She got out of her sedan and hurried across the blacktop to the high school gymnasium. Tripp should be here any minute now…she scanned the crowds headed into the basketball gym, hoping to catch sight of her assistant manager among the crush.

There he was. Leaning up against one of the columns outside of the row of doors leading into the gym, he already looked bored out of his skull. Attending social events to represent the credit union to the community wasn’t exactly Tripp’s strong suit. She’d tried to tell him that this was going to hurt his career long-term – the credit union president liked to see his employees out schmoozing with the locals – but…

Well, Tripp was Tripp. Trying to get him to change his mind on something was akin to trying to push a granite boulder up the side of the Tetons. He wasn’t going to budge, and you’d do nothing but wear yourself out trying. It really was a damn good thing he was such a good-lookin’ guy, and a lot of fun to be around. It helped when it came to forgiving him for his faults.

“Having fun?” she asked him with a straight face as he fell into step beside her.

“Loads.” The sarcasm was so thick, she had visions of scraping it off with a butter knife.

“Well, thanks for agreeing to come with me anyway,” she said as he opened one of the sets of glass doors for her. “How is Porky handling the strain of being left alone for the night?”

“She didn’t even have the decency to look disgruntled,” Tripp said with a disgruntled sigh. Georgia bit back her grin. “I fed her her evening can of dog food, and then she was off to sleep again. It’s like she only cares about me because I am her source of food.”

Georgia had to bite down on her lower lip even harder. Porky wasn’t exactly the most energetic dog on the face of the planet, and she rather figured that this was exactly how Porky viewed Tripp and every other human out there.

Before she could flip him shit about keeping his dog on a diet, the crowds were upon them and she had to get to work. There were community members aplenty to chat with and kids to hand lollipops to.

She glad-handed long-time customers of the credit union as she and Tripp wandered together around the silent auction area, checking out the donated items and the prices they were going for. Between discussions of planned weddings and birth announcements and the occasional complaint about a bank policy, Georgia scanned for items that hadn’t had a bid registered for them yet.

She had a soft spot for people who donated items that weren’t generating any interest, so she made sure to put down a couple of generous bids for otherwise ignored items. She wasn’t exactly sure what she’d do with an owl clock whose eyes ticked back and forth with every swing of the pendulum, but she’d figure something out. Maybe she could donate it to the senior citizen’s center. Or to someone who was blind. At least they would appreciate the aesthetics…

Georgia wasn’t the only one working the crowd tonight, she noted as she wandered around. Jaxson and Troy were too, but they were doing it with firemen boots in hand, selling raffle tickets for a set of kayaks donated by the local river club.

She was impressed to see Jaxson chatting people up and moving around the gym with ease. If she didn’t know any better, she would’ve guessed that he’d been in town all his life, instead of just a handful of months. When he’d first moved to town, people had struggled to get used to the idea of a “foreigner” being in charge of their fire department, but after he saved Sugar and Gage from the bakery fire…Well, people seemed to be singing a different tune. It was nice to see him fitting in so well.

Troy, on the other hand…he looked like he was in pain as he drifted around with the boot in hand, trying to pretend that he was enjoying himself. Georgia wondered for a minute who thought it was a good idea to put him in charge of schmoozing local residents. She’d known him all her life, and hadn’t heard more than a couple dozen words from him in all that time. He made a brick wall seem downright talkative.

“C’mon,” she said, grabbing Tripp’s arm and pulling him towards Troy. “I want to buy some raffle tickets.”

Tripp grumbled under his breath but followed along obediently behind her. Georgia ignored his protestations. At this point, he’d complain about a bikini-clad girl serving him a meal on a platter. He was bound and determined to be grumpy, and there wasn’t a damn thing she or anyone else could do about it.

It was one of the reasons why their relationship worked so well – she didn’t try to change him, and he didn’t pretend to give a damn.

“Hi, Troy,” she said with a cheerful smile, looking up at the blond man in front of her. He was handsome, as long as you went for the scruffy, blond, silent type. If Georgia ever saw some woman manage to get Troy to say more than three words in a row to her, Georgia’d know it was true love. “How much are the tickets this year?”

