A Buckhorn Summer
A Buckhorn Summer
Lori Foster
In a sexy new Buckhorn Brothers novella, New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster welcomes readers back to the small town that’s big on romance…Lisa Sommerville’s wild one-night-stand was completely out of character for the workaholic businesswoman. So when she arrives in Buckhorn, Kentucky, to spend a summer rethinking her career, she’s stunned to find that Gray Neely has stepped out of her steamy memories and taken up residence in her hometown. What’s more, the laid-back ex-cop wants to pick up where they left off.Lisa has been on Gray’s mind every day since that mind-blowing encounter. He was reeling from a tragedy in the line of duty, and their connection was instant and intense. Still is. But sleepy Buckhorn is a million miles from her corporate world. And he has one sweet, hot summer to prove they have a future there, together…Don’t miss the other titles in the Buckhorn Brothers series, including Buckhorn Beginnings, Forever Buckhorn, The Buckhorn Legacy, Buckhorn Ever After in the All For You anthology and Back to Buckhorn.
In a sexy new Buckhorn Brothers novella, New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster welcomes readers back to the small town that’s big on romance...
Lisa Sommerville’s wild one-night-stand was completely out of character for the workaholic businesswoman. So when she arrives in Buckhorn, Kentucky to spend a summer rethinking her career, she’s stunned to find that Gray Neely has stepped out of her steamy memories and taken up residence in her hometown. What’s more, the laid-back ex-cop wants to pick up where they left off.
Lisa has been on Gray’s mind every day since that mindblowing encounter. He was reeling from a tragedy in the line of duty, and their connection was instant and intense. Still is. But sleepy Buckhorn is a million miles from her corporate world. And he has one sweet, hot summer to prove they have a future there, together...
And don’t miss the bonus novella Back to Buckhorn, also included in this volume!
Dear Readers,
Welcome back to Buckhorn!
Though I know an actual Buckhorn exists, mine is an entirely fictional town in beautiful Kentucky. My first Buckhorn story was published back in 2000 and the series has become a true reader favorite. For me it seemed a natural fit to combine my need to help stray cats and dogs by continuing the series with a new generation of the leading family in Buckhorn.
Through a special contract with my publisher, the advance and all royalties on A Buckhorn Summer will go directly to the Animal Adoption Foundation, a local no-kill animal shelter that does an amazing job healing, protecting, and loving cats and dogs until a “forever home” can be found for them.
I hope you enjoy the story, and I especially hope you enjoy knowing that by purchasing this story, you’ve helped a dog or cat in need. And don’t miss Back to Buckhorn, my 2014 benefit novella, included as a bonus in this collection!
To see other “benefit books,” visit lorifoster.com/benefit-books/ (http://lorifoster.com/benefit-books/).
And to see other books in the Buckhorn series, visit lorifoster.com/connected-books/#buckhorn (http://lorifoster.com/connected-books/#buckhorn).
From the bottom of my heart, thank you!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (#u196cbdf4-836b-541b-ace1-ffa573ae382f)
LORI FOSTER is a New York Times, USA TODAY and Publishers Weekly bestselling author with books from a variety of publishers, including Berkley/Jove, Kensington, St. Martin’s, Harlequin and Silhouette. Lori has been a recipient of the prestigious RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award for Series Romantic Fantasy, and for Contemporary Romance. For more about Lori, visit her website at www.lorifoster.com (http://www.lorifoster.com).
Don’t miss the other books in the Buckhorn Brothers series, available now from Lori and HQN Books:
“Buckhorn Ever After” (in the Animal Attraction ebook anthology)
The Buckhorn Legacy
Forever Buckhorn
Buckhorn Beginnings
A Buckhorn Summer
Lori Foster
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To the Animal Adoption Foundation,
www.AAFPets.org (http://www.AAFPets.org).
Thank you for all you do to help dogs and cats in need.
I know my contributions are always put to very good use.
It’s been a true pleasure watching the AAF grow!
Contents
Cover (#u9fefe43a-5b79-5e46-a935-9deb9ce34342)
Back Cover Text (#ubaa9454e-1c7c-520c-bf3f-160b519e8885)
Dear Reader (#u06ae5235-c16f-5c22-870e-e7a3c4674cf9)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (#u9905feb9-d05b-5482-aab7-5a479f5802a4)
Title Page (#u7a0d2f7f-6468-5bf7-9fd0-8f8ce4892619)
CHAPTER ONE (#u6baaacc4-4457-5db2-90a7-429d87c5b51d)
CHAPTER TWO (#u90a19109-91c2-5e9a-8537-9689ee045980)
CHAPTER THREE (#udf5fdd96-8b52-5963-b4f0-b08fe5332140)
CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#u196cbdf4-836b-541b-ace1-ffa573ae382f)
ONE MONTH AGO TODAY, she’d awakened disoriented in a posh hotel in Chicago. Exhausted. Tired of travel.
Lonely.
For the longest time she’d stared at the ceiling, getting her bearings and knowing she needed a break. Her stomach had burned from too much stress. Her neck hurt from the small, flat pillow.
Lisa Sommerville had known instinctively that she needed a change, so she’d gotten up, dressed, gone down to the bar and...
“Lighten up,” her cousin Shohn said from behind her as he turned the small outboard motor on the fishing boat, steering around a sunken log and aiming toward the marina where they’d gas up and grab bait. “You’ll have fun. Guaranteed.”
On the seat in front of her, the bright morning sunlight making a halo of his fair hair, her brother, Adam, grinned. “No thinking about work, remember? If we catch you drifting off, Dad gave us permission to drop you in the lake.”
Lisa looked over the side of the boat. The water was green and cool and this early in the day, fairly smooth. “I wasn’t.”
“Fibber,” Adam said.
“That’s all you think about,” Shohn agreed. “But not today.”
She didn’t bother to correct them, to explain that her thoughts had been on her very out-of-character behavior from a month ago. On the sizzling night she’d had. On the fantasy that had come to life and still, every other minute, replayed in her mind.
“Lisa,” Adam warned, again mistaking her quiet.
She looked up at the blinding sunrise splashing colors across a cloudless sky. “I’ll probably take a dip on my own later.” She slanted a look at her brother. “On my own, without your help, after I’ve put on my suit.”
“You could swim in that,” Shohn said, indicating her outfit of shorts and a blue T-shirt.
She turned her narrowed gaze on him, prompting him to grin like the sinner she knew him to be. They all three had dark eyes, but the similarities ended there. She was medium height, with medium-length honey-blond hair and a medium figure. Shohn and Adam both topped six feet. Adam’s hair was far fairer than hers, and Shohn’s was inky black.
Both men lived and worked in Buckhorn, Shohn as a park ranger, Adam as a gym teacher.
She loved Buckhorn as well, but until that fateful night in Chicago, she’d also loved traveling the country, working 24-7, earning her barracuda rep in the business world.
Icy water hit her legs, making her gasp.
“Concentrate,” Shohn said, flicking his now wet fingers at her face, “or I’ll grab a bucketful of water instead of just a handful.”
“I was concentrating!” She brushed water droplets off her heated thighs.
“On fun,” Adam stressed. “Not work.”
Because they’d just reached the dock, Lisa didn’t reply. Without waiting for the boat to steady, she stood and leaped out, a rope in hand, and secured the front of the small boat to a cleat.
Shohn did the same to the back. Adam, holding their bait bucket, hauled himself out behind her.
Every woman around stared. Always. Her cousin and brother had that effect wherever they went. Between them, she felt insubstantial, inadequate, even bland.
Which in part explained why she’d glommed onto business. In a family full of prime physical specimens, male and female alike, she was just so-so.
Except for when it came to brains and drive. Then she excelled.
Or used to. Now she considered changing it all. She could join her family in the slower, easier life of Buckhorn County, Kentucky. Doing what, she didn’t yet know.
Fishing today. But tomorrow? She was not an idle person.
“We lost her again.”
Sure, she needed to slow down. Her health and her very recent aberrant behavior proved she needed that change. No one in her family yet knew of her tension, her migraines, her sleepless nights.
Only that one man, a man she’d never see again—
She screeched when Shohn scooped her up and headed to the side of the dock. “Ohmigod, don’t you dare!”
“You need to be dunked.”
Knotting one hand in his dark hair, the other in his worn T-shirt, she growled, “Try it and you’re going in with me. Or at least your hair is.” She gave a tug to prove her point.
Wincing, laughing, Shohn said, “I’ll jump us both in.”
“No!” Okay, sure, her lake clothes, as she called them, wouldn’t be harmed, but she’d braided her hair and didn’t want it soaked. “Seriously,” she said more calmly. “No.”
Standing beside them, Adam crossed his arms over his bare chest. “Then no more brooding over business.”
Lisa blew out a huff of breath. “If you must know, I wasn’t.”
“Bull.”
“I was thinking of...a guy.” There, she thought. Chew on that.
Both men laughed.
Laughed.
Was it so unheard of for her to be socially interested and interesting? Admitting the pathetic truth, she knew that yes, it was. At thirty, she’d never had a single serious romantic relationship.
She’d had some dates. She’d had some sex.
She’d had that one amazing night that would forever leave her warm and wanting...for more, more, more.
But she’d never been involved. And damn it, that hurt.
Mouth tight and brows angled down, Lisa turned her face away.
The laughter died.
Shohn slowly lowered her to her feet, obliging her to release his hair.
Without a word, Adam slung an arm around her shoulders and again got them heading along the dock to the gravel lot alongside the boat launch and then up the worn path to the small renovated structure that sold anything and everything boaters might need.
Hoping to clear the air, Lisa asked, “When did this change?” She remembered the structure being smaller, more weatherworn and utilitarian. Now it looked like a regular two-story house, complete with flowers planted around the exterior.
The double front doors, standing open, and the picnic tables placed all around the area made it clear the store remained, but otherwise it could have been any other home in Buckhorn.
“Rosemary sold the marina some years back to a married couple who did the additions. But they sold it a few weeks ago and retired to Arizona to be nearer to their grandkids. A new guy stepped right in and the place never closed, not even for a day. It was pretty seamless.”
“Huh.” So it had changed hands twice and she’d been unaware. Crazy how detached she’d been from her home. “I like the addition of a second level. Does the owner live here?”
“I dunno,” Shohn said. “I’ve only met him a few times. He’s friendly, but not real talkative, which I guess makes sense given he’s a retired cop.”
