The next morning, Robert almost fell out of bed when Corky bayed like one of the Hounds of Baskerville. His heart beat in triple-time and he was instantly alert.

“Robbie? Hey! You up?”

Robert rubbed his eyes and tried to stick his glasses on. He poked his left eye with the arm of them. “Ow! Fuck! No, Kate. Still in bed. What time is it?”

“Down, Corky,” Kate said, coming in Robert’s room. “Why aren’t you answering your phone?”

Robert managed to get his glasses on without blinding himself and picked up his cellphone. He hit the screen, but it remained black. “Died. I forgot to plug it in last night. Well, this morning, actually.”

He grunted when Kate sat on his back. “This morning, huh? I thought your date got cut short.”

“It did.”

Kate bounced up and down, making Robert groan.

“Knock it off. I have to pee. Get off me.”

Kate laughed and let him up. “It’s nine-thirty, by the way.”

“Holy shit!” Robert trotted to the bathroom.

“You’ve slept late,” Kate said, following him. She stayed out in the hallway, but kept talking to him. “What happened?”

Robert and Kate had the kind of platonic best friendship that entitled them to have very little modesty with each other. They also had keys to each other’s houses and often entered without knocking.

“I couldn’t sleep and I wondered how Brooke was doing at the hospital with the accident victims. I took some donuts and coffee to the ER staff,” he said.

He took care of business and washed his hands. Coming out of the bathroom, he dropped a kiss on Kate’s forehead. “Good morning, Mommy.”

Kate laughed and followed him back to the bedroom. “That was really sweet of you to do that.”

Robert smiled as he pulled on his jeans from last night. He was going to do his outside work, so there was no sense putting on clean clothes. “That’s what Brooke said.” He jerked and almost caught himself in the zipper. “Oh, my God! I invited Brooke to dinner tonight.”

Kate’s dark eyes widened. “You did what? Why would you do that? You don’t cook.”

He gave her a withering look before putting on his T-shirt. “I know that. I told her that I make great Hamburger Helper and Spam Surprise.”

Kate let out a loud laugh. “You didn’t!”

Robert grinned. “I did. And I do make great Spam Surprise. I’m not going to serve that to her, though. I could get takeout from somewhere, but that’s sort of cheating.”

“And boxed meals aren’t?” Kate teased.

Robert made a face at her and then patted his thigh. “C’mon, Corky. Time to go out.”

Corky bounded down the hallway, scaring Hugo, who’d been coming to see Kate. The cat hissed and landed a flurry of hard blows on Corky’s head. It didn’t faze the big mutt since Hugo was declawed.

“Knock it off, you guys.” Robert nudged Hugo out of the way and headed for the mudroom. “Please put coffee on, Special K?”

Kate sighed. “Okay. I hate not being able to drink it.”

Robert said, “I know, but it’s worth it.”

“Yeah. I just miss it. I’ll live vicariously through you,” Kate replied.

Opening the mudroom door, Robert was greeted by a loud whinny from Precious, his mare, who stood at the pasture gate that faced the house.

“I know, I know! I’m late,” he said.

The pretty bay mare shook her head and trotted into her stall from the outside while Robert went inside. The barn smells always helped Robert wake up. The last vestiges of sleep left him as he measured sweet feed into Precious’ feedbox.

Robert had set up his small barn so that all the animals could go in and outside when they pleased. During the winter, he shut them inside at night, but over the summer, he left their outside stall and pen doors open.

Cletus, his big black mule brayed as he fed him. Robert scratched behind Cletus’ long ears and gave him a few pats before he fed Sam and Sally, his Nubian goats. Poor Sam only had three legs due to getting caught in some barbed wire.

The farmer who’d brought him into Kate’s clinic had been going to put Sam down, but Robert had intervened. Kate had amputated Sam’s useless leg and the goat had adjusted just fine. He was happy and healthy now and Sam and Sally were expecting a litter soon.

Going into their pen, Robert pet and talked to them as he gave them a little grain and hay. He ran a hand over Sally’s big belly and wondered if she was going to have twins. The image of two kids scampering around made him grin as he started mucking out the stalls.

Sketch scurried into the barn, grunting angrily. He was unhappy that Robert had left him inside. It wasn’t every pet skunk who had free rein of both inside and outside, but Sketch never roamed farther than the barn.

