Chapter Four
Clover’s stomach was rumbling and she was more than ready for lunch. The last few days had gone smoothly at work. Today she’d spent the morning writing blog posts so they’d be ready when the new website was launched. The McCoy company had selected one of the web design companies that she’d recommended, and a photographer was coming tomorrow. He’d be spending the next few days on the property getting pictures of the McCoys and their farm.
Sapphire had called and checked in a couple of times but refused to come visit unless she heard from Jeffrey. She claimed that she was too humiliated to show her face in Blue Moon Junction.
Clover was debating whether she wanted to eat at the picnic tables with everyone else or grab her food and hide in her office. She really didn’t want a repeat of yesterday, and she didn’t know how often Marjorie and Michael Thomas came to eat with everyone. Michael apparently worked in the accounting department for the McCoys, so the two of them made frequent visits to the McCoy property.
There was a rapping on the door, and she looked up. Blue was standing there. “We’d like you to take a tour of the property,” she said. “We need to pick out some good spots before the photographer gets here.”
“Good plan,” Clover agreed.
She followed Blue outside, hoping that her stomach wouldn’t rumble too loudly…and stopped when she saw that Sam was sitting in the driver’s seat of a jeep that was parked outside the front door.
He grinned at her as she slowly walked up to the jeep. “Goodness, I didn’t know we needed a chauffeur,” she said, keeping her tone polite for Blue but shooting Sam a quick, deadly glare.
“And a bodyguard,” Sam said with a smug smile. “There’s all kinds of dangers out there on a blueberry farm.”
“Oh, sit in the front, dear,” Blue said, climbing into the back and shutting her door.
The jeep really wasn’t built for a big bear shifter like Sam – he overflowed in his seat and pressed up against her when she climbed in. Surely he must know that – had he planned this on purpose?
The warm, solid feel of him sent ripples of sensation pulsing through her body. He was wearing that cologne again, faint but unmistakable. She shifted in her seat and pressed up against the door, which was uncomfortable but at least she wasn’t crushing up against Sam.
“I packed a couple of picnic baskets for us so we can all stop and eat,” Sam said. “Got some of my blueberry pie in there.”
Blueberry pie. Damn the man, he was fiendishly clever. He’d described it as melt-in-your-mouth. She could resist a lot of things, but you could only ask so much of a girl. Especially a bear shifter girl with a healthy appetite.
Blue will be there, so he can’t pull anything funny, she reminded herself.And I don’t give a damn how well he cooks or how much he flirts with me, I will be strong.
They wound past the factory where their jams and jellies were canned, and headed towards blueberry fields. They drove along the long rows of blueberry bushes until Sam found a spot that he liked and stopped the jeep.
As they climbed out, Blue’s phone chirped in her purse. She answered it, then her forehead creased. “Oh, for goodness’ sake,” she said.
“Is everything all right?” Sam asked solicitously.
“Oh, Jemma says that the oven seems to be broken, and she’s insisting I come back and help her with it.”
“You’d better go back before she burns the house down,” Sam said, reaching into the back of the jeep and grabbing a wicker basket. “It’s a beautiful day. We’re still close to the house. We’ll walk back after lunch.”
“Are you sure? Well, all right…” Blue climbed in and drove off as Clover stared after the jeep open-mouthed, then spun around to glare at Sam.
“Seriously.That could not have been any more obvious a setup. And I thought Jemma was my friend. That little turncoat. Broken oven, my ass.”
“She is your friend. She likes you a lot. She’s also highly bribe-able.”
Clover let out of a huff of indignation. “Good to know.”
But Sam was already pulling out the red-and-white checkered blanket that had been neatly folded on top of the basket and spreading it on the ground.
“What are you up to, anyway?” Clover demanded.
Sam glanced at her with a grin as he pulled plates and silverware from the basket. “No good, obviously. I mean, I brought a picnic. Clearly my intentions are evil.”
He set thickly stacked sandwiches on the plates, and then pulled out the blueberry pie and set it down next to them. Her stomach rumbled. She’d been about to ditch him and walk back to her office on her own, but maybe just one sandwich wouldn’t hurt. And some of that pie.
She looked around. It was indeed a beautiful day. The blue sky swept endlessly into the horizon, with fat fluffy clouds floating lazily overhead. A faint breeze rustled the leaves of the blueberry bushes. Why should she deprive herself of a delicious lunch out here in the middle of paradise? It wasn’t like she’d agreed to go on a date with Sam.
She sat down as he knelt and poured iced tea into paper cups.
