“Why not?” she muttered, then glared at herself in the rearview mirror.
When this whole deal had begun, she’d made a point of saying that sex wouldn’t be a part of it, so why was she…disappointed that he was keeping to their bargain?
“Because you can’t stop thinking about him, that’s why,” she told herself and gritted her teeth as her car hit a bump on the gravel road.
That was the simple truth. She thought about him all the time. And the fact that he was so determined to keep his distance was driving her a little crazy.
“Which is just wrong and I know it,” she said aloud. It wasn’t as if she was a highly sexual woman, after all. She’d been with exactly two men in her life, and neither one of those occasions had been worthy of mention. There hadn’t been fireworks. The angels hadn’t sung.
So why was she so hot and bothered by the thought of Dave?
“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” The spectacular house rose up in front of her and she drove on, past the circular driveway that curved around the house. Instead, she parked her car closer to the barn. Mia just couldn’t bring herself to park her beater car in front of that gorgeous house. It would be like seeing a pimple on the face of the Mona Lisa.
She looked through the windshield and saw a couple of the ranch hands at the paddock, where Mike Carter was putting a young horse through its paces. Dave was there, too, arms hooked over the top rail of the fence and one booted foot propped on the lower rail. Over the past week or so, she’d discovered that the Dave who lived and worked at the ranch was a wildly different man than the cool, focused businessman she’d first known. It was as if he kept his soul here at the ranch and without it, he was a different man.
Unfortunately for her, she’d been attracted to the hard, distant businessman…but the rancher was unbelievably hard to resist.
Mia sighed, stepped out of the car then reached back in for her bags and the small blue glass vase that held three daisies and a red carnation. She looked at the bedraggled flowers and smiled. A grocery store special, they couldn’t have cost more than five dollars and they meant more to her than two dozen roses would have.
“Mia!”
She turned at the sound of her name and saw Dave striding toward her. Late afternoon sun was behind him, and her breath caught in her chest as she watched him approach. His hat was pulled low on his forehead. He wore a blue work shirt, the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, and faded jeans that clung to his long legs and stacked on the tops of his scarred brown boots.
Dave Firestone was the kind of cowboy that would make any woman’s heart beat just a little faster than normal. So she really couldn’t be blamed for enjoying the view, right?
When he was close enough to reach out and touch her, he stopped, glanced at the flowers she held and smiled. “You want to tell me who’s giving my girl flowers?”
His girl. Something warm curled in the pit of her stomach and she was forced to remind herself that he didn’t mean it. Just part of the game they were playing. The ranch hands were close by and no doubt watching them, so he was playing to his audience.
“I told you today was the last day of my internship at Royal Junior High…”
“Not even the end of the semester, was it?”
“No. The school board makes fall internships short and then does follow-ups come spring. Gives us more time to devote to schoolwork.”
“Okay…”
“Well, two of my kids bought me these,” she said, glancing down at the flowers that meant so much to her.
“Nice kids,” he said.
She looked up at him. “They really are. I’m going to miss them.”
He moved in closer. Close enough that she caught the scent of his aftershave still clinging to his skin. Her heartbeat sped up in response.
“You’ll see them all again in the spring. And then again after you get your degree and start working there full time.”
Since she still had a few months of school left and there was no guarantee of a job when she was finished, Mia could only hope he was right.
“You were late getting home,” he said. “I was worried. Thought maybe this…car of yours finally gave up the ghost.”
She frowned at him. Okay, her old VW wasn’t exactly a luxury ride, but it was loyal, she knew all of its quirks and as long as she added a quart of oil a week, it kept running. It fired right up every morning, and it got her where she needed to go and that was enough for her. Mia didn’t have enough money to think about making a new-car payment every month. “Don’t make fun of my baby.”