As he came out of Precious’ stall, Kate entered the barn, holding out a cup of coffee to him.

“Thanks.” He took it and took a careful sip.

Kate leaned against the stall door. “I’m glad that the smell of horse poop doesn’t bother me anymore. I was worried that it was going to last my whole pregnancy.”

Robert patted her slightly rounded belly, which was shown off by her running tights and tank top. “I know. I’m glad it settled down for you.”

He was glad when Kate changed topics. “So, what are you going to make Brooke?”

Robert wanted to kick himself. “Not something out of box, but what? I don’t even own a cookbook. I don’t suppose that you—”

“Oh, no,” Kate said. “I’m not cooking for you.”

Robert glowered at her. “Some best friend you are.”

A sly smile spread over her face. “But you know who will, don’t you?”

“No. Who?”

“Chase.” Kate pulled her cellphone out of her pocket. “Watch this.”

“What are you doing?” Robert asked.

Kate put her hand over the cellphone mic. “Saving your ass.” She took her hand away. “Hi, Chase. How are you? Good. Hey, do you have any simple recipes that Robert could make for dinner tonight? He wants to cook for Brooke, but you know that he’s not skilled in that area.”

Robert watched Kate try not to laugh and wondered what Chase was saying.

“Okay. I’ll let him know,” she said and hung up.

“Well?”

“He says that he’ll call you in a little while with something,” Kate said.

Robert ran a hand over his face in frustration. “I hope whatever he comes up with is easy to make or I’m screwed.”

“You won’t have to cook. Trust me. Chase can’t resist helping people,” Kate said. “He doesn’t think he’s a control freak like Ric and Tyler, but he is. He just cares about different stuff than they do.”

Robert scratched his head. “That’s kind of sneaky.”

Kate laughed. “But effective. Chase does it to people all the time.” She patted Robert’s chest. “Don’t worry. It’ll be fine.”

He tried to shove his worry away. “Okay, but if something goes wrong, I’m going to kick your ass.”

“Duly noted. Do you still want to go for a run?” she asked.

An athletic woman, Kate wasn’t going to let pregnancy get in the way of keeping fit. His stomach churned at the idea of Kate having a child. Would she expect him to babysit? His world began to spin out of control at that idea.

Robert shook his head. “Raincheck? I’ll probably have to run to the store for whatever I need to make dinner and I have some other errands, too.”

Kate poked his arm. “Okay, but your ass is mine tomorrow morning. Make sure your phone is charged. Plus, I want to hear all about your date tonight.”

Robert scooped up Sketch and laughed as they walked out to Kate’s truck. “You’re so nosy.”

“And you weren’t when I started dating Ric?” Kate challenged.

“Touché.” Robert opened her door. “I’m glad that he’s cool with us being best friends now.”

Kate got in the truck and shut the door. “You really pissed him off that first day,” she said through the open window. “He was furious.”

Robert couldn’t resist a smile. “It was fun messing with him.” Ric was Tyler’s partner in the investment firm, and when he’d first come sniffing around Kate, Robert wondered if the playboy millionaire was simply bored. He didn’t want to see his best friend Kate hurt again. She’d lost her fiancé a few years back and she didn’t need to fall for a guy who wasn’t going to hang around. But Ric proved he was the stay in Coopers Creek kind of guy, and showed he was head over heels in love with Kate.

“I could’ve killed you,” Kate said. “Seven tomorrow?”

“Yes, milady,” Robert confirmed.

“Bye, Robbie,” Kate said.

“See ya.”

He watched her pull out onto the main road and hoped that Chase would come through for him.

* * *

“I don’t believe it,” Robert said an hour later. “Kate was right.”

He’d just finished grooming Precious and exited the barn to see Chase’s new Lexus RX 400h SUV turning onto his lane. Waving, he walked towards the house as Chase stopped the fuel-efficient car and got out.

“Hey, Chase.”

Chase smiled and opened the hatch. “Hey, yourself.”

“What’s going on?” Robert asked.

“I’m here to save your bacon is what’s going on.”

Robert grinned. “Is that so?”

“Yep. C’mon and help me carry this stuff in,” Chase said.