“You’ll probably like him,” Adam teased. “All the single ladies seem to.”
Sure enough, as they stepped into the building, Lisa saw a trio of bikini-clad women huddled around the front counter and register, giggling in amped-up flirt mode.
She snorted. It was barely eight a.m., but the ladies were already on the prowl. The new guy must be interesting. Then again, Buckhorn was such a small, intimate town that anyone new got plenty of attention.
Shohn headed for the live bait selection, Adam went to fill the cooler with drinks and she moseyed down an aisle to pick up sunscreen. As a kid, she’d kept a light tan. As a woman who’d spent most of her time traveling from one business meeting to the next, her skin rarely saw prolonged exposure to the sun.
She remembered fishing trips from her youth and knew the guys would keep her out for hours, maybe right through lunch. She grabbed the sunscreen and a straw hat.
Heading for the snacks, she turned, took two steps—and gasped.
So did the man standing in front of her.
The big, sinfully gorgeous man.
The man with the amazing bod and killer smile and devour-you sex drive.
The man from a month ago.
Her...fantasy.
* * *
GRAY NARROWED HIS EYES, but the vision didn’t change. Big brown eyes locked on his. Those sweet, lush lips parted. Color filled her cheeks.
It was her, but an all-new version of her. A softer, sexier version, though how that was possible, he didn’t know, because every night for a freaking month he’d remembered her as so damned sexy, he felt obsessed.
Neither of them spoke. Hell, he didn’t know what to say.
Let’s go for round two didn’t seem appropriate.
Shohn Hudson and Adam Sommerville, cousins he’d met before, suddenly flanked her.
Cocking a brow, expression cautious, Shohn asked, “Problem?”
Yeah, about a hundred of them. Gray didn’t know her name, didn’t know why she was here, didn’t know if she remembered him or was horrified at seeing him again or if, God willing, she’d like to get reacquainted.
Adam slipped his arm around her and, yeah, that was another problem. Don’t let her be married. Or even involved. In any way.
“You’re new,” Gray finally said, regaining his voice, rough and low as it sounded. His interest must’ve been obvious given how both Adam and Shohn looked at her again, almost as if they’d never seen her before.
She cleared her throat, worked up a very bright, false smile, and stepped away from the two men with her hand extended. “Hello. I’m Lisa Sommerville. Adam’s sister.”
Related? Now that she’d said it, he could see it. She and Adam shared similar dark eyes. And if they were siblings, that’d make Hudson her cousin. Nice. Only related, not involved. He could work with that.
Tucking a small box of candy bars under his left arm, Gray accepted her hand and held on. “Gray Neely.” Her hands were as small and soft as he remembered, her skin just as warm.
Her scent every bit as stirring.
She tugged, and he had no choice but to let her go. “Actually,” she said, now a little breathless, “I’m local. You’re the new one.”
An accusation? “So you live here?” That’d be too much of a coincidence—the first good luck he’d had in a year.
Her chin lifted. “Yes.”
A slow smile growing, Adam looked between them. “Lisa’s a shark, usually away wheeling and dealing with the big dawgs in business.”
“She’s settling back in for a spell, though,” Shohn added.
“Maybe just the summer,” she was quick to say.
Tipping his chin, Shohn asked, “You two know each other?”
Gray waited, and sure enough Lisa—pretty name—said too quickly, her voice a little high, “No.”
Okay, he got that. Their time together wasn’t really the sort you discussed with a brother or cousin.
“Not yet,” Gray corrected, and watched her face go warm. He nodded at the hat she held. “Good idea. Going to be a scorcher today.” And with that he continued on his way, restocking the candy bars on the shelf.
He heard whispering, curiosity from the guys, insistence from Lisa.
Damn, he really liked that name. It suited her.
Nice that he could now add it into the repeat fantasy that played in his head every other minute. That fantasy had been his recent salvation.
He’d met her on a desperate night during a time when nothing made sense and he hadn’t known which way to turn. She’d been fighting her own demons and things had just...happened.
Scorching-hot things that had burned away his indecision and the pain of forced changes. For the remainder of the night they’d stayed tangled in erotic activity. He’d finally passed out, exhausted, sated, his brain blessedly clear of guilt and anger, her slim body held in his arms.
When he woke in the morning, she was gone.
But he’d tackled the day with a new outlook on life, and ended up in Buckhorn.
Now she was here, in the flesh, close at hand.
Glancing up, he saw the guys were teasing her and felt safe approaching again. “So how many of you are there in the area? Your family is large, right?”
Lisa moved on, pretending to consider the healthy snacks, but Adam and Shohn remained. “There’s a bunch of us,” Adam said, launching into a recitation of the many relatives, some of whom Gray had met, some he hadn’t.
They were an impressive lot, and from what he could tell, they influenced a lot of the town. “I need to take notes to keep you all straight.”
“Amber could help you with that. She’s Garrett’s sister.”
“Met her,” Gray said. Amber Hudson was beautiful, with dark hair and bright blue eyes and a smile that’d win over the darkest heart.
She also scared the pants off him. She had a bold manner and a controlling streak that kept him two cautious steps away. Not that two steps had been far enough. Within five minutes of meeting him she’d managed to get more info out of him than the rest of her relatives combined.
When Lisa looked up at him, he felt it. Her brows were slightly pinched, her expression uneasy. Because he’d met Amber?
Needing her to understand, to know his intent, he stepped away from Shohn and Adam and approached her. “If you stay, what will you do?”
She breathed a little faster. “Do?”
Yeah, he liked the way her mind worked. Suppressing a smile, he said, “Jobwise.”
“Oh.”
Now she just looked flustered, and that was so different from the confident woman she’d been with him before that he had to feel his way carefully. “You are staying, right? That’s what your cousin said.”
She snatched up a granola bar, stared at it and put it back.
Indecisive? That, too, was different, but he didn’t mind. He took a step closer, near enough to inhale the scent of her sun-warmed skin and hair. God, he remembered that scent, how it had mingled with his own when he’d moved over her, both of them naked.
“I’m not... I don’t know yet.” She licked her bottom lip, glanced past him to her relatives, saw they were chatting up some other customers and stared up at him with those big, soulful eyes.
“Shh,” he whispered. “It’s okay.”
She swallowed.
“Far as anyone knows, or will ever know, this is the first time we’ve met.” By sheer force of will he kept his hands to himself when what he really wanted, what he needed, was to touch her, to pull her small, soft body in against his—again. “You have my word.”
She released a tense breath. “Thank you.” As her cousin and brother drew near again, she added, “I haven’t left my job. I mean, I tried to. I gave my four weeks’ notice, but they countered with another promotion. I declined and they requested that I take the summer to think about it. So I guess I’m on a hiatus.”
That night in the dim hotel bar in Chicago, she’d been teeming with restless energy. But here, now, he could see the remnants of exhaustion. Bone deep. The type of tiredness a person learned to live with.
He understood that, since he’d felt it himself many times. “They must appreciate you.”
She nodded.
“What is it you do?”
Before she could answer, Shohn bragged on her. “She’s a top-notch troubleshooter.”
“Meaning she goes to businesses that are in trouble,” Adam explained, “and analyzes their problems, then tells them the best way to be more efficient and profitable.”
“She’s been all over the country,” Shohn added. “And sometimes out of the country.”
“Guys...” Lisa protested.
“I think she should loaf for the summer.” Adam nudged her. “Regroup and just play.”
“She’s earned it.” Shohn added, “Problem is, Lisa doesn’t do well with idle time. Never has.”
“She’d go screaming nuts in under a week.”
Giving them both a quelling frown, Lisa said to Gray, “I’m still considering my job prospects.”
Prospects that could take her right back out of Buckhorn? Not if he could help it. “Could I make a suggestion?”
The guys were interested, but Lisa just looked appalled. Mind made up, he forged on. “I haven’t been here that long and I’m still learning the ropes. If you’re related to those two, then I assume you know everyone in town, and most of what there is to know about catering to vacationers.”
She opened her mouth, but it was Shohn who said, “She does.”
Adam added, “She’s driven her fair share of boats, launched them, too, and even worked on them a few times with our uncle Gabe.”
“Gabe, the handyman.” Gray had met his daughters, all three of them. They were very pretty girls who flirted playfully. And they were all too young for him—not that he’d been interested anyway.
“When my uncle Jordan married Lisa’s mom, she was still a kid,” Shohn explained. “So she grew up around here. She knows everyone.”
“Jordan, the vet?”
“Yup,” Shohn said. “He has a real nice way with animals.”
So one of the icons was her dad? “Got it.”
“And,” Adam continued, “being the overachiever she’s always been, she’s organized plenty of community activities with our uncle Morgan, back when he was sheriff and since he’s been mayor.”
Morgan, the big, badass protector. Who the hell wasn’t her relative? Gray said only, “Met him, liked him.”
Shohn said, “She’s also—”
“Stop selling me!”
Her brother and cousin gaped at her. Grinning, Gray shook his head. “Amazing to me that either of you have hooked up. Not smooth, guys. Not smooth at all.”
Adam scowled. “Now wait a minute. I wasn’t—”
“It’s okay,” Gray assured him. Hell, he was already sold. It didn’t require a pitch. Then to Lisa, he asked, “Why don’t you come by tomorrow morning, say around six before I open, and we can discuss it?”
Her eyes widened. Both men stayed mute.
“The pay won’t be what you’re used to, but the work won’t be, either. You want to enjoy the summer but also stay busy, right? I figure we can probably work out something fair. I’ll be flexible on what hours you need to be here.”
Amazingly, her eyes widened even more.
Cute as well as sexy. He could get lost in those dark eyes. In her slim throat, a pulse thrummed wildly. Her gaze remained fixed on his, and hell if he’d look away first. Didn’t matter to him if they stood there all day.
Shohn nudged her, maybe a little harder than he meant to given that she stumbled.
Startled, she turned and smacked him. “What is wrong with you?”
“Me?” Shohn pointed at her. “You were the one gawking.”
She flared. “I was not!”
Rolling his eyes, Adam said, “Yeah, you were.”
Gray grinned. “You’re all close, huh?”
“Very,” Adam said with what sounded like a belated warning.
Having been a cop in a shit area rife with violent crime, Gray didn’t pay a lot of attention to bluster. “What do you say, Lisa?” As an incentive, he added, “I promise to keep you busy without overworking you, and if you enjoy the lake, well, then, it could feel as much like an extended vacation as not.”
