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After she’d ended her engagement to Stone, she’d realized Alex’s resolute nature had hidden a longtime attraction to her. Six months after the split, Alex had made his move by asking her out to dinner. She’d been stunned—and not ready to consider dating anyone. He’d taken the news well. Or so she’d thought. She was beginning to grasp how persistent, patient and downright stubborn this quiet giant could be.
With that in mind, she should have realized their grandmother’s plan would not go over well with Alex. “Even though you own my rental cabin, I didn’t realize landlords slept on the sofa,” she joked, needing to keep things light. Her emotional well was running on empty. “Do you have a specific reason for being here?”
“I’m making sure you don’t fall under my evil cousin’s spell again.” He swung his legs to the floor and thrust out the fistful of daisies.
Roots straggled from a couple of the stems. He definitely was a unique one with a charm all his own. At another time in her life she might have been tempted.
She took the daisies from him. “You’re trying to persuade me by giving me flowers?”
“Consider it elaborate bribery,” he said with a self-deprecating grin directed at the raggedy bouquet.
“You stole them out of the garden by the back deck,” she shot over her shoulder as she stepped into the kitchen area to get a large mason jar.
“The garden belongs to me.”
“To your family.” She slid the flowers into the jar and tucked it under the faucet.
“Same thing.” His smile faded. “Are you okay with this trip?”
“Your concern is sweet and I do mean that.” She smiled, then jerked as water overflowed from the jar and splashed onto her hand.
“My motives are purer than Amie’s were out there on the porch.”
“You heard her?”
“I did, since you always leave your windows open rather than use the air conditioner.” He stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing his boots at the ankles as he extended his arms along the back of the couch. “You would be wise to remember she’s the most ruthless of all of us.”
“That’s not a very nice thing to say.” She placed the flowers on the end table by the floral sofa, a perfect match for the rustic charm of her place.
“I only mean that you’re my friend.” He reached for her hand and tugged her down to sit beside him. “You and Amie don’t have that kind of relationship. She’s thinking of the family. I’m worried about you.”
Johanna looked into his eyes, the same unique shade of light blue as Stone’s. Though born three years apart, the men could have been twins. Alex was actually better suited for her. They had more in common. Alex ran a family ranch, whereas Stone was the king of the boardroom, such a workaholic he’d made it clear he had little room in his life for white-picket dreams.
Yet, as she sat here inches away from this incredibly sexy cowboy who’d just given her the sweetest flowers, she could only think of how much she’d wanted Stone to kiss her earlier. And Alex left her lukewarm, and it wasn’t fair to keep stringing him along.
She touched his wrist. “Alex, we need to talk about—”
The front door opened with a knock in progress, no real warning at all. Johanna jolted, nearly falling off the sofa as she turned to face the intruder.
Stone stood in the open door, scowling, holding a handful of purple tulips.
* * *
What the hell?
Standing in Johanna’s doorway, Stone cricked his neck from side to side, trying to process what his eyes told him. His cousin Alex sat on the sofa with Johanna. Close to Johanna. So near, their thighs pressed against each other and before she’d jolted away, she’d been leaning in, her hand on Alex’s arm.
And there were fresh flowers on the end table.
Stone strode inside and tossed the tulips—ones that he’d pulled out of a vase in the lobby of the main lodge—onto the end table beside the daisies that looked remarkably like ones in the garden by the deck.
“Sorry to have interrupted...” Whatever had been about to happen. His pulse hammered behind his eyes; his head pounded in frustration over a hellish day that was spiraling down the drain faster and faster by the second.
Nibbling her bottom lip, Johanna rubbed her palms along her jeans. “At the risk of sounding cliché, this isn’t what it looks like.”
“What does it look like?” Stone smiled, somehow managing to keep his tone level in spite of the jealousy pumping through him.
“That Alex and I are a couple. We’re not.” She glanced at Alex apologetically.
That apologetic look spoke volumes. His cousin had been trying to make a move on her. His cousin—as close as any brother—had fallen for Johanna. The thought stunned and rattled Stone into silence.
Alex stood, a gleam in his eyes just like when he’d reached the boiling point as a kid—just before he decked whoever had pissed him off. He leveled that gaze at Stone and slung an arm around Johanna’s shoulders. “Who says we’re not a couple?”