Going over to the SUV, Robert looked at all the grocery bags in the back. There were also a few boxes with pictures of pots and pans on them.

“What the heck did you do?” Robert asked.

Chase hefted a few bags. “Well, it’s like Granddaddy always said; you can’t teach someone something without the right tools.”

Robert met Chase’s dark gaze. “What do you mean?”

Chase turned towards the house. A second later a very unmanly scream erupted from him and he dropped a couple of bags when he jumped back, banging into the car.

“Damn it, Robert! Don’t you ever put Sketch in a crate or something?”

The skunk grunted as he attempted to climb Chase’s jean-clad leg.

“Chase, I keep telling you that he’s not going to hurt you. He can’t spray you. He’s de-scented.”

“I can’t help it,” Chase said. “He freaks me out. Can you please get him off me?”

Robert picked Sketch up. “I’ll put him in the laundry room.”

“Thanks.” Chase picked up the bags he’d dropped and headed for the mudroom.

Keeping a tight hold on Sketch, Robert snagged a couple of bags and followed him. Chase put his bags on the table and turned to give Robert a hard look.

“What?” Robert asked, perplexed.

Chase pointed at Sketch. “Put that thing where it goes and get back here. We got work to do. You ain’t cleaned or anything.”

“Cleaned?”

Chase rolled his eyes. “How long has it been since you had a woman over for a romantic night?”

Robert shrugged. “I don’t know. Last year?”

If it hadn’t been so embarrassing, Chase’s shocked expression would’ve made Robert laugh. “You haven’t had sex since last year?”

Robert felt like his face was sunburned. “No! I’ve had sex this year, but not here. We went to her place.”

How had he forgotten that no subject was taboo as far as Chase was concerned.

“Oh. Alrighty then. Go put him away and then get back here. Where’s your cellphone stereo dock?”

Robert walked down the hallway. “It broke last month, and I keep forgetting to buy one,” he yelled back to Chase.

“Good Lord! Okay, okay. I gotcha covered. No worries.”

Robert took Sketch to the laundry room, where the skunk’s litter box and food was located. “I think I’d rather stay in here with you, buddy.”

He sat Sketch down, took a calming breath, and went back to the kitchen. Chase was just coming in the door with two boxes and a backpack, Chase’s idea of a briefcase.

“Chase, what is all this?” Robert asked. “I thought you were just going to give me a recipe.”

Chase looked around the kitchen. “From what I understand, just giving you a recipe wouldn’t do much good. Get out the cleaning stuff, and I’m gonna put on some tunes.”

“I thought we were going to cook.”

Chase arched an eyebrow and put his hands on his hips. “Son, we ain’t even close to cooking. I don’t cook in a dirty kitchen. Let’s get to it.”

Irked, Robert said, “The kitchen is clean.”

“You have cats. Do they get up on the counter?”

Robert smiled. “It’s hard to keep cats off the counter. I can’t watch them twenty-four-seven.”

Chase nodded. “Which is why we’re gonna clean the counters and stove before we start, okay?”

Robert saw his point. “Okay.”

He opened the door under the sink, and got out his cleaning supply caddy. Chase whistled and hummed while he set up a portable Bose sound system on the table and plugged it in. In a few moments, Keith Urban’s Even the Stars Fall 4 U started pumping through the speakers.

Chase, at home anywhere he went, opened a door in the kitchen and said, “Bingo!” He grabbed the broom out of the closet and used it as a guitar as he started singing along. Robert’s irritation was forgotten as he watched Chase perform.

Halfway through the song, Chase tossed the broom to Robert. “Sing it, bubba!”

Robert caught it and laughed. “No, no. I suck at singing.”

“Lip sync!”

“No!”

Chase grinned. “At least shake your money maker.”

Robert shook his head and leaned the broom against the counter. “I have zero musical ability. Like zilch.”

Chase had been still grooving, but he froze. “You don’t dance? Like at all? Slow dance?”

Robert shrugged, feeling more self-conscious with every passing moment. “Yeah, I slow dance.”

Chase said, “Good. Most women love to slow dance, and I suspect that Brooke is no exception.”

“I know.”

Robert was relieved when Chase got down to business and soon they had kitchen spic-and-span. He was surprised when Chase insisted on helping him with the rest of the place.