Put on the spot, she finally nodded. “All right. Fine. I’ll be here at six and we can discuss it.”
“Not too early for you?”
Adam snorted. “She’ll just be finishing up her jog.”
Huh. So she liked to run? They had that in common. Gray wanted to know every little thing about her, but he could be patient. Maybe.
“If you’re ready, I can ring you up.”
Everyone followed him to the counter, and a minute after that he watched her go—his gaze glued to her small rounded butt in the short shorts. Damn. He remembered that sweet behind all too well, how it had fit in his hands, the tantalizing contrast of soft and firm.
With any luck at all, he’d be getting familiar again real soon.
CHAPTER TWO (#u196cbdf4-836b-541b-ace1-ffa573ae382f)
LUCKILY NO ONE was around when she untied the small fishing boat and pushed away from the dock. It took three pulls on the cord before she got the motor going, then she settled onto the hard wooden seat and started down the lake.
She could have used any of the boats; the family collectively had three inboard boats, two pontoons and a variety of rowboats and fishing boats. But this particular one was the quietest and she’d as soon not draw attention. She’d done enough of that already.
The sun had just started to rise from behind the hills, sending fingers of crimson and gold to cut through the lavender dawn and play across the calm surface of the lake. Taking it slow, Lisa watched a fish jump, saw a few birds diving, turned her face up to the warm, humid breeze.
She’d always loved the fast pace of her high-pressure job.
But she also loved the peace of the lake, and maybe it was past time to find a better balance between the two.
After showering off the sweat from her jog, she’d put on sunscreen and a touch of makeup. It hadn’t been easy, dodging all the curious questions and over-the-top speculation from Adam and Shohn yesterday. They’d teased, harangued and outrageously guessed without ever once coming close to the truth.
That she’d had a sizzling-hot one-night stand with a total stranger who had now, by the fickle hand of fate, relocated to her hometown.
Shohn and Adam were both utter hedonists, open in their own sexual pursuits. But when it came to her—or any of the women in the family, really—they played deaf, dumb and blind, at least with matters of sexuality. If she told them the truth, they’d be stunned, but she knew with complete confidence that they wouldn’t judge her harshly, would in fact back her up in anything she decided.
She loved them, but that hadn’t made it easy fending off their nonsense, all while lost in the reality of the situation.
It felt good to be home.
It felt...something altogether different knowing she’d shortly see her fantasy man again.
He was here, in Buckhorn, where she considered starting over.
He hadn’t forgotten her.
He wanted her to work with him day in and day out.
Did that mean he hoped to pick up where they’d left off, as if she’d be that easy?
Or did it mean he wasn’t interested and spending that much time with her in close proximity wouldn’t make him as lust-crazed as it would her?
No, she couldn’t believe that. Even Shohn and Adam had noticed his interest. And commented on it. Repeatedly.
“Lisa has an admirer,” Shohn had said in a childish singsong voice.
“All the single ladies will be so sad to know he’s already hooked,” Adam had added while patting a hand over his heart. “Guess I’ll just have to console them.”
“I think it was love at first sight.”
“Wait until he finds out she’s smarter than him.”
“And more motivated.”
“And better paid.”
Finally Lisa had willingly gone over the side of the boat, opposite from where they’d cast their fishing lines. Ignoring their calls, she’d swum to shore and pretended to consider walking back until they both begged her not to. If it hadn’t been for the cow patties everywhere she tried to step, and the occasional spider web stretched between colorful weeds, she would have walked. But she wasn’t an idiot.
Just embarrassed. And overcome with lust. And now even more fixated on her fantasy man.
Gray Neely.
On top of being the sexiest, most gorgeous man she’d ever met, he was also kind and considerate.
He’d willingly let her off the hook, promising not to speak of their previous acquaintance.
He was also macho, a man’s man, easily meshing with her brother and cousin. How he’d looked...
She drew in a shuddering breath, filling her lungs with country air, and again pictured him in her mind. Rugged beard stubble. Alert gray eyes, focused on her. Hair longer and more disheveled. Loose board shorts and laceless sneakers, his shirt open, his muscled, hairy chest bare.
Damn, but her mouth watered, and she was so distracted she didn’t dock as smoothly as usual. A frog leaped away as she drew a line through the cleat on the dock and secured the boat. A few more deep breaths and, hiking her canvas tote bag over her shoulder, she climbed out of the boat.
From the shadows of the gas pumps three docks down, a deep voice said, “I figured you’d come by water.” Shirtless, barefoot, wearing only trunks, he pushed to his feet and strode toward her. His dark hair was wet, slicked back, his sinner’s eyelashes spiked, his beard even more noticeable.
He stopped only a few feet from her, his gaze taking a lazy stroll from her braided hair down her body to the flip-flops on her feet. “Whenever I thought of you—and I did, often—I saw you in a business suit, your hair contained, your look professional. I liked that look a lot, especially since it was so different from the woman you became in my room.”
A wild woman, that’s what he meant, because that’s what she’d been. Her breath stalled. “Voices carry,” she whispered. “We can’t talk here on the lake.”
He held out a hand and, feeling as risqué as she had that night a month ago, she took it. God, she remembered his hands, so big and strong, a little rough from work, but warm and gentle as they’d touched her. Everywhere.
Silently he led her up to the store, and with each step she took, her heart jumped harder, faster. Low in her stomach, butterflies battled.
She was thirty years old, but she’d never, not once, experienced desire like this. Only with him.
One of the double doors stood open and as they stepped inside, Gray closed and locked it. Her breath caught and anticipation sharpened.
No lights were on and without the sun coming through the windows, it remained dark...and intimate.
He slowly backed her up to the wall and cupped one hand to the side of her face. “As I was saying.”
Lisa felt his breath, the warmth of his big body, and had no idea what he was talking about.
“I like seeing you in these short shorts, and I like your hair like this. You were sexy before, but now you’re earthy, too, and I want another taste.”
After saying all that, he waited, giving her time.
Lisa nervously, anxiously licked her bottom lip—and saw his gaze sharpen.
“I remember you with short hair,” she whispered. “Clean-shaven, polished.” She reached up, smoothing back a lock of wet hair that had fallen over his brow. “Now your hair is shaggy, you’re already tanned, and this beard scruff...” She coasted her thumb over his bristly jaw, feeling the tease of that rasp deep inside herself. “Not only are you not in a dress shirt, you’re shirtless, and honestly, it’s making me a little nuts.”
“Nuts is good.” He moved closer still but didn’t quite touch her. “I was waiting on you, remembering how it had been, thinking of how it could be again, and got myself so worked up that I had to jump in the lake to cool down.”
Lisa smiled. Little by little, the same chemistry she’d felt that night in the bar came sneaking over her. “I was stunned to see you here.”
He nodded. “Stunned, but pleased.” Both hands now cupped her face and he murmured huskily, “I’ve missed you.”
It saddened her to say it, but they both needed a reminder of the truth. “You don’t even know me.”
“Not true.” Gray slowly lowered his head until his nose touched her temple. “I know your scent, the feel of your skin, and how you taste.”
His lips lightly grazed her cheek, making her shiver.
Near her ear, he whispered, “I know the sounds you make when you come.”
She released a shuddering, broken breath.
“Yeah,” he said with satisfaction. “That’s how it starts.” He trailed his fingertips down her shoulder to her elbow, then under her breast and over her frantically pounding heartbeat. “It ends with sweet, rough, broken moans and you holding me tight until the pleasure is over.”
The way he said it, she felt it. “Yes.”
“I want it all. Again.”
As his hand covered her breast, his palm teasing her nipple, she nodded and admitted the truth. “Me, too.”
* * *
“WE HAVE AN HOUR.” It wasn’t long enough, but it was better than nothing. He needed her. Bad.
Right now.
But she didn’t move. In fact, she seemed to be holding her breath.
When he looked down at her, Gray saw her eyes closed, her bottom lip caught in her teeth, her expression sweetly agonized.
He continued to cuddle her breast while raining small, damp kisses down her jaw and her throat to her shoulder. Jesus, she smelled good, like the fresh outdoors and musk and every fucking fantasy he’d ever had, all rolled into one.
But damn it, she still didn’t say anything, and as bad as he wanted her, he wanted her to feel the same.
Time to rein it in. Wasn’t easy, but he asked, “You need some time?”
She nodded, then shook her head, then groaned. “I don’t know.”
Well, that was answer enough. “It’s okay. I can wait.” It’d kill him. A dozen times over. But if that’s what she needed—
“That night...” Her eyes opened, full of pleading confusion. “That wasn’t me.”
“It wasn’t me, either.” He dropped both hands to her waist—safer territory—and put his forehead to hers. “It was just...right. The right time, the right person.” He had to kiss her, just once, so he did. Not too deep, but far from a peck. And far from satisfying. “The right thing to do—for both of us.”
“I’ve never done anything like it before.”
For a novice, she’d been damn good. Great. Mind-blowing, in fact. “I don’t exactly make a habit of it, either.” He smiled, realizing something. “I like your name.”
Her laugh was muffled against his throat. “I like yours, too.”
“I meant what I said.” With two fingers under her chin, he brought her face up. “It’s nobody’s business but ours.”
She nodded. “This is my home, Gray. My entire family is here.”
“I know. Everywhere I go, I trip over one of them.” He kissed her again, all the while telling himself he had to stop that. Except that she kissed him back and damn, that nearly killed his resolve not to push her. He eased back, a little more breathless. Harder. “I like them.”
Dazed, her gaze on his mouth, she asked, “Who?”
So cute. So fucking hot. Eventually she’d be his again. He had to believe that. “Your family.”
“Oh. Right. Yeah, they’re all terrific.” Rubbing at her forehead, she admitted, “None of them would ever expect this of me. I’ve been so singularly focused on my career, I never made much time for relationships.”
He paused—and she shot her gaze to his.
“Not that this is a relationship. God, no. I mean...”
He loved how she blushed.
A little desperately, she said, “It was just sex.”
“That felt like more?”
Time stretched out with neither of them confirming or denying that.
Until finally, an eternity later, she nodded. “Yes. It felt like more.”
Her hand opened on his chest, the touch now familiar, bringing all those other touches to the forefront of his mind. She’d been bold, curious, and she’d burned him up.
He covered her hand with his own. “To me, too.” So many times he’d regretted not getting her name or contact info. At the time, both of them had enjoyed the anonymity and the relief of distraction.
