His hazel eyes were warm and far too sexy for her to stare into for long. Whenever she did, she felt that familiar stirring deep inside. Despite the anger she still harbored, her body still ached for his. Stevie had never been able to deny her attraction to him. She remembered the first time she talked to him, back before their first milkshake date. Every cell in her body had come to life, and she’d floated on a cloud for days afterward. It was like the guy had a magic touch, and he knew exactly where to aim it without having to make physical contact.
“Damn, it’s good to see you,” Stone whispered.
Stevie swallowed hard and found herself nodding. She didn’t want to agree with him, but it was good to see him. Really good.Toogood.
Time to go.“I should go pay for my stuff,” she told him, forcing her eyes toward the front of the building.
“I hope to see you around.”
“Yeah. Maybe.” Stevie walked away, wondering whether he’d forgotten he had invited her and Nico over for dinner. She had no intention of going, but it would really chap her ass if he’d already forgotten.
Then again, maybe it was for the best.
***
This was a setup. Had to be.
After picking up the stuff his mother ordered from the nursery, Stone had driven around for a while. At first, he hadn’t had a destination in mind, simply driving the backroads of the country town he’d grown up in. At some point, he started looking for land that was for sale, finding only a couple of tracts. Neither were large enough for what he needed, but he’d kept going.
About two hours in, he found himself on the highway heading to Embers Ridge. He wasn’t sure what prompted him to think about Dead Heat Ranch, but as soon as he did, he wanted to take a look at the place, see if it was still up and running.
It was, so he’d stopped in to talk to Jerry Lambert. He figured the guy was old enough now he might be willing to sell. It had taken about three minutes to learn that Jerry no longer ran the ranch. His five daughters did. Stone didn’t even need to ask to know that selling wasn’t an option. Jerry had gotten a phone call and told Stone to look around. He’d wandered for a few minutes, and the next thing he knew, he was back in his truck, heading home.
The brief detour had given him absolutely no clarity on his life. The only thing he realized was that, at least right this minute, he didn’t miss the chaos that came with ranch life. What that said about him and his future, he wasn’t sure because if he didn’t have ranch life, what did he have?
When he pulled up to the house to drop off the stuff he’d picked up for his mother at the nursery, he was grateful to see her standing outside. He wanted to talk to her. About what, he didn’t know, but of all the people in his life, his mother was always the one who would give him straight answers when he asked difficult questions.
They never got around to the difficult questions, though.
When he pulled into the driveway, Deborah was standing in the yard, an iPad in her gloved hand. She looked like an Eskimo, complete with her Ugg boots, her sherpa-lined coat, and matching beanie, all bundled up like it was negative twenty, not a relatively comfortable forty-one degrees Fahrenheit. He was pretty sure she had on her robe underneath her coat.
“Are you warm enough?” he asked as he approached.
“I hate cold weather,” she said, smiling brightly. “But I do like my cold weather gear.”
Obviously.
Deborah glanced at the iPad screen, then to the yard, back to the screen. “Since you’re here, I need a favor.”
He held up the bag he’d gotten from the nursery. “Another one?”
“When you get a job, I won’t ask you to run errands. Until that day happens…”
Touché.
She let the sentence hang, and since he had no recourse, Stone waited for her to relay what she needed him to do.
“Can you drop this off for me?” She dug in her coat pocket and pulled out an envelope.
“What is it?”
“A check?”
He took it when she passed it over. “Where?”
Her smile made him regret stopping to talk to her.
Now, as he drove out to D & S Landscape Solutions to drop off the check, he wondered why his mother couldn’t simply pay with a credit or debit card online. He’d asked, of course, but her answer had been a shrug and another mischievous smile. Hence the reason he thought this was a setup.