“Women expect a higher level of clean. Nothing kills the mood than if she sees that you’re a scurf-ball. Trust me,” Chase informed him.

Robert got the vacuum cleaner out of the hall closet. “I know that. I’ve just been busy with work and my volunteer stuff and haven’t had the time to clean much.”

“Oh. That’s understandable.” Chase pulled his shoulder blade-length brown hair into a low ponytail and started dusting the living room. The two men worked well together and it didn’t take long to get the place shipshape.

Robert put away the vacuum and other cleaning supplies. “Okay, time for a beer break.”

“I’m down with that,” Chase said sitting down at the kitchen table.

Robert grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge and joined him. “And before you ask, I have a nice tablecloth and candles. I do know how to be romantic. I just don’t cook.”

Chase grinned. “Glad to hear it. I’ll leave the Bose system so you can put on some nice music for dinner and then dance.”

“Thanks.” Robert fiddled with the label on his bottle. “I know that Brooke is a good dancer.” He hesitated to say more than that.

Chase took a swig of beer. “She’s a great dancer.”

“Yeah. My dancing skills don’t come close to matching hers.” Robert hated to say it, but it was true.

Chase gave him a speculative look. “You said you slow dance.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, there’s slow dancing and then there’s slow dancing, if you get my drift.”

Robert smiled. “I get it.”

Chase stopped the current song on the sound system and changed it. Standing up, he held out a hand to Robert. “May I have this dance, Mr. Chambers?”

“You want to dance with me?” Robert’s face heated.

“I can’t show you a few things unless we dance. C’mon. I promise not to seduce you.”

Chase’s coaxing grin and challenging gaze made Robert agree to his request. Feeling ten kinds of awkward, Robert got up and stood in front of Chase.

“For this exercise, you’re gonna be the woman first, okay?”

“Sure.” Robert rolled his eyes when Boys to Men came on. “I’ll Make Love to You? Really, Chase?”

Grinning, Chase slid an arm around Robert’s waist. “Gotta set the mood. C’mon.”

Robert almost backed out, but he wanted to wow Brooke with some sexy dance moves, so he went along with it. He took Chase’s left hand and put his on Chase’s shoulder. They were practically the same height so they were eye-to-eye.

“Okay, now you gotta stay loose in your hips. Don’t just sway back and forth like you’re a seventh grader at a school dance with a stick stuck up his ass. Dancing can be a prelude to sex. It gives her a preview of what she can expect in the sack,” Chase said.

Robert had never thought of it like that, but it made sense. “Okay. Relax my hips.”

Chase started moving and Robert tried to mimic his movements. He didn’t have Chase’s natural rhythm, so he had to concentrate a little.

“Now, you’re going to start out like this, but after a few bars of the song, keep ahold of her hand and bring it in to rest on your chest. Maybe kiss it.”

Robert blinked a couple of times when Chase brushed a kiss across his knuckles.

“Just remember everything I do,” Chase said.

His hand slid down Robert’s back to rest just above his ass and Robert gasped when Chase pulled him flush against his body.

“You can talk while you dance,” Chase said. “But don’t feel like you have to. Let your eyes and body do the talking for you.”

As they swayed together, Robert relaxed and actually started enjoying himself. Chase lifted their linked hands and spun Robert, who instinctively returned to Chase’s arms. Near the end of the song, Chase showed Robert how to dip and they laughed over it.

“Okay. Time for you to seduce me,” Chase said.

Grinning, Robert said, “I’ll do my best.”

Chase sobered. “I mean it. If you blow her mind the first time you dance, she won’t be able to get you out of her mind. First impressions really do count.”

Anxiety gnawed at Robert, but then he grew determined. “Okay. Prepare to have you mind blown.”

By the time the song ended, Chase was grinning.

“Damn, you learn quick,” he said, thumping Robert’s shoulder. “Do it just like that and she’ll be eating out of your palm.” He took Robert’s face in his hands, his expression fierce. “If you ever tell anyone that we did this, I’ll kick your ass to Kingdom Come and back. Got it?”

“As far as I’m concerned, this never happened,” Robert said.

“Good. Ready to cook?”

Robert replied, “Absolutely. Let’s do this.”