He’d realized too late that he wanted more, because she’d already gone. Now that he knew her better and understood what an anomaly it was for her to indulge in a one-night stand, he understood why she hadn’t stuck around.
“Will it freak you out to know I thought about you a lot?” Her thick lashes swept down, hiding her eyes, and her voice was barely a whisper. “Every night, but sometimes during the day, too.”
He wasn’t freaked out at all. Just the opposite. “Glad to know I wasn’t alone in that.” Another kiss, this one longer, deeper. Hot. He licked his tongue along her bottom lip, then just inside. Her lips parted more, and he sank in, hungry, needing this. Needing her.
She moaned.
“It’s okay,” he told her as he readjusted, aligning his body to hers, drawing her closer. “It’s just a kiss.”
“Just a kiss.” Her arms came around his neck and, helping with the embrace, she went on tiptoe.
Time slipped away. If he wanted her to work with him—and hell, yeah, he did—he needed to iron out a few details before customers started showing up.
Again cupping her face, he ended the kiss by small degrees, then drew her head to his chest. He gave himself a few seconds to catch his breath and clear the fog of lust before he said, “If I could make another suggestion?”
“Another?”
He liked her braid. It was a little loose, a little sloppy. He ran his hand along the length and enjoyed the silkiness of her hair. “The first being that you work with me.”
“Oh, yeah. That.”
“Yes, that.” He took a step back to see her but kept a hand flattened to the wall beside her head. “And if you agree, then how about we start over?”
She shook her head. “With what?”
“Yesterday is the first day we formally met.” And now he had an opportunity to know her, really know her.
Along with her million family members.
Fighting off a laugh ripe with embarrassment, Lisa covered her mouth and whispered, “We did that without even knowing each other’s names.”
Liking her laugh—liking her—he said, “I know.”
She snickered. “’Course you do. You were there.”
“There, and very actively participating.” Backing up so that he wouldn’t pressure her again, Gray leaned a hip on the ice cream case and smiled at her. “I didn’t need your name. But everything else...” His smile faded. “I needed the rest of it in a bad way. So thank you. You don’t know it, but you turned me around.”
Inching closer, she asked, “What does that mean?”
Hard to explain, especially since he didn’t entirely understand it, but he gave it a shot. “I was...” He wouldn’t say lost. That sounded real pansy-ass. “...at loose ends.” And struggling to get my head on straight. But again, that made him sound far too weak. “I needed a change, but I’d been resisting and fucking brooding about it and if you hadn’t showed up I probably would have gotten shitfaced and then gotten up the next day and carried on as usual. But after you...”
Those big, dark eyes watched him with gentle curiosity. “After me?”
“Everything felt different. Me, my situation.”
“What situation is that?”
He shook his head. No way would he lay the heavy stuff on her. Not now, maybe not ever. “I was ready for a change of pace, and so here I am. But I had no idea I’d find you here, too.”
She tipped her head and that silky braid fell over her shoulder, the tip resting against her breast. “Shohn and Adam said you were a cop?”
“Yeah.” He’d thought to retire from the force when he hit his midsixties. Not with an injury. Not with rage consuming him. Not with his best friend gone forever.
Now very near, Lisa asked, “Not anymore?”
He shook his head again, but that didn’t suffice, so he said, “No.”
Her eyes went softer, darker. She touched his arm. “You’re from Chicago?”
“No, but my partner was.” He pushed off the case, moving away from her and the comfort he didn’t deserve, giving her his back. “I’m originally from Cincinnati. I was only in Chicago for his funeral.”
He didn’t hear Lisa move, but he felt the light touch of her small hand on his back. “I’m sorry.”
Done with that subject, Gray turned to face her and gestured at the shop. “The hours are flexible. Minimum wage to start, but I’m open to promoting you if things work out.”
Her lips twitched. “Wow, such a...great offer.”
“You’ll be working with me most of the time.”
“There is that.”
She considered it a perk? Because he sure as hell did.
As if thinking it out, she began to pace. “Like you said, my family is everywhere, and never, not in a million years, would they ever think I’d do...what we did.”
“That just means I know you better than most.” He’d already told her it was their secret; she’d either trust him on that or not.
“In some ways, you do. But for the most part, we’re still strangers.”
Didn’t feel that way to him. “We could do a trial run. Take a week or two just to get to know each other.” He didn’t need that, but it looked as though she did. Patience, he reminded himself.
Her expression perked up. “A trial run? For the job?”
“For us,” he explained. “I’d be completely hands-off. That is, unless you say otherwise.” Dead serious, he admitted, “The second you say you’re ready, I’m full go. But until then, for all anyone will ever know, we just met.”
“You’d be doing all the giving.”
Heat rolled through him, making his voice gruff. “Believe me, I remember the payoff, and lady, you’re well worth the wait.”
Again her face warmed, but she smiled. “Gorgeous, generous and a charmer, too. How am I supposed to resist that?”
“You’re not. So tell me, Lisa Sommerville. You wanna work for me?”
“You know, Gray Neely, I believe I do.”
“Great.” Hearing voices outside, he strode to the doors and opened them. “You can start right now.”
* * *
THE MORNING WENT off without a hitch. It was, in fact, enjoyable to jump in on one of the busiest days on the lake. As a kid, Lisa had been to the shop so many times that she knew the layout, which hadn’t changed much, caught on quick to restocking and enjoyed her turn at refueling the boats.
It also impressed her how Gray handled things. He was friendly with the customers, making an effort to remember names and relationships, deferential with the elders, patient with the kids and judicious with the flirting hordes of women who descended on him.
Okay, so maybe there weren’t actual hordes. But there were a lot of them, and to her dismay, none of them appeared to need time to think about it. Most of the women were unknown to her, vacationers there for the summer or maybe just a day.
But a few others were women she’d grown up with. Even April and Kady, two of her uncle Gabe’s beautiful blond bombshell daughters, came in.
It was a joke in the family, how her uncle Gabe had been such a handful and a ladies’ man and now all three of his daughters were miniature, more feminine versions of him, which meant they turned heads everywhere they went.
Gray, however, treated them with the same reserved, respectful politeness he used with the rest of the women.
All except her. With her, he smiled more warmly, and more often. And she caught him constantly watching her. Each and every time their gazes met, she felt the heat and need like a growing, combustible force.
Did she dare indulge in another fling with him?
Did she have the willpower to resist?
Later that day, around suppertime, her uncle Morgan’s daughter, Amber, showed up. The opposite of Kady and April, Amber had long, sleek dark hair and amazing blue eyes. Also unlike Kady and April, Amber wore a sundress instead of a bikini. She still looked like a model, and Lisa still felt drab in comparison.
Amber spoke to Gray only for a minute, then swooped in on Lisa. “You’re really working here?”
On tiptoe, straightening the shelf of hats that had been displaced by customers, Lisa nodded. “I really am.”
“For the whole summer?”
Knowing Amber and recognizing that tone, Lisa turned to face her cousin. “That’s the plan, but Amber, seriously, do not start playing matchmaker.”
At that, Gray looked up and, frowning, put aside some receipts and headed toward them.
“But I have the perfect guy! Actually about a dozen perfect guys.”
“No.”
“Don’t be a stick in the mud. You always work and never have time, but if you’re right here anyway, you at least have to meet them.” Holding up a hand, Amber insisted, “I won’t take no for an answer. A casual meet and greet, that’s all. I know! I’ll invite them over to the Sunday family picnic.”
Nearly every Sunday her entire family gathered together. Both her uncle Sawyer and her uncle Morgan had houses near the lake. Her cousin Casey did, too, but his was smaller, not really equipped for the big crowds of her far-reaching clan.
Dreading the possibility of having some hapless guy pushed on her, Lisa turned to Gray and said, “Sorry, but I already promised Gray that I’d work on Sunday.”
Amber’s face fell.
Gray slid right in there. “It’s true. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize there was a special function.” When Amber gave him a speculative look, he shrugged. “Sundays are busy for us.”
“Hmm.” Amber didn’t look convinced. “We all get together on Sundays. That is, anyone who isn’t busy. Uncle Sawyer sometimes has patients, and Dad sometimes has business out of town that won’t wait. But around Buckhorn, most everyone closes down on Sundays.”
“Not the vacationers.”
“No, they’re always around, and they never think to get what they need before Sunday.” Amber looked from Gray to Lisa and back again. “How many days a week will Lisa work?”
Lisa said quickly, “I like to stay busy. You know that.”
“Mmm-hmm. So...five days?” Amber’s blue eyes measured them both. “Every day?”
Lisa had no idea where Amber was going with this, only that she was definitely going somewhere. How to answer? Very unsure, she said, “Um...yes?”
“Every day. Wow. You really are a workhorse.” Turning to Gray, she added silkily, “Lucky you.”
Gray frowned. “When she needs time off, I’ll do my best to accommodate her.”
“But not this Sunday,” Lisa rushed to clarify.
“No worries.” Looking smug, Amber gave her a hug, turned to pat Gray on the shoulder and on her way out, said, “I’ll see you around.”
As soon as her cousin cleared the doorway, Lisa dropped back against the shelves with a groan.
“Trouble?” Gray asked.
“If you knew Amber, you wouldn’t have to ask.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Gray, innocent and unaware, said, “What can she possibly do?”
CHAPTER THREE (#u196cbdf4-836b-541b-ace1-ffa573ae382f)
EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. For a week. An entire week!
That’s how long Gray had to suffer through seeing each eligible guy in Buckhorn County paraded through his store for Lisa’s approval.
Amber changed it up to keep them guessing, one day coming first thing, then during lunch, once toward suppertime, and so on. Lisa couldn’t plan ahead to avoid her, because she never knew when Amber might show up with the hopeful swain in tow.
Each time Lisa was unfailingly polite to the guy without offering encouragement, while also giving her cousin death stares. The guys weren’t deterred. Not that Gray blamed them.
