chair and examined him. He’d draped his leathers over the arm of the chair, his combat boots standing beside them with his socks lying over the top. He wore a pair of purple plaid boxers that formed to his ass like a second skin. His heavily muscled legs were very long and tucked so he could fit in the confines of the sofa. She let her eyes travel up to his wide back and huge arms, one of which was flopped over the back of the sofa. A tattoo of a snake wound around his arm, up his shoulder, and rested on one side of his neck. He had dark brown hair that was currently wild, sticking up in various places. She smiled as she sipped her coffee. He must have fallen asleep when it was wet.
The sound of a truck driving down the street drew her eyes toward the kitchen window. This little town had been her salvation. When she arrived just over four years ago, she’d wanted nothing to do with anyone in the town. She wanted to lick her wounds and mourn what she’d lost, but Hollister had another idea. The first week she’d had visits from everyone who lived in town. They filled her kitchen with preserves, pies, and cookies. The following week the women from the ranches showed up. They were some of the strongest women she’d ever met, yet they, too, made the new female doc welcome. She’d repeated nurse practitioner so many times that first month that it became a running joke, and the people of the town still introduced her wrong but gave her a wink.
The little town had a flow of its own that balanced around the ranches and so did the injuries that she tended to. Broken limbs, deep cuts, concussions, and crushed feet. The first time she saw the damage a bull could do to a human foot she became a devoted town dweller. There was nothing on the ranches that she needed or wanted to see. Etched on each of her patients’ faces was the evidence of a hard life, but the shock was these people loved what they did. They willingly cared for the stock and battled the elements that made the daily grind of ranching that much harder.
She smiled as the morning sun peeked into the window. The town would come to life shortly, but until then… She turned her attention back to the man on her couch. She leaned her head to the side. Zeke had used her couch frequently, but she’d never once ogled him the way she was admiring this dark stranger. Jeremiah Wheeler. His outside screamed bad boy and his demeanor countered that image. He was… exciting. She sighed. It had been years since she’d looked at a man the way she was looking at Jeremiah.
Her eyes lifted to her wedding picture on the shelf. Her husband, Riley, was a wonderful man. They were married for two years before he was killed. She’d lived double that time here in Hollister. The pace was slower, the people nice, and the prospect of a romantic relationship slim to none. At least, it was until Zeke started his practice after Doctor Coogan retired. Zeke made it obvious he wanted more than a friendship, but while it flattered her, she wasn’t excited. His touch didn’t set her on fire. She wished it had because Zeke was nice, but there was no spark for her.
She took another sip of her coffee and watched Jeremiah’s ribs expand and contract. The relief of his muscles under his skin was beautiful in a physical sense and unnerving in others. That the sculpted body attracted her to him answered several questions she’d been pondering. Had the desire she felt with Riley been a fluke? Her eyes traveled down the long, muscled body of the sleeping man. No. She thought Jeremiah, the dark-haired, green-eyed bad boy, was attractive, and she admitted she felt a pull toward him but not toward Zeke. Zeke was an attractive man, tall, broad shoulders, blond hair, and blue eyes. Her friend Allison Sanderson swooned every time Zeke showed up. Eden chuckled quietly. Allison swooned every time any unattached man showed up. She’d fallen head over heels in love with at least twenty different men in the last three years without them ever speaking to her.
That hadn’t been the case for Eden, and until recently, that was okay. She’d healed. She hadn’t forgotten Riley, but the pain of