last to walk through the door, tapping his cane in front of him. We followed him only as far as the front door, but I was worried about him falling off the porch.
“Watch your step, Dan!”
Ah, damn. Cowboy stifled a laugh while I covered my face with my palm. I needed to stop saying things like that. But Dan just shook his head and continued down the porch stairs, not bothering to respond.
Jake pulled his black Silverado out onto the road, but stopped as Emily motored down the window and leaned out. “Oh, hey, Cowboy! I almost forgot today is May first,” she said, giggling. “So much for Bachelor of the Month. Guess who’s not getting any for the next six weeks?” She grinned as they drove away with the sound of Jake’s laughter echoing behind them.
Cowboy’s eyes narrowed. “Think Jake would care if I kicked out her two front teeth?”
“Cowboy!”
He flashed me a grin. “Oh, come on. You know I’m just kidding.”
“Still, you shouldn’t say things like that,” I said in a chastising tone and turned to walk inside. “It’s not nice.”
“Oh, like what bigmouth said was any nicer?” Cowboy stepped inside and kicked the door closed with his boot. “They’re never going to let me live this down. I’m going to be harassed daily by those assholes for the next six weeks. I should know. We did the same thing to Jake after Emily had Lily.”
I reached up behind my head and unclipped my hair, letting the red strands tumble around my shoulders, then removed the glasses from my face and set them on the counter. Smiling sweetly, I sauntered toward him, grasped him by the collar of his shirt, and pulled him close. “I’m not Emily. As I told you once before, I know how to use my mouth.”
He smirked. “Dear God, I love it when you talk dirty to me.”
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Acknowledgments
There’s always so many people to thank and never enough space to do it in. But I’ll try.
To my husband, Denny, and my boys, Matthew and Andrew, thank you for your encouragement, support, and for ordering pizza on the nights I’m working. To my mom, my dad, Annita, Becca, Amanda, April, Andrea, and the best mother-in-law I’ve ever had, Terry, thank you for being there when I needed someone to listen to my ramblings.
A huge thank you to my critique partner, Heather Boey, for convincing me that Anna was a perfect heroine in her own right. This story wouldn’t have seen the light of day had you not given me the confidence I needed to follow my heart.
Big hugs and kisses go out to my other amazing critique partners who gave me awesome notes, great advice, and all the smiles—Carol, Joy, Sam, Sonya, Rebecca and the two gals who make up Elizabeth Hayley. Also, big thanks to Samanthe Beck, who is a gem for giving me a fantastic cover quote and for not turning me away when I sent her one of those “out of the blue” emails.
Thank you to my adorable super-agent, Andrea Somberg for always being there for me and for listening to me ramble on the phone. It’s okay, I know I do it. Thank you to Robin Haseltine for your hard work and, most importantly, your friendship. I’m still jealous of this lake view you speak of. Huge thanks to Candy Havens for jumping in with both feet, helping to polish up this diamond in the rough, and making it sparkle. Also, thanks to my cover artist, Louisa Maggio, and anyone else at Entangled who helped bring this book to the published world.
A group hug goes out to my fantastic five PAs (Barbara Campbell, Dana Leah, Crystal Wegryznowicz, Cindy Yocum, and Tessa Walters) as well as the other awesome members of my Pure Bliss Street Team. Not only do you guys support my books, but you also promote positivity, laughter, and friendship within our group. I adore you all and want you to know there’s no one else I’d rather eat checkers with. Home of the romantically insane lives on!
A very special thanks to Stacey Z. Thornton for choosing Hunter Wells as the sheriff’s name in the character naming contest. Couldn’t have picked a better one myself.
Last but never