said the exact right thing. God. This week was going to be hell.
Aunt Louise clapped her hands together. “Well, you have come to the right woman.” She nodded at Hadley. “This one never did take to anything about ranch life.”
“Gotta say, I’m glad about that,” Will said, putting his arm around Hadley’s waist and tucking her up close against him. “If she had, then she never would have come to Harbor City and I wouldn’t have met her.”
His fingertips brushed against the roll that always made an appearance as soon as she buttoned her pants and—on instinct—she sucked in her gut before realizing what she was doing and letting it all back out again. Will was the last guy she was going to put on a front—or Spanx—to impress. So what if she had so-called unsightly bulges, unfortunate chin hairs that reappeared no matter how many times she plucked them, and unpainted fingernails trimmed down as far as possible? He could pretend to date her as she was or he could go jump in an irrigation ditch. Either way, she’d be happy.
“Aren’t you just the sweet talker?” she said, unwinding herself from his light hold and ignoring the tingling sensation imprinted on her skin.
“Only when it comes to you.” Will tucked a stray hair behind her ear, his fingertips gliding over the shell of her ear and then lightly down the side of her neck as if he were so far gone for her that he couldn’t help but touch her at every opportunity. “You just bring out the best in me.”
“Oh, there’s nothing quite like young love,” Aunt Louise said with a grin.
Then her aunt hurried off, which was good because there was no way Hadley could stop herself from nailing Will with a death stare. That whole cow-eyes look was not the plan. Plus, there was not to be any touching whatsoever.
“What are you doing?” she asked through gritted teeth.
“Thinking ahead. Web said you needed help taking a break from all the immersive family time, so if they think we’re so into each other that we can’t stand to be apart, then they’ll be even more likely to give you some space. Brilliant, right? It’s okay to admit it.”
She would not, even if it were true. A woman had to have some pride, especially when it came to Will. Him hot for her? Ha. That would be the day.
Every time she saw him, he shot snarky little comments at her that only she could hear, as if she wasn’t more than aware that he didn’t approve of her friendship with his brother. Well, he could go stuff it. The second she and Web had met in the world’s longest and slowest coffee line, they’d bonded over the superiority of warm chocolate croissants, the need for subtitles on any show where the cast had a Scottish accent, and the fact that if Bill Bryson and Mary Roach had nonfiction book babies, they would be the most interesting books ever written.
Then she’d made the mistake of going to one of Web’s rugby games and discovered his brother, who was also on the team, was actually his twin and his twin was actually evil. Will had hated her on sight and wasn’t shy about letting her know—at least not when it was just the two of them. There were snarky comments, questions about her background, and disapproving looks whenever he spotted her. She had no idea when or how she’d peed in Will Holt’s cornflakes, but apparently she had, and he and his sexy wink, cute dimple, and too-smackable-for-his-own-good ass could go hump it.
As if he knew what she was thinking and wanted to rub it in that she couldn’t do anything about it, Will took her hand in his and then lifted it so he could kiss the back of it. It wasn’t much, just a quick brush of his lips, but it made her breath catch all the same.
Damn that man. It wasn’t fair.
“Good Lord, you two, I feel like I could make fried bologna sandwiches just from the heat coming off you,” Aunt Louise said, peeking out of the screen door and fanning herself with her hand. “Some of us are having to deal with menopausal hot flashes. Come on inside—I need to get some sun tea to cool me off.”
Once Aunt Louise had her back to them, Hadley yanked her hand from Will’s barely there grasp and shot him a dirty look. The jerk just winked at