bike season is almost over. Maybe you need a quick and dirty hookup with a tourist you’ll never see again. If you don’t do it now, you’ll have to wait for ski season.”
“Maybe you need a quick and dirty hookup, if you think it’s such a good idea!”
“It’s more complicated for me. You know.”
Lauren did know. Sophie’s family had a history in this town, so she was extra careful about her reputation.
“Anyway,” Sophie went on, “maybe I will, too. Maybe we’ll pick up a whole group of guys and split the difference.”
Lauren grinned at her. Sophie was awfully fun to work with, and Lauren was thankful they’d gotten so close. It had been a long time since she’d had a friend as close as Sophie, and now Isabelle, too, the one who’d come up with girls’ night out six months before. “We already cancelled girls’ night because Isabelle isn’t done with her commission.”
“Isabelle won’t care if we go without her. She doesn’t care about anything when she’s finishing up a painting. Let’s go. Just us.”
Lauren hesitated for one more moment before giving in. “Okay. Fine. Tomorrow.”
Sophie jumped up with a squeal. “Yes! After work. Dinner, and then fun. Wear a cougar dress.”
“I don’t even know what that means!”
Sophie shrugged. “Something that says you’re putting out.”
“But I’m not putting out,” Lauren croaked.
“You never know.” Sophie exited the room with a wink.
Lauren swallowed hard. She considered chasing Sophie down to say she’d changed her mind. She wasn’t putting out. She didn’t even feel fun anymore.
But she had been once. She’d been fun and sexy and childless long ago. It felt like that had been another person’s life, but now that Sawyer had left to drive across the country for college, she was childless again. And single.
Even if she wasn’t young anymore, she was hornier than she’d ever been. That had to count for something. Maybe it was time to find out exactly how much she could make it count.
* * *
“ANNABELLE!” JAKE CALLED. “I’m on my way out.”
His daughter popped out of the bathroom and flashed her endearingly wide smile as she waved a curling iron. “Whatever happened to twenty-four on, twenty-four off? You worked yesterday.”
“I’m captain now. That’s what happened.”
She set the curling iron down and hurried toward him, her blond curls bouncing. He was struck, as always, by how beautiful she was. It still amazed him, even after twenty-four years. “I’m worried about you, Dad.”
He scowled. Hard. This again? “I’m great.” It was nice having his daughter back in the house, but she wouldn’t stop with this.
“You need to have some fun.”
“I do have fun. I run. I bike. I help you plan the wedding.”
“You don’t plan. You sit there, pretending to listen and grunting halfhearted agreements when I force you to weigh in on decorations.”
He scrubbed a hand over his hair. “I like helping, I just don’t have much to offer. If your mother were here...”
“Well, she’s not here, and you need to start dating.”
Jake managed to hide his wince. “I’ve dated. Not that it’s any of your business.”
“Have you gotten back in the saddle? Like, really in the saddle?”
“Jesus, Annabelle!” Jake grabbed his keys and backed toward the door, heat climbing up the back of his neck. “You don’t need to know that. Just like I don’t need to know what you and Kevin do. I assume you’re waiting for the honeymoon—”
“Dad!” she laughed.
“And that you’re also really careful with birth control.”
Annabelle rested a hip against the counter and cocked her head. “While waiting for the honeymoon?”
“Exactly.” Jake pointed at her as he backed out onto the front porch. “Condoms. Pills. Celibacy. All of it.”
Her laughter followed him out to his truck. She was only home for another three months, then she’d get married and be gone again. Overprotective as he was, Jake really liked his future son-in-law, which was a damn good thing since he worked with the guy.
Kevin Chen was as outgoing and adventurous as most young firefighters were. Jake could see why Annabelle liked him. But the reason Jake liked him was that Kevin was also deeply caring and kind. The other guys looked up to him already, even though Kevin was only twenty-seven.
Kevin had been working in Casper when he’d met Annabelle, but he’d happily agreed to move to Jackson so Annabelle could come back home. The good skiing in Jackson hadn’t hurt Kevin’s decision, either, according to him, but Jake suspected it was more because he was crazy about Annabelle. Even an old dog like Jake could see that they were perfect for each other.
He still gave them a hard time, though. He’d told Annabelle all her life never to date a cop or a firefighter. In retrospect, he should’ve kept his mouth shut so she wouldn’t get any ideas.
Now she was the one giving dating advice. Jake shook his head as he pulled into the parking lot behind the station. He’d tried dating. He hadn’t been able to avoid it. The whole world seemed to have a hard-on over the idea of a widower dating again. And it wasn’t that he wasn’t ready. His wife had died four years ago. But it all just felt...weird. He’d met his wife in college, when you wandered through parties until you ran into a woman who made your heart beat faster. This “meeting over coffee” crap was just awkward.
He’d progressed to dinner and drinks with a few of them, and he’d even gotten back in the saddle, not that he’d ever tell Annabelle that. But Jesus. What had happened to just noticing someone across the room? Feeling that surge of awareness when a pretty woman walked your way? It was all online dating and finding a computer-generated match these days.
Sometimes a guy just wanted to notice the swing of a woman’s hips as she walked past his truck and headed toward the library, her ass perfectly hugged by a tight black dress that ended a few inches above her knee and—
Jake blinked and frowned toward the woman reaching for the back door of the library. His eyes rose from her nicely rounded hips to the pretty curve of her waist to the dark hair streaming straight down her back. Was that...
“Lauren,” he murmured.
Of course. Speaking of women to be noticed. He’d been noticing her for so long that he hardly registered it anymore. Lauren, whose blue eyes always met his straight-on. Who never backed down from anything. Who’d been married to one of his oldest friends.
He admired her, or that’s what he’d been telling