“Five for six,” he rumbled as he looked down at her intently. He had these gorgeous green eyes that she’d somehow never noticed before.

It really was too bad that the tall, silent, brooding guys just weren’t her style because objectively, even she could tell that Troy was handsome enough to grace the cover of a firefighter magazine.

“I’ve got a ten,” she said, rummaging through her purse and pulling the ten-dollar bill out triumphantly. He peeled twelve raffle tickets off the massive roll he’d been carrying around. Georgia looked at the roll with a laugh. “Y’all sure are an optimistic group,” she said dryly. There were probably a thousand tickets on the roll. Just how many raffle tickets did they think they’d sell tonight?

Troy just shrugged and smiled.

“Where do I put your half?” she asked, busily separating the duplicate tickets from each other. One numbered ticket would go into the prize drawing; the matching other half would go into her purse as proof in case she actually won.

“Ummm…” Troy said, and then turned to point at a large glass bowl up at the front of the gym.

“Thanks!” she said, and headed off to put half of the tickets into the bowl, Tripp trailing along behind her.

“Troy does speak, right? Not just grunts and shrugs, but real honest-to-God words?” Tripp asked no one in particular as they made their way across the gym.

“Only when he has to,” Georgia said with a shrug. “Not everyone is as loquacious as you.”

Tripp ignored that jibe and looked around, probably hoping to find someone to flirt with. He’d played dutiful assistant manager for long enough; now it was time for him to go have some fun.

“I think the Stephenson girl is here tonight,” Georgia said with a grin and a jerk of her head towards the blonde in question.

“Now we’re talking,” Tripp said with a cocky grin, and then he was gone, making his way across the crowded gym to do some flirting.

Georgia looked around with a heavy sigh. Even as snarky as he was being tonight, Tripp was still at least company. Without him to hang out with, she was going to be awkwardly by herself for the rest of the evening. Social events…they were the bane of her existence for this very reason. She didn’t mind hanging out with the Long Valley community – not like Tripp did, anyway – but doing it by herself was starting to get old.

Old like me.

She pushed that thought away. She’d be 27 next year. It wasn’t like she was hitting retirement age next week or something.

“What was that sigh for?” Levi asked at her elbow. She spun in a circle, her hand over her heart.

“Good Lord, I didn’t hear you come up!” she said with a laugh. “How’s it going so far?” She ignored the sigh question. Talking to Levi about how she felt lonely at these kinds of gatherings was not going to happen. He’d read something into that that plain wasn’t there.

Nope, she wasn’t gonna touch that with a ten-foot pole.

“Pretty good turnout so far. The donkeys are getting restless out back, so we’ll probably have to round up the guys soon to start the basketball game.”

Georgia smiled, happy to have something to discuss with Levi that wasn’t charged with awkward emotions. They could do friends. They could totally do friends. As long as Levi left any discussion of dating out of it, they’d be just fine.

“So who’s running this year’s bet on the basketball game?”

“Mr. Leadbetter, although of course, I don’t know that, and neither do you.” Betting money, even on something as innocuous as donkey basketball, wasn’t technically permitted by Idaho state law.

It was a law everyone chose to overlook, even Sheriff Connelly, for at least one night a year.

“Who are you guys playing tonight?”

“A bunch of high school teachers and staff.”

Georgia snorted with laughter at the idea of Mrs. Westingsmith riding a donkey around the gym while trying to huck a basketball at the hoop. Or even more insane…her father on the back of a donkey.

This was a game she wouldn’t miss for the world.

“The odds are…definitely in our favor,” Levi said, reading her snort of laughter correctly. “In the non-existent betting pool, of course.”

“What betting pool?” Georgia asked innocently.

“Exactly.”

“Who’s running the betting pool this year?” Tennessee asked in Georgia’s ear. Georgia spun on her heel to glare at her cousin. What was up with people sneaking up on her tonight?! She opened her mouth to yell at her or answer her question or…or…something, when she saw Moose standing right behind Tenny.

