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I’m almost old enough to be—”
    “Her older brother. Age doesn’t matter to her, though. If anything, it makes you more glamorous. She has it bad.” She gave him a rueful smile. “Reminds me of myself at her age.”
    “I don’t see that at all. You were never boy crazy.”
    “That’s how much you know. I was crazy as a bedbug. Over you.”
    He looked genuinely surprised. “You were ? But you never said anything.”
    “That’s right, I didn’t.”
    He picked up his beer mug. “Probably better that way. Any encouragement from you, and I would have said to hell with Nash’s disapproval.”
    “Which is exactly why I didn’t let on. I knew it would cause problems between you two.”
    He gazed at her over the rim of his mug. “I can’t believe you felt like that back then. I honestly had no idea.”
    “I did my best to hide it. Besides, as we’ve just established, you don’t pick up on those things very well.”
    “Apparently not.” He sipped his beer. “But if I had, it would have changed everything.”
    “And our timing would have been all wrong.”
    Setting down his beer, he reached for her hand, cradling it in both of his and stroking her palm with his thumb. “So tell me, Trina, how’s our timing now?”
    Her hand tingled in the warmth of his grip. His hands were large and roughened from handling fifty-pound sacks of grain and slinging bales of hay. She quivered at the thought of feeling those hands on her naked body.
    Seeing the hot flare of lust in his green eyes, she grew moist and achy. This encounter was long overdue, and they owed it to themselves to enjoy the moment. “You know, Hutch, I think our timing’s just about perfect.”

3
    H UTCH LOST ALL interest in food at that point. But they’d ordered the hamburgers and if they left without eating them, people would talk. They might, anyway, because not many secrets survived in this little town.
    Frankly he didn’t give a damn if people knew, but Trina might. From the corner of his eye he saw the waitress arriving with two plates of food. Giving Trina’s hand a squeeze, he released it and sat back in the booth.
    The waitress’s movements were brisk and her manner wasn’t nearly as friendly as it had been. Now that he understood the situation, he could imagine why. She’d seen him holding Trina’s hand and didn’t much like that.
    After she stomped away, Trina ducked her head to hide a grin.
    “Yeah, I know. She’s jealous.” Hutch waited for Trina to use the ketchup and mustard before doctoring his own burger. “I swear to you, I’ve never given that girl any reason to think I’m interested.”
    “She doesn’t need that to create her rich fantasy life. Trust me, I know all about it.” She took a bite of her hamburger.
    “I’m still getting used to this concept. You actually had a fantasy life involving me?”
    Still chewing, she nodded.
    “I don’t know if I can handle that kind of pressure.”
    She swallowed and dabbed at her mouth with a napkin. “You think you have pressure? I’m about to have an encounter with a man who became a legend in his own time, a man who started out with the likes of Candice Melbourne. I’ve never had a body like that, not even when I was seventeen.”
    If she only knew how often he’d fantasized about her body in that yellow bikini. “Figures like Candice’s are overrated. At seventeen, that’s what I thought I wanted. But Trina, you’ve always had the best ass in Wyoming. I thought so back then and I still do.”
    “Now you’re making me blush.”
    “Good. You look great with color in your cheeks. Now eat up. I don’t want to spend the whole night sitting in this booth.”
    “Which brings up another issue.”
    “You’re saying this could get a little tricky?” He took another generous bite of his burger.
    “Neither of us has our own place. I’m sleeping on the pull-out sofa at Mom’s.”
    He finished chewing and swallowed. “At least I have a room with a door on it.