I was in the kitchen making a late lunch—or an early dinner—and I couldn’t concentrate. I could barely get my limbs to do as I wanted to make something satisfactory. My body ached from doing all of the chores around the ranch by myself with the assistance of the few farmhands that were still left.

Also, more than once, I found myself almost making portion too large for just one person when I knew I would be eating alone.

I wondered where the hell Hope was, and what she was doing. It’d been almost a week since she left and I missed her. As much as I wanted her here with me, I wasn’t going to stop her from going with her brother if that’s what she wanted to do. It wasn’t my place, and I’d be selfish if I tried to stop her.

A week, and not even a bit of communication from Hope. I would finally let myself admit it, but I was starting to grow worried. Like, what if something happened to her? And then I thought about what if she decided on her own not to come back.

Then that’s fucking fine, I thought to myself, suddenly angry. I don’t need her.

And I didn’t need to be struggling on my own, either. She decided to go off with her brother, and if she wasn’t going to come back, then she could just fucking stay where she wanted. But I wasn’t going to be the idiot that was going to wait for her all heartbroken. I had a life, too.

So I decided to get out of the house for a while.

It was probably wrong of me, skipping work as I was, but I hardly cared because I talked to the few employees that were still left before I made my way to the car and drove into town. I headed for the bar where I met Hope that night. Getting drunk alone didn’t sound appealing, but I was confident enough in myself to know I wouldn’t be left alone for long. Sure enough, when I sat at a table and ordered a drink, it didn’t take long for someone to join me.

“Hey there, honey,” a sultry voice murmured in my ear. “Don’t, you look a little lonely?”

I let a smile curve my lips, and I looked over my shoulder. I glanced at her; she had a beautiful face with dark eyes and not too much makeup, equally dark hair that fell around her face, and a curvy body that would feel soft against mine.”

“You know what?” I said slowly, sliding a chair out toward her with my foot. “I think you’re right. Why don’t you join me?”

The smile she aimed at me was coy. “Don’t mind if I do,” she purred. “Would you buy me a drink, or should I get it myself?”

“Please, allow me,” I sent her a wink and raised a hand for a waiter to come to our table. I ordered drinks for the both of us, then turned back to her once we were alone. “Now, where were we?”

“I think you were going to introduce yourself,” she said with a tap of her fingers on her chin. “And I would do the same, but only after you.”

“I’m Curt,” I grinned at her, holding out my hand for a shake.

She gave a slow smile as her hand slid inside mine, small and soft, and I felt my body react to her.

“Well, Curt, I’m May.” Our drinks were brought and placed on the table in front of us. She lifted her bottle and arched an eyebrow at me. “Here’s to you and me becoming very good friends for the night.”

I picked my bottle and clinked it against hers. For the night, huh? I decided it was exactly what I needed.

“So, Curt,” she said after a sip of her drink. “Can I ask if you’re from around here? I don’t recognize you as one of the regulars.”

“Do you come often?”

She shrugged delicately. “You could say that. I moved to town not that long ago, and I’ve been coming here almost since then. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen you.”

“That’s probably because I’ve been out of town for a while, but I live around here.” Then I grinned. “Would you like to come back to my place with me so I can prove it? It’s a big ranch not even twenty minutes from here.”

“Well, I am a little interested,” she said slowly, licking the mouth of her bottle, then her bottom lip, my eyes following the movement. “But isn’t that just a little too fast?”

I growled. “I happen to like fast, May. Do you like fast?”

Her eyes lit up in a mixture of desire and amusement. “Of course I do. I like fast and hard, Curt. You should know that before inviting me home, shouldn’t you? I might just be too much for you.”

“Not fucking likely,” I scoffed. “Come here.”

I held my hand out to her, and she looked at it curiously but took it. I tugged, so she got up, then pulled her lightly around the table until she came to stand beside me. Then I wrapped an arm around her waist and tugged again, so she fell into my lap. She yelped in surprise, but then laughed, one of her arms surrounding my neck while the other kept hold of her bottle.

“I think you and I are going to get along just fine, Curt,” she purred, then traced my ear with her tongue and took the lobe into her mouth for a light suck. “Why don’t we finish our drinks, then get out of here?”

My chest rumbled in approval as my arm around her waist held her close to me. It had been a while since I’d had a woman come to me and vice versa, but it was as natural to me as breathing.

Guilt clouded my mind, but I tried to push it away. I was a married man—Hope’s husband—but probably not for much longer. She didn’t want me. If she did, she wouldn’t have left, or she could’ve at least called since she’d been gone.

We finished our drinks while chatting lightly. May would roll her hips now and then, and I’d feel an answering twitch from my cock. She was smiling the entire time, and I was pretty sure she was playing me. But then, she was the kind of woman I liked. She was the kind of woman that wouldn’t mind if we used each other as long as we both got to have fun, no strings attached.

My kind of woman.

After the third drink, I couldn’t take much more. She rolled her ass against my hips, and I stilled her as I put down my empty bottle.

“I think it’s about time we left,” I growled at her neck.

She chuckled with another squirm of her hips, the sound dark and sexy. “Anything you say, Curt,” she whispered with her lips against my ears.

I gave a low curse as I grabbed her by the hips and lifted her off my lap. When I stood up, I left some bills on the table under one of the bottles and wrapped an arm around her waist as I led her outside. She wrapped her arm around me as I walked her to my car when I suddenly froze on the sidewalk.

Of all the people to meet out on the street, at that particular time, she was the last. After being gone for a week, why would Hope show up walking around the bar, of all places? I hadn't meant to look up on the way to the car, but I did, and I saw her. She saw me, too, and froze. It was dark, but with the street lights, I saw her eyes drop to the woman by my side.

“Curt? Is something wrong?” May asked beside me.

I barely reacted, my body frozen as my eyes lingered on Hope. She only stood there for a moment, before turning around and running off.

My body seized almost immediately, wanting to chase after her. But my stubborn pride would never allow that, and my feet didn’t move, even though I knew I should.

After a week, why the fuck did she have to come back right now?

“Curt?”

The sound of the woman beside me made me jump. Then I tightened my lips as I slid away from her.

“I can’t take you home tonight after all,” I muttered, and I could barely meet her eyes. I reached for my wallet and pulled out some cash, then left it in her hand. “Go on and have some more drinks, on me. I’ll see you around, May.”

I walked away from her before she could say a word, and I got into the car and drove home. Thoughts of Hope filled my mind the whole way. When I arrived at the ranch, there were no other cars nearby.

Instead of going to look for her, I went straight to my room because it was useless. She obviously hadn’t come home.

The second I was inside my room, I was undoing my fly and pulling my cock out of my jeans and boxers. I fisted my erection and started a fast and hard stroke. I’d gotten hard off my play with May, but Hope was the one on my mind as I jerked myself off. Imagining her underneath me, writhing with pleasure as I took her was enough to take me over the edge, and I held my other hand up to hold my spill as I came, a strained call of Hope’s name leaving my throat.

I leaned back against my door, feeling breathless, and groaned. “Dammit, Hope.”

It was foolish of me to flirt with May or anyone else for that matter. Because I could admit to myself, the entire time I was with that woman, my thoughts were on Hope—where she was, how she was doing, if she would be coming back.

“I’m fucking crazy in love with Hope,” I said out loud to myself, the words laced with sadness.

I don’t know what she ever did to have this kind of effect on me, but that woman was all I thought about and all I wanted.