She dropped her gaze and studied the buttons on his shirt. Small, white, four holes. “I don’t know.”
Stephen took her chin firmly between his thumb and finger and forced her eyes up to meet his. “I haven’t kissed another girl since the first time I kissed you over a bowl of ice cream. I haven’t wanted to. Haven’t even thought about it.”
“Oh.” She couldn’t stop the joy that burst inside her. “I haven’t either. Kissed anyone, I mean.”
“Good to know,” he said, fingering the ends of her braid and grinning like her answer was no surprise.
But then he caught her face in his hands and she didn’t care. He bent and planted a devastating kiss on her that didn’t last nearly long enough. She opened her eyes, dazed, and practically floated into the barn.
Together they settled Winnie and as soon as her door was secured, Stephen pulled her into his arms, lowered his head, and kissed her until she was boneless. She looped her arms around his neck.
“I missed you.”
He’d said it enough times via text, but it was so much better hearing his voice, feeling an extra-tight squeeze in his arms. He pulled back and studied her a moment. She knew he hated that she had nightmares without him there.
“I’m fine.” She pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”
“It was worth it. But if you feel bad,” he said, giving her bottom a squeeze, “maybe you should kiss me again.”
She did, making it count, until a deep throat-clearing interrupted. Nick stood at the barn entrance, looking especially deadly.
“More than worth it,” Stephen said, overly pleased.
Hannah smacked his shoulder.
“I need to go into the office, but I’ll see you tonight.” Then he kissed her again, quick and hard on the mouth.
Boys.
“Good to see you again, Agent Walker,” Stephen said as he passed.
“McKinney.” Nick turned and watched him leave.
“Good grief.” She went into the tack room and Nick followed, seeming even more irritated than usual.
“I brought out the extra grill. Zach’s bringing out another one Saturday morning.”
“Great. Thank you. Did Zach manage to guilt any of the guys at the station into helping out?”
“I’m sure he did. You know they all think of you as their little sister.”
Hannah climbed up on a trunk to reach a special strap she needed.
“So you’re still seeing him?”
She looked down at her brother. “Are you sure you’re in the FBI? Because your powers of observation are pretty dull.”
“Ha-ha. One can hope. But that’s not why I’m here, exactly.”
“And why are you here? Exactly.”
He held up a sheet of paper. “Did you see this?”
“I have no idea, since I don’t know what it is.” She came down off the trunk slowly, accepting Nick’s helping hand. When she was on the ground, he held up the paper and she got a blow to the stomach. It was a printout of the Vegas newspaper article. “How did you get that?”
“I’m in the FBI,” he said, with a ghost of a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Not my finest moment.”
“I knew something like this was going to happen. I knew it. Not even a month with McKinney and here it is.”
She reached for a saddle blanket. “You know, I’m oddly okay with it. Stephen makes me okay with it.” She couldn’t control the goofy smile. “I’m surprised you didn’t go after him when you had the chance.”
“Oh, I will. Don’t worry.”
“No. You absolutely won’t.”
He stabbed his fingers through his hair and cursed. Poor Nick. Always looking for a culprit. He didn’t know what to do when he couldn’t find a target.
“You can’t blame everything on Stephen.”
Nick said nothing for a solid ten seconds. Probably searching for something or someone to blame for everything that had gone wrong in his life. The one he should be blaming for most of it was standing right in front of him.
“I’ll get the grill,” he said, then kissed her cheek and left.
The man really needed a hobby.
—
“Fucking politicians.” Stephen slammed down his office phone. His first thought when Hannah had told him about her meeting with the city was a simple one—buy the land. Didn’t matter if she wanted him to or not. It was hers, a part of her, and he would make sure it stayed that way. But nothing was ever easy when dealing with the government. Did anyone there actually work?
He’d done a good amount of research since their return from Vegas and he didn’t like what he’d found. The letter Hannah had wasn’t a will, and the government was under no obligation to recognize handwritten wishes. But they could.
So why didn’t they? What was their endgame? To use it? To sell it? Should he be looking at the city or the state?
The business world might be cutthroat, but at least you always knew the end goal was money and everything was for sale. It all depended on how badly the buyer wanted it.
He dropped his pen and smacked the arm of his chair. He wanted to hit something. So far all he’d hit were dead ends. He glanced at the time on his computer. After six. He wasn’t going to get any further today, not with the government and their damn day-spa hours. Besides, he’d accepted a dinner invitation at his parents’. It had been a while. Not since he’d been invited, but since he’d accepted.