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Ashley frowned. “It’s still not true.”
“Have you ever had sex with a guy just because you thought it would be fun?”
Because she hadn’t, she only said, “That doesn’t prove anything.”
“It proves that you’re looking for a mate for life,” Paige insisted. “And there’s nothing wrong with that.”
“I’m not looking for a mate at all, not anymore,” Ashley reminded her.
“Then you should try sex just for fun,” her cousin advised.
She shook her head. “I think I’ll keep my expectations low, at least that way I won’t be disappointed.”
Paige stopped in mid-stride and turned to face her. “I can’t believe it.”
“What?”
“CBB wasn’t even good in bed.”
Ashley felt her cheeks flame as she reached out to rub the cow’s head. The big, dark eyes closed and the animal seemed to sigh with pleasure. “Sex was … fine.”
Paige lifted her brows. “Fine?”
“Look, if it’s okay with you, I’d really rather not discuss this now.” There wasn’t anything she couldn’t talk to her cousin about, but if they were going to perform a postmortem on her sex life, she wanted it to be in the privacy of her own home with a glass of wine in her hand, not in a public venue where anyone could overhear their conversation. Not that there were many other people in the barn, but still.
Unfortunately, Paige wouldn’t be deterred. “I need to understand this.”
“What’s to understand?”
“You were going to marry him.”
“And?” she prompted.
“And I can’t fathom why you would want to marry a guy who didn’t rock your world,” her cousin told her.
“Maybe my world isn’t capable of being rocked,” Ashley said, aware that she sounded more than a little defensive.
“Are you saying … never?”
She looked away. “Never with Trevor.”
“Sounds like a really bad slogan,” Paige said. “Maybe you should suggest he put it on his business cards, as a warning to other unsuspecting women.”
Ashley felt her lips curve, grateful that her cousin could make her see the light side of such a humiliating admission. “I’m happy just to move on,” she said, doing so towards the pigpen.
“But—oh.” Whatever else Paige was about to say was forgotten when she caught sight of the seven piglets, their round pink butts wiggling as they scrambled for position while nursing at their mother’s belly. “Oh, they are so cute.”
“My kids went crazy, oohing and aahing when they saw them yesterday,” Ashley told her.
“Kind of like I just did?”
“Just like that,” she agreed.
“Seven babies,” Paige mused. “Can you imagine?”
Ashley would happily settle for one baby of her own. At least one at a time. But she pushed the pang of longing aside, as she’d been doing for months now, since the end of her engagement to Trevor and the realization that her dreams of motherhood were slipping further and further away from her.
“Mama Pig doesn’t seem to be fazed,” she said instead.
“That’s because seven is actually a fairly small litter for a pig,” a male voice informed her from over their shoulders.
A familiar voice that had Ashley’s heart pounding too hard and too fast before she even turned around and confirmed the identity of the speaker. And when she saw Cam, her heart started to pound even harder and faster. He had his daughter with him, and obviously the little girl’s infatuation with the piglets she’d seen on her field trip had compelled her to bring her father back to the barn.
“Someone’s been doing his homework,” Paige noted. “Trying to impress the teacher?”
Cam just grinned.
“Mother pigs can have between eight and twelve babies,” Madeline said. Apparently she’d done the homework along with her father and wasn’t going to be outdone by him. Then the little girl smiled at Ashley. “I had so much fun visiting the pigs yesterday that I brung Daddy back to see them.”
“Brought,” both Ashley and Cam corrected automatically.
“Sorry,” Ashley said. “The teacher instincts don’t clock out after hours.”
“No need to apologize,” Cam assured her.
From over her shoulder, Ashley registered the sound of a throat clearing. She sighed and turned.
“This is my cousin, Paige,” she said to Maddie. “I brought her to see the pigs, too.” Then, to Paige, “You know Cam, of course. And this is his daughter, Madeline.”
Paige offered her hand to the girl. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Madeline.”
Madeline took Paige’s hand and shook it awkwardly. “Okay.”
“She’s six,” Cam said, as an explanation of his daughter’s response.
“She’s adorable,” Paige said, and he smiled like the proud father that he was, while Ashley tried to ignore the ache she felt whenever she looked at his little girl and the much stronger sizzle of attraction she experienced whenever he was near.
“There’s cows, too, Daddy,” Maddie said, tugging on his hand.
“Cows?” Paige interjected, as if they hadn’t already come from that direction. “Can you show me where?”
Madeline looked to her father for permission. He nodded and released her hand, and she immediately headed off for the bovine stalls, Paige trailing in her wake.
“Not very subtle, is she?” Ashley mused.
“You won’t hear me complain about having some time alone with you,” Cam assured her.
“We’re not exactly alone.”
