I park the car in the middle of the circular drive and step outside, still gaping at the property. Behind the house, I see the matching barn with dark board and batten siding, wood beams, and giant wood doors.
“Okay, Selena. I can see the appeal.”
“Home sweet home.” Hess’s teasing voice is behind me.
I whip around, facing where he stands on the front porch. There’s a playful smile on his mouth that doesn’t seem to match his rugged attire. Fitted jeans. Fitted t-shirt. Fitted everything.
My gaze narrows. “I can’t believe you’re making me move into your parents’ house.”
“What? No.” His smile falters. “This is my house.”
I’m gaping again. “This isyourhouse?Allllll”—my eyes sweep across the property—“of it?”
He shrugs with indifference. “Business has been good.”
“What’s your business? Drug smuggler? Oil tycoon?”
“No, the Step and Spray.” He says it like I should know what that is. “Let’s get you unpacked.” He walks out from under the porch to my car, and that’s when I notice his boots.
My heartbeat stumbles.
“Are you suddenly a cowboy?” I snap, the anger a secondary emotion, hiding my anxiety at being forced to live with my biggest fantasy.
“You kinda like that you married a cowboy, don’t ya?” A wink accompanies his words, and that’s usually something I would hate—like end-the-date-right-then-and-there kind of loathe—but for some reason, when Hess does it, it works.
It workstoo well.
I shake my head. “You’re not a cowboy.”
The corner of his mouth lifts, and with how the front piece of his hair dangles above his brow, he looks overwhelmingly attractive. “I’vealwaysbeen a country boy.”
Country boy is different than cowboy. We can work with that.
“You haven’t been a country boy since I’ve known you.”
“That’s because youdon’tknow me.” I want to argue that this country version of him is something he probably should’ve hinted about before now, especially since it’s my weakness, but he stops beside my car, twelve inches from me, causing a crackling of chemistry between us—for me, at least.
I can’t say these feelings are out of the blue. There have been a few times since I’ve known Hess that I’ve felt the unfamiliar flutter of a crush. But that all stops now.
Full stop.
This situation is far too complicated to add in attraction and real feelings. No, for the next six months, this is a cut-and-dry business deal.
He opens my car door and starts pulling out suitcases. “I expected you to bring more than this.”
“Well, this is only temporary.” I awkwardly shift behind him, trying to maneuver a way to grab my bags. “I can get that myself.”
“The first thing you need to know about me”—he flashes a charming smile over his shoulder—“is that I take care of my woman.” There’s a bit of a drawl to his voice that makes me think he’s joking, but that doesn’t stop me from giving him a long, measured look.
“I’mnotyour woman.”
“That’s not what the state of Arizona says.” The good-natured laugh that rolls out of him confirms he’s teasing, but he still carries all my bags for me while somehow managing to kick open the front door and looking incredibly rugged and manly.
To make things worse, he shoots me a crooked grin. “Want me to set these bags down so I can carry you over the threshold?”
“Do I seem like the kind of woman who would let a man carry me over a threshold?”
“Maybe not.” His grin holds. “But deep down, I bet you have a mushy side that secretly dreams of a man doting on you.”