She shrugged off his arm. “Stop riling him up on purpose. You two are not teenagers anymore.” She jabbed a finger at Stone. “That goes for you, too. No fights.”
“I’m just looking for a straight answer.” Stone spread his arms.
Johanna went prickly. “What this is or isn’t doesn’t concern you.”
“Sure it does,” he said, his tone half-joking, but his intent dead serious. “If you’ve been seeing each other and didn’t bother to tell me, that’s damn inconsiderate of my feelings.”
Alex snorted. “Your feelings? You’re joking, right?”
Stone resisted the urge to punch Alex in the face and forced reason through the fog. “You’re yanking my chain on purpose. Why?”
“Just making a point. Johanna is important to this family and not just because she was your fiancée. If you hurt her,” Alex said softly, lethally, “I’ll kick your ass.”
Fair enough.
They had the same goal: protecting her. Stone respected that. He nodded curtly. “Message heard and received.”
Johanna whistled sharply between her teeth, like when she called a horse. “Hey, boys? Don’t I get any say here?”
Stone shifted his focus from Alex to her. “Of course. What would you like to add?”
She rolled her eyes. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I’m completely capable of taking care of myself. Thank you both for your concern, but I need to pack for this trip tomorrow.”
“Of course you can look after yourself,” Stone said, gesturing for Alex to go out the door ahead of him. Then he took that moment’s privacy to lean toward Johanna. “Just wanted to bring the tulips and say thank-you for caring about my grandmother’s happiness.”
She went still, most likely in shock, her hand drifting down to rest on top of the purple tulips. He used her moment of distraction to kiss her, just once, on the mouth, but good God, even a brief taste of Johanna was more potent than...anything. After seven months without the feel of her, his body shouted for more.
For everything.
Desire cracked like a whip inside him. He pulled back before he lost control and pushed his luck too far. “See you in the morning at the landing strip.”
He closed the door behind him, the night sounds of bugs and owls, the wind in the trees, wrapping around him. He sucked in two deep breaths to steady himself before facing his cousin again.
Alex leaned against the porch post, tucking his hat on his head. “I meant what I said in there about kicking your ass.”
“How serious is it? Whatever the two of you have going on?” What the hell would he do if his cousin was all-in? Or worse yet, if Johanna harbored feelings, too?
“If you care so much who she’s seeing,” Alex said ambiguously, “then do something about it.” Without another word, he shoved away from the post, jogged down the steps and disappeared into the dark.
Stone stood on the porch, the smell of the tulips and the feel of Johanna still fresh in his senses even though he’d left her and the flowers inside. But then she’d been in his thoughts every damn second since their split.
His cousin was right. Stone was still attracted to Johanna, and it was time to do something about it.
* * *
Stone’s kiss still tinged her lips and her memory.
Johanna hauled her suitcase out from under the bed and tossed it onto the mattress with a resounding thump. What the hell had he been thinking, kissing her like that? Although he hadn’t lingered. Some might call it a friendly kiss. Except they had this history together....
Need coursed through her, hot and molten, with just a splash of sweetness, like the scent of the tulips she’d brought with her into the bedroom. They rested under the lamp, purple splashes of color on the white table.
She’d tried her best to tamp down her attraction to Stone these past months, which was easier to do when their paths rarely crossed. How would she survive a week of time alone with him?
She dropped to sit on the edge of her bed, the white iron headboard tapping the wall. She tugged one of the purple tulips from the bunch and skimmed it against her mouth lightly. She knew he’d certainly stolen them from a vase in the lodge, and she couldn’t help but note how both cousins had snagged the closest flowers at hand. They could drape women in jewels from their family business, yet they still understood the value of a well-timed bouquet.
Stone’s tulips, and his kiss, were picking away at her defenses. Too bad she couldn’t wedge a coat of armor into her suitcase to withstand the barrage on her hormones.
Laughter with a hysterical edge bubbled out of her, and she flopped back on the bed into the cushiony softness of her pink-and-gray chevron quilt. She clasped the tulip against her chest, watching the ceiling fan click lazy circles above her. She and Stone had spent entire weekends in her bed making love. She hadn’t wanted to go to his quarters in the main house, not even after they’d gotten engaged, not with his grandmother in a nearby suite. So he’d taken her on elaborate trips, vowing that he did so because then he could at least feel like she was staying with him.