“Close enough,” he said, and edged nearer to her.
Too close, she thought, as her heart started to pound just a little bit faster. “Cam.”
He ignored the warning in her voice and leaned closer. “You smell much nicer than the pigs.”
She couldn’t help but smile at that. “I should hope so.”
“I like your perfume,” he told her. “It’s similar to what you wore in high school, but sexier.”
“It’s the same perfume I wore in high school,” she admitted.
“Then it must be that you’re even sexier now than you were then.”
She swallowed and shifted away from him. “Why are you doing this, Cam?”
“What is it that you think I’m doing?” he asked her.
“Flirting with me.”
He smiled. “Maybe to see if you’ll flirt back.”
“I won’t,” she said, a reminder to herself as much as a response to him.
“What if I took you for a ride on the Ferris wheel? Would you flirt with me then?”
She shook her head.
“How about a spin on the Zipper?”
“I’d be more likely to throw up on you,” she warned.
“You used to love the Zipper.”
“I used to love a lot of things.”
His eyes locked on hers. “I remember.”
The potent sensuality in his gaze had the nerves in her belly quivering and her knees trembling. She tightened her grip on the railing, holding on to the wood as she desperately tried to hold her hormones in check.
“And I can’t stop thinking about that kiss we shared in your kitchen,” he told her.
“It was just a kiss.”
“A kiss that keeps me awake at night.”
“A kiss that never should have happened,” she said firmly, refusing to admit that the memory of that kiss had the exact same effect on her.
“We were always good together, Ash.”
She swallowed. “Were—past tense.”
“That kiss proves nothing is finished between us.”
“I’m not going to get involved with you again, Cam.”
He stroked the back of her hand, his fingertips tracing lazy circles over the soft skin. She wanted to snatch her hand away, but to do so would be to admit how much his touch affected her, how much he affected her.
“Because you’re still hung up on your ex?” he asked.
“Because I have no interest in repeating the mistakes of the past.”
“I made the mistake,” he said, “when I said goodbye to you.”
She couldn’t stand here and listen to him sounding so sincerely contrite. She couldn’t look into the fathomless depths of his dark-green eyes and not want to believe what he was saying. Because if she let herself believe he was sorry, that he really did want another chance, well, she just might be foolish enough to give him another chance. And that was something she couldn’t let happen. She had an appointment at PARC and plans for her life now, plans that didn’t include Cam Turcotte or any other man.
So she turned away and started walking in the direction Paige and Madeline had gone. She knew he would follow, but she also knew that he wouldn’t continue whatever game he was playing if there was any danger of his daughter overhearing them.
“We have to run,” Paige said, as soon as Ashley caught up with her. “I’ve got a client emergency and need to head back to the office, but I can drop you at home first, unless—” she looked questioningly at Cam.
“That’s fine,” Ashley said, wondering if her cousin had fabricated the client emergency in an attempt to drop her in Cam’s lap.
At the same time, he said, “I can take Ashley home later.”
She shook her head. No way was she going to spend a single moment more than was absolutely necessary with Cam Turcotte. “It’s okay. I’m ready to go now.”
“If Cam doesn’t mind giving you a ride, that would simplify things for me,” Paige said. “Since I’m closer to the office if I leave straight from here.”
Ashley narrowed her gaze, more convinced than ever that there was no emergency. “Well, I don’t want to inconvenience anyone, so I’ll take a cab.”
“It’s not an inconvenience,” Cam insisted.
“Great. Thanks,” Paige said, then kissed Ashley’s cheek, waved to Maddie, who had wandered over to look at the bunnies, and bolted from the barn.
Ashley bit back a sigh of frustration.
Cam smiled, as if he knew as well as she that they’d been played. The difference was, he apparently didn’t mind, but Ashley vowed that she would have a serious talk with her cousin the next time she saw her.
“The bunnies are sleeping,” Maddie announced to her father, her disappointment obvious.
“It must be past their bedtime,” Cam said. “As it’s also past yours.”
“But I’m not tired,” his daughter insisted, though the statement was immediately followed by a wide yawn just as an older couple entered the barn.
Cam’s parents, Ashley realized, and wondered if this night could get any more awkward.
She’d spent a lot of time in their home and had grown to know Rob and Gayle Turcotte well while she and Cam were dating. But when Cam ended their relationship and went away to school, their paths had crossed much less frequently, and Ashley still felt awkward whenever they did. Maybe it was her own fault, because she’d loved them almost as much as she’d loved Cam and she’d mistakenly assumed they would be her family someday, too. Losing them, less than two years after her own father had passed away, had devastated her almost as much as being dumped by Cam.
“Looks like we’re just on time,” Rob said, scooping his granddaughter into his arms and making her giggle.
