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And he was looking at me in a way I could only call … hungry.
Man, he was a good actor. I knew he was acting—or just kind of naturally wore an “I want you” kind of look, because historically, any man who’d shown interest in Juliet did not find himself looking at me in a hungry kind of way. We were like chocolate and vanilla—people only had one favorite. And it wasn’t usually whichever one I was. Was he playing some kind of game? Trying to impress my sister by being nice to me?
“Tess.” Juliet bumped my shoulder, forcing me to realize I’d been staring silently at Ryan McDonnell instead of answering his offer of help like a sane person might do.
I cleared my throat. “Okay, yeah,” I said, even though I knew it would be best to stay as far away from him as I could. He was just being friendly, and my body was reacting as if he’d invited me to bed, my lady parts all hot and wet and my mind running all kinds of scenarios that featured him and me, and had little to do with setting up chairs and tables or baking cakes.
I wanted nothing more than to spend time with him, but I wasn’t sure I could trust myself. “I’ll be out back in the barn. Right there. The” —I pointed to the left side of the back yard, where the hulking red form of a barn was evident through the window— “the barn? Over there?” Oh my God, I was losing my mind.
“Hard to miss the enormous red barn out back,” Juliet muttered, turning to leave the room.
“I’ll be right behind you,” Ryan said, grinning at me. “Gotta do one thing first.”
My knees actually weakened with the force of his smile, and I spun on my heel and went back outside before I did anything insane. I’d never experienced this level of intense reaction to anyone before—was it chemical, maybe? I’d heard about that, but my body didn’t seem to have gotten the memo that no matter how the chemicals he put out influenced mine, he wasn’t mine to react to.
I crossed the yard and calmed myself during the course of the long walk. I was being ridiculous. Ryan was just being helpful and friendly, and my years-long movie-star crush was clouding my brain and making me believe there was something more to it. It had been months since I’d dated, and longer since I’d actually done anything more than kiss someone—if that ridiculous desperate kiss I’d let Tony get one night at the local bar counted.
As far as I was concerned, it didn’t.
And kissing Tony, a guy I’d known as long as I’d known myself basically, was not anything that should be put in the same realm as kissing Ryan. Not that I’d kissed Ryan.
My sister’s new boyfriend.
Oh God.
My body was clearly just going haywire after abstaining from sex for so long. I took some deep cleansing breaths as I pushed open the barn door and pulled the utility cart from where it leaned against the wall. As I attached it to the back of the small John Deere tractor, I was feeling better.
Work. I just needed to do some work.
This was my life. Work and home, me and Gran. There was nothing else—
“What can I do?” Ryan’s deep voice rolled through the dusky interior of the old barn, and my stomach tightened again, my blood heating immediately. So much for my newfound calm. He’d changed into loose-fitting shorts and a T-shirt, and had running shoes on and a cap on his head. He looked sporty and athletic, and I had an irrational urge to climb him and wrap myself around those broad strong shoulders.
I cleared my throat and stood, “Hi.”
He grinned and my heart shot off in a crazy double-time rhythm as my palms slicked with sweat suddenly.
Fucking chemistry.
“Um. Yeah. So.” Since words were not working for me, I pointed across the space to where the tables and chairs were all stacked and hung on pegs against the wall. We’d once rented the property’s grounds out for weddings, and we still had all the tables and chairs in here, so I’d planned to use them for Gran’s party. But maybe I should have let the catering company get this all set up, as Juliet suggested. It was going to be a big job.
Ryan crossed the space and pulled a half-round table from the front of the stack. His muscles bulged and strained with the effort, and I was having a tough time breathing, even though I was only watching.
“Crap,” I muttered under my breath, angry at my traitorous brain, which wouldn’t stop suggesting ways I might get just a bit closer, maybe run my hand along one of those muscly muscles.
Juliet’s, I reminded myself. He is Juliet’s.
“Here,” Ryan dropped the table into the cart attached to the tractor and grinned at me. I could watch this all day, I thought, my breath shallow and all the blood rushing through me heading directly for the places I wished I could rub up against this man.
“Good, thanks.” I swallowed hard and forced my feet to move toward him while I kept my inappropriate impulses under control. I’d agreed Ryan could help me; he hadn’t volunteered to move all the furniture himself while I stood nearby drooling and panting. I went to help, and together we hoisted six tables into the cart, filling it completely.
“You drive this thing?” Ryan asked, running a hand over the tractor’s steering wheel.
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s the easiest way to move things around the property.”
“I’ve always wanted to drive a tractor,” he said, looking impressed.
“You can drive if you want. It’s not hard.” I showed him how to get the engine going with his foot on the brake, and which pedal would move him forward.