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Lori Foster
In a sexy new Buckhorn Brothers novella, New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster welcomes readers back to the small town that’s big on romance…Lisa Sommerville’s wild one-night-stand was completely out of character for the workaholic businesswoman. So when she arrives in Buckhorn, Kentucky, to spend a summer rethinking her career, she’s stunned to find that Gray Neely has stepped out of her steamy memories and taken up residence in her hometown. What’s more, the laid-back ex-cop wants to pick up where they left off.Lisa has been on Gray’s mind every day since that mind-blowing encounter. He was reeling from a tragedy in the line of duty, and their connection was instant and intense. Still is. But sleepy Buckhorn is a million miles from her corporate world. And he has one sweet, hot summer to prove they have a future there, together…Don’t miss the other titles in the Buckhorn Brothers series, including Buckhorn Beginnings, Forever Buckhorn, The Buckhorn Legacy, Buckhorn Ever After in the All For You anthology and Back to Buckhorn.
In a sexy new Buckhorn Brothers novella, New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster welcomes readers back to the small town that’s big on romance...
Lisa Sommerville’s wild one-night-stand was completely out of character for the workaholic businesswoman. So when she arrives in Buckhorn, Kentucky to spend a summer rethinking her career, she’s stunned to find that Gray Neely has stepped out of her steamy memories and taken up residence in her hometown. What’s more, the laid-back ex-cop wants to pick up where they left off.
Lisa has been on Gray’s mind every day since that mindblowing encounter. He was reeling from a tragedy in the line of duty, and their connection was instant and intense. Still is. But sleepy Buckhorn is a million miles from her corporate world. And he has one sweet, hot summer to prove they have a future there, together...
And don’t miss the bonus novella Back to Buckhorn, also included in this volume!
Dear Readers,
Welcome back to Buckhorn!
Though I know an actual Buckhorn exists, mine is an entirely fictional town in beautiful Kentucky. My first Buckhorn story was published back in 2000 and the series has become a true reader favorite. For me it seemed a natural fit to combine my need to help stray cats and dogs by continuing the series with a new generation of the leading family in Buckhorn.
Through a special contract with my publisher, the advance and all royalties on A Buckhorn Summer will go directly to the Animal Adoption Foundation, a local no-kill animal shelter that does an amazing job healing, protecting, and loving cats and dogs until a “forever home” can be found for them.
I hope you enjoy the story, and I especially hope you enjoy knowing that by purchasing this story, you’ve helped a dog or cat in need. And don’t miss Back to Buckhorn, my 2014 benefit novella, included as a bonus in this collection!
To see other “benefit books,” visit lorifoster.com/benefit-books/ (http://lorifoster.com/benefit-books/).
And to see other books in the Buckhorn series, visit lorifoster.com/connected-books/#buckhorn (http://lorifoster.com/connected-books/#buckhorn).
From the bottom of my heart, thank you!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (#u196cbdf4-836b-541b-ace1-ffa573ae382f)
LORI FOSTER is a New York Times, USA TODAY and Publishers Weekly bestselling author with books from a variety of publishers, including Berkley/Jove, Kensington, St. Martin’s, Harlequin and Silhouette. Lori has been a recipient of the prestigious RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award for Series Romantic Fantasy, and for Contemporary Romance. For more about Lori, visit her website at www.lorifoster.com (http://www.lorifoster.com).
Don’t miss the other books in the Buckhorn Brothers series, available now from Lori and HQN Books:
“Buckhorn Ever After” (in the Animal Attraction ebook anthology)
The Buckhorn Legacy
Forever Buckhorn
Buckhorn Beginnings
A Buckhorn Summer
Lori Foster
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To the Animal Adoption Foundation,
www.AAFPets.org (http://www.AAFPets.org).
Thank you for all you do to help dogs and cats in need.
I know my contributions are always put to very good use.
It’s been a true pleasure watching the AAF grow!
Contents
Cover (#u9fefe43a-5b79-5e46-a935-9deb9ce34342)
Back Cover Text (#ubaa9454e-1c7c-520c-bf3f-160b519e8885)
Dear Reader (#u06ae5235-c16f-5c22-870e-e7a3c4674cf9)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (#u9905feb9-d05b-5482-aab7-5a479f5802a4)
Title Page (#u7a0d2f7f-6468-5bf7-9fd0-8f8ce4892619)
CHAPTER ONE (#u6baaacc4-4457-5db2-90a7-429d87c5b51d)
CHAPTER TWO (#u90a19109-91c2-5e9a-8537-9689ee045980)
CHAPTER THREE (#udf5fdd96-8b52-5963-b4f0-b08fe5332140)
CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#u196cbdf4-836b-541b-ace1-ffa573ae382f)
ONE MONTH AGO TODAY, she’d awakened disoriented in a posh hotel in Chicago. Exhausted. Tired of travel.
Lonely.
For the longest time she’d stared at the ceiling, getting her bearings and knowing she needed a break. Her stomach had burned from too much stress. Her neck hurt from the small, flat pillow.
Lisa Sommerville had known instinctively that she needed a change, so she’d gotten up, dressed, gone down to the bar and...
“Lighten up,” her cousin Shohn said from behind her as he turned the small outboard motor on the fishing boat, steering around a sunken log and aiming toward the marina where they’d gas up and grab bait. “You’ll have fun. Guaranteed.”
On the seat in front of her, the bright morning sunlight making a halo of his fair hair, her brother, Adam, grinned. “No thinking about work, remember? If we catch you drifting off, Dad gave us permission to drop you in the lake.”
Lisa looked over the side of the boat. The water was green and cool and this early in the day, fairly smooth. “I wasn’t.”
“Fibber,” Adam said.
“That’s all you think about,” Shohn agreed. “But not today.”
She didn’t bother to correct them, to explain that her thoughts had been on her very out-of-character behavior from a month ago. On the sizzling night she’d had. On the fantasy that had come to life and still, every other minute, replayed in her mind.
“Lisa,” Adam warned, again mistaking her quiet.
She looked up at the blinding sunrise splashing colors across a cloudless sky. “I’ll probably take a dip on my own later.” She slanted a look at her brother. “On my own, without your help, after I’ve put on my suit.”
“You could swim in that,” Shohn said, indicating her outfit of shorts and a blue T-shirt.
She turned her narrowed gaze on him, prompting him to grin like the sinner she knew him to be. They all three had dark eyes, but the similarities ended there. She was medium height, with medium-length honey-blond hair and a medium figure. Shohn and Adam both topped six feet. Adam’s hair was far fairer than hers, and Shohn’s was inky black.
Both men lived and worked in Buckhorn, Shohn as a park ranger, Adam as a gym teacher.
She loved Buckhorn as well, but until that fateful night in Chicago, she’d also loved traveling the country, working 24-7, earning her barracuda rep in the business world.
Icy water hit her legs, making her gasp.
“Concentrate,” Shohn said, flicking his now wet fingers at her face, “or I’ll grab a bucketful of water instead of just a handful.”
“I was concentrating!” She brushed water droplets off her heated thighs.
“On fun,” Adam stressed. “Not work.”
Because they’d just reached the dock, Lisa didn’t reply. Without waiting for the boat to steady, she stood and leaped out, a rope in hand, and secured the front of the small boat to a cleat.
Shohn did the same to the back. Adam, holding their bait bucket, hauled himself out behind her.
Every woman around stared. Always. Her cousin and brother had that effect wherever they went. Between them, she felt insubstantial, inadequate, even bland.
Which in part explained why she’d glommed onto business. In a family full of prime physical specimens, male and female alike, she was just so-so.
Except for when it came to brains and drive. Then she excelled.
Or used to. Now she considered changing it all. She could join her family in the slower, easier life of Buckhorn County, Kentucky. Doing what, she didn’t yet know.
Fishing today. But tomorrow? She was not an idle person.
“We lost her again.”
Sure, she needed to slow down. Her health and her very recent aberrant behavior proved she needed that change. No one in her family yet knew of her tension, her migraines, her sleepless nights.
Only that one man, a man she’d never see again—
She screeched when Shohn scooped her up and headed to the side of the dock. “Ohmigod, don’t you dare!”
“You need to be dunked.”
Knotting one hand in his dark hair, the other in his worn T-shirt, she growled, “Try it and you’re going in with me. Or at least your hair is.” She gave a tug to prove her point.
Wincing, laughing, Shohn said, “I’ll jump us both in.”
“No!” Okay, sure, her lake clothes, as she called them, wouldn’t be harmed, but she’d braided her hair and didn’t want it soaked. “Seriously,” she said more calmly. “No.”
Standing beside them, Adam crossed his arms over his bare chest. “Then no more brooding over business.”
Lisa blew out a huff of breath. “If you must know, I wasn’t.”
“Bull.”
“I was thinking of...a guy.” There, she thought. Chew on that.
Both men laughed.
Laughed.
Was it so unheard of for her to be socially interested and interesting? Admitting the pathetic truth, she knew that yes, it was. At thirty, she’d never had a single serious romantic relationship.
She’d had some dates. She’d had some sex.
She’d had that one amazing night that would forever leave her warm and wanting...for more, more, more.
But she’d never been involved. And damn it, that hurt.
Mouth tight and brows angled down, Lisa turned her face away.
The laughter died.
Shohn slowly lowered her to her feet, obliging her to release his hair.
Without a word, Adam slung an arm around her shoulders and again got them heading along the dock to the gravel lot alongside the boat launch and then up the worn path to the small renovated structure that sold anything and everything boaters might need.
Hoping to clear the air, Lisa asked, “When did this change?” She remembered the structure being smaller, more weatherworn and utilitarian. Now it looked like a regular two-story house, complete with flowers planted around the exterior.
The double front doors, standing open, and the picnic tables placed all around the area made it clear the store remained, but otherwise it could have been any other home in Buckhorn.
“Rosemary sold the marina some years back to a married couple who did the additions. But they sold it a few weeks ago and retired to Arizona to be nearer to their grandkids. A new guy stepped right in and the place never closed, not even for a day. It was pretty seamless.”
“Huh.” So it had changed hands twice and she’d been unaware. Crazy how detached she’d been from her home. “I like the addition of a second level. Does the owner live here?”
“I dunno,” Shohn said. “I’ve only met him a few times. He’s friendly, but not real talkative, which I guess makes sense given he’s a retired cop.”
“You’ll probably like him,” Adam teased. “All the single ladies seem to.”
Sure enough, as they stepped into the building, Lisa saw a trio of bikini-clad women huddled around the front counter and register, giggling in amped-up flirt mode.
She snorted. It was barely eight a.m., but the ladies were already on the prowl. The new guy must be interesting. Then again, Buckhorn was such a small, intimate town that anyone new got plenty of attention.