Her mouth went dry. He looked damned delectable tonight, there was no doubt about it. He was wearing slacks instead of jeans for once, and as good as she thought Wranglers looked on him, somehow slacks looked even better. Which should be illegal, honestly. His dress shirt – no tie – wasn’t buttoned at the top, leaving a triangle of skin peeking out at her that she suddenly wanted to lick, just to see what it tasted like.

Her eyes jerked up to his, and she saw he was smiling slightly at her in greeting. He didn’t seem to realize that she’d been undressing him with her eyes, and for that, she was eternally thankful. In the distance, she heard Levi begin to answer Tennessee’s question and was vaguely grateful that they hadn’t noticed her obsession with Moose’s throat.

Shit, that made her sound like a damn vampire or something.

She tore her eyes away from the tempting spot – again – and up to his face. “Hi,” she croaked. She cleared her throat and moved to his side so they were both facing Levi and Tenny, who were busy joking about whose job it was gonna be to clean up the donkey shit at the end of the night. Tenny’s face looked positively radiant as she chatted with Levi, and the weight in Georgia’s stomach just grew heavier. Of course she looked radiant. Her date was the cutest guy in five counties. Georgia would be ecstatic too if she were on Moose’s arm tonight.

Which she wasn’t. She totally wasn’t, and she totally never would be, and she was totally fine with that.

Totally.

“Ready for the big game?” she asked Moose, trying to force her mind to focus on something other than what she totally couldn’t have. “Going to do some stretches beforehand?”

Moose let out a belly laugh. “All I have to do is stay on a damn donkey and try to throw an orange ball through a big metal hoop. I don’t think I need to do any stretches to warm up for this.”

“Good point. I was just thinking about not placing an illegal bet on the game, but before I chose which side to absolutely not bet on, I was wondering – is the basketball coach on the teacher’s team? Or is she skipping out tonight?” The high school basketball coach was five months pregnant, and didn’t always have the energy needed to keep up with the teens, let alone do anything extra. Georgia wouldn’t blame her for passing on the fundraiser.

“She’s at home; I guess she had some pretty bad morning sickness all day today. Does that change your nonexistent bet?”

“I am sad to say that it does.” She sent him a pitifully sad look and he let out a gust of laughter.

“Now hold on a good long minute, how long have you been friends with me? And even with all our years of friendship, you were willing to bet against me, and for your high school biology teacher?”

“Considering the high school biology teacher is my dad, yeah, probably. Although he didn’t tell me that he’d be playing tonight. I wonder if he weaseled out of it somehow.” Her dad wasn’t exactly the kind of person who rode donkeys or played basketball regularly, let alone played basketball while riding a donkey. She would’ve been surprised to see him there, although it was for a good cause, so maybe. Stranger things had happened in the history of the universe.

Maybe.

“We should probably go chat with Jaxson and see when the game is going to be starting. The natives are getting restless,” Levi interjected.

“Good idea. Ladies.” Moose nodded to Georgia and Tennessee and then turned to walk away with Levi, two fantastic asses on display as they went.

“He has an ass you could bounce a quarter off,” Tennessee said with a lusty sigh as they both openly ogled the display.

“Hold on, what? Moose?” Georgia asked, confused. She could’ve swore Tenny had been looking at Levi’s ass when she said that, and…well, that just didn’t make any sense.

“Oh yeah, Moose. Of course.” Tennessee’s cheeks were a little flushed, and she was staring at the far wall of the gym.

“Wha…wha…Please don’t tell me you like Levi,” Georgia finally stuttered out. Her mind could hardly grasp the idea. Georgia had dated Levi for three years; she knew that he was a good-looking guy, and a nice one, too.

In comparison to Moose, though…

Choosing Levi over Moose was just plain insane, and that wasn’t even taking into consideration the fact that Uncle Robert would have a heart attack if he knew.

“He’s…” Tenny trailed off as her gaze shifted upward, apparently completely fascinated by the banner hanging from the gym’s rafters that celebrated Sawyer’s volleyball state championship in 1984. “Levi’s just really different.”

