Muscles I didn’t know existed ached. I longed for a hot bath, a gallon of water followed by a glass of wine, and an ice pack to soothe the heat on my neck from a day of hard work. But it was done.

I had a dozen if not more people to thank profusely for their help today. Near the end of the night, Peter and Gloria Whitman had even stopped by. Gloria said she’d heard all the ruckus on the ranch and seen the tractors moving in the hayfields. Knowing what we were doing, she and Peter came over and brought so many pies all of us could practically have our own. We were still stuffed from the four, six-foot-long subs Christa had delivered, eating those throughout the day but at the mention of one of Gloria Whitman’s prize-winning fruit pies, everyone acted like we hadn’t eaten in a week.

After those were desecrated, Peter had gone to hang with the men still moving bales to the barns and putting the equipment away.

Gloria had grabbed a beer and settled down with Brooke, her boys, Kelly, and I on the back patio and kicked up her feet where we talked about the day, the fact we made around five hundred bales, enough to get me through the next year assuming everything went well, and hundreds more square bales I used to feed the goats.

Kelly and Ryan left shortly after. He was on the night shift at the police department and had to get home to change. I’d felt horrible when he reminded me of that. The guy had spent twelve hours tossing hay bales around and he still had twelve hours to work.

My good friends weren’t just good, they were incredible.

“What a day.” My arm was so sore it trembled as I brought my glass of water to my lips. “Every year I forget how long this takes.”

It was almost nine o’clock, but no one had been in a hurry to head home. Next to Brooke, her Nathan was curled into a lounge chair, eyes closed and sleeping. The kid had worked hard all day long. Oliver, their six-year-old, had been active too, but mostly he played with the goats and occasionally sat on the hay in the flatbed while his dad worked. Still, he hadn’t been a nuisance.

I made a mental note to have him back to the ranch more often. I’d forgotten how much he loved the goats and chickens. On the years my mom had grown a vegetable garden, Nathan had always enjoyed tending it with her. I didn’t have time for a garden, although I’d always wanted a large one. I imagined it being self-sustaining and enough where I could occasionally get a tent at the farmer’s market to sell what I didn’t need. I’d buy canning equipment and have my cellar lined with walls of canned vegetables and tomato sauces to last me all winter.

Currently it was a pipe dream, considering I didn’t have much time for anything more than I was doing.

Brooke pulled a piece of stray hay out of her messed ponytail and flung it toward the ground. “I’ll be picking hay out of strange crevices for days.”

“Gross.” My shoulders shook. My friends were so weird.

“Woman!” Andrew called, stomping up the steps. “Let’s get these boys to bed. I gotta hit the hay.”

I snickered and then groaned. “That was the lamest dad joke ever.”

“Never know what’s going to work unless you throw it out there.”

“Better not get too crazy,” Brooke said, moaning as she lifted her tired body out of her chair. “Or you might be the one getting thrown back.”

“Your threats are worthless.” He kissed his wife and came to me, bending down and planting a kiss on my cheek. “You host a hell of a workday as always, Rebecca. Remind us not to curse you too much when none of us can move tomorrow.”

“You young un’s,” Gloria piped up. “Don’t know hard work. Hell, the tractors do most of the job.” She glared and pointed at Andrew. “And tomorrow’s the Lord’s Day. Your behinds better be in church like they always are.”

“Come on, ma’am,” Andrew replied, cheeky grin on his face. “Even Jesus took a day of rest.”

“Well I’ll be.” She grinned back. “Didn’t know thanking the Lord for all your blessings was exhausting work.”

“Ugh. You got me.” He grinned at her and then lifted Oliver into his arms from his resting spot in another lounge chair. “When you put it that way, we’ll be there.”

Brooke flashed me wide eyes that said over her dead body would she be in church in the morning. I bit back a laugh at her expression.

Gloria got out of her chair as well and looked at me. “Will we see you?”

Not likely. “I’ll think about it.”

She came to me, her soft, old lips pressed against my temple. “Think harder, sweetheart. Know you’re mad at the lot you’ve been given, but guarantee that God wants to turn your ash field into somethin’ precious if you trust Him to.”

