling appointments? And with one of the biggest gossips in town? Albert was one of the older men who met for coffee every morning at six a.m. at Dottie’s Diner. Nothing happened in Sapphire Falls that they didn’t know about. And talk about. And speculate about. And exaggerate.

There were a few things about Kyle Ames that were obvious within about five minutes of knowing him—he loved schedules, he hated change, and he planned everything. Albert had known Kyle longer than five minutes. So had all of the people Albert was going to tell that Kyle had changed his schedule around to spend time with Hannah.

Why did Kyle want to have breakfast with her? She was here for whatever this talk was that they needed to have. He’d made it pretty clear at her grandma’s that something was going on and he said he’d fill her in later. Well, this was later.

“I was hoping you could show me the PT clinic,” she said quickly.

That would be a place where they might be able to have a private conversation. She had no idea how busy they were over there, but if it was a typical physical therapy clinic, there would be music, conversation, and the whirring of machines and clacking of weights. Maybe they could duck into one of the private treatment rooms.

There was no way they could huddle up for a whispered conversation—or a loud argument—anywhere else in Sapphire Falls without everyone knowing about it. They couldn’t duck into one of Kyle’s treatment rooms or head upstairs to his office. Bailey and Albert had already witnessed more than Hannah was comfortable with. Mostly because she didn’t know exactly what they’d witnessed. The PT clinic was the only place in town run by someone who hadn’t grown up in Sapphire Falls.

That thought made her chest ache. It wasn’t that they purposely kept other people out of Sapphire Falls or didn’t want them starting businesses. And plenty of those businesses started by hometown folk ended up bringing new people to town. Like Mason Riley’s huge company, IAS. He employed a huge number of people and many of them were from other places. And then there was Mason’s wife, Adrianne, who owned the bakery. She was not a Sapphire Falls girl originally, but the town—and Mason—had won her over. It wasn’t really a specific business plan for the town. It just kind of worked out that way. People grew up in Sapphire Falls and they didn’t really leave very often. Or if they did, they came home eventually. The ache intensified, and Hannah rubbed the spot over her heart.

“You want to see the clinic?” Kyle asked. He seemed surprised.

Hell no, she didn’t want to see the clinic where she was supposed to be working right now. Walking through the doors to Kyle’s clinic had been a kick in the gut. Seeing the PT clinic, her dream clinic, would be even worse. But she wanted to know what was going on with Kyle, and she couldn’t drag him down the hallway and lock him in a room with her here. At least not without feeding the gossip machine that was going to be going nuts anyway. So she nodded. “Sure.”

She needed to be cool about it though. She needed to be happy for the town and for the PT who was working there. She’d never even been brave enough to ask who it was. Because it didn’t matter. That person was lucky to be here and Hannah was glad the town had a therapist. That’s all that mattered.

Kyle was studying her, seemingly searching for something in her face. And she wasn’t sure she wanted him to find it.

“When do you want me back here?” Albert asked Kyle, edging toward the door.

“Bailey, what have I got later on?” Kyle asked.

“You’re booked all afternoon,” Bailey said.

“Oh, then you need to talk to Kyle—Dr. Ames—now,” Hannah said quickly to Albert.

She wanted to talk to Kyle and find out what was going through his mind, but she could not come in here and disrupt his whole day.

“But I’ve got this new exercise to do now,” Albert said.

“I do hope that helps a little bit,” Hannah said. “And let me know if you want any other tips. The yoga seems intimidating at first, I know, but it can really be a great adjunct therapy.” She glanced at Kyle. “In addition to whatever Dr. Ames has you doing, of course.” She didn’t actually fully believe that. Yoga and massage and meditation and acupressure and acupuncture could, in fact, replace a lot of the things that Western medicine prescribed for pain, but standing in the middle of Kyle’s clinic, in front of Kyle, didn’t seem like the time to tell one of his patients that.

Kyle looked even more surprised now. “You were talking to Albert about his pain?”

“She knew as soon as I walked in that there was something wrong with my back,” Albert piped up. “She could tell which side even.”

He beamed at Hannah, and Hannah couldn’t help but smile back. She’d known Albert all her life. He seemed to have not aged at all in the time she’d been gone. But he was moving slower.