Shohn headed for the live bait selection, Adam went to fill the cooler with drinks and she moseyed down an aisle to pick up sunscreen. As a kid, she’d kept a light tan. As a woman who’d spent most of her time traveling from one business meeting to the next, her skin rarely saw prolonged exposure to the sun.
She remembered fishing trips from her youth and knew the guys would keep her out for hours, maybe right through lunch. She grabbed the sunscreen and a straw hat.
Heading for the snacks, she turned, took two steps—and gasped.
So did the man standing in front of her.
The big, sinfully gorgeous man.
The man with the amazing bod and killer smile and devour-you sex drive.
The man from a month ago.
Her...fantasy.
* * *
GRAY NARROWED HIS EYES, but the vision didn’t change. Big brown eyes locked on his. Those sweet, lush lips parted. Color filled her cheeks.
It was her, but an all-new version of her. A softer, sexier version, though how that was possible, he didn’t know, because every night for a freaking month he’d remembered her as so damned sexy, he felt obsessed.
Neither of them spoke. Hell, he didn’t know what to say.
Let’s go for round two didn’t seem appropriate.
Shohn Hudson and Adam Sommerville, cousins he’d met before, suddenly flanked her.
Cocking a brow, expression cautious, Shohn asked, “Problem?”
Yeah, about a hundred of them. Gray didn’t know her name, didn’t know why she was here, didn’t know if she remembered him or was horrified at seeing him again or if, God willing, she’d like to get reacquainted.
Adam slipped his arm around her and, yeah, that was another problem. Don’t let her be married. Or even involved. In any way.
“You’re new,” Gray finally said, regaining his voice, rough and low as it sounded. His interest must’ve been obvious given how both Adam and Shohn looked at her again, almost as if they’d never seen her before.
She cleared her throat, worked up a very bright, false smile, and stepped away from the two men with her hand extended. “Hello. I’m Lisa Sommerville. Adam’s sister.”
Related? Now that she’d said it, he could see it. She and Adam shared similar dark eyes. And if they were siblings, that’d make Hudson her cousin. Nice. Only related, not involved. He could work with that.
Tucking a small box of candy bars under his left arm, Gray accepted her hand and held on. “Gray Neely.” Her hands were as small and soft as he remembered, her skin just as warm.
Her scent every bit as stirring.
She tugged, and he had no choice but to let her go. “Actually,” she said, now a little breathless, “I’m local. You’re the new one.”
An accusation? “So you live here?” That’d be too much of a coincidence—the first good luck he’d had in a year.
Her chin lifted. “Yes.”
A slow smile growing, Adam looked between them. “Lisa’s a shark, usually away wheeling and dealing with the big dawgs in business.”
“She’s settling back in for a spell, though,” Shohn added.
“Maybe just the summer,” she was quick to say.
Tipping his chin, Shohn asked, “You two know each other?”
Gray waited, and sure enough Lisa—pretty name—said too quickly, her voice a little high, “No.”
Okay, he got that. Their time together wasn’t really the sort you discussed with a brother or cousin.
“Not yet,” Gray corrected, and watched her face go warm. He nodded at the hat she held. “Good idea. Going to be a scorcher today.” And with that he continued on his way, restocking the candy bars on the shelf.
He heard whispering, curiosity from the guys, insistence from Lisa.
Damn, he really liked that name. It suited her.
Nice that he could now add it into the repeat fantasy that played in his head every other minute. That fantasy had been his recent salvation.
He’d met her on a desperate night during a time when nothing made sense and he hadn’t known which way to turn. She’d been fighting her own demons and things had just...happened.
Scorching-hot things that had burned away his indecision and the pain of forced changes. For the remainder of the night they’d stayed tangled in erotic activity. He’d finally passed out, exhausted, sated, his brain blessedly clear of guilt and anger, her slim body held in his arms.
When he woke in the morning, she was gone.
But he’d tackled the day with a new outlook on life, and ended up in Buckhorn.
Now she was here, in the flesh, close at hand.
Glancing up, he saw the guys were teasing her and felt safe approaching again. “So how many of you are there in the area? Your family is large, right?”
Lisa moved on, pretending to consider the healthy snacks, but Adam and Shohn remained. “There’s a bunch of us,” Adam said, launching into a recitation of the many relatives, some of whom Gray had met, some he hadn’t.
They were an impressive lot, and from what he could tell, they influenced a lot of the town. “I need to take notes to keep you all straight.”
“Amber could help you with that. She’s Garrett’s sister.”
“Met her,” Gray said. Amber Hudson was beautiful, with dark hair and bright blue eyes and a smile that’d win over the darkest heart.
She also scared the pants off him. She had a bold manner and a controlling streak that kept him two cautious steps away. Not that two steps had been far enough. Within five minutes of meeting him she’d managed to get more info out of him than the rest of her relatives combined.
When Lisa looked up at him, he felt it. Her brows were slightly pinched, her expression uneasy. Because he’d met Amber?
Needing her to understand, to know his intent, he stepped away from Shohn and Adam and approached her. “If you stay, what will you do?”
She breathed a little faster. “Do?”
Yeah, he liked the way her mind worked. Suppressing a smile, he said, “Jobwise.”
“Oh.”
Now she just looked flustered, and that was so different from the confident woman she’d been with him before that he had to feel his way carefully. “You are staying, right? That’s what your cousin said.”
She snatched up a granola bar, stared at it and put it back.
Indecisive? That, too, was different, but he didn’t mind. He took a step closer, near enough to inhale the scent of her sun-warmed skin and hair. God, he remembered that scent, how it had mingled with his own when he’d moved over her, both of them naked.
“I’m not... I don’t know yet.” She licked her bottom lip, glanced past him to her relatives, saw they were chatting up some other customers and stared up at him with those big, soulful eyes.
“Shh,” he whispered. “It’s okay.”
She swallowed.
“Far as anyone knows, or will ever know, this is the first time we’ve met.” By sheer force of will he kept his hands to himself when what he really wanted, what he needed, was to touch her, to pull her small, soft body in against his—again. “You have my word.”
She released a tense breath. “Thank you.” As her cousin and brother drew near again, she added, “I haven’t left my job. I mean, I tried to. I gave my four weeks’ notice, but they countered with another promotion. I declined and they requested that I take the summer to think about it. So I guess I’m on a hiatus.”
That night in the dim hotel bar in Chicago, she’d been teeming with restless energy. But here, now, he could see the remnants of exhaustion. Bone deep. The type of tiredness a person learned to live with.
He understood that, since he’d felt it himself many times. “They must appreciate you.”
She nodded.
“What is it you do?”
Before she could answer, Shohn bragged on her. “She’s a top-notch troubleshooter.”
“Meaning she goes to businesses that are in trouble,” Adam explained, “and analyzes their problems, then tells them the best way to be more efficient and profitable.”
“She’s been all over the country,” Shohn added. “And sometimes out of the country.”
“Guys...” Lisa protested.
“I think she should loaf for the summer.” Adam nudged her. “Regroup and just play.”
“She’s earned it.” Shohn added, “Problem is, Lisa doesn’t do well with idle time. Never has.”
“She’d go screaming nuts in under a week.”
Giving them both a quelling frown, Lisa said to Gray, “I’m still considering my job prospects.”
Prospects that could take her right back out of Buckhorn? Not if he could help it. “Could I make a suggestion?”
The guys were interested, but Lisa just looked appalled. Mind made up, he forged on. “I haven’t been here that long and I’m still learning the ropes. If you’re related to those two, then I assume you know everyone in town, and most of what there is to know about catering to vacationers.”
She opened her mouth, but it was Shohn who said, “She does.”
Adam added, “She’s driven her fair share of boats, launched them, too, and even worked on them a few times with our uncle Gabe.”
“Gabe, the handyman.” Gray had met his daughters, all three of them. They were very pretty girls who flirted playfully. And they were all too young for him—not that he’d been interested anyway.
“When my uncle Jordan married Lisa’s mom, she was still a kid,” Shohn explained. “So she grew up around here. She knows everyone.”
“Jordan, the vet?”
“Yup,” Shohn said. “He has a real nice way with animals.”
So one of the icons was her dad? “Got it.”
“And,” Adam continued, “being the overachiever she’s always been, she’s organized plenty of community activities with our uncle Morgan, back when he was sheriff and since he’s been mayor.”
Morgan, the big, badass protector. Who the hell wasn’t her relative? Gray said only, “Met him, liked him.”
Shohn said, “She’s also—”
“Stop selling me!”
Her brother and cousin gaped at her. Grinning, Gray shook his head. “Amazing to me that either of you have hooked up. Not smooth, guys. Not smooth at all.”
Adam scowled. “Now wait a minute. I wasn’t—”
“It’s okay,” Gray assured him. Hell, he was already sold. It didn’t require a pitch. Then to Lisa, he asked, “Why don’t you come by tomorrow morning, say around six before I open, and we can discuss it?”
Her eyes widened. Both men stayed mute.
“The pay won’t be what you’re used to, but the work won’t be, either. You want to enjoy the summer but also stay busy, right? I figure we can probably work out something fair. I’ll be flexible on what hours you need to be here.”
Amazingly, her eyes widened even more.
Cute as well as sexy. He could get lost in those dark eyes. In her slim throat, a pulse thrummed wildly. Her gaze remained fixed on his, and hell if he’d look away first. Didn’t matter to him if they stood there all day.
Shohn nudged her, maybe a little harder than he meant to given that she stumbled.
Startled, she turned and smacked him. “What is wrong with you?”
“Me?” Shohn pointed at her. “You were the one gawking.”
She flared. “I was not!”
Rolling his eyes, Adam said, “Yeah, you were.”
Gray grinned. “You’re all close, huh?”
“Very,” Adam said with what sounded like a belated warning.
Having been a cop in a shit area rife with violent crime, Gray didn’t pay a lot of attention to bluster. “What do you say, Lisa?” As an incentive, he added, “I promise to keep you busy without overworking you, and if you enjoy the lake, well, then, it could feel as much like an extended vacation as not.”
Put on the spot, she finally nodded. “All right. Fine. I’ll be here at six and we can discuss it.”
“Not too early for you?”
Adam snorted. “She’ll just be finishing up her jog.”
Huh. So she liked to run? They had that in common. Gray wanted to know every little thing about her, but he could be patient. Maybe.
“If you’re ready, I can ring you up.”
Everyone followed him to the counter, and a minute after that he watched her go—his gaze glued to her small rounded butt in the short shorts. Damn. He remembered that sweet behind all too well, how it had fit in his hands, the tantalizing contrast of soft and firm.
