lower toned, it made her spine tingle in response. Could she get him to read her a book or even the dictionary? Maybe the ingredients off a cereal box? Whole grain oats, sugar, calcium carbonate...
“My ex-boyfriend.” She wished she could say “my dog” or maybe “my snake,” but he was her ex. “We lived together in LA. He got the apartment. I lost my job and came back here.”
“That sucks.” He led her into the living room. There was a nice flat-screen and a game console, along with a few recliners and a couch that had seen better days. He gestured to one of the chairs and sat in the one with the best view of the TV. His chair looked like the most lived-in one.
“It did suck, but it was probably for the best.” Jeremy had actually had the gall to blame her parents’ divorce as one of the reasons she wouldn’t connect with him. It was ridiculous. “I don’t want to think about it. I want to find out what you’ve been doing since I last saw you. You obviously didn’t complete our tree house.”
He shrugged. “Didn’t have time.”
Getting him to talk was like pulling teeth. They used to talk over each other. They’d had so much to say and share. “I heard about your mom and dad. I was sorry I couldn’t be here for you.”
He nodded and looked at the label on his beer. The way his shoulders hunched told her he wasn’t over the pain of losing them. She wanted to let him know that he could cry on her shoulder if he wanted. She wished she could have been there. As she’d been there for him when his dog died when they were eleven.
“You had to take care of Luke and Brady and the farm? That must have been tough. I couldn’t imagine being responsible for another person at eighteen. I was barely responsible for myself. We won’t discuss my poor goldfish burial ground. How did you date or go out?”
“I didn’t.”
She opened her mouth and snapped it shut. Someone as handsome as Sam didn’t stay single without effort. He was gorgeous and tall, and she really wanted to see the solid body she’d hugged earlier. “Didn’t you have a girlfriend in high school? I tried to date in high school, but the guys were always after one thing.”
She looked at him, expecting his answer to her question. He was still looking at his beer label, lost in his own world.
“What?” He finally raised his gaze to hers.
“High school girlfriend?”
“Yeah, I had a few of those.”
She took a drink of beer. “What about after high school? Anyone special?”
“No.”
She felt compelled to fill the empty space around them. “Jeremy and I met in college. I think that’s why we stayed together so long. I’m surprised you didn’t have anyone like that. I mean, I realize you were busy with your brothers and the farm, but it’s really hard to go for a long period without...well, you know. I mean, even in a relationship, you can have dry spells. We had been in a rut for a while. Maybe that was part of the problem. How long has it been for you?”
He lifted his eyebrows at her and she flushed with heat, realizing she’d just asked him how long it had been since he’d last had sex.
“Sorry. I tend to just say whatever’s on my mind. My mom tried to stop me, but I like being honest and open. I can’t stand when people keep secrets or don’t say what’s really on their minds. You were always honest with me. But I overstep boundaries all the time.” She took a drink to stop herself from talking.
“My family says I don’t talk enough.” He returned to his perusal of his beer bottle.
She smiled. This was easy ground to tread upon. “How are your brothers?”
“Brady’s married to Maggie Brown. They’ve got a kid, Amber. She’s cool. Luke and Penny Montgomery are together down in St. Louis.” He didn’t lift his gaze to hers. His tone was matter-of-fact, just reciting facts with no emotion connected to them.
“That’s exciting.” The names of the women sounded somewhat familiar, but that wasn’t what she was focused on. Had he really changed that much? The boy she used to know seemed to have turned into a crotchety old man at the age of thirty-one. Surely there was something exciting in his life. Maybe a hope or a dream or a wish for someone special to share his life with. She stood up and circled the room, looking at the pictures and knickknacks. They were all old with a coat of dust on them. Like his mother had placed them there and no one had moved them since. “You out here by yourself, then? No one special now?”
“No.”
She stopped in front of the TV and turned to face him. Raising an eyebrow, she asked, “No, you aren’t by yourself, or there’s no one special?”
He lifted his gaze to hers, and she caught her breath at the deep blue of his eyes. They seemed empty of that spark he’d had when they ran through the yards with pretend weapons.
“No one,” he said with all the emotion of a stone.
Even so, her heart fluttered in her chest. Nicole was hopelessly hopeful, as her mother would say. She crossed the room to stand in front of him. “So we’re in the same boat, then. Single and alone with no one to worry about but ourselves.”
“I guess so.” He took a drink.
She glanced out the window at the accumulating darkness. Did that mean he wasn’t interested in her? Or anyone? Did she want him to be interested in her? She might have had the teeny tiniest of small crushes on him in eighth grade, but nothing she ever would have acted on. They’d been best friends. Buds.
Gah. She needed to get out of her head. “I haven’t seen good stars in ages. With the city lights and air pollution in LA, I was lucky to see a few stars in the Big Dipper. Do you remember when we used to wait until dark and look at the stars?”
He nodded, and a corner of his lips quirked up a little. That was all the encouragement she needed.
“Why don’t we grab the rest of the beers and go see the stars? We can go down to the tree house and lie on our backs, look up at the stars, watch for falling stars.” She grabbed his free hand and tugged on him. “Come on, Sam. Live a little.”
His hand closed around hers. The feel of his firm grip shot through her and made her aware of his heat and how close she’d gotten to him. She was practically standing between his knees.
“Slow down, Nikki. Not everything has to be go, go, go.” This time, when the corner of his mouth went up, a small dimple flashed at her.
She stopped tugging. The warmth of his hand spread through her. Her heart thrummed a steady rhythm as she thought of all the places she wanted that hand. Her eyes focused on his lips. She forced herself to focus on renewing their friendship. Clearing her mind and her throat, she said, “We could see the stars and watch the moon play hide-and-seek in the leaves of the tree. It’ll be fun.”
For a moment, she was sure he was going to turn her down. Instead, he stood. She didn’t have time to back up. His heat surrounded her. It slipped through her clothes and wrapped itself tight around her lungs, making it hard to draw in a breath.
She ducked her head and stepped back until
