Shay had waited as long as she could to come to the barn, but now that she was standing in front of the wooden door, waiting for Josh to open it, her heart pounded harder than ever. Would he be angry at her for interrupting? Would he invite her in with a smile? Would he…

The door opened part way.

“Hey,” Josh said with a smile, his eyes lasered in on her face.

Okay, Shay thought. So far, so good. He doesn’t seem mad.

Whenever she interrupted Will, he would scowl at her, making her wish she hadn’t bothered. In fact, she avoided interrupting him for just that reason.

“Hi,” she said, making her voice bright and friendly. Wanting to get a glimpse of the inside of the barn, she tried to peer around him, but he stood right in the way, completely blocking her view. Plus his gaze never wavered from her face.

“Did you need something?” he asked.

“I, uh, I was wondering if you have Internet access in there. I need to, uh, get in touch with my mother. Let her know I’m okay.” In reality, she was fairly certain her mother hadn’t realized she was missing, and she certainly didn’t want to get any more messages from Will. But she hadn’t been able to come up with any other reason to request entrance into Josh’s barn.

* * *

Josh considered her request. It wasn’t unreasonable. Not at all. But knowing what he knew—that some guy named Will was searching for her—he had to consider that this had nothing to do with her mother and everything to do with Will. When he’d read her texts, there hadn’t been any replies. Maybe she’d needed time to think things over. Maybe she was going to tell him where to find her.

That would be a huge mistake. He couldn’t let her do it.

But what if she really did want to contact her mother? He couldn’t stand in the way of that.

“Sure,” he said. “Okay.”

Her face lit up with obvious relief. “Can I come in?”

He hadn’t thought that one through.

“It’s kind of a mess in there,” he said, thinking quickly. “Let’s sit on the porch and I’ll give you my wifi password.”

The relief on her face faded away. What was up with that?

* * *

Darn! So close.

Shay had no choice but to agree, but his reluctance to let her come in gave weight to her suspicions.

He stepped out of the door, closing it behind him, not giving her a chance to take a peek, then led the way to the porch.

“How’s the planting coming along?” he asked as they sat side by side on the porch swing.

“Okay. There’s lots more to do though.” It had been more fun when he’d been helping. “Maybe when you’re done working you can join me.”

One side of his mouth lifted in a smile. “I can help you after you talk to your mother.”

“You’re done working?” That hadn’t taken him long. It had been less than an hour since he’d gone to his office.

“I have more to do, but I’d rather play in the dirt.”

That was fine with her.

“Are you ready for that password?”

There was no point getting onto his wifi any longer, but she had to see this through. “Yeah.” She typed the information into her cell phone, and moments later her phone was connected to his wifi.

Had Will sent more texts? It had been twenty-four hours since he’d sent the last one she’d read, the one where he said he would find her. Almost holding her breath, she listened for her phone to chime a notification, but it was silent.

Pretending like everything was fine, she pulled up the phone app and called her mother.

“Do you want privacy?” Josh asked.

She shook her head. If her mother even answered, the call would be brief. Plus, she liked having Josh sitting beside her.

The phone rang on her mother’s end, but she didn’t answer. Instead it went to voice mail. After the beep, Shay said, “Hey, Mom. It’s me. I don’t know if you’ve tried to get in touch with me, but I wanted to let you know I’m okay. I’m staying with a friend.” She glanced at Josh and saw him smile. “I don’t have cell service here, but if you leave a message, I’ll hear it eventually. Love you. Bye.”

She disconnected the call and stole a glance at the screen. There were no new text messages from Will. That almost scared her more than if he’d reached out to her again, because it meant he was too angry to bother trying to persuade her to talk to him.

She powered down her phone and tucked it in her pocket.

* * *

From what Josh could tell, Shay hadn’t received any new texts. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? And should he admit that he knew her secret?

Searching her face, he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. She’d turned her phone off and put it away, and she’d had no qualms about him listening to her call. All good signs. Still, she seemed downcast. Was it because she hadn’t been able to talk to her mother? Or was she worried about Will finding her?

Maybe he could get her to admit that Will was looking for her. He preferred that over having to confess that he’d read her texts.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said without hesitation. “Everything’s fine.”

“Are you sure?”

Her eyebrows bunched. “Yeah. Why?”

“You just seem…I don’t know, like something’s bothering you.”

Her smile grew, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Everything’s fine. I promise.”

Not much else he could do to get her to admit the truth. “Okay.” He gazed at her steadily. “You know you can tell me stuff, right?” Was that going too far? Would that make her suspicious?

She didn’t look away. “All right.” She paused a beat. “That goes both ways, you know. You can tell me stuff.”

Like what? That he was actually an NFL quarterback that everyone in the sports world knew about? That wasn’t going to happen. The more time he spent with her, the more of a connection he felt with her. A real connection, between a man and a woman, not between a football star and a groupie. He liked that feeling. A lot. Too much to divulge his secret.

“Okay,” he said. “Good to know.”

She stood. “Time to get back to work.”

He stood as well. “You’re kind of a slave driver.” Not that he wasn’t used to hard physical labor. That’s what he did day in and day out during football season and while training. But working in the garden was a different kind of work. Work that he liked. Although if he didn’t have Shay with him, leading the way, he knew his interest would plummet.

* * *

Shay walked with Josh to the garden, pleased beyond measure that he was coming with her. Working side by side with him was much more fun than doing it on her own.

“What’s next, boss?” he asked as they stopped on the porch and looked over the flats of orange, yellow, and red marigolds waiting to be planted.

“The vegetables are all planted, so now we need to plant the marigolds around the edge of the porch.” She’d been looking forward to this part. The vegetable garden was fun, but the riot of color from the flowers were what really pleased her eye.

“First though,” she said, “we need to add compost to the soil.”

Josh groaned, making Shay laugh.

“Not more compost,” he said.

Grinning, she said, “Afraid so.”

“Maybe I should go back to work.”

The mention of him working reminded her of the way he’d deflected her attempt to get into the barn and she decided it was time to deal with her concerns.

She turned and faced Josh. “What do you really have in that barn?”

His eyes widened like she’d caught him at something. Startled by his reaction—she must be on the right track—her heart skipped a beat.

“I told you before,” he said, his eyes back to normal. “My office is in there.”

Ready to push for more, she said, “Either you have a really big office, or there’s more than that in there.” Then she remembered how he’d come back from the barn freshly showered two days earlier. “Do you have a shower in there?”

He hesitated, which made her suspicions grow.

“Yeah,” he finally said. “I do. Sometimes I go to the office straight from a run so it’s easier to shower in there.”

That made sense.

Should she press him for more? She still believed he was hiding something from her, but she couldn’t figure out why or what it was.

* * *

Why was she interrogating him? She obviously suspected something, but he wasn’t about to tell her the truth. Let her wonder. She was keeping something important from him, so he only felt a little guilty about not telling her his true identity.

Ready to end the inquiry, he said, “Let’s get started.”

She stared at him a moment longer, then she nodded. “Okay.”

They spent the next hour working compost into the flowerbed, and then they planted the flats of marigolds. When they were done, they stood back and admired their work.

“I have to admit,” he said, “the flowers really improve the yard.”

She smiled. “Yes they do.”

He turned and looked at the vegetable garden. “I’ve never had vegetables fresh from my own garden before.” He shifted to look at her and saw the happiness in her face.

* * *

“You’ll love it,” she said. “Nothing is better than tomatoes fresh from the vine.”

But would she be around to eat them too?