With any luck at all, he’d be getting familiar again real soon.
CHAPTER TWO (#u196cbdf4-836b-541b-ace1-ffa573ae382f)
LUCKILY NO ONE was around when she untied the small fishing boat and pushed away from the dock. It took three pulls on the cord before she got the motor going, then she settled onto the hard wooden seat and started down the lake.
She could have used any of the boats; the family collectively had three inboard boats, two pontoons and a variety of rowboats and fishing boats. But this particular one was the quietest and she’d as soon not draw attention. She’d done enough of that already.
The sun had just started to rise from behind the hills, sending fingers of crimson and gold to cut through the lavender dawn and play across the calm surface of the lake. Taking it slow, Lisa watched a fish jump, saw a few birds diving, turned her face up to the warm, humid breeze.
She’d always loved the fast pace of her high-pressure job.
But she also loved the peace of the lake, and maybe it was past time to find a better balance between the two.
After showering off the sweat from her jog, she’d put on sunscreen and a touch of makeup. It hadn’t been easy, dodging all the curious questions and over-the-top speculation from Adam and Shohn yesterday. They’d teased, harangued and outrageously guessed without ever once coming close to the truth.
That she’d had a sizzling-hot one-night stand with a total stranger who had now, by the fickle hand of fate, relocated to her hometown.
Shohn and Adam were both utter hedonists, open in their own sexual pursuits. But when it came to her—or any of the women in the family, really—they played deaf, dumb and blind, at least with matters of sexuality. If she told them the truth, they’d be stunned, but she knew with complete confidence that they wouldn’t judge her harshly, would in fact back her up in anything she decided.
She loved them, but that hadn’t made it easy fending off their nonsense, all while lost in the reality of the situation.
It felt good to be home.
It felt...something altogether different knowing she’d shortly see her fantasy man again.
He was here, in Buckhorn, where she considered starting over.
He hadn’t forgotten her.
He wanted her to work with him day in and day out.
Did that mean he hoped to pick up where they’d left off, as if she’d be that easy?
Or did it mean he wasn’t interested and spending that much time with her in close proximity wouldn’t make him as lust-crazed as it would her?
No, she couldn’t believe that. Even Shohn and Adam had noticed his interest. And commented on it. Repeatedly.
“Lisa has an admirer,” Shohn had said in a childish singsong voice.
“All the single ladies will be so sad to know he’s already hooked,” Adam had added while patting a hand over his heart. “Guess I’ll just have to console them.”
“I think it was love at first sight.”
“Wait until he finds out she’s smarter than him.”
“And more motivated.”
“And better paid.”
Finally Lisa had willingly gone over the side of the boat, opposite from where they’d cast their fishing lines. Ignoring their calls, she’d swum to shore and pretended to consider walking back until they both begged her not to. If it hadn’t been for the cow patties everywhere she tried to step, and the occasional spider web stretched between colorful weeds, she would have walked. But she wasn’t an idiot.
Just embarrassed. And overcome with lust. And now even more fixated on her fantasy man.
Gray Neely.
On top of being the sexiest, most gorgeous man she’d ever met, he was also kind and considerate.
He’d willingly let her off the hook, promising not to speak of their previous acquaintance.
He was also macho, a man’s man, easily meshing with her brother and cousin. How he’d looked...
She drew in a shuddering breath, filling her lungs with country air, and again pictured him in her mind. Rugged beard stubble. Alert gray eyes, focused on her. Hair longer and more disheveled. Loose board shorts and laceless sneakers, his shirt open, his muscled, hairy chest bare.
Damn, but her mouth watered, and she was so distracted she didn’t dock as smoothly as usual. A frog leaped away as she drew a line through the cleat on the dock and secured the boat. A few more deep breaths and, hiking her canvas tote bag over her shoulder, she climbed out of the boat.
From the shadows of the gas pumps three docks down, a deep voice said, “I figured you’d come by water.” Shirtless, barefoot, wearing only trunks, he pushed to his feet and strode toward her. His dark hair was wet, slicked back, his sinner’s eyelashes spiked, his beard even more noticeable.
He stopped only a few feet from her, his gaze taking a lazy stroll from her braided hair down her body to the flip-flops on her feet. “Whenever I thought of you—and I did, often—I saw you in a business suit, your hair contained, your look professional. I liked that look a lot, especially since it was so different from the woman you became in my room.”
A wild woman, that’s what he meant, because that’s what she’d been. Her breath stalled. “Voices carry,” she whispered. “We can’t talk here on the lake.”
He held out a hand and, feeling as risqué as she had that night a month ago, she took it. God, she remembered his hands, so big and strong, a little rough from work, but warm and gentle as they’d touched her. Everywhere.
Silently he led her up to the store, and with each step she took, her heart jumped harder, faster. Low in her stomach, butterflies battled.
She was thirty years old, but she’d never, not once, experienced desire like this. Only with him.
One of the double doors stood open and as they stepped inside, Gray closed and locked it. Her breath caught and anticipation sharpened.
No lights were on and without the sun coming through the windows, it remained dark...and intimate.
He slowly backed her up to the wall and cupped one hand to the side of her face. “As I was saying.”
Lisa felt his breath, the warmth of his big body, and had no idea what he was talking about.
“I like seeing you in these short shorts, and I like your hair like this. You were sexy before, but now you’re earthy, too, and I want another taste.”
After saying all that, he waited, giving her time.
Lisa nervously, anxiously licked her bottom lip—and saw his gaze sharpen.
“I remember you with short hair,” she whispered. “Clean-shaven, polished.” She reached up, smoothing back a lock of wet hair that had fallen over his brow. “Now your hair is shaggy, you’re already tanned, and this beard scruff...” She coasted her thumb over his bristly jaw, feeling the tease of that rasp deep inside herself. “Not only are you not in a dress shirt, you’re shirtless, and honestly, it’s making me a little nuts.”
“Nuts is good.” He moved closer still but didn’t quite touch her. “I was waiting on you, remembering how it had been, thinking of how it could be again, and got myself so worked up that I had to jump in the lake to cool down.”
Lisa smiled. Little by little, the same chemistry she’d felt that night in the bar came sneaking over her. “I was stunned to see you here.”
He nodded. “Stunned, but pleased.” Both hands now cupped her face and he murmured huskily, “I’ve missed you.”
It saddened her to say it, but they both needed a reminder of the truth. “You don’t even know me.”
“Not true.” Gray slowly lowered his head until his nose touched her temple. “I know your scent, the feel of your skin, and how you taste.”
His lips lightly grazed her cheek, making her shiver.
Near her ear, he whispered, “I know the sounds you make when you come.”
She released a shuddering, broken breath.
“Yeah,” he said with satisfaction. “That’s how it starts.” He trailed his fingertips down her shoulder to her elbow, then under her breast and over her frantically pounding heartbeat. “It ends with sweet, rough, broken moans and you holding me tight until the pleasure is over.”
The way he said it, she felt it. “Yes.”
“I want it all. Again.”
As his hand covered her breast, his palm teasing her nipple, she nodded and admitted the truth. “Me, too.”
* * *
“WE HAVE AN HOUR.” It wasn’t long enough, but it was better than nothing. He needed her. Bad.
Right now.
But she didn’t move. In fact, she seemed to be holding her breath.
When he looked down at her, Gray saw her eyes closed, her bottom lip caught in her teeth, her expression sweetly agonized.
He continued to cuddle her breast while raining small, damp kisses down her jaw and her throat to her shoulder. Jesus, she smelled good, like the fresh outdoors and musk and every fucking fantasy he’d ever had, all rolled into one.
But damn it, she still didn’t say anything, and as bad as he wanted her, he wanted her to feel the same.
Time to rein it in. Wasn’t easy, but he asked, “You need some time?”
She nodded, then shook her head, then groaned. “I don’t know.”
Well, that was answer enough. “It’s okay. I can wait.” It’d kill him. A dozen times over. But if that’s what she needed—
“That night...” Her eyes opened, full of pleading confusion. “That wasn’t me.”
“It wasn’t me, either.” He dropped both hands to her waist—safer territory—and put his forehead to hers. “It was just...right. The right time, the right person.” He had to kiss her, just once, so he did. Not too deep, but far from a peck. And far from satisfying. “The right thing to do—for both of us.”
“I’ve never done anything like it before.”
For a novice, she’d been damn good. Great. Mind-blowing, in fact. “I don’t exactly make a habit of it, either.” He smiled, realizing something. “I like your name.”
Her laugh was muffled against his throat. “I like yours, too.”
“I meant what I said.” With two fingers under her chin, he brought her face up. “It’s nobody’s business but ours.”
She nodded. “This is my home, Gray. My entire family is here.”
“I know. Everywhere I go, I trip over one of them.” He kissed her again, all the while telling himself he had to stop that. Except that she kissed him back and damn, that nearly killed his resolve not to push her. He eased back, a little more breathless. Harder. “I like them.”
Dazed, her gaze on his mouth, she asked, “Who?”
So cute. So fucking hot. Eventually she’d be his again. He had to believe that. “Your family.”
“Oh. Right. Yeah, they’re all terrific.” Rubbing at her forehead, she admitted, “None of them would ever expect this of me. I’ve been so singularly focused on my career, I never made much time for relationships.”
He paused—and she shot her gaze to his.
“Not that this is a relationship. God, no. I mean...”
He loved how she blushed.
A little desperately, she said, “It was just sex.”
“That felt like more?”
Time stretched out with neither of them confirming or denying that.
Until finally, an eternity later, she nodded. “Yes. It felt like more.”
Her hand opened on his chest, the touch now familiar, bringing all those other touches to the forefront of his mind. She’d been bold, curious, and she’d burned him up.
He covered her hand with his own. “To me, too.” So many times he’d regretted not getting her name or contact info. At the time, both of them had enjoyed the anonymity and the relief of distraction.
He’d realized too late that he wanted more, because she’d already gone. Now that he knew her better and understood what an anomaly it was for her to indulge in a one-night stand, he understood why she hadn’t stuck around.
“Will it freak you out to know I thought about you a lot?” Her thick lashes swept down, hiding her eyes, and her voice was barely a whisper. “Every night, but sometimes during the day, too.”