“Albert had some back surgery about a year ago,” Kyle said. “It didn’t go as well as we would have liked. We’re working on management right now so he doesn’t have to have another.”

Hannah nodded. Albert had told her all of that. And her neck had spasmed in sympathy. She knew all about spinal surgeries that didn’t go as planned. And only a small portion of her knowledge came from her physical therapy textbooks.

“We were talking about management,” she said. “It’s important to recognize early pains and stiffness so that we—you—can prevent those really bad days.” Though the bad days sometimes came anyway, for no apparent reason.

Kyle gave her a small frown, but he didn’t seem irritated. It was more of an interested look. “Maybe you need to chat with Hannah a little more, Albert. Maybe we should see if we can set up an appointment with her.”

Hannah felt her cheeks heat. She had no business setting up appointments with anyone here. And she hadn’t meant to open her big mouth and talk to Albert about his aches and pains. But they’d been sitting there together, alone in the waiting room, and it had, actually, been obvious to her that he was having back pain. And she knew some things about managing that kind of pain. Why should she stay quiet?

Oh yeah, because it would complicate everything if she started talking about what she really did for a living.

Still, if she was a practicing physical therapist, surely she would have spoken up to help a man she knew well who was obviously in pain.

“I’m happy to give you some websites,” she said.

“I don’t use the internet,” Albert said.

Kyle snorted. “How do you email Coach Riley then?”

Mike Riley was the head coach for the football team at the University of Nebraska. Which made him the leader of the main religion in Nebraska.

“Well,” Albert said, “I can email. I don’t know about the other stuff.”

Kyle was giving the other man a knowing smile that Hannah didn’t fully understand, but she said, “That’s fine, Albert. I’m happy to show you some things.” That wouldn’t hurt. It was yoga. That didn’t require a special license. And the chances of her and Albert being someplace together where a yoga instruction was appropriate were slim anyway. But she’d make the offer. That was the least she could do since she was getting in the way of his appointment with Kyle.

“Maybe we could meet up at Hope’s place,” Albert suggested. “She’s obviously got space.”

“Hope’s place?” Hannah asked.

“Hope Bennett. She’s married to TJ. She does yoga and has a place on Main,” Albert said.

Hannah looked at Kyle. He shrugged. “She does. She’s also into herbs and oils and massage.”

There was a yoga studio in Sapphire Falls? And someone who knew about massage and oils? Hannah was stunned. “Oh, well, you could just ask her for help then.” That was a relief. Less pressure on Hannah and more ongoing help for Albert.

“Oh, yeah, Hope’s sweet. But she’s not you,” Albert said.

Hannah swallowed. It was nice that Albert trusted her simply because she was from here and he’d known her for years. It was also a little crazy. Being born and raised in Sapphire Falls in no way made someone an expert in anything other than maybe building bonfires, telling tall tales, predicting weather patterns based on things like the fuzz on caterpillars, and country music. “But she’s from here now.”

“Sure,” Albert agreed. “And she’s great. But if my doctor has a favorite, I should go with her, right?”

Hannah shot Kyle a glance. She didn’t like the butterflies Albert’s comment kicked up in her stomach. And Kyle was neither confirming nor denying that Hannah was his favorite. He just mostly looked amused. “I’m sure Kyle likes Hope.”

“Of course, everyone likes Hope,” Albert said. “But he’s never suggested I talk with Hope about my back.”

“He hasn’t?” She frowned at Kyle. Why wouldn’t he suggest some of Hope’s services to someone in pain? Maybe Hope wasn’t very good. Hannah would hate to think that Kyle was one of those physicians who was closed off to ideas that were a little outside the tradition medicine box. But he really might be. Kyle liked tradition and plans and predictability. Alternative health options probably didn’t fit in his mold.

“Nope. So I think you’re the one I should talk to,” Albert said.

“Well, I’ll tell you whatever I can,” Hannah said. She’d stick with the easy-to-understand, basic stuff. Even some clumsily applied trigger-point pressure could relieve a little pain, and that would be something.

“We do have a whole clinic next door that has actual therapy equipment,” Kyle commented casually. “You don’t need to go to Hope’s.”

Right. The PT clinic. “Yes, Albert, you’ve tried physical therapy, I assume?” Hannah asked. Maybe Kyle didn’t refer patients to Hope, but she knew he would recommend PT.