I wasn’t ready for that. Although my field, as she called it, didn’t feel nearly as ashy lately. “Point made, ma’am.”

Her wrinkled hand settled on my shoulder and squeezed. “I’ll keep prayin’ for ya’. He’ll work on you, I know it.”

The woman was relentless. “Thanks for the desserts. They were all delicious.”

I walked them all toward the edge of the patio where Peter was headed our way with Jordan and Cooper.

It took all I had not to stare at him, watch the way his strong, muscled body carried him all the way toward me. Earlier, when he’d kissed me with Ryan around, I hadn’t felt the smallest twinge of embarrassment. This morning, when I kissed him, I hadn’t hesitated.

Being around Cooper was easy. He still got me in ways no one else did, but it wasn’t just that, everything he did impressed me.

Today hadn’t been any different. He’d worked his butt off all day long, right alongside everyone else who’d been doing this for over a decade, and he’d behaved like he was born for ranch life.

He always did. Everything I taught him he took to like a natural, and he never stopped asking questions, wanting to learn more.

He wasn’t just sexy. He didn’t just kiss like God had gifted him the ability of perfect form. Every single thing about him drew me to him in ways I wanted to stop fighting.

“Thanks for everything today,” I said to everyone as they dished out goodbye hugs and handshakes. I held Jordan tighter than normal. “You’re a pain in my ass and I’m still pissed.”

“Get over it,” he muttered, squeezing me back just as harshly. “I like Tillie and she’s old. Plus, I think she’s getting sick but she’s too stubborn to tell anyone. I’m just keeping her safe.”

Ryan and Kelly lived across the street from her. They always kept their eye out. This had more to do with Tillie’s granddaughter who had put Jordan’s heart through a wood chipper way back before he hit the big leagues. I still hated her for it.

Tillie was sweet, though. “Fine. I love you.”

“Love you, too.” He kissed my cheek and stepped back. “I’m headed to the resort. Need to check on how things are with a wedding reception out there tonight, but you call me if you need me, okay?”

“Will do.” Asking for help was getting easier. Not that I needed to with Cooper here. “Drive safe.”

“Okay, Mom.”

I stuck my tongue out at him.

As everyone headed to their cars, Cooper slid next to me and settled his hand on my hip. We both reeked like sweat and hay but it didn’t stop me from resting my head on his shoulder. It was just so damn easy to lean on him.

“Long day,” he said. Lights on the cars flashed on, one after the other, as they started up. “Good day, though. Can’t tell you how much fun I had.”

Baling hay was not fun. It was long and exhausting, but the company and the camaraderie made it enjoyable. “No kidding. Pie was scrumptious, too.”

He smacked his flat stomach. “Damn, that woman can bake.”

“Gloria wins blue ribbon awards every summer in the county and state fair for her fruit pies.”

“No shit?” He shifted and looked down at me, that now familiar look of awe and excitement in his eyes whenever I told him some small, typically boring fact about small-town life. “They give out awards for that?”

“They give out awards for everything. Pickles and other canned foods, handwork projects, cake decorating, artwork from kids to adults…”

“You had me at cake decorating. I gotta see this.”

I took a few animals, two of my female goats and sometimes one of my bulls to judging every year. I hadn’t planned on it this summer, but there was still time to submit a few entries. The fair hit Kansas every September.

“It’s after Labor Day,” I said, my mood dropping to the gravel at my feet.

“Hmm.” He kissed the top of my head and then rested his forehead in the same spot. “Maybe I can stay longer for it.”

Pleasant trails of happiness slid through me like glitter bombs had cracked open all over me. They dissipated just as quickly. It didn’t matter, he’d still leave afterward.

“We’ll see,” I said.

His hand at my hip squeezed. “We’ll see. What do we do now? Need any more help cleaning up?”

“The girls and I got it all. I need a bath and fresh glass of wine.”

His eyes lit at the mention of the bath. Even with the darkening sky turning shades of purples and oranges as the sun set behind the trees, his eyes were still a glorious color. “Bath and wine sound good to me.”

His voice carried the tone of intent and there was no missing it.