He wasn’t freaked out at all. Just the opposite. “Glad to know I wasn’t alone in that.” Another kiss, this one longer, deeper. Hot. He licked his tongue along her bottom lip, then just inside. Her lips parted more, and he sank in, hungry, needing this. Needing her.
She moaned.
“It’s okay,” he told her as he readjusted, aligning his body to hers, drawing her closer. “It’s just a kiss.”
“Just a kiss.” Her arms came around his neck and, helping with the embrace, she went on tiptoe.
Time slipped away. If he wanted her to work with him—and hell, yeah, he did—he needed to iron out a few details before customers started showing up.
Again cupping her face, he ended the kiss by small degrees, then drew her head to his chest. He gave himself a few seconds to catch his breath and clear the fog of lust before he said, “If I could make another suggestion?”
“Another?”
He liked her braid. It was a little loose, a little sloppy. He ran his hand along the length and enjoyed the silkiness of her hair. “The first being that you work with me.”
“Oh, yeah. That.”
“Yes, that.” He took a step back to see her but kept a hand flattened to the wall beside her head. “And if you agree, then how about we start over?”
She shook her head. “With what?”
“Yesterday is the first day we formally met.” And now he had an opportunity to know her, really know her.
Along with her million family members.
Fighting off a laugh ripe with embarrassment, Lisa covered her mouth and whispered, “We did that without even knowing each other’s names.”
Liking her laugh—liking her—he said, “I know.”
She snickered. “’Course you do. You were there.”
“There, and very actively participating.” Backing up so that he wouldn’t pressure her again, Gray leaned a hip on the ice cream case and smiled at her. “I didn’t need your name. But everything else...” His smile faded. “I needed the rest of it in a bad way. So thank you. You don’t know it, but you turned me around.”
Inching closer, she asked, “What does that mean?”
Hard to explain, especially since he didn’t entirely understand it, but he gave it a shot. “I was...” He wouldn’t say lost. That sounded real pansy-ass. “...at loose ends.” And struggling to get my head on straight. But again, that made him sound far too weak. “I needed a change, but I’d been resisting and fucking brooding about it and if you hadn’t showed up I probably would have gotten shitfaced and then gotten up the next day and carried on as usual. But after you...”
Those big, dark eyes watched him with gentle curiosity. “After me?”
“Everything felt different. Me, my situation.”
“What situation is that?”
He shook his head. No way would he lay the heavy stuff on her. Not now, maybe not ever. “I was ready for a change of pace, and so here I am. But I had no idea I’d find you here, too.”
She tipped her head and that silky braid fell over her shoulder, the tip resting against her breast. “Shohn and Adam said you were a cop?”
“Yeah.” He’d thought to retire from the force when he hit his midsixties. Not with an injury. Not with rage consuming him. Not with his best friend gone forever.
Now very near, Lisa asked, “Not anymore?”
He shook his head again, but that didn’t suffice, so he said, “No.”
Her eyes went softer, darker. She touched his arm. “You’re from Chicago?”
“No, but my partner was.” He pushed off the case, moving away from her and the comfort he didn’t deserve, giving her his back. “I’m originally from Cincinnati. I was only in Chicago for his funeral.”
He didn’t hear Lisa move, but he felt the light touch of her small hand on his back. “I’m sorry.”
Done with that subject, Gray turned to face her and gestured at the shop. “The hours are flexible. Minimum wage to start, but I’m open to promoting you if things work out.”
Her lips twitched. “Wow, such a...great offer.”
“You’ll be working with me most of the time.”
“There is that.”
She considered it a perk? Because he sure as hell did.
As if thinking it out, she began to pace. “Like you said, my family is everywhere, and never, not in a million years, would they ever think I’d do...what we did.”
“That just means I know you better than most.” He’d already told her it was their secret; she’d either trust him on that or not.
“In some ways, you do. But for the most part, we’re still strangers.”
Didn’t feel that way to him. “We could do a trial run. Take a week or two just to get to know each other.” He didn’t need that, but it looked as though she did. Patience, he reminded himself.
Her expression perked up. “A trial run? For the job?”
“For us,” he explained. “I’d be completely hands-off. That is, unless you say otherwise.” Dead serious, he admitted, “The second you say you’re ready, I’m full go. But until then, for all anyone will ever know, we just met.”
“You’d be doing all the giving.”
Heat rolled through him, making his voice gruff. “Believe me, I remember the payoff, and lady, you’re well worth the wait.”
Again her face warmed, but she smiled. “Gorgeous, generous and a charmer, too. How am I supposed to resist that?”
“You’re not. So tell me, Lisa Sommerville. You wanna work for me?”
“You know, Gray Neely, I believe I do.”
“Great.” Hearing voices outside, he strode to the doors and opened them. “You can start right now.”
* * *
THE MORNING WENT off without a hitch. It was, in fact, enjoyable to jump in on one of the busiest days on the lake. As a kid, Lisa had been to the shop so many times that she knew the layout, which hadn’t changed much, caught on quick to restocking and enjoyed her turn at refueling the boats.
It also impressed her how Gray handled things. He was friendly with the customers, making an effort to remember names and relationships, deferential with the elders, patient with the kids and judicious with the flirting hordes of women who descended on him.
Okay, so maybe there weren’t actual hordes. But there were a lot of them, and to her dismay, none of them appeared to need time to think about it. Most of the women were unknown to her, vacationers there for the summer or maybe just a day.
But a few others were women she’d grown up with. Even April and Kady, two of her uncle Gabe’s beautiful blond bombshell daughters, came in.
It was a joke in the family, how her uncle Gabe had been such a handful and a ladies’ man and now all three of his daughters were miniature, more feminine versions of him, which meant they turned heads everywhere they went.
Gray, however, treated them with the same reserved, respectful politeness he used with the rest of the women.
All except her. With her, he smiled more warmly, and more often. And she caught him constantly watching her. Each and every time their gazes met, she felt the heat and need like a growing, combustible force.
Did she dare indulge in another fling with him?
Did she have the willpower to resist?
Later that day, around suppertime, her uncle Morgan’s daughter, Amber, showed up. The opposite of Kady and April, Amber had long, sleek dark hair and amazing blue eyes. Also unlike Kady and April, Amber wore a sundress instead of a bikini. She still looked like a model, and Lisa still felt drab in comparison.
Amber spoke to Gray only for a minute, then swooped in on Lisa. “You’re really working here?”
On tiptoe, straightening the shelf of hats that had been displaced by customers, Lisa nodded. “I really am.”
“For the whole summer?”
Knowing Amber and recognizing that tone, Lisa turned to face her cousin. “That’s the plan, but Amber, seriously, do not start playing matchmaker.”
At that, Gray looked up and, frowning, put aside some receipts and headed toward them.
“But I have the perfect guy! Actually about a dozen perfect guys.”
“No.”
“Don’t be a stick in the mud. You always work and never have time, but if you’re right here anyway, you at least have to meet them.” Holding up a hand, Amber insisted, “I won’t take no for an answer. A casual meet and greet, that’s all. I know! I’ll invite them over to the Sunday family picnic.”
Nearly every Sunday her entire family gathered together. Both her uncle Sawyer and her uncle Morgan had houses near the lake. Her cousin Casey did, too, but his was smaller, not really equipped for the big crowds of her far-reaching clan.
Dreading the possibility of having some hapless guy pushed on her, Lisa turned to Gray and said, “Sorry, but I already promised Gray that I’d work on Sunday.”
Amber’s face fell.
Gray slid right in there. “It’s true. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize there was a special function.” When Amber gave him a speculative look, he shrugged. “Sundays are busy for us.”
“Hmm.” Amber didn’t look convinced. “We all get together on Sundays. That is, anyone who isn’t busy. Uncle Sawyer sometimes has patients, and Dad sometimes has business out of town that won’t wait. But around Buckhorn, most everyone closes down on Sundays.”
“Not the vacationers.”
“No, they’re always around, and they never think to get what they need before Sunday.” Amber looked from Gray to Lisa and back again. “How many days a week will Lisa work?”
Lisa said quickly, “I like to stay busy. You know that.”
“Mmm-hmm. So...five days?” Amber’s blue eyes measured them both. “Every day?”
Lisa had no idea where Amber was going with this, only that she was definitely going somewhere. How to answer? Very unsure, she said, “Um...yes?”
“Every day. Wow. You really are a workhorse.” Turning to Gray, she added silkily, “Lucky you.”
Gray frowned. “When she needs time off, I’ll do my best to accommodate her.”
“But not this Sunday,” Lisa rushed to clarify.
“No worries.” Looking smug, Amber gave her a hug, turned to pat Gray on the shoulder and on her way out, said, “I’ll see you around.”
As soon as her cousin cleared the doorway, Lisa dropped back against the shelves with a groan.
“Trouble?” Gray asked.
“If you knew Amber, you wouldn’t have to ask.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Gray, innocent and unaware, said, “What can she possibly do?”
CHAPTER THREE (#u196cbdf4-836b-541b-ace1-ffa573ae382f)
EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. For a week. An entire week!
That’s how long Gray had to suffer through seeing each eligible guy in Buckhorn County paraded through his store for Lisa’s approval.
Amber changed it up to keep them guessing, one day coming first thing, then during lunch, once toward suppertime, and so on. Lisa couldn’t plan ahead to avoid her, because she never knew when Amber might show up with the hopeful swain in tow.
Each time Lisa was unfailingly polite to the guy without offering encouragement, while also giving her cousin death stares. The guys weren’t deterred. Not that Gray blamed them.
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Lori Foster
Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 16.04.2024
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О книге: In a sexy new Buckhorn Brothers novella, New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster welcomes readers back to the small town that’s big on romance…Lisa Sommerville’s wild one-night-stand was completely out of character for the workaholic businesswoman. So when she arrives in Buckhorn, Kentucky, to spend a summer rethinking her career, she’s stunned to find that Gray Neely has stepped out of her steamy memories and taken up residence in her hometown. What’s more, the laid-back ex-cop wants to pick up where they left off.Lisa has been on Gray’s mind every day since that mind-blowing encounter. He was reeling from a tragedy in the line of duty, and their connection was instant and intense. Still is. But sleepy Buckhorn is a million miles from her corporate world. And he has one sweet, hot summer to prove they have a future there, together…Don’t miss the other titles in the Buckhorn Brothers series, including Buckhorn Beginnings, Forever Buckhorn, The Buckhorn Legacy, Buckhorn Ever After in the All For You anthology and Back to Buckhorn.