she didn’t want to look at or talk to him, ever. She slowly spun and there he was, easing out of his big old truck. Stetson Stillwater. She’d make fun of his too-typical cowboy name if it wasn’t so sexy and didn’t fit him so well.
She wanted to look away, claim he was definitely not a hot cowboy, but there was only so much lying and depriving oneself of staring at such perfection that a girl could do. She stared, clutching her ice cream cone, licking her lips instead of the ice cream. Stetson stopped to talk to Zane Naylor, a very nice man about his and Cruz’s age who was socially backward and had a few mental difficulties. Cruz and Stetson had always watched out for Zane. Walking on a few minutes later, Stetson tipped his hat to Mary Penrose, Doc’s wife, and her two young daughters. The girls gazed up worshipfully at him and his eyes crinkled as he gifted them with his slow grin.
That smile. Those eyes. Those crystal blue eyes that seemed to see straight through her animosity and right into her girlish dreams about him. She loved and hated those eyes so much.
He said goodbye to yet another group of female worshippers and walked on. His strides were purposeful and his body was well-built, showcased far too well in that t-shirt and nicely-fitted jeans, and dang if he wasn’t the most beautiful creation the good Lord had ever put on this earth. Why did he have to look so good when he ticked Cat off so completely?
It appeared he was angling for Meredith’s ice cream shop, but he glanced around as if he could feel Cat’s eyes on him. He met her gaze and the world disappeared. Cat tried to swallow but her throat was too dry. Stetson stopped walking completely, in the middle of Main Street, staring into Cat’s eyes.
She licked her lips and against all that was right or smart, she smiled at the son of a gun before she could stop herself. His answering grin yanked the oxygen from her lungs and the resistance from her body. He was going to march over here and ask her out and she was going to forget her anger and protecting her own heart and join the throngs of women who knew exactly how it felt to be kissed by the “hot cowboy.”
Her heart started racing as he did exactly as she’d hoped and strode in her direction. She put a hand to her heart and prayed for help and strength. She’d hated Stetson Stillwater for six years now. He’d been a little slow to join her angry parade, but he was a smart guy and he caught on when she avoided him, regularly hid sacks of fish guts in his truck and tractor, and was more poisonous than snake venom when she saw him.
Over the past few years, they’d settled into a comfortably toxic relationship. She regularly took digs at him at church, potlucks, any time he came into the resort or she saw him in town, but dang him for being so appealing, always responding to her digs with kindness. Her biggest fear was that she’d fall susceptible to his charms and go the way of her mother.
He had almost reached her and she had no clue how she was going to keep resisting him if he kept looking at her like that. Then his gaze shifted and he said warmly, “Meredith. How are you?”
Meredith? Cat shook her head, coming out of her Stetson-induced fog and remembered her friend was sitting right next to her. Meredith stood and took the hand Stetson offered. “Great. How are you?”
“Good. I had to run some errands and I wanted to thank you for the bread and jam. It was delicious, reminded me of Mama’s.”
Cat felt a lurch of sympathy for Stetson. Despite Henry’s betrayal, Cat had loved Stetson’s mama and felt awful she couldn’t be there for Stetson after Brenda had died. Brenda had been an angel and almost as close to Cat as her own Aunt Lucy. Of course, the two angelic women in her life had died. Grams couldn’t be called angelic—she was too feisty—but Cat adored her. She’d wanted to be angry at Brenda when Henry had revealed he was an adulterer. Yet what did she know about marriage and commitment? Her dad had confided in her a couple years ago that he’d take her mom back if she ever reappeared. Crazy. Thankfully,