“Well,”—Ma pointed at the silverware drawer—“tired or not, that table’s not gonna set itself. Do the silverware, would you?”
As he set his beer down and rolled his eyes, Ma winked. “It won’t take your mind off a girl in a wet dress, but it’ll at least keep your hands busy, right?”
—
“How long are you staying, Jess?” Hayley’s eyes widened as she looked at Jess’s bed in the cabin, strewn with three open suitcases. Her curly red hair was restrained by a pink, sparkly headband that looked suspiciously like a nine-year-old had made it, but for some reason it just made her look even more adorable than usual.
Jess stuffed a pile of T-shirts into a drawer. “Two weeks.”
“Good God! How much did you have to pay in baggage fees?”
“I packed in a rush, okay? And the weather out here’s a little unpredictable, temperature-wise. I wanted to be prepared.” So far she’d found enough yoga clothes to hold three classes a day, but she still hadn’t found any underwear.
Hayley pulled a tank dress out of one suitcase and held it up to herself in the mirror. “I wish I could rock this color.”
“You could.”
She smirked. “Right. Because redheads look fabulous in yellow. So”—Hayley put the dress on a hanger in the closet—“I hear Cole welcomed you with open arms this afternoon.”
Jess laughed. “He welcomed me with something.” She pushed a pile of jeans into a drawer. “You should have seen his face, Hayls. I have never seen a more mortified man in my entire life.”
“I might have actually paid to see that.”
Jess pulled a hoodie out of her suitcase, but stopped before she got it onto a hanger. “I’ll kill you if you repeat this, but I somehow managed to forget how utterly gorgeous that man is.”
“There’s a reason the Whisper Creek website gets six thousand hits a day.”
“Is he still—”
“A player?” Hayley’s eyebrows lifted. “You know, the more I get to know him, the more I wonder how much of a cover that is. I think, deep down, he wishes he could find somebody to settle down with.”
“Right.” Jess rolled her eyes. “Because that’s what every red-blooded cowboy dreams of—being tied down.”
“You asked.”
“Idle curiosity.” Jess moved to the closet again. Right. Idle curiosity, her foot. The feel of Cole’s arms around her wet body two hours ago had ignited all sorts of feelings she was completely unprepared to deal with.
“Well, now that you’re in dry clothes again, we should probably head up to the lodge for dinner. I heard Ma’s making your favorite.”
“I’m going to adopt that woman.”
Hayley shook her head. “Too late. I already did.”
As they left the bedroom, Jess looked around the cabin, a peaceful feeling stealing in the same way it had every time she’d come out to Whisper Creek. The living room had a big, soft couch with lots of colorful pillows, and if she hadn’t promised Kyla she’d help with the guests all week, she could easily picture spending days on end settled in the cushions with a pile of romance novels.
Maybe escaping into someone else’s story would help her stomach stop churning when she thought of her own past creeping in to rope her back.
They pushed through the screen door onto the wide front porch with its double swing, and Jess sighed contentedly as she took in the sight of the big, new stable just down the hill, and the main lodge just up the pathway.
“Miss this place, did you?” Hayley slung an arm over her shoulder as they started toward the lodge.
“I never realize just how much until I’m here again.”
“Cole tends to have that effect on women.”
Jess laughed. “We’re back to that again? I was referring to the scenery.”
“He qualifies.” Hayley shrugged. “I don’t suppose you know your face gets all rosy when you talk about him.”
“Does not.” Jess put her hands to her cheeks, then snapped them back down. She was not a woman who went all blushy when confronted with a super gorgeous man. Even if that man was a cowboy. And furthermore, even if that man was Cole, whose—scenery—she’d been appreciating for two years now.
Hayley laughed. “Totally does, but I won’t tell Kyla.”
“The only reason my face is getting—rosy—is because all I can think about is the fact that he saw way more than just my dress once that hose hit me.”
“And it will probably fuel his fantasies for weeks. I wouldn’t worry about it.” Hayley snorted. “He didn’t see any more than your little undies, I’m sure. And