Now Johanna wondered if she’d known they were destined to fail even from the start. Their time together had been a fantasy that couldn’t withstand the light of harsh reality.
She hadn’t traveled much before Stone. During her year dating Stone, he’d flown her to exotic locales and swanky fund-raisers held by influential billionaires, a world away from her ranch and Stetson day-to-day life.
What should she expect from this trip?
She rolled to her side and stared into the empty suitcase. What did a girl take to a week of doggie dates with mystery families and her ex-fiancé? More importantly, how would she react if he gave her another one of those impromptu kisses?
A tap on the window snapped her out of her daze.
She jolted upright, her heart pounding in alarm. Before she could even reach for the cell phone her eyes focused on the face in the glass pane.
Stone stood outside like a Lone Star Romeo.
Her pulse leaped. Damn her traitorous body.
She rolled from the bed and to her feet. She shoved the window up, the muggy night breeze rolling inside and fluttering the lace curtains. “What are you doing out there?”
“I forgot my flowers. You didn’t seem to want them, so I figured I would give them to someone who would appreciate them.” He hefted himself up and through the window before she could blink.
She stumbled back a step, watching him eye her room, walk to the flowers then peer out the door.
Realization dawned, along with a spark of anger. “You’re checking to make sure your cousin didn’t come back here.”
“Maybe I am.” He turned on his heels to face her again. His gaze fell to her bed, right where the lone tulip lay.
Feeling vulnerable, she rushed to scoop up the flower and said, “I’m trying to decide what to pack for the trip. Since I don’t know where we’re going, I’m not making much progress.”
“Pack comfortably.” The gleam in his eyes projected loud and clear that he wasn’t fooled. “If we need something more, I’ll buy it for you.”
“We’re not engaged anymore. You’re not buying me clothes or other gifts.” She’d returned all the jewelry after she’d broken up with him—everything, including a yellow diamond engagement ring with a double halo setting. The night he’d given it to her, she’d thought all of her dreams of a family and a real home had come true.
She’d grown up a lot in the past seven months, alone with her disillusionment.
“Johanna,” he drawled, “we may not be engaged, but you are an employee of Hidden Gem Ranch and if you’re on Hidden Gem business and need clothes, the company can pick up the bill.”
“Clothes for what, exactly?”
“There’s a gem trade show I want to catch while we’re out.”
She knew how elaborate and hoity-toity those events could get. Being with him at one of those shows would feel too much like a fancy date. “I’ll stay at the hotel with the dogs.”
“We’ll see,” he said in that stubborn, noncommittal way of his just before he swung a leg out the window again. “Good night.”
“Stone?”
He stopped shy of stepping all the way through the window. “Yes?”
“Thanks for the flowers.” She strode closer—just to be ready to close the window when he left, not to be nearer to him. Right? “It really is sweet how much you care about your grandmother’s happiness. I always admired that about you, your family loyalty.”
“Glad you have good memories, not just bad.”
Guilt pinched her over how their breakup had hurt him, too. She touched his shoulder lightly. “There’s nothing between Alex and me.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Was it her imagination or had he swayed closer?
She pressed a hand to his chest. “That doesn’t mean there will never be someone. Am I not allowed to have another relationship again?”
A smile played with his mouth. “I’m not answering that.”
He looked over his shoulder at the yard.
She frowned. “Is something wrong?”
“Uh, actually—” he glanced back at her sheepishly “—I was taking the dogs for a run. Hope you don’t mind they’re digging up your yard right now.”
She laughed, enjoying this Stone, more like the man she remembered falling for, playful and open. “We’re just lucky they didn’t jump my little split rail fence.”
“Since they’re going to be spending the next week with me flying around in a plane, it would be a good idea to remind them who I am.”
She allowed herself to fall just a little more under his spell again, even if only for a minute. “That’s very sweet of you.”
“Sweet? First you make out with my cousin and then you call me sweet. Twice.” He shook his head, tsking. “This is not my night.”
