didn’t want forever with him.
That thought immobilized him, forced him to imagine a future with Anna, stretching on and on into the distance. Holding her, kissing her. Sleeping beside her every night and waking up with her every morning.
Seeing her grow round with his child.
He shut it down immediately. That was a fantasy. One he didn’t want. One he couldn’t have.
He would have Anna as a friend forever, but the “benefits” portion of their relationship was finite.
So, he would just enjoy this while it lasted.
She looked like a cliché. A really slutty one. She wasn’t sure she cared. But in her very short denim skirt and plaid shirt knotted above the waistline she painted quite the picture.
One of a woman looking to get lucky.
“Well,” she said to her reflection—her made-up reflection, compliments of her trip to the store in Tolowa today, as was everything else. “You are looking to get lucky.”
Fair. That was fair.
She heard the sound of a truck engine and tires on the gravel in her short little driveway. She was renting a house in an older neighborhood in town—not right in the armpit of town where she’d grown up, but still sort of on the fringe—and the yard was a little bit...rustic.
She wondered if Chase would honk. Or if he would come to the door.
Him coming to the door would feel much more like a date. A real date.
A date date.
Oh, Lord, what were they doing?
She had flirted with him on the phone, and she’d enjoyed it. Had wanted—very much—to push him even harder. Trading innuendo with him was...well, it was a lot more fun than she’d imagined.
There was a heavy knock on the door and she squeaked, hopping a little bit before catching her breath. Then she grabbed her purse and started to walk to the entry, trying to calm her nerves. He’d come to the door. That felt like A Thing.
You’re being crazy. Friends with benefits. Not boyfriend.
The word boyfriend made her stomach lurch, and she did her best to ignore it. She jerked the door open, watching his face intently for his response to her new look. And she was not disappointed.
“Damn,” he said, leaning forward, resting his forearm on the doorjamb. “I didn’t realize you would be showing up dressed as Country Girl from My Dirtiest Dreams.”
She shouldn’t feel flattered by that. But she positively glowed. “It seemed fair, since you’re basically the centerfold of Blacksmith Magazine.”
He laughed. “Really? How would that photo shoot go?”
“You posing strategically in front of the forge with a bellows over your junk.”
“I am not getting my junk near the forge. The last thing I need is sensitive body parts going up in flames.”
“I know I don’t want them going up in flames.” She cleared her throat, suddenly aware of a thick blanket of awkwardness settling over them. She didn’t know what to do with him now. Did she...not touch him unless they were going to have sex? Did she kiss him if she wanted to or did she need permission?
She needed a friends-with-benefits handbook.
“Um,” she began, rather unsuccessfully. “What exactly are my benefits?”
“Meaning?”
“My benefits additional to this friendship. Do I...kiss you when I see you? Or...”
“Do you want to kiss me?”
She looked up at him, all sexy and delicious looking in his tight black T-shirt, cowboy hat and late-in-the-day stubble. “Is that a trick question? Because the only answer to ‘Do I want to kiss a very hot guy?’ is yes. But not if you don’t want to kiss me.”
He wrapped his arm around her waist, drawing her up against him before bending down to kiss her slowly, thoroughly. “Does that help?”
She let out a long, slow breath, the tension that had been strangling her since he’d arrived at her house leaving her body slowly. “Yes,” she said, sighing. “It does.”
“All right,” he said, extending his hand. “Let’s go.”
She took hold of his hand, the warmth of his touch flooding her, making her stomach flip. She let him lead her to the truck, open her door for her. All manner of date-type stuff. The additional benefits were getting bound up in the dating lessons and at the moment she wasn’t sure what was for her and what was for the Making Her Datable mission.
Then she decided it didn’t matter.
She just clung to the good feelings the whole drive to Ace’s.
When they got there, she felt the true weight of the spectacle they were creating in the community. Beaches was one thing. Them being together there had certainly caused a ripple. But everyone in Copper Ridge hung out at Ace’s.
Sierra West, whose family was a client of both her and Chase, was in the corner with some other friends who were involved with local rodeo events. Sheriff Eli Garrett was over by the bar, along with his brother, Connor, and their wives, Sadie and Liss.
She looked the other direction and saw Holly and Ryan Masters sitting in the corner, looking ridiculously happy. Holly and Ryan had both grown up in foster care in Copper Ridge and so had been part of the town-charity-case section at school. Though Holly was younger and Ryan a little older, so she’d never been close friends with them. Behind them was Jonathan Bear, looking broody and unapproachable as usual.
She officially knew too many damn people.
“This town is the size of a postage stamp,” she muttered as she followed Chase to a table where they could deposit their coats and her purse.
“That’s good,” he said. “Men are seeing you attached. It’s all part of changing your reputation. That’s what you want.”
She grunted. “I guess.” It didn’t feel like what she wanted. She mostly just wanted to be alone with Chase now. No performance art required.
But she was currently a dancing monkey for all of Copper Ridge, so performance art was the order of the evening.
She also suddenly felt self-conscious about her wardrobe choice. Wearing this outfit for Chase hadn’t seemed bad at all. Wearing it in front of everyone was a little much.
The jukebox was blaring, and Luke Bryan was demanding all the country girls shake it for him, so Anna figured—regardless of how comfortable she was feeling—it was as good a time as any for them to get out on the dance floor.
The music
