A Buckhorn Summer

Needing her to understand, to know his intent, he stepped away from Shohn and Adam and approached her. “If you stay, what will you do?”

She breathed a little faster. “Do?”

Yeah, he liked the way her mind worked. Suppressing a smile, he said, “Jobwise.”

“Oh.”

Now she just looked flustered, and that was so different from the confident woman she’d been with him before that he had to feel his way carefully. “You are staying, right? That’s what your cousin said.”

She snatched up a granola bar, stared at it and put it back.

Indecisive? That, too, was different, but he didn’t mind. He took a step closer, near enough to inhale the scent of her sun-warmed skin and hair. God, he remembered that scent, how it had mingled with his own when he’d moved over her, both of them naked.

“I’m not... I don’t know yet.” She licked her bottom lip, glanced past him to her relatives, saw they were chatting up some other customers and stared up at him with those big, soulful eyes.

“Shh,” he whispered. “It’s okay.”

She swallowed.

“Far as anyone knows, or will ever know, this is the first time we’ve met.” By sheer force of will he kept his hands to himself when what he really wanted, what he needed, was to touch her, to pull her small, soft body in against his—again. “You have my word.”

She released a tense breath. “Thank you.” As her cousin and brother drew near again, she added, “I haven’t left my job. I mean, I tried to. I gave my four weeks’ notice, but they countered with another promotion. I declined and they requested that I take the summer to think about it. So I guess I’m on a hiatus.”

That night in the dim hotel bar in Chicago, she’d been teeming with restless energy. But here, now, he could see the remnants of exhaustion. Bone deep. The type of tiredness a person learned to live with.

He understood that, since he’d felt it himself many times. “They must appreciate you.”

She nodded.

“What is it you do?”

Before she could answer, Shohn bragged on her. “She’s a top-notch troubleshooter.”

“Meaning she goes to businesses that are in trouble,” Adam explained, “and analyzes their problems, then tells them the best way to be more efficient and profitable.”

“She’s been all over the country,” Shohn added. “And sometimes out of the country.”

“Guys...” Lisa protested.

“I think she should loaf for the summer.” Adam nudged her. “Regroup and just play.”

“She’s earned it.” Shohn added, “Problem is, Lisa doesn’t do well with idle time. Never has.”

“She’d go screaming nuts in under a week.”

Giving them both a quelling frown, Lisa said to Gray, “I’m still considering my job prospects.”

Prospects that could take her right back out of Buckhorn? Not if he could help it. “Could I make a suggestion?”

The guys were interested, but Lisa just looked appalled. Mind made up, he forged on. “I haven’t been here that long and I’m still learning the ropes. If you’re related to those two, then I assume you know everyone in town, and most of what there is to know about catering to vacationers.”

She opened her mouth, but it was Shohn who said, “She does.”

Adam added, “She’s driven her fair share of boats, launched them, too, and even worked on them a few times with our uncle Gabe.”

“Gabe, the handyman.” Gray had met his daughters, all three of them. They were very pretty girls who flirted playfully. And they were all too young for him—not that he’d been interested anyway.

“When my uncle Jordan married Lisa’s mom, she was still a kid,” Shohn explained. “So she grew up around here. She knows everyone.”

“Jordan, the vet?”

“Yup,” Shohn said. “He has a real nice way with animals.”

So one of the icons was her dad? “Got it.”

“And,” Adam continued, “being the overachiever she’s always been, she’s organized plenty of community activities with our uncle Morgan, back when he was sheriff and since he’s been mayor.”

Morgan, the big, badass protector. Who the hell wasn’t her relative? Gray said only, “Met him, liked him.”

Shohn said, “She’s also—”

“Stop selling me!”

Her brother and cousin gaped at her. Grinning, Gray shook his head. “Amazing to me that either of you have hooked up. Not smooth, guys. Not smooth at all.”

Adam scowled. “Now wait a minute. I wasn’t—”

“It’s okay,” Gray assured him. Hell, he was already sold. It didn’t require a pitch. Then to Lisa, he asked, “Why don’t you come by tomorrow morning, say around six before I open, and we can discuss it?”

Her eyes widened. Both men stayed mute.

“The pay won’t be what you’re used to, but the work won’t be, either. You want to enjoy the summer but also stay busy, right? I figure we can probably work out something fair. I’ll be flexible on what hours you need to be here.”

Amazingly, her eyes widened even more.

Cute as well as sexy. He could get lost in those dark eyes. In her slim throat, a pulse thrummed wildly. Her gaze remained fixed on his, and hell if he’d look away first. Didn’t matter to him if they stood there all day.

Shohn nudged her, maybe a little harder than he meant to given that she stumbled.

Startled, she turned and smacked him. “What is wrong with you?”

“Me?” Shohn pointed at her. “You were the one gawking.”

She flared. “I was not!”

Rolling his eyes, Adam said, “Yeah, you were.”

Gray grinned. “You’re all close, huh?”