“And, in case you haven’t noticed, he’s not Moose,” Georgia hissed. She was trying to point out the obvious without letting the panic overwhelm her, but she’d be the first to admit that she wasn’t doing a very good job of it.

Tennessee couldn’t like Levi. Tennessee was marrying Moose. It was the joining of the two reigning families in Long Valley – the owner of the local John Deere dealership, and the owner of the largest spread of farmland in three counties. Their children would be farming kings and queens.

It was settled. It had been their whole lives.

“Be honest with me for a minute,” Tenny whispered, finally tearing her eyes away from the volleyball banner hanging from the eaves. “Have you ever seen Moose look at me like he wants to tear my clothes off?”

Georgia just stared at her normally meek and mild-mannered cousin with her mouth hanging wide open.

“Think about it,” Tenny continued when Georgia didn’t say anything. Couldn’t say anything. “We’ve been practically engaged since we were born. Moose didn’t have any more say in this than I have. Do you know what it’s like to be forced into marriage by your parents?! It’s like we’re in the 15th century or something. Just because our dads are golfing buddies and BFFs for life doesn’t mean that I want to marry Moose! And really? Moose? It’s hard to feel attracted to someone named Moose.”

“His name isn’t Moose, it’s Deere,” Georgia protested automatically, even as her mind was spinning, her gaze unfocused as she tried to take it all in. Tennessee didn’t like Moose? Tennessee didn’t want to marry Moose?

How was this even possible? Georgia was just sure that next, her cousin was going to announce that she was actually an alien from Mars. It would sound practically normal compared to what she’d just said.

“I know what his name is!” Tennessee whisper-shouted.

Georgia’s head whipped back and her eyes finally focused on her cousin’s face – beautiful and perfect and way prettier than Georgia could ever be. Tennessee probably could’ve made it in the modeling world if she’d wanted to. She had the kind of look that would stop a man in his tracks – had stopped many men in their tracks. Georgia had seen it happen again and again over the years.

She used to mind – being the Plain Jane cousin was not exactly something people tended to be thrilled about – but she’d long ago moved past it. She would never be stunningly gorgeous like Tenny…but she also didn’t have to spend two hours every day curling her hair and eyelashes, and wrangling every other hair on her body into submission that could potentially be plucked, curled, shaved, or straightened. She didn’t have Uncle Robert as an overbearing father or Aunt Roberta as an overbearing mother.

She figured that all in all, she’d lucked out.

But tonight, she tried to look past the perfectly made-up face and hair and clothes, and into Tennessee’s soul. It wasn’t a view that Tenny allowed very often; she was agreeable and pretty and reasonably talented in music and cooking, and really, that was all that was required of her to become an excellent wife and mother to Moose’s children. She didn’t tend to present much else to the world, and it was a little weird for Georgia to try to see anything else.

“I hate the piano!” Tennessee burst out, a wild look in her beautiful aquamarine eyes. “Hate it! You know who loves music? Virginia! She has more musical talent in her little pinky than I do in my whole body, and she actually likes her damn cello! If I never saw another piano in my whole life, it’d be too soon.”

Georgia’s mouth opened and closed a few times, trying to suck in air and not really succeeding. Hated piano? Who was this woman and what had she done with her cousin? Tenny probably spent two hours a day on the piano. How could she do that if she hated it?

“Laaaddddiiiieeeesssss and gentlemeeennnnn!” The voice of Kurtis Workman, the local microphone jockey, boomed out over the speakers, and the gym instantly grew quieter. If it was a gathering, auction, game, or any other event where someone needed to work a microphone, Kurtis was the person to call. He actually enjoyed every moment that he had a microphone in his hand, as weird as that seemed to pretty much every other person in Long Valley. And, let’s face it, the world. “Tonight, we have the Sawyer Fire Department vs the Staff of the Sawyer High School facing off in this year’s round of donkey basketbaaaaall! Up first, we’ve got—”

Georgia clamped down on Tennessee’s arm and started dragging her towards the exit. They could laugh at overweight high school teachers trying to stay on the backs of stubborn donkeys some other time. Right now, Georgia and Tenny had some talking to do.