“Eh,” Albert said. “I did it for a while. But it was a long way to go.”

Hannah frowned. She didn’t know enough about his condition specifically and really had no business talking to him about PT. She could show him stretches and talk to him about acupressure. She could also maybe, carefully, bring up acupuncture. But there was no one in town who could offer him those services on an ongoing basis anyway. And people tended to get weird about being stuck with needles.

“Well, if nothing else, I can certainly wait on those hash browns until you and Dr. Ames talk.”

“Oh, don’t be silly,” Albert said, waving her concern away. “This back’s been bugging me a long time and it’s not going to get better in the next few hours. Or worse, for that matter.”

“Are you going to be at Mary’s tonight?” Kyle asked him.

“Yep.” Albert waggled his eyebrows. “It’s date night.”

“I’m stopping by to check on her rash. I’ll give you a look then,” Kyle said.

“Sounds good to me,” Albert told him. Then he winked. “Really glad that rash isn’t contagious.”

Kyle grinned and shook his head. “Too much info, Al,” he said. “But tell her to save me a piece of apple pie.”

“You got it.” Albert started for the door.

“But you can stay,” Hannah protested weakly. Now Kyle was making a double house call? And Albert was waiting several hours to talk to his doctor about his pain? This was ridiculous.

“Nah, now you’ve got me thinking some hash browns sound really good. That might just fix me right up.”

Kyle chuckled as the door thumped shut behind Albert. “Haven’t seen him move that fast in a while.”

“Those hash browns are really good,” Hannah said. In fact, they were almost magical.

“Yep, that’s why he’s hightailing it over there,” Kyle said with a grin.

Hannah knew Albert would have been heading straight for Dottie’s whether he was hungry or not. That’s where all the other gossipy old men congregated, and anyone who brought in new gossip and news got their first cup of coffee free. Of course, the coffee was only about fifty cents a cup, but it was all about the honor of knowing something first. In Sapphire Falls, that was quite a feat.

Hannah lifted an eyebrow at Kyle. “You think he’s going to share his new exercise for back pain? He might just get right down on the diner floor and prop his feet up on a booth?”

Kyle’s smile grew, and for a second Hannah forgot that she was annoyed about her and Kyle being the newest piece of gossip in town when she didn’t even know what was going on.

“I think the floor of the diner is one of the cleanest places in town,” Kyle said. “And I think that Albert loves knowing things other people don’t. And I think there are about six guys in there who are also having back pain. And I think hearing that he got the information from you will make a huge difference.”

Hannah didn’t know if Kyle was intentionally rubbing in the fact that she would have been a very welcome and well-respected part of the health care team here, or if he was just talking, but it worked to intensify her regret. She couldn’t practice PT, here or anywhere. And the accident hadn’t been her fault. But that didn’t mean she didn’t wish it was different.

“They don’t listen to the PT here?” she asked. She’d actually wondered about that in the past. Sapphire Falls was a very tight-knit community. They accepted new people and loved seeing the town grow. But patients had a hard time liking their PTs sometimes anyway. The hallmark of physical therapy was healing, of course, but to get there sometimes required tough love. And pushing. And nagging.

Kyle’s smile died almost instantly, and Hannah blinked at the sudden change.

“Come on,” he said. He started for the door. “Bailey, I’m heading out. Call me if you need me.”

“You know it,” Bailey told him.

Kyle took Hannah’s elbow as they stepped out onto the porch, almost as if he felt the need to keep hold of her.

“Kyle, I just—”

“Save it,” he said. “We can say whatever we want to in about two minutes.”

She let him lead her down the porch steps and to the sidewalk in front of the house. Then he took her hand.

She stiffened slightly, but let him hold it. It felt…nice. She had no idea what was going on, but she hated to make a big deal out of holding the hand of her childhood friend and one-time boyfriend. Maybe he’d done it without thinking.

He looked over at her. “You’re going to hold my hand?”

Or maybe he hadn’t done it without thinking. “Yes. I guess. I don’t know.” She frowned. “You took my hand.”

He pulled in a breath. “I know. Pull away.”

“But I—”

“Holy shit, Hannah,” he said through gritted teeth as he gripped her hand tighter, even as he smiled and waved at a car passing by. “Can you just fucking go along with me for two minutes?”