We’d kissed. We’d kissed a lot. He touched me a lot. I also liked it a lot when he touched me in the kitchen. And I wanted more of it, but I wasn’t the one to make that move.

“Just a bath, Rebecca. That’s all it has to be.”

I’d heard that before when he said he wanted to touch me. I’d thrilled at every touch he gave me that night and in the weeks since.

The reminder he was leaving, and now there was a possible end date flared into my brain, but I doused it with water.

This was what I’d proposed weeks ago and my proposal was still on the table as far as I was concerned. It was about time he picked it up.

“Bath and wine it is, then.”

His two, thick brows arched. “Yeah?”

I grabbed his hand and stepped backward up the steps, pulling him with me. “Oh, yeah.”

---

He held my hand through the house, letting me guide the way but making it clear he wasn’t letting go until I asked.

Hesitancy and nerves tumbled in my stomach, along with something warmer. It felt like desire and anticipation, two things I hadn’t experienced in so long, I thought I never would again. It made it difficult to know which sensation to choose.

There were too many battling for first place in my head, and in order to silence them, I started rambling.

“My parents renovated the upstairs when Jordan and I were at college. We used to have four bedrooms up here and only one bathroom, typical of older farmhouses. But they knocked out a bedroom in between their room and the bathroom, made the hall bath larger, and created one of their own.”

He smiled, and it was obvious he was humoring me. “Sounds lovely.”

It really was incredible. My parents hired a contractor from Kansas City to make sure it was done right, topnotch, and stepping inside had always made me feel like I’d reached a spa. There was a double-sized walk-in shower with jets that came at you from every which direction, a bonus when muscles were sore. Plus, my mom had been a bubble bath lover so the oversized tub had been situated directly beneath the window facing west. She could bathe and watch the sun set, and keep an eye on the cattle all at the same time.

When I came home from college on weekends, she had to pry me out of there. More than once Joseph had to do the same. Or join me.

Like Cooper was going to do now.

I was going to be naked with him.

His body against mine.

Holy crap. His soon-to-be ex was a supermodel. How could I compare?

He must have caught my thought because his hand gave mine a firm squeeze. “You still doing okay?”

I cleared my throat. Was I? No. Not in the physical sense. The woman he’d been married to for years was a supermodel for Christ’s sake. But beneath that ridiculous fear—Cooper had always shown he appreciated my body—was something different.

A warmth. An excitement pulsing at my center and spreading outward.

I was okay. Yeah. This was good. For once, feeling okay didn’t feel bad.

An odd combination I wasn’t used to.

“I’m good.” I attempted a reassuring smiling, turning to glance at him over my shoulder, but it must have failed.

His brows knitted together and he stopped just outside the threshold to my bedroom. He pulled his hand from mine and cupped my cheek, his smile soft, eyes darting back and forth between mine.

“What is it?” I asked when he didn’t say anything.

“I’ll let you run the water and get ready.”

“I thought—”

“I do want. Trust me. I also think you need a minute to make sure it’s what you want. Go start the tub, climb in, relax. I’ll go get the wine you wanted and make sure the house is locked up.”

He was giving me an out I could take in a millisecond. He’d never been more attractive to me.

“But—”

“You want me to come back and join you, leave the doors open. You want to be alone, close them, and I swear to you, I won’t be pissed or disappointed. Okay?”

It had to be impossible for a man to be so perfect. He could read me like a well-loved book. A ripple of something I hadn’t felt in a long time fell down my spine, warming me in all the right places.

“No?”

His lips twitched. “I take that back. I’ll be disappointed, but it won’t change a thing.”

I laughed quietly. He always knew the right thing to say. My lip worked its way between my teeth, my nervous habit he probably read just as easily as he read my mind. “Thank you.”

“Making sure this is right for you isn’t a hardship.”

He kissed my forehead and stepped back. I walked backward into the bedroom, toward the bathroom. He watched me go, hands shoved into his jean pockets. Every step I took away from him was the wrong direction.

The very fact he offered to walk away if I wanted him to made me realize I didn’t want the option.

I stepped into the bathroom and gripped the door. “The doors will be open